BREAD & WINE * BODY & BLOOD * WORD & LIFE * THE LIVING WORD

BREAD & WINE  *  BODY & BLOOD  *  WORD & LIFE  * THE LIVING WORD

Deuteronomy 8:3 -- Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (See also Matthew 4:4 & Luke 4:4) [JHK Note: God created us with a physical body and a spiritual body, so we must care for both. Bread represents food for our physical body, while God’s Word is nutrition to grow and mature our Spirit Self. What is “The Word”? The Word of God in the OT, the Word of Jesus in the NT, and the Word of the 3rd Adam in the Completed Testament.]

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -- Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [JHK Note: This is repeated in 11:18-21 & emphasized by Jesus in Matthew 22:34-40. The main points here are (1) to be “wholehearted” in our love for and obedience to God, (2) to become totally immersed in His Word, for the Word is our lifeline to God, and (3) to establish tradition, generational fidelity to the Word.]

Deuteronomy 13:3 -- The Lord our God tests us to know whether we love Him with all our heart and with all our soul. [JHK Note: God tested Abraham in Genesis 22, just as Jesus tests the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-22(30), Mark 10:17-22(31) & Luke 18:18-23(30).]

Exodus 29:45 -- I will dwell among the children of Israel and I will be their God. [JHK Note: God has always wanted to live among us and be our God and Counselor. Genesis 3:8-9 & 4:6-8. Jesus came as Emmanuel = God with us. Exodus 40:34-38]

Leviticus 7:26-27 -- You shall not eat any blood. … Whoever eats any blood … shall be cut off from his people. [JHK Note: This prohibition against eating blood is absolute (Leviticus 17:10-14 & 19:26, Deuteronomy 12:16 & 23 & 15:23, 1 Samuel 14:31-35), for the life is in the blood (Genesis 9:4). This prohibition even survives the Crucifixion and Resurrection (Acts 15:20 & 29).]

Jeremiah 31:31-34 in the Old Testament promises a New Covenant which is fulfilled in the New Testament when Jesus takes the cup of wine and says, “Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood of the New Covenant” in Matthew 26:28 & Mark 14:24. In John 6, Jesus first feeds 5000 people, then walks on the sea, and then gives a long discourse, declaring that “I am the bread of life” and that “the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Most disturbingly, he proclaims, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” Are we then to be cannibals? Of course not! The Bread of Life is the Word. Life is in the blood, and he gives his life for us. Communion is for remembrance, as Jesus explains in Luke 22:14-20 (reiterated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).