The Communion Connection

God made a covenant with a nation and a people.  Since there was no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself.  He called heaven and earth to witness this covenant.  They were to stand as permanent partners with Him in something He initiated, which would unfold over time.  He also appointed them as signposts and examples of His faithfulness and intention.  As long as heaven and earth remain, they are the “persons in interest” standing to inherit something when the covenant is fulfilled.

At the Passover Supper, Jesus ratified the Covenant God made with Abraham and the prophets of old.  He acknowledged the legitimacy of the Covenant; took the general promise and made it personal.  Jesus ratified the Covenant, not the Law.  To ratify a contract means to approve of it.  The party ratifying the contract does not necessarily have any personal obligation to do so.  It is a voluntary binding of oneself to the agreement as previously drawn up.  The agent takes personal responsibility for fulfilling the terms.  In doing so, one accepts the liabilities and the benefits of the contract in totality, as the agent upon whose fulfillment those conditions now rest.  Jesus also fulfilled the Law; those hidden clauses that were added and which no one could ever keep in totality.

Jesus, as the God-man, willing to be the sacrificial lamb, initiated a New Covenant in His blood.  In the shedding of His blood, He gave formal consent to the covenant, making it officially valid through His life; through His sacrifice.  Jesus died, releasing the promises of the last will and testament, making the promises readily available.  It took God to give God what he needed, to release what He promised.  As we enter communion and drink the cup of the New Covenant in His blood we, as beneficiaries but also participants, are invited to continue the work.

Salvation is not a static event.  It is not something that happened to us when we accepted Jesus.  It is an ongoing process; an organic experience we enter, that joins us to the covenant.  It allows us communion with the Father’s heart, through our relationship with His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

At the Passover Supper, in this place of communion, Jesus said, “This is My blood of the New Covenant, which (ratifies the agreement and) is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  His blood was his signature; his imprimatur on the covenant.  As He raised the Cup of Redemption, He made the Covenant personal.  He took personal responsibility for its fulfillment.  

It was in the forgiveness of sins, that the possibility of Abraham’s promise of being the father of nations could be fulfilled.  How can Abraham be the Father of Gentile nations, except that they recognize His paternity with the link to the covenant and allow themselves to be grafted into those promises?  The grafted in ones need to allow the life flow of the promises inherent in the covenant, to bring understanding of the Jewishness of scripture.  We do not become Jewish, but we become AS them, sharing in inheritance, but only if we remain vitally linked.  Each of us must also personally choose to ratify the covenant, giving it formal consent, making it officially valid by our voluntary participation in the ongoing story.

As we are linked, we can ask to be shown our part in the living drama.  We then have the opportunity to shape history just like Jesus did, by making our connection personal.  What does AS one with the Jewish people mean to me and for me?  And…what must I do?

A salvation experience, apart from recognition of God’s Covenant with the Jewish people, and an acceptance of the responsibility that goes along with it, is incomplete. 

Evangelists need to know that there are scriptures that talk about God beckoning to the Gentile nations and calling them to carry His sons in the bosom of their garments and their daughters on their shoulders.  They need to know the scriptures that Gentile kings will be their foster fathers and queens their nursing mothers. That is part of why we evangelize; to bring understanding to a culture, so that we will be rightly positioned to step into history and take our place in the big picture.  

Teachers need to know the scriptures about Zion and Jerusalem so that we can bring understanding of what the Bible has in mind when there are 800 references to Jerusalem.  The zeal of the Lord’s heart is anchored there.

Pastors need to have some inkling of what the big picture looks like concerning the land of Israel and the Jewish people, so that there is a connection that enlarges individual salvation and positions us to move into the future.  This will then give meaning for living out a faith that is larger than our church or even our community.  God’s promises in His Covenant become something worth dying for when we understand God’s desire for a nation and a people.  

Prophets need to see where we are going; the scope of the ultimate intention of God, so they can rightly interpret the times and seasons.  When things look dark, as it did for Jesus just before the cross, they will be able to prophesy, “Look up for your redemption draweth nigh!  The glory of a kingdom is crowning and about to be birthed in reality! 

Apostles need to weave a true kingdom picture, with a Jewish King, into every work they are called to establish.  This will give the framework for an end time move of God where the participants have been prepared ahead of time to recognize where God is going and what He is doing.  It will also allow maximum facilitation for what He wants to do.