Jesus Revealed Series - Jesus Satisfies Like No Other预览

True Bread and Drink  

Thoughts on the Passage

This is not normal “church talk”!

Eating His flesh and drinking His blood. This thought is both sickening and disgusting. It is no wonder that they reacted the way that they did. I likely would have thought much the same – or at least wished Jesus had said this somewhere else. Still, Jesus felt that the house of God was the right place to say this about His flesh and His blood.

Jesus is speaking symbolically and spiritually. 

He speaks symbolically because His body and His blood represent something else. At the Passover meal, the people ate the bread and remembered their suffering and their poverty as slaves and yet through it all, God gave them the bread they needed to live. They drank the cups of wine and remembered that the blood shed – and put on the door posts and over the door – delivered them from death on the Passover night and caused Pharaoh to let them go free. Now Jesus gives greater understanding to these symbols. The bread is His Body. His body paid the price so that they could be set free from the slavery of sin. His blood gives us life and victory over death - He paid the price for freedom for mankind.
He speaks spiritually. We partake of this bread – it releases spiritual freedom, and it paid the price for freedom and victory. We partake of the cup – the penalty for sin has been paid. It is more than just bread and juice. They are spiritual, and they are powerful symbols.

Application

I would like you to take some bread and juice (we often use grape juice but take what you have). Now walk through the passage in Matthew 26 and take the bread and juice as Jesus instructs. [NOTE some people think only a pastor can lead this for the people. The Bible calls all of God’s people “kings and priests to God” and as such anyone is able to do this].

Here are some instructions. 

1) Do not do it carelessly. These are spiritual and they are powerful. Paul says that some of the Corinthian believers got sick and some died because they did not treat it correctly. They treated it as just bread and juice and God disciplined them severely.
Do not partake of it – and leave the same way you came. That is treating it carelessly. God says it needs to change us, and so we come with that expectation.

2) Take the bread. Remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life that comes down from heaven. He gives nourishment to our spirit like physical bread gives nourishment to our bodies. His body took the punishment that our sin demands – and we are free.

3) Take the cup. Remember that the blood of Jesus paid the price for forgiveness so that we no longer face spiritual death. We have life in Jesus.

4) We all came to this spiritual food with spiritual problems and needs. As we eat and drink, we ask God for forgiveness, healing, and freedom from this sin. His promise is we will receive it and much more – we receive life and life abundantly.

5) Start your day with this victory.

Time to Pray

Father, I take this bread and this juice. I take it knowing that without the Body and Blood of Jesus, there is no spiritual life in me. He died for my freedom and forgiveness. He lives to give me life and life abundantly. He calls me to this table to come and partake – not because I am a special guest, but because Jesus calls on everyone to come and eat. Today, I choose to partake and walk out free and forgiven. I choose to partake and leave all my failures behind and to go into my day free to live as You designed me to live. In Jesus’ name, Amen.