Communion: The Celebration of the Covenant of Peace

Communion: The Celebration of the Covenant of Peace A. In Scripture covenants or agreements of peace were solemnized by a meal. 1. This was the case with the covenant between Abimelech and Isaac. GEN 26:26-31. 2. This was the case with the covenant between Laban and Jacob. GEN 31:44-55. 3. This was the case with the agreement between Abner and David. 2SAM 3:20-21. 4. Sharing a meal suggests peace, friendship, and fellowship. a. In the peace offering, God, the priest, and the worshipper all partook of a part of the sacrifice. LEV 3:1, 14-17; 7:11-21, 28-34. b. When the prodigal son was restored to fellowship, a feast was prepared. LUK 15:22-24. c. It is a betrayal of friendship to eat with someone and then to turn against him. PSA 41:9; JOH 13:18-21. B. The cup of the Lord’s Supper is Christ’s blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in His blood. MAT 26:28; LUK 22:20. 1. Christ’s blood washed away the transgressions incurred under the Old Testament of the law, the covenant of works, and put in force the New Testament. HEB 9:15-17. 2. Christ’s blood of the New Testament is the means whereby peace has been made between God and His elect so that they are now reconciled. COL 1:20-22. a. reconcile: To bring (a person) again into friendly relations to or with (oneself or another) after an estrangement. b. The New Covenant promises the eternal forgiveness of our sins and iniquities which put us at enmity with God. HEB 8:8-13. c. Therefore, the New Testament is a covenant of peace. 3. Like Phinehas, Christ turned away God’s wrath. NUM 25:12-13. 4. This New Covenant of peace will never be removed and is, therefore, the everlasting covenant. ISA 54:10; HEB 13:20. C. One of the promises of the New Covenant is that God will be unto us a God and we unto Him a people. HEB 8:10. 1. Therefore, God is our God. He is “for us.” His attributes are all engaged on our behalf. a. His mercy is ours to relieve us. b. His power is ours to save, support, and protect us. c. His goodness is ours to satisfy us. d. His wisdom is ours to direct us. e. His righteousness is ours to clothe and cover us. f. His justice is ours to avenge us. g. His glory is ours to crown us. 2. (ROM 8:31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 3. This relationship with God as our God is our peace! D. God deals with us according to the covenant we are under. 1. God’s covenant with Adam and the Old Covenant were a covenant of works. The covenant of works is “do and ye shall live.” ROM 10:5; MAT 19:16-17; GAL 3:10. 2. The New Covenant is a covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is “it is done and ye shall live.” JOH 6:38-39; 17:2, 4; 19:30; GAL 3:13; HEB 10:14. 3. The covenant we are under determines the construction of God’s actions toward us. 4. If one is under the covenant of works, God’s wrath and curses are wrapped up in everything that happens to him. a. The evil things he suffers are foretastes of the eternal damnation that awaits him. Hell is described in terms of evil things we experience here. Communion – The Celebration of the Covenant of Peace Page 1 b. The good things he enjoys only seal his destruction. PSA 73:3-12, 16-20; PRO 1:32; ROM 2:4-5. 5. If one is under the covenant of grace, God’s love and blessings are wrapped up in everything that happens to him. a. His tribulations try his faith, work patience, and develop Christ-likeness in him thus assuring him of eternal glory. JAM 1:3; 1PE 4:12-13. b. If he is chastened for sin, it is because he is a beloved son of his heavenly Father. HEB 12:6-7. c. The good things he enjoys are foretastes of the eternal glory that awaits him. Heaven is described in terms of good things we enjoy here. d. The favor of God wrapped up in all His dealings with us flows out of God’s covenant of peace, the New Testament in Christ’s peacemaking blood. D. The Lord’s Supper is the meal that celebrates this covenant of peace. God’s preservation of it unto this day keeps us in tangible contact with that which secured our everlasting peace. E. If you were given a choice of going anywhere in this world or going back in time to the upper room where the first Lord’s Supper was held, which would you choose? 1. In 1CO 11:26 Paul describes the bread we eat and the cup we drink as “this bread” and “this cup.” a. this: Demonstrative Adjective. Used in concord with a sb., to indicate a thing or person present or near (actually or in thought), esp. one just mentioned. b. This verse identifies the bread and cup which we take with the very bread and cup that was held in the hands of the Son of God. c. The communion we observe is every bit as much the Lord’s Supper as the one Jesus observed with His disciples. 2. In coming to this communion service today, you have come to the same thing that was observed in that upper room. Welcome! I wish you a pleasant stay. F. The cup in the Lord’s Supper is “...the communion of the blood of Christ” (1CO 10:16). 1. communion: Sharing or holding in common with others; participation; the condition of things so held, community, combination, union. 2. The life of the flesh is in the blood. LEV 17:11. a. Blood brings oxygen, nourishment and energy to the body: it is its life. b. Blood also carries away carbon dioxide and waste.. c. Therefore, blood literally washes the body internally. d. Hence, Christ’s blood can be described as washing us. e. White blood cells fight disease and infection. Puss is dead white blood cells that died destroying that which was destroying you. f. Blood does for our body what Jesus Christ did for us. Therefore, every beat of your heart pounds out the gospel of Christ. 3. Blood is circulated to every part of your body keeping it alive and keeping it together. a. Your whole body thus experiences the communion, the holding in common, the participation, or the union of your blood. b. When any part of your body does not have adequate blood supply, it decomposes. This is what happens in the case of gangrene. c. It is the blood of Christ that keeps the church together and maintains its life and union. Hence, Christ’s body, the church, is the communion of the blood of Christ. G. Unlike covenants of peace that reconcile men with men and nations with nations, this covenant of peace will never be broken. 1. The communion service is an enduring memorial day, a state dinner of divine reconciliation. 2. The bloodshedding is over forever. 1PE 3:18. Communion – The Celebration of the Covenant of Peace Page 2