Word of God Online Daily Bible Study
April 17th 2009
Scripture Verse of the Day
1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks to God for it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said “Take this and eat it. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Scripture Reading of the Day
Matthew 26:20-56
That evening as he sat eating with the Twelve, he said, “One of you will betray me.”Sorrow chilled their hearts and each one asked, “Am I the One?”He replied, “It is the one I served first. For I must die just as it was prophesied, but woe to the man by whom I am betrayed. Far better for that one if he had never been born.”
Judas, too, had asked him, “Rabbi, am I the one?” And Jesus has told him, “Yes”
As they were eating, Jesus took a small loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it apart and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take it and eat it, for this is my body.”And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks for it and gave it to them and said, “Each one drink from it, for this is my blood sealing the New Covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of multitudes.Mark my words-I will not drink this wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Fathers’ Kingdom.
And when they had sun a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus said them, “Tonight you will all desert me. For it is written in the Scriptures that God will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been brought back to life again I will go to Galilee, and meet you there.”Peter declared, “If everyone else deserts you , I won’t.” Jesus told him, “The truth is that this very night, before the cock crows at dawn, you will deny me three times!”
“I would die first!” Peter insisted.And all the other disciples said the same thing.
Then Jesus brought them to a garden grove, Gethsemane, and told them to sit down and wait while he went on ahead to pray. He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair.
Then he told them, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death…stay here…stay awake with me.”He went forward a little, and fell face downward on the ground, and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But I want you will, not mine.”Then he returned to the 3 disciples and found them asleep. “Peter,” he called, “couldn’t you even stay awake with me one hour?”
Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For the spirit indeed is willing, but how weak the body is.”Again he left them and prayed, “My father! If this cup cannot be removed until I drink it all, you will be done.”He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, so he went back to prayer the third time, saying the same things again.Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep on now and take your rest…but no, the time has come! I am betrayed into the hands of evil men. Up, let’s be going. Look-here comes the man who is betraying me!”
At that very moment while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived with a great crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the Jewish leaders. Judas had told them to arrest the man he greeted, for that would be the one they were after. So now Judas came straight to Jesus and said, “Hello Master!” And embraced him in a friendly fashion.
Jesus said, “My friend go ahead and do what you have come for.” Then the others grabbed him.One of the men with Jesus pulled a sword and slashed off the ear of the High Priest’s servant.”Put away you swords,” Jesus told him. “Those using swords will get killed. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the scriptures be fulfilled that describe what is happening now?”
Then Jesus spoke to the crowd.”Am I some dangerous criminal,” he asked, “that you had to arm yourselves with swords and clubs before you could arrest me? I was with you teaching daily in the Temple and you didn’t stop me then.But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scripture.
Sam’s Response
The taking of the bread and the cup of life during communion is a spiritual time. Even if you come to the alter and take of the bread and cup in the flesh, when you are sincerely his, you will move from the flesh into the spirit in an instance.
This moment with Jesus and before God is precious. It is a symbol of the breaking off of the Old Covenant and bringing in the age of grace that Jesus brought to us.So many think that they can not become Christians unless they do this, or do that. They feel that Our God is a God of Rules and regulations!
This is NOT the case. No works of my hands or yours will get us to heaven. That is not what the bible says. It says we are all sinners, NONE of us are worthy, we are all filthy rags. No amount of “being good” is going to get us even one step closer to heaven.
What will, is accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Surrendering your will to the will of God. Asking God for forgiveness of sins and repenting from those sins is what God is Looking for. So the cup and the bread symbolize what Jesus did for us on the Cross. He bore all our sins, everyone of them and nailed them to the cross.Through this act of Love, Jesus has opened the door to salvation not based on works, but based on believing that Jesus died and 3 days later was resurrected.
So do you believe?
Do you understand that it is not about being good and following the laws that Moses brought down from the Mountain on Tablets?
God and Jesus knew we could not and would not keep them all the time. They knew we would mess up time and time again. So through the Grace of God and the sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, we all have the opportunity to come before the Lord and ask for forgiveness of our sins. We can be cleansed by the Blood of Christ when we take communion. We can come back to the center of the cross and turn over to Christ the fears and failures of a fallen world that we live in.
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