ilenel

!!!AhHa!!! By eating the body of Jesus, the bread and by drinking His blood, the wine...we are ratifying our part in the new covenant. What a revelation. But where does drinking His blood equate being sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice?

In 1 Peter 2:5 Paul tells us that we are God's holy priests offering spiritual sacrifices. And as being priests in Christ, it is legal for us to eat the sacrifice. The spiritual sacrifice is Jesus and to partake of His flesh in the form of bread (unleavened or leavened) and wine (fruit of the vine). Not only are we legal partakers, but we are not to allow our emotions to interfer with the act of communion. Sometimes we feel saved, and sometimes we don't. So feelings, that change minute to minute, hour to hour, should never come between us and obedience to the Lord.

I found it interesting and enlightening to read the thoughts of the participants in this study. However, do we really understand what sacrifice really is? Partaking in Christ's sacrifice, allowing His death to be a substitute for our own is releasing our guilt in order to be born into that new family. As one fellow participant posted, as a newborn baby is assimilated into a family, loved and cared for unconditionally. In ancient times, the priests and participants actually ate the sacrifices to be cleansed from their sins. Holy Communion would relate in that way, but would the person who never took communion not be saved? I don't believe that it is a salvation issue. In modern times we don't understand total sacrifice, not in this "Me" generation. We just don't have an equivalent. Jesus really does stand alone in amazing His love for us.

To be a participant in something, for example, football. A person would be a member of the team and would actively practice and play with the team. If we participated with demons, then that would mean that we were on their team. Since we cannot serve two masters, or play for two teams, because only one would get our best or both would suffer with half-hearted committment to the team. God is a jealous god, and will not tolerate our being half-hearted, luke-warm, in Revelation, He says He will spit them out. The church was still used to a polytheistic society, new believers from the cults tried to bring their favorite rites to the church. But these rites identified them as belonging to the cult, not as a Jesus follower. Paul wanted the new believers to be easily identified as belonging to Jesus. This helps new believers to leave the old life behind.