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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-24
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Jesus knew the end of His worldly ministry was going to have a bad ending. A very bad ending.
He had been sent by God, His Father, to be the final atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for all the sins of mankind. The punishment was going to bring immense suffering and the shedding of blood as the scriptures had made it clear this was a requirement for atonement.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” Leviticus 17:11
Yes, Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God who was sent to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:7) was going to pay a heavy price to bring salvation to all people and He wanted those who He saved to remember it.
And so on the night of His final Passover meal, He took bread and a cup of wine, and presented them as elements that would represent His willing sacrifice to bring the opportunity for redemption and forgiveness for sin to anyone who believed in Him. Over the next two messages, we’ll look at each of these elements. Today, we look at the bread and turn to verses 23 and 24 from 1 Corinthians 11:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Jesus broke the bread but it could nowhere adequately represent just how broken He would end up. In fact, there wasn’t anything that could have been used to accurately portray just how much Jesus would have to suffer to satisfy the massive sin debt that had been run up by humanity.
First, there was the physical beating He took at the hands of the Roman soldiers who took custody of Him after the Jews convinced Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, to prosecute Jesus because of fabricated accusations. In regard to the brutal nature of Jesus’ abuse, the prophet Isaiah had this to say:
“...His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness...” Isaiah 52:14
“...He took up our pain and bore our suffering... He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all... He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:4-6, 12
Jesus was left “disfigured beyond that of any human being”, His body beaten to the brink of death, and yet, there was still suffering to come. For after He was forced to carry His own cross to Golgotha, His place of execution, He was then nailed to it through His hands and feet before being hoisted up to hang and die within full display of the public.
This is what Jesus went through for us and we had better do as He asked and remember, not only when we take the bread during communion but every second of every minute of every hour of every day.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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