| The
Lasting Value of Communion
Wade Taylor
As
the facets in a diamond are viewed, some appear
as being opposite to other facets; but rather, the beauty of a diamond
is that these facets complement
each other. So also, the
partaking of communion with our Lord has many different
ways in which it may be understood and experienced.
Many
receive communion in a ritualistic manner; partaking religiously,
rather than first being lifted into the presence of the Lord through
worship and the adoration of who He is.
There must be a time of preparation for us to effectively
partake of communion with the Lord. Just
as it is not possible for us to wait on the Lord in His presence until we have passed from the natural
realm into the spiritual, it is not possible for us to receive the value and substance of the
body and blood of Jesus, until we exchange realms.
The
word communion has to do with communication
Jesus speaks and we listen. We
speak and He listens. Thus,
as we enter into communion with Jesus and become one
with Him, we are able to partake of His life.
There are foundational principles that are established in
the Word of God, which apply to our partaking of communion.
There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus ... For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1a, 2
This
condemnation is the judgment (death)
which was given Adam for his transgression, which process of death
has been handed down to each of us.
We are set free from the law
of sin through our identification with the shed blood of Jesus
on the cross. We are set free from the law of death through our identification
with the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
And so it is written,
The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus) was made a quickening (life-giving) spirit. I Corinthians 15:45
Jesus
said that He came that we might have life, and have this life more abundantly. We become
a partaker of the law of
the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus through our identification
with Him as quickening, life-giving Spirit.
This includes divine health and longevity of life.
Those who receive this gift of life
from Jesus will stand out from all others in the quality of their
health and the length of their life span.
Jesus
fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes, but when they
again became hungry, they returned to ask for more.
Jesus told them that He had something better for them, and
said:
Except you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in
you
Your fathers did eat manna, and are dead:
he that eats of this bread shall live forever. John 6:53b; 58b
Jesus
is offering them a higher life, in which they will not die. The condition being that they eat, not a second
serving of loaves and fishes, but rather, His very flesh and blood. This word concerning our living forever primarily applies to our
eternal life in heaven, but there is an application
that affects us in this present life.
Abide in Me, and
I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine; no more can you,
except you abide in Me. I
am the Vine, you are the branches. John 15:4, 5a
If
a strip of bark is totally cut around a tree and removed, the process
of death will begin. The
tree can no longer receive the life that is drawn up from the root
system, and will soon die. So also, the life of the Vine (Jesus) must flow into us, as being a branch.
For this to take place, the branch (us) must be properly connected to the
vine. Only then can His life,
as the power of an endless life, flow into our
lives.
Who is made, not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an
endless life. Hebrews 7:16
Eating
food to sustain our natural body is not an option; rather, it is
a necessity and we eat several times each day.
Also, our partaking
of the life of the Lord is not an option.
This partaking of the body
and blood of Jesus must take place more often than our partaking of His
Life through communion on the first Sunday of each month. Rather, we must partake on a regular (daily)
basis, or we will suffer loss, both spiritually and naturally.
And the Lord God
said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil:
and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of
life, and eat, and live forever. Genesis 3:22
I
once thought that Adam had eternal existence built within him at
the time of his creation and would have lived forever if he had
not transgressed. However, Adam had been formed from dust, which speaks of a created dependency.
It is impossible to form anything from dust.
It takes moisture, the very Life of our Lord Jesus Christ
- that which flows from the Vine into the branch - for the dust
that we are to have form, shape, and purpose.
Thus, Adam had to come to the tree of life often in order
to maintain his life.
Lest he put forth his hand and take also of
the tree of life, and eat, and live forever (Genesis 3:22b).
Suddenly, I saw what was being said - when we take communion,
we put forth our hand, and we take and eat. Adam came regularly and partook, and as a result,
he continued to live, but when he transgressed, he was hindered
from partaking of the Tree of Life (taking communion), and he began to die.
Had
Adam been able to continue to eat, he would have continued to live,
but the judgment for transgression was death.
Therefore, all the Lord needed to do was to prevent Adam
from taking communion (putting forth his hand ... taking ... eating, and living).
Therefore, the Lord placed an angel with a flaming sword
before the Tree of Life, to prevent Adam from partaking.
On
the day of Pentecost, this flaming
sword was removed as a hindrance and became a means of access. It descended and sat upon the head of each of
the one-hundred-twenty who were present, and they were filled with
the Holy Spirit. The veil
had been rent, and a way of access made for us to enter His presence.
To him that overcomes
will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of
the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7b
As
we partake of communion,
the way of entrance to the Tree of Life is opened to us, and we
can partake of His very life, as Jesus is the Tree of Life.
When
the multitude who came to see miracles became hungry, Jesus multiplied
five loaves and two fishes and they were fed to the full (John 6:1-26).
Later, they came back for more, and when Jesus told them
that they were to eat His flesh and drink His blood, they ridiculed
Him and left. At that time, Jesus could not explain how to
partake of His flesh and drink His blood, as He had yet to fulfill
His preparation to die upon the cross for our sin, and then in resurrection,
become quickening life-giving
spirit.
When
His ministry was completed, the evening before Jesus was to give
His life on the cross, He was now able to speak.
He ... took bread ... and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat: this
is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.
After the same manner also He
took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This
cup is the new testament in My blood: this do you, as often as you
drink it,
in remembrance of Me. I
Corinthians 11:23b-25
Notice
that Jesus said, this bread
is My body; and, this cup is My blood.
He did not say, this
is an emblem, or a symbol of My body and of My blood.
Jesus then said that He would not partake again with us,
until we partook together with Him, in the Kingdom.
For I say to you,
I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom
of God. Luke 22:16
The
Word says, Unless you are
converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter
the kingdom of heaven (Matthew
18:3). As we partake of communion, we see bread, but
Jesus said, this is My body. As we partake of the cup, we see the fruit of
the vine, but Jesus said, this
is My blood. Having
the mind of a child, we simply believe what Jesus said - not
what we see.
Some
teach that the bread,
and the fruit of the vine, must first be transformed
into the body and the blood of Jesus, and a priest seeks to do this
for the believer. Others
said that we can do this for ourselves, without the priest.
Rather, we are to simply believe what Jesus said, and partake
of the bread and the fruit of the vine in faith, believing that
we are partaking of the literal body and blood of Jesus.
The necessary change is in us,
not in the bread and the fruit of the vine.
And when He had
given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you:
this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He
had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this
do you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. I
Corinthians 11:24-25
Jesus
said that we are to partake in
remembrance of Me. Rather
than referring to our remembering His death on the cross, He is
directing our thoughts back to the time when he told the multitude
that they were to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
From that time many of His disciples
went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus to the twelve,
Will you also go away? John
6:66-67
At
that time, Jesus could not explain how to partake, but now, He could. With this understanding, when we believe what
Jesus said, with child-like
faith, we are literally partaking of His body and blood.
As we partake, we must make a decision - Lord, I look and I see bread and the fruit of the vine, but I choose to
believe, not what I see, but what you said (this
is My body and My blood).
And so it is written,
The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made
a quickening (living, life-giving) spirit. I Corinthians 15:45
In
His ascension, Jesus became a life-giving Spirit, as He is the Tree
of Life. Thus, when we partake of communion, we are eating
and drinking the very life of the One who is able to impart life.
For He shall grow
up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. Isaiah 53:2a
Jesus
is a root (the
tree of life)
out of a dry ground. Therefore,
it can be said that He is the Tree of Life in mystical form, recognizable
only to those who have spiritual
eyes.
But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation
to himself, not discerning the Lords body. For this cause many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. I
Corinthians 11:28-29
Communion,
then, is the mystical form
of the tree of life, hidden from the spiritually blind. Jesus said that if we partake unworthily (without understanding that He Himself is the Tree of Life), we are merely partaking of the
process of death, receiving bread and the fruit of the vine - another
good meal, and we are that much closer to death.
But,
if we partake with spiritual understanding - knowing what we are
doing, we will no longer be weak, sickly, and dying prematurely.
Rather, as we rightly partake of communion, we are receiving
quickening life-giving spirit, and we will be living.
For as often as
you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lords death
till He come. I Corinthians 11:26
As
often as we do this, we are showing
the Lords death. This means
that we are demonstrating the value of it. If we die the same as other people, we are
not demonstrating anything. When
we partake of Life, we are receiving the life that Jesus came to
offer - Life more abundantly.
Paul
tells us that we have been set free from the law
of sin and death. As
we partake of the bread (His body), and identify with Jesus in His
death on the cross, we are forgiven through the blood that He shed
on the cross in our behalf. As
we identify with the stripes that Jesus bore in His body, we receive
healing. Thus, we are partaking worthily.
We
then identify with Jesus through the cup (His blood), as life is in the blood. In His resurrection and ascension, Jesus became
quickening spirit, and
in this identification, we are released from the process of death.
When
I partake of communion, I speak to the Lord words that include the
following:
Lord, as I receive the bread, I identify with
Your body; for in Your body, You bore stripes and through the blood
that flowed from those stripes, I receive healing.
You died upon the cross, and in identification with You,
and the blood that You shed in Your death on the cross, I receive
forgiveness of sin.
Lord, I partake of the cup, the fruit of the
vine, in identification with Your ascension blood - the power of
an endless life. In identification
with You as being the Tree of Life, I release my body from the power
of death, and I receive longevity of life.
As
we do this often, we
should no longer be sick and dying, but living in health and strength.
Just
as Adam, we must come to the Tree
of Life in order to continue to live; or we will progressively
die. Therefore, if we understand that communion is
the Tree of Life, and
then we, in faith, partake of communion as being the Tree of Life,
we will live the fullness of the time that has been given to us.
Those
whom the Lord is calling to become remaining
ones are discovering the connection between communion and the tree
of life. This is a principle
that is being revealed at this present time.
Paul said, We who are alive and remain at the coming of
the Lord... (I Thessalonians 4:15b).
Jesus,
on the 8th day of His life, was taken into the temple to be dedicated. Two people were there, Anna and Simeon. Anna was old, but Simeon had a word that he would not see death until
he saw the anointed of the Lord.
Anna was alive,
but Simeon was remaining. Thus, two classes of people were present.
Paul
said that in the time of the return of our Lord, these two classes
would be present; those who are alive
through the normal course of life, and those who are remaining
- whose lives have been extended because they have learned the principle
of communion. These are looking
beyond liturgical religious forms, into spiritual reality and are
partaking in faith, knowing that they are eating the flesh, and
drinking the blood of Jesus, who is the Tree of Life.
The
Word says, as often as you
eat this bread, and drink this cup (I Corinthians 11:26a). Communion can be taken
as often as we desire.
If
we realize we are partaking of healing and life, we will do so often.
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