In Memory of Jesus
"Do
this in remembrance of me."
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he
took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is
poured out for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 22:19)
Whenever we sit down to have
a meal, we should quietly remember that we are no longer prisoners of this
world because of Jesus’ life-giving sacrifice which paid for all of our
mistakes and that we are delivered from our prison and ‘we are healed by His stripes’.
When we digest the Living Word of God (i.e. Jesus – the Bread of Life), the
Spirit of Jesus will reside permanently within our heart and we will have
eternal life. And when we drink, Christ wants us to remember that our sins have
been washed away by His blood and that we have a New Agreement (covenant) with
God. By accepting and trusting in Christ as our Savior, our sins are forgiven
and we are made 'right with God', restoring our relationship to the Father as
His children, with the right to live in His Kingdom and receive His
forgiveness, His Salvation, His healing and His blessings.
"Jesus then said to them, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who
comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir,
give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and
whoever believes in me shall never thirst." John 6:32
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever
believes has eternal life. I am the
bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and
not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life
of the world is my body.” John 6
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you
eat the body of the Son of Man and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my body and drinks my
blood has eternal life ... For my body
is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my body and
drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in
him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so,
whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that
came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live
forever.” John 6
“…you were ransomed from the futile
ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver
or gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
“And they have conquered him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
(Revelation 12:11)
Not only are our sins
forgiven but we are also made holy
through the blood of Christ. “Jesus
also suffered…in order to sanctify the people through his own blood” (Hebrews 13:12). God
is calling his people be holy as He is, which is one of the reasons Jesus suffered. “Without
holiness, no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14). Once we confess our sins, we are forgiven
and we enter into a new relationship with God, then we must disintegrate any
relationship with the sins that had us imprisoned. God gives us the power through the blood of His Son, to be
cleansed from our old sinful behaviors and to renew our minds to be like Christ.