Lesson 1799

(Lesson 1799)(09-20-16) Luke 22:14-20

"And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."

In today's quote, Jesus sat with His twelve chosen apostles to partake of the Passover meal as was demanded of all Jews by God the Father in Exodus chapter twelve.

As was noted in yesterday's lesson, the Passover meal, a wholly Jewish tradition, authorized and demanded by God, has been distorted by, what I believe to be, Roman Catholic and Pagan influence. The original Passover tradition has been transformed into an often, (weekly in many supposed Christian religions), practiced ritual that has no resemblance to the original Passover ordinance that was so explicitly described and commanded by God on the day Israel escaped Egyptian captivity.

Jesus, as He spoke to His apostles in today's quote, never altered the original meal in any way, He simply added to it for His apostles sake. Seeing that His body and blood was about to become the sacrifice that would cause the death angel to pass over all of those of us who would put our faith in Him, He offered the bread and wine as a symbol of His body and blood for His apostles because His actual body and blood had not yet been sacrificed.

I have not yet found any scriptural foundation for what is practiced and referred to today as "Communion" or "The Lord's supper". However, I find nothing wrong with the celebration of the life, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, however one might choose to do it. In fact, He said in today's quote, "this do in remembrance of me".

We should note also that Jesus did not leave any instruction as to how often we should partake of the ritual, He simply said, "this do in remembrance of me". Therefore, I would assume that if we are to take what Jesus said to His apostles as a commandment, we should faithfully observe Communion, or The Lord's supper, only on the day that God appointed to the Jews to observe the Passover celebration. In that case, "communion", or "The Lord's supper" should only be observed on the fourteenth day of Nissan (The first month of the Hebrew calendar).~

NOTE: There will be more discussion of this topic as these lessons progress.