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The old covenant depended on man's ability to honor his end of the deal that Yahweh would be his God and that he would wholeheartedly, obediently belong to Yahweh. God made the promises, but man had to obey through his own determination and effort. It could never be perfectly upheld because man is flawed with sin. All it could ultimately do was show us our desperate condition of unrighteousness in contrast to the LORD's holiness. The new covenant is all about God and His merciful salvation for us. He made the promises AND He secured the way for the terms and conditions to be flawlessly met. This new covenant will forever be perfectly upheld because Yahweh is perfect. Our primary responsibility now is not to do, but to believe. When we believe in our hearts and speak that belief with our mouths that Jesus Christ is the Anointed One whose blood has redeemed our sins, then we will receive the salvation that God has already accomplished (Rom.10:9-10). When we simply genuinely believe who God is, what God says, and what He has done through Christ, our very lives are transformed by the presence of His own Holy Spirit that comes to live within us. It is out of our believing that we then do those things God expects of us, such as obey His word, develop a prayer life, live in holiness with integrity, walk in the Spirit, replace fear with faith, do the good works that glorify Him, etc. It all starts with believing. What you believe is what shapes your life. In the new covenant of grace, merciful forgiveness of repented sin is the primary thing God has promised. With His dying breaths, Jesus asked the Father to forgive sin. Out of that pardon, I think, comes every other promise. He promises to restore our broken relationship with Him in peace because we're forgiven. He promises to deliver us from judgment of sin . Christ's blood makes us holy and Christ's own righteousness becomes our covering before the LORD. As God's adopted children, we each gain personal access to our Father. The LORD writes His laws into our hearts. We receive the power of the Holy Spirit within us to help us obey those laws. He promises that Christ has become our mediator and sits at the right hand of God to intervene on our behalf. He promises that He will never leave or forsake us, but will make us overcomers. We become join heirs with Christ for all the victories and rewards that He gained through His death and resurrection. We are promised that when our bodies die, our spirits will go on to live in the presence of God forevermore. We will be united with Christ as His cherished Bride. One day we will reign with Christ. All this and even more - because of His covenant of grace - we have been forgiven !

Yahweh wrote the covenant with Israel and laid out its provisions. That covenant was ratified with a series of affirmations. First, Moses presented the covenant to the people, with all its requirements and conditions. The entire nation, with total unity, proclaimed their allegiance and obedience. Then Moses built an altar where the people brought burnt offerings and peace offerings of oxen to sacrifice to the LORD. Moses threw half of the collected blood against the altar. He presented the covenant a second time to the people, who unanimously repeated their promises of allegiance and obedience to Yahweh. Moses then threw the remaining blood on the people to seal the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. Finally, Moses and 73 other chief men of the nation went up to conclude the confirmation process in an encounter with Yahweh. The LORD revealed Himself in some fashion to them, and in His presence they ate of the portions of the sacrifices allotted to them. Maybe this is a symbolic "taking in" of the promises and commitments of the covenant. Certainly, communing together at the table is an intimate bond among friends. Yahweh was now proclaimed to be their God, and they had declared themselves to be His people.

"This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." What this says to me is that the price to gain my forgiveness with God was extremely high. I've always thought that it would only have taken a drop of that holy undefiled blood to cleanse me of my sinful condition, but He poured out every last drop for me. All the covenant promises of eternity are now my inheritance because I am forgiven in Christ. Yahweh so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son, and because I believe in Christ I will not perish, but have everlasting life! There is no other son begotten of the Father, but now He has adopted us as His own through the holy blood of that Son. Forgiveness is an evidence of love. It is important to engage in some introspection to search out my sins and confess them before participating in Communion. 1 Cor. 11:27 tells us that if we eat the bread or drink the cup in an unworthy -sinful- manner that we will be guilty of profaning Christ's sacrificed body and blood. If I were to bring known transgressions to the Lord's Table, it would be an insult, an outrage, a profane desecration of the precious blood of Christ that was poured out so I wouldn't have to be in bondage to sin anymore. It would be like telling Him, "I appreciate what you did and all, but Your blood wasn't really enough to set me free from this. It wasn't adequate to gain victory for me. It isn't sufficient to guard my heart from sin. It's not really satisfaction of the guilt I carry." What a haughty attitude toward the suffering and sacrifice of the only Way, the Truth, and the Life! Pride has no place at the Lord's Table. Forgiveness has already been accomplished, but we must receive it for each time we miss the mark of holiness in living out our daily lives. With our confession comes the promise of fresh cleansing and restoration of broken fellowship with the Father caused by the sins of our flesh. In receiving forgiveness, we can come to His Table to identify with Him in His love, sacrifice, obedience, and reward. Isn't God just grand? We can participate in the holiness of Christ and all that was gained through His death because He forgives!

Jesus's death had a far higher purpose than just the salvation and deliverance of Israel. The Jews understood themselves to be a special nation, Yahweh's chosen people, not transgressors in the broadest sense of godlessness. They were expecting the divine promise of a Deliverer King. But here Jesus was pointing them to the truth that in order to gain that deliverance, their Anointed One was going to be numbered with the godless. He was going to be smitten by God and afflicted with the iniquity of many more than just their nation. He was going to be wounded and crushed to pour out His life-blood to gain mankind's peace with God. He was going to make intercession for the wicked world to be made righteous and redeemed to God. He was explaining His true mission to the disciples and how He was to fulfill the centuries-old promise of Messiah. Isaiah 53 is an incredible prophetic picture of the reason for Jesus' earthly life. He came to suffer our sins on our behalf and restore our relationship to Yahweh. The death of Jesus was a work of sacrificial love and it is our glorious salvation. But ultimately, the fundamental purpose for Jesus' death was to prosper and accomplish the will of the LORD (Isa.53:10). The will of the Father is that all who will believe on the Son of God shall have resurrected, eternal life with Him (John 6:38-40).

Any time the blood of an innocent person is shed, it is considered a violent violation of life. And when the animals were offered as sacrifices to the LORD, can you just imagine the violence of the scene? Jesus was an innocent man who was also the sacrificial Lamb of God. In viewing those sacrifices since boyhood, I think He realized that His blood was not going to be given from His body in some pristine or tidy way, but that the full assault of sin/death against life was going to be brutal and horrific. His blood was going to be poured out of Him in rivers. I think the physical tortures of Gethsemane, the trials, and Calvary opened every blood vessel and capillary to discharge every single drop. And it was all to be given to establish a new covenant of forgiveness for us. As He said, "This is my blood ... which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins", maybe He was trying to prepare His disciples for what they were going to witness in the next several hours. Maybe He was showing them the true horror and cost of sin. Maybe He was giving them words for the future hope they would need. Certainly, He knew we would all need to remember. At the time, I'm sure the disciples didn't understand. They didn't comprehend that, as the Lamb of sacrifice, Jesus was going to willingly suffer this violent death that would release His holy blood for our forgiveness and redemption. If anything, it may have stirred up questions, doubts, and fears; and, even though Jesus had spoken of His death several times, maybe these words made them wonder what in the world He was talking about. After the resurrection of Christ and their own baptism of the Holy Spirit, I think they finally understood the fulfillment of all the LORD had promised through the old covenant and animal sacrifices. They understood the mission of Messiah was to redeem His people through the blood offering. They understood that the spotless Lamb truly had taken away the sins of the world and defeated death itself! What had been fear, shock, and sorrow could then become overwhelming praise, gratitude, and worship. The precious shed blood of Christ was now the foundation of their faith and hope for eternity - and their lives were never the same.

Through the sacrifices, Yahweh was demonstrating to the people that He was providing a way they could receive His forgiveness for their sins against Him. This was an incredible privilege that mere humanity was so highly valued by the LORD that He wanted to forgive their transgressions against Him. God desires to be merciful and to give abundant grace. He created mankind for the pleasure of a relationship together, not for destruction. When the transgressor brought an animal of sacrifice to offer, he had to put his hand on the animal's head as it was slain. I think this represented the transfer of his just penalty of death onto another who was blameless, whose blood would be offered for atonement instead of his. The only blameless creatures would be animals. The blood is considered holy as it represented life, which is sacred since God Himself breathed it and made it in His image. In pouring it out in sacrifice, it represented putting the "life" of sin to death and being made holy to God. These O.T. sacrifices also showed the supreme grace and mercy of God as they painted a portrait of the mission of Messiah. With His own blood, the Lamb of God would come to take away the sins of the world once and for all . With His own blood, He would perform a literal inward cleansing of the heart instead of just a symbolic outer ritual. And with His own blood, He would make His people holy with His own Spirit living within them. Only God's grace could accomplish such a thing!

First of all, knowing Jesus voluntarily laid down His life for me is extremely humbling. And, remarkably, it's in my humility that the LORD will exalt me. It is encouraging to know that I am so highly prized that He would be willing to give so much to redeem me and make me holy. It's nearly impossible for me to grasp the truth that in the Father's sight, I am holy because Christ died for my sins. All hope lies in that truth. I am a participant with Christ in everything gained by His death. My eternal existence is going to be unfathomably glorious with Him! And my earthly journey on the way to heaven is guided, guarded, and empowered by Him. All this was gained for me because Jesus chose to die on my behalf. I'm so unworthy of such esteem! Thankfully, I learned many years ago that my true worth and value are rooted in who I am in Christ. In facing life, that has made me a stronger and more confident person because I know I'm so highly valued by my Creator. This inspires me to continue my search to know Him, really know Him and His transforming love. It inspires me to ask Him more honestly than ever to help me accept His will and submit to the death of my carnal nature as I'm called to participate in Christ's sacrifice. It inspires me to trust and praise Him in all circumstances, knowing that He would never abandon a child He treasures so much. The body and blood of Christ would have been given in vain if the final outcome wasn't 100% secure. His sacrifice was enough. Nothing can ever take me from Him, and that's true worth and security to be safely treasured in the hand of God forevermore.

From the verses studied here, Jesus gave Himself in sacrifice in order to: 1) be the one mediator between God and man as a ransom for all humanity 2) act in accordance with the will of God the Father to rescue us from sin and the evil age of the present 3) redeem us from all wickedness 4) purify for Himself a people who belong to Him and who are eager to do good 5) be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God Jesus willingly came as mediator, ransom, rescuer, redeemer, purifier, and sacrifical offering on my behalf. He was the payoff for my sin and has made possible my relationship with the Father. He has fulfilled the Father's will that I be rescued from sin, not just in eternity but in the present age I live in where the evil one has dominion over the world I live in. He has redeemed me, bought me back, from wickedness and its consequences. He has made me clean and holy, grafted me into His own Body that will be His cherished Bride, and given me His character to do the good works of the Father. He is my example of supreme obedience and submissive sacrifice of self that is very pleasing to the Father. All this was done for the Father's glory but also for my benefit, in my interest, on my behalf! What unspeakable grace.

Because sin entered the world through a physical man, it could only be defeated by a physical man who was sinless. That could only be Jesus the Christ. He is divine but set aside His deity to be physically born as a human, to physically suffer the burden of humanity's sin, to physically bleed His blood for our atonement, and to be physically resurrected as the ultimate proof of His victory over death caused by sin. The human body bears a heavy burden of suffering because of sin. That had to be atoned. Blood is a physical element that had to physically be offered for atonement. As Spirit, Jesus had never known what it was like to endure the consequences of sin in a body of flesh. (I guess in His omniscience He somehow "knew", but how could He "know" experientially?) But we now have a Savior/High Priest who knows through experience what it's like to be in this limited, frail, weakened state that is humanity. He truly did fully enter into the human condition when He set aside His deity. He has shown us, in and through His body, that holiness is not impossible for mankind. In Him we have the glorious hope that sin cannot defeat us - a hope that would be unattainable without our firm knowledge that there was One like us who conquered it! In the human sense, someone who knows what you've been through is far more credible to you than someone who just thinks they know. We can trust Christ! Our faith is not just based on spiritual power, but also on the victory of Christ as the Son of Man.

Jesus bore no sin in His pure, undefiled spirit - ever. So in order to deal with sin and defeat it for human beings, He had to bear it in a physical body as a fully human man. Because sin began with a physical man in Eden, it could only be atoned by a physical (yet sinless) man. Before the world was even created, Yahweh (and thus the Son Himself) ordained that the shed blood of the innocent for the guilty was required for atonement and cleansing. The lamb required in the Jewish sacrifices was considered an object of transfer, where the sins of the people were transferred to it and then "taken away". Jesus' literal body and literal physical blood were the final sacrifice as sin and its consequences were transferred to Him. He was truly "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" [John 1:29]. In His body, He became our literal transfer from sin to redemption. Also, I think if sin had only been conquered in the spirit realm, it wouldn't have been evidenced and validated to humanity. The sacrifice and victory had to be visible to us in our natural world with a physical death and a physical resurrection. It is our unquestionable evidence of the Truth.

In the Lord's Supper I become a participant in the altar of the cross. Just stating that is intimidating. I must seek to balance my sense of insufficient unworthiness with the supreme adequate value and merit of Christ in me. (Of course, it's not something I can accomplish myself. I will find that balance only in releasing myself to the work of the Spirit.) How humbling that the Son of God has made me worthy to be made like Him. Not only in all the wonderful promises of my inheritance, but in the wondrous privilege of suffering for His sake. It is through the sacrifice of my life to Him (which definitely causes the flesh to suffer) that I gain the fullness of His glory. It is then through His glory in me that I can participate with Him in the defeat of sin in my life, enjoy His resurrection from death of the old to powerful new life in my everyday journey, and have the pleasure of fellowship with His - and my - Heavenly Father. How can I ever be casual with the Lord's Supper again? It is the memorial celebration of all that His death has gained for me, and a reminder of my responsibility to be a living demonstration of His sacrificial love. Lord Jesus, please help me to be obediently faithful to Your call for me to take up my cross and follow You.

As the O.T. priests ate part of the sacrificed animal, they were consuming it for physical nourishment. But most important, they were personally taking in all that the sacrifice represented to make an intimate association with it. This made them each a participant in the altar. It pictured for them the mission and work of their coming Messiah. It identified them with sin that had to be atoned, sacrifice of an innocent for the guilty, shedding of blood to cleanse and purify, and the burning, consuming holiness of Yahweh. It reminded them of their roles as representatives of Yahweh to Israel and intercessors between the two. And the smoke of that sacrificed animal was an expression of their obedience that was a pleasing aroma to the LORD. The entire experience created an intimate unity of man to God. Well, isn't that just exactly what the Lord's Supper calls us to do? All that was promised in Christ and represented in those sacrifices and the priesthood has been fulfilled through the cross. So our memorial remembrance of the cross through the communion of this Supper is our participation with all that was represented by the altar sacrifices - only now that's all been completed and attained by Christ's own death! And when you participate so intimately with something, it becomes part of who you are. Participation with Christ's sacrifice should change who I am, what is important to me, and how I represent the LORD. It's a serious thing to be a participant in something so holy.

Koinonia is a rather rich word. I've always understood it to mean intimate fellowship and communion together that brings a close association. It means being so closely united that you have an equitable part in something shared. It means you are a participant with something common to everyone involved. Wow. That Christ would offer that kind of personal involvement to me is beyond my imagination. He has given me the right to enjoy all the benefits and rewards that He gained through His death on that cross. I have a share in everything accomplished through His holy blood that was sacrificed and then accepted as my atonement. I am a participant in His defeat of sin. I am united with Christ in His resurrected victory over death. I can fellowship with the same Heavenly Father. I share in common the same spiritual inheritance of glorious everlasting life. He gave all the blood, sweat, and tears; then He shared with me the glory of all that was gained. Oh, that I could ever truly understand such grace. I am also called to associate myself with the same pouring out of self that Jesus chose when He sacrificed Himself for sinners. To participate in the blood of Christ would then mean I'm to participate in a life of sacrifice on the behalf of others. Oh, that I would be truly willing. As a body, we're collectively called to share in this bond we have together in Christ. In taking the Lord's Supper, we are all participants in the same body and blood of the Savior, the same koinonia. Oh, that we could operate in that unity in all we do!

When Paul wrote this letter, that Corinthian church was full of problems of all kinds (much like our day!). The entire letter of 1 Cor. is one of correction. Evidently some people were partaking of the Supper of Jesus Christ and also participating in idol sacrifices that established a connecting point with demons. I think there were many people who wanted to be Christians but still hang onto their old idols. ceremonies, agendas, and methods of worship. Maybe Christianity was the fashionable "new" thing to do, or maybe old beliefs were so deeply ingrained that people were trying to blend them into their new faith. Paul was warning them that this could not be so. You cannot identify yourself with holiness and evil at the same time. You cannot have fellowship with Christ one moment and demons the next. Yahweh will not share the worship and allegiance due to Him with anyone/anything else. And He will never accept some kind of hybrid belief system. These believers were in danger of stirring up God's jealousy and they would not be able to stand against His judgment. Paul was challenging them that they must each make a clear, defined choice for or against Christ.

To proclaim something is to announce or declare it, to tell it. The Lord's Supper declares Jesus Christ to be the sacrificed Savior who died to secure forgiveness of sins for anyone who will believe. Participating in this Supper should be a time of intimate communion with Christ as the Spirit reminds me of the covenant He has announced to me. When I hold that little cracker or piece of bread in my hand and then consume it, it speaks loudly of the beaten, shredded, pierced body of the Bread of Life. When I sip that juice, it declares that the sinless blood of the Lamb of God is the only thing that can cleanse and make me holy. This proclamation is made to each participant and to anyone who observes. As I receive those elements into my own body, the principle of sacrifice and death to self is being demonstrated in me. I should be accepting strong identification with Christ that will then make Him known to others as His character is demonstrated through my life. And the believers celebrating the Supper together should be reminded of the unity Christ established for His people on the cross. The proclamation of Christ's death is important because it's the foundation on which God secured and provides salvation for sinners. There is no other way to be restored to Him. If the church's proclamation shifts to any other core theme, the church's proclamation is untrue and will lead people into deception. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Just as the Jews were to remember how Yahweh delivered them from slavery in Egypt by their perpetual celebration of Passover, believers are to remember how Christ has delivered us from slavery to sin and redeemed us to eternal life with the Father. That was accomplished through the utmost sacrifice of Himself in death. In remembering Him, we must remember why He died, how He died, for whom He died. The observance of His Supper gives us that opportunity in a special way. It should bring us to our knees in worship. It also should be an occasion to tangibly teach our children and pass on the story to future generations of how Christ fulfilled the promise of Exodus 6:6-7 to deliver and redeem us with His outstretched arm and take us to be His people. If we neglect an accurate remembrance of of Him, I think we will end up growing lukewarm then cold, abandoning genuine Christianity, and ultimately creating religion based on man-made effort. We will disgrace the sacrifice of Christ and nullify the power of the cross in our lives. We will become a stumbling block that hinders the salvation of many souls. That danger is forever only one disobedient generation away. To forget Christ's death is to forget the cost and only source of our personal salvation. We dare not forget that His body and blood given on the cross are the only means by which we may be saved (Col.2:13-14). We dare not forget the great love of God that has provided spiritual blessing, forgiveness, adoption, and unity with the Father - all gained through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Beloved (Eph.1:3-10). We dare not forget that every believer is called to follow Christ in a life of sacrifice, which is part of the remembrance as we take in the memorial elements of the Supper and participate with Him in death to self for God's glory and purpose (Luke 9:23; 1 Cor.10:16).

According to Yahweh's own words, the Passover feast was a memorial celebration to the LORD in remembrance of the day He delivered the nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt. It was important for these chosen people never to forget their God and what He had done for them. This was to forever be a feast that would cause them to gratefully remember, to faithfully teach the children of their history and heritage, and to bow their hearts as individuals and as a nation in worship of Yahweh. If the Jews had stopped remembering the Exodus from slavery amd deliverance to freedom, they would have stopped remembering the power, authority, and call of God, the great I AM. The story would not be passed from generation to generation "as a statute forever", as Yahweh commanded. When you don't remember your history, you forfeit much of your future. And I think maybe the LORD also had an even higher purpose for the Passover celebration. There was one most important Jewish child to be born thousands of years later who would need to learn this prophetic story of remembrance and experience the tangible lessons of its elements. It perfectly pictured and represented the sacrifice of the final Lamb, the Messiah, who would forever deliver all humanity from bondage and slavery to sin. I think the Holy Spirit revealed much to Jesus about His identity, purpose, and destiny through this very feast as it was observed year by year during His earthly life. And it remains a powerful confirmation of how God fulfilled His promise of a Redeemer that had been given in the garden of Eden. How great is our God!

Anything done often runs the risk of becoming mundane and losing its meaning. We all know how easily something that seems so enjoyable or exciting or satisfying can become very ordinary, even boring, when it is repeated over and over. The challenge is to allow the Spirit to breathe life, bring new conviction, and speak fresh power into and through the experience - every single time. Jesus commanded us to perpetually "do this" celebration because we forget. Last summer, my mother should have died, but God did some undeniable miracles to heal and restore her. Here, only nine months later, I occasionally find myself taking it for granted and must remind myself of what a blessing and miracle her presence is. Think about how quickly our nation has forgotten what should have been indelible lessons from the horror of 9/11. It's our very nature to forget. (Remember, we're just dumb little sheep!) Yahweh instituted memorials and ceremonies from the earliest times in the O.T. for that reason. We need a special, specific time on a regular basis to remember what Jesus gave up, endured, and accomplished for us in His death for us (our salvation) and to reflect on our progress of becoming more and more Christlike (our sanctification).

What it all boils down to for me is the unfathomable love that would go to such great length and endure so much suffering in order to provide an irrevocable covenant of grace to redeem and restore me from sin. That command to do this in remembrance of Me is such a convicting call not to be swept up and consumed by the natural life, but to remember and rest in the costly yet simple message of His love for me.

The entire description of the Lord's Supper and use of its elements point to Jesus and give deep meaning to His atoning sacrifice. It's especially poignant to me that as He led that celebration with His friends, He knew He was describing and demonstrating to them what was going to happen to Him within hours of their meal together. Every element was a prophetic picture of what He would now endure and accomplish. He was to be "given" up for the purpose of being the sacrificial lamb whose blood would be spilt and offered for my atonement. This voluntary sacrifice of Himself was for my sake, for all of us, to accomplish something we're unable to do for ourselves. When Jesus held that bread in His own hands and broke it in half, He knew His body was going to literally be "broken for" wretched humanity. When He poured that wine and passed that cup, He knew that every drop of His own blood was going to be drained from His body to be "poured out" as our cleansing covering of holiness. But supreme Love enabled Him to see through all of that to the glory of providing our forgiveness of sin so that we could become His adored, purified Bride and have a restored relationship with the Father. When I share in the communion of His Supper, every element should remind me that it's all about the Savior's sacrifice for my personal redemption. It's all about the glory of God's new covenant of grace to forgive me of sin. It's all about the love for me that gave up everything to make me whole and holy.

Becoming extreme in either direction can easily cause us to become overly dogmatic and judgmental or dangerously casual and anemic. Since the example of Christ is neither, we really need to beware. As to the specific question of adopting an extreme symbolic interpretation, this could definitely cause a careless attitude toward the purpose and use of the elements of the Lord's Supper. I agree that anything specifically instituted by Christ Himself is sacred and must be treated with utmost respect, even when we cannot fully understand. That's just an exercise in faith! I think the balance in disagreement about specifics can only be gained by focusing not so much on the practice, but on the Provider. Christ has provided the only sacrifice that could save us from sin. He has provided redemption and restoration to the Father. He has provided our holiness to make us acceptable to God. He has provided the only way to gain eternal life in heaven. And He has provided the Spirit to live within and guide our journey there. The celebration of His Supper of remembrance is a holy, reverent thing. Our motive and desire should be to do this in remembrance of Him.

Partaking of the Lord's Supper is a spiritual experience. It's a connecting point in a specific way of my spirit to the Spirit of Christ. The Supper is a reminder to me that my my sin was extremely costly; my salvation was gained by a spiritual victory that required the breaking of the Savior's physical body and the shedding of His literal blood on a cruel cross as He became my sin. It reminds me that the Spirit alone accomplishes the purpose of creating the character of Christ in me and transforming me to holiness. As I partake, I'm reminded I must live in and by the Spirit in order to please God. Jesus instructed us to "Do this in remembrance of Me." We are forgetful creatures, and we need to remember! To me, the elements of the Supper are tangible memorials of the physical sacrifice He made so that I might spiritually live through Him in eternity. They are touchable sensory reminders of His call for my own spiritual sacrifice to die to myself so that He might physically live through me in my earthly life. The tangible presence of Christ is now at the right hand of the Father. His presence on earth is in Spirit, so I do not understand this to be a literal consumption of His body and blood. Again, it is a worshipful experience of the spirit for me. The Supper is a humbling sacred remembrance of the tremendous cost of providing a restored relationship for me to Yahweh. It is a moving, renewing celebration of how much I am vastly loved by the Father, gloriously redeemed by the Son, and victoriously empowered by the Spirit. What a precious Savior, and what an important sacrament!

In the New Heavens and New Earth, the Prince of Peace will establish total unity and harmony in the entire expanse of God's creation. There will be no more violence in nature, the animal world, or the heart of man. No more divisive strife and conflict. No more injustice and inequity. No more destruction and loss caused by wickedness, pride, and rebellion. The groanings of the earth for release from the curse of sin and restoration to its Creator will be satisfied. What do we have to look forward to? I can't even imagine it! Our dwelling place will be forever in the presence of Love, blanketed in Holiness where sin exists no more. As every inch of creation is bathed in the Light of the World, there will be no more darkness or night in the universe or in our souls. There will never be another hurt or disappointment, no pain or tears to shed, no want or need or hunger or thirst. There will be no more physical limitations of having flawed physical bodies to confine us with sickness, decay, or death. There will be no more broken fellowship with Yahweh. We will be united with our precious Savior and our tender loving Father without end. Faith and hope will no longer be required, as all that God has promised will be fully realized. Everything and everyone will be pure and righteous, and the glory of God will be reflected without compromise everywhere. All things will be rescued, delivered, liberated, and restored to what the LORD originally intended. Indeed, Come, Lord Jesus!

When Gideon realized he had just encountered the LORD face to face, he was terrified because he knew that to see the face of God was to surely die. Most anyone who first sees Him with the true understanding of their spiritual depravity and His divine holiness feels much the same way. But we repeatedly see in the Scriptures such a precious characteristic of Christ: He immediately speaks - right into the heart - the assuring word of peace to comfort and encourage. Gideon was probably overwhelmed as, in this one little word "peace", Yahweh was revealing the favor of a whole, complete, restored relationship. What strengthening and empowerment Gideon must have gained from knowing that God was at peace with him! The Angel of the Lord had just told him "Yahweh is with you" and called Gideon a "mighty man of valor" who would lead Israel in victorious warfare (Judges 6:12-16). Gideon knew God's favor was not currently on Israel because of her disobedience, and he felt anything but courageous. He asked for a sign that this was really of Yahweh, which was graciously provided and confirmed with the words, "Peace be to you." Yahweh was saying, " Restoration to me I give to you. Unity with me I give to you. Completeness in me I give to you." Gideon's response to this encounter was worship. He built an altar of remembrance of this momentous revelation of Yahweh as Shalom. The LORD is the Friend who desires and provides peace with His people - on a personal level. Even though Gideon later experienced fear, he overcame it and acted in obedience with courage born of Peace.

Some synonyms for the words "save" and "Savior" are rescue[r], redeem[er], liberate[-or], restore[r]. I'm reminded of something I learned a couple of years ago when I came to understand my salvation in the sense of restoration. My relationship with Yahweh was broken by sin like a shattered mirror, and nothing I could do on my own could ever repair it. I might try to put pieces back together, but the image reflected would always be fractured and distorted and missing something. Jesus Christ the Savior gave me a new "mirror", a new capacity to reflect God's image and holiness properly, when He gave me His own Holy Spirit. God's primary purpose in my life is to make me holy. That is accomplished through many things that I am unqualified and unsupplied to do for myself, including rescuing me from sin, delivering me from its consequences, redeeming me to be consecrated and sanctified, liberating me to personally relate to God and reflect His holy image, and restoring to me all that had been lost when the relationship He designed me for was shattered. Jesus truly is my Savior.