Truth Seekers Ministries Presents…
The Truth About… Holy Communion
Communion is one of the most important blessings that God has given to man, with the exception of Christ himself. It is sad that most preachers will intimidate and so frighten their flock that they are afraid to partake, for fear of damnation of their souls. They will get you to examine yourself, to see if you have any unrepentant sins and are “Holy” enough to partake. This self examination, will cause most people to turn off on the whole idea of communion. The truth of the matter, is when these so called “men of God” have you examine yourself, and your worthiness, he actually makes you partake unworthily, because your focus has been moved from Christ, onto yourself, and none of us, wretched people that we are, are worthy to partake of anything God-given, outside of the covering of Christ. In the Ark of the Covenant, between God’s unbroken law and us, is the “Mercy Seat”, representing the Christ, His Holy sacrifice and His shed blood.Â
The passage they quote, when getting you to examine yourself, is 1st Corinthians, 11:27 ; “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord”. That sounds pretty scary to me. However the preacher doesn’t tell you that the word is not “unworthy”, it is “unworthily”. Unworthily is an adverb. Adverbs modify the actions not the actors. Paul went on to clarify his statement by stating that they were “not discerning the Lords body”. You see he was writing to the Corinthians, who were having their “Agape” or “Love Feast”. They were eating, drinking and many were even getting drunk. The rich were parading around their riches and the poor were being shamed at their poverty. They then tacked on Communion at the end of the feast, with the people so drunk they couldn’t discern the Lord’s body, or at least without any serious concern for the true meaning behind it. Their manner of partaking was wrong. I do recognize, that most of the preachers that are teaching this way are doing so out of a sincere heart, but that doesn’t change the results. They are getting the people to examine themselves, taking their attention off of Christ, and by doing so they are “eating and drinking damnation” to themselves. Another interesting thing is that the Greek word Paul used for damnation is “krima”, meaning a temporal damnation, not eternal damnation. You add “kata” in front of the Greek word, to make something that is temporal, eternal, hence “katakrima”. The damnation Paul was speaking of is a temporal punishment for not partaking worthily. Not examining and being focused on Christ, when partaking of the elements can bring sickness, disease and even death but not eternal separation from God.
God knows the hearts of men, that it is a wicked thing. We can do no good apart from Christ. The children of Israel were taught a lesson regarding this when one time they had the Ark of the Covenant in a certain city. A couple of men decided to take off the mercy seat to look inside, and when they did God immediately killed over 50,000 in that city, over a couple of ignoramus’s stupid actions. If we examine ourselves, to see if we measure up, it is the same thing as taking off that Mercy Seat, peering into the Ark, onto God’s unbroken tablets, and comparing ourselves to the Law. Immediate judgment has to come if it wasn’t for the Mercy Seat, Jesus amazing perfect sacrifice for us, being between us and God’s perfect law. He, Jesus, is the only mediator between God and man. When we take communion, it should be a joyous occasion, full of Grace and Peace, with our minds and hearts on one thing. “Christ and him crucified”. If our focus is on Christ at the Communion Table, which is where it should be, there needs to be no fear, nor should there be any intimidation at this table.
Why are there two elements at the Table of the Lord? If sin were the only problem that God is providing for, then only the wine is necessary, because of Christ’s shedding of blood and through that alone are we cleansed of sin. But the Bible says that his body was broken for our infirmities, and by his stripes are we healed. The bread aspect of the Communion relates to God’s ready provision of healing. He is Jehovah Rapha, and He has provided a way for us to claim the promise of healing.., physically, mentally, and spiritually, through this Table of the Lord. We all need to be partaking on a regular basis as a proof of our faithfulness to Christ and to do what he has asked us to do “when ye come together”. I’m not saying that it should be taken every week. Because then people would become calloused to the meanings. But we should do this on a regular basis, and also when anyone needs healing from God, a few should get together, and by uniting in faith and in the communion, God’s healing powers can be released.
Remember that by his stripes we were healed, and we are made worthy by the Blood of the Lamb.
Check out Nuggets of Gold, Volume 3, for some messages from Dr. Scott on the Communion.
With Love in Christ,
Patrick Robinson, 9/99