Discerning His Body

By THE SPIRIT Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 11:

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Many of us have participated in communion countless times over the course of our life.  Most know that taking the cup refers to His Blood as being the sacrifice for our sins to be put away in order that we be reconciled to FATHER.  There has been less emphasis on the meaning of taking the bread beforehand.  Jesus’ body did not remove our sins but instead it deals with the healing of our bodies.

We are to discern His body when we partake of the bread.  The sacrifice of stripes came before the sacrifice of the Blood.  In Matthew 27:

25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

This scourging was the prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 53:

4 ​​Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; ​​Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 ​​But He was wounded for our transgressions, ​​He was bruised for our iniquities; ​​The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Peter also wrote by THE SPIRIT in 1 Peter chapter 2:

24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

In the communion, first came healing and restoration of the body, then came the sinless nature by His Blood.  This is opposite to Adam when he first gave up his glorified state and then his body began to die.  Jesus is reversing the curse when we properly discern His Body as well as His Blood.  Jesus had prepared the disciples for this revelation during His ministry of healing the sick and preaching salvation.  Matthew wrote by THE SPIRIT in chapter 8:

16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

​​​“He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”

Jesus suffered in two ways- first He bore the stripes on His body and then He shed His Blood on the cross.  Both acts are referred to in communion.  When we take the bread, we should discern exactly what it represents and remember the scourging and the stripes along with the promise “by whose stripes we were healed”.  This is a wonderful promise in itself.  Let us no longer take the bread without considering its underlying meaning.  Let its promise and reality be as clear to us as the importance of His Blood to our salvation.  After all, Jesus said “do this in remembrance of Me”.

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