Christian Churches of God

No. 100z

 

Summary:

Significance of the Bread and Wine

(Edition 2.0 19950408-19990214)

This paper denotes the body and blood sacrifice and the symbolism of the elements of the faith.

 

 

Christian Churches of God

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA

E-mail: secretary@ccg.org

 

(Copyright ã 1995, 1996, 1999 Wade Cox)

(Summary by John Pierce, Ed. Wade Cox)

This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright.

This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
http://www.logon.org and http://www.ccg.org

 

 

Significance of the Bread and Wine

The miracle of the feeding of the multitudes with the loaves and the fishes involves an understanding of what the body of Christ means to be broken (John chapter 6).

The twelve baskets of leftovers (Jn. 6:13) represent the fulfilling of the twelve nations, for the allocation to the 144,000. Nothing is lost in those baskets. Everything goes through, for the allocation to the tribes, under the twelve apostles.

Christ was sealed by God the Father (Jn. 6:27). The seal being of truth, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He was thus set apart and designated by God the Father as the Messiah. We are sealed in the same manner.

Christ gave the people a miracle, which pointed to the concept of the feeding of Israel. John 6:34-37 goes back to the twelve baskets and the instructions to gather them all up and not one to be lost. Everybody (including Gentiles) are allocated to the twelve tribes of Israel. They are all given to Christ by God the Father.

The Trinity strikes at the very understanding of being part of the body of Christ and being sealed with Christ, within the system of God.

Christ says that it is the will of the Father that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and will be raised up at the last day (Jn. 6:40). Everlasting life is not simply a belief in Christ. Christ is clear on that (Mat. 7:21). Eternal life is knowing the One True God and Jesus Christ whom he sent (Jn. 17:3).

We cannot be part of the bread of the body of Jesus Christ unless we are predestined by the Father and given to Jesus Christ (Jn. 6:41-44). The concept of being chosen is developed by Paul in Romans 8:29-32.

God calls us and gives us to Jesus Christ. We are then justified and glorified in Christ. We cannot come to understanding except the Father calls us. Some hear and are called, but they are not chosen because they are not capable of entering to judgment now (see John chapter 6).

Those who have seen the Father are spirits (Jn. 6:46). No man has seen God ever (Jn. 1:18). No man has seen Him, and no man can ever see Him (1Tim. 6:16). He alone is immortal.

So if we believe on Christ, we are then given everlasting life from God (Jn. 6:47). God imparts everlasting life to Christ, to the angelic Host, and to us.

Christ says that it is his flesh that is the bread (Jn. 6:48-51). We have to take of that flesh to become the body of Christ. His body becomes the flesh. We have to consume of his flesh through the spirit, to become his body.

For eternal life we must have knowledge of the one true God, and His son Jesus Christ. We must partake of the blood and body of Jesus Christ at the feast of the Passover (Jn. 6:53-54).

Christ lives in the Father, and the Father is in him. So by taking of Christ we live in Christ and in the Father (Jn. 6:57). We become this family. The Trinity seeks to cut that off.

Jesus knew whom God had given to him (Jn. 6:64). When he was first given the disciples, he knew who would stay, and who would not stay. The Spirit conveys the information to the elect. People know they are part of the body of Christ. They know whether they are sinning.

God gives people to Christ (Jn. 6:65). If we do not understand that Jesus Christ is not the one true God, we will not be in the first resurrection.

We understand from Corinthians that we are all given gifts of the Spirit, and we are all put in the body. In order that we could be put into that body, Christ had to be broken as bread, and gathered up in baskets.

The twelve basketfuls were taken up for these twelve disciples as judges. One of the disciples was actually given to him in order that he would betray him (Jn. 6:70). He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot (Jn. 6:71). He was replaced by another who took up his basket.

We live in Christ, and Christ and God the Father live in each other. We are all inter-related. We have a job to do, set out long before we were formed in the womb (Jer. 1:5). We are all put together to work.

1Corinthians 10:21-22 says we cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. When we are eating the body and blood of Christ, we are eating the cup of the Holy Spirit and the law of God. We cannot combine that with part of the demonic system. There is only one bread, the body of Christ. There is only one cup, the cup of the Lord.

Christ set himself to offer, and nothing else would have been good enough. Christ could only have been sacrificed once and for all. He had to come down as flesh, and then he became Spirit. There was no blood sacrifice in the spiritual realm. One being had to become a man and die. Satan wasn’t prepared to do that, but Christ was. That is the Cain and Abel analogy where Abel’s sacrifice was more acceptable than Cain’s sacrifice. Our leadership is one of self-sacrifice, of laying down our life for our brothers.

Now the wine is symbolic of blood. Yearly, it was through the blood of bulls that Israel was cleansed, but with Christ, it was once and for all. He made it possible for us also to enter into a relationship with God, in receiving the Holy Spirit.

In order to do this, we have to be purged from sin through this symbolism of Christ’s sacrifice. We are partakers of the divine nature (2Pet. 1:4). We are given the Holy Spirit, and we have the stamp of the divine nature on us and we are to reflect the glory of God.

While we are together, and working under the will of God, we are with Christ. We are dressed and we bear fruit. When we cease to exercise the will of God, we stop bearing fruit and we are cut off (cf. Jn. 15:1-6).

The concept of wine coming from fruit from the vine is that of the Holy Spirit. The concept of the body and blood of Christ is central to the Lord’s Supper.

We are given to Christ by God. We cannot take eternal life except we have the Holy Spirit, and keep the commandments of God. We must keep the Sabbath and the Passover in order to retain the Holy Spirit and be in the first resurrection

 

 

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