Bible Prophecy Fulfilled: Messianic Re-enactment Rituals of Communion
A. THREE COMMUNION MESSIANIC REENACTMENT RITUALS
1. The Lord’s Supper or Communion, is a reenactment ritual of three Old Testament events during the Exodus in 1446 BC:
a.
Passover: 1 Cor 5:7
"Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are
in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed." (1
Corinthians 5:7)
b.
Manna: Jn 6:31-35
“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ”
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has
given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true
bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of
heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give
us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me
will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:31–35)
c.
Table of Shewbread: 1 Cor 10:16-21
"Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of
Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since
there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one
bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers
in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is
anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want
you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the
cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of
demons." (1 Corinthians 10:16–21)
2.
13 cups not one cup: Luke 22:17-20 records three-part sequence of the
Lord’s Supper:
"And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it [LITERAL “DIVIDE” = 13 CUPS] among
yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from
now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and
given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which
is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took
the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out [13 CUPS] for you is the new covenant in My
blood." (Luke 22:17-20)
a. Setup in advance of Communion: “Pour out” Jesus’ Juice into 12 cups v17. Notice the word “divide” is the same Greek word for the divided “cloven” hoof of a cow. Notice also the word “poured out”. If there was only one cup, the contents of Jesus’ cup was not divided BEFORE they drank the grape juice AND nothing was poured out in advance of drinking.
b. Partake and eat the Bread v19
c. Partake and Drink the Juice v 20
B. FIVE REASONS FOR WEEKLY COMMUNION
There are five scriptural reasons given why we have observe the Lord’s Supper or Communion weekly:
1. Memorial “In remembrance of Me”: 1 Cor 11:24-25
a. "and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”" (1 Corinthians 11:24–25)
2. Proclamation “Jesus died on the cross”: 1 Cor 11:26
a. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26)
3. Fellowship, Sharing: Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 10:16-17
a. "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42)
b. "Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread." (1 Corinthians 10:16–17)
4. Anticipation “Till Jesus returns”: 1 Cor 11:26
a. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26)
5. Thanksgiving, Eucharist: 1 Cor 11:24
a. "and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”" (1 Corinthians 11:24)
C. FIVE PHYSICAL ELEMENTS OF SCRIPTURAL COMMUNION
Discussion: There are five physical elements that composite scriptural communion.
1. Unleavened Bread: Ex 12:8; Mk 14:12; 1 Cor 5:7-8
a. Instituted on Nisan 14, during the days of unleavened bread.
b. "‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." (Exodus 12:8)
c. "On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”" (Mark 14:12)
d. "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:7–8)
2. Unleavened Grape Juice: Ex 12:15; 23:18; 34:25; Lev 2:11; 10:9; Mk 14:12, Lk 22:18
a. Instituted on Nisan 14, during the days of unleavened bread when ALL leaven was removed.
i. "‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel." (Exodus 12:15)
ii. "“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning." (Exodus 34:25)
iii. "“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning." (Exodus 23:18)
iv. "‘No grain offering, which you bring to the Lord, shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven or any honey as an offering by fire to the Lord." (Leviticus 2:11)
v. "“Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations—" (Leviticus 10:9)
vi. "On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”" (Mark 14:12)
vii. "for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”" (Luke 22:18)
b. Ancient Jewish Literary sources:
i.
Elephantine Papyri “Berlin 13464”, COS 3.46, 419 BC specifically
referenced fermented drinks as prohibited:
“Year 5 of Darius II the king. [on Nisan 14th at twilight the Passover, from
day 15-21 … observe seven days unleavened bread. … Be pure: Do not drink
[anything fermented/leavened] Do not [eat] anything leavened”
(Elephantine Passover Papyri, Steve Rudd translation adapted from Lindenberger)
ii.
Mishna Persachim/Pesachim 3:1 commanded removal of all fermented drinks:
“These [things] are removed at Passover: B
(1) Babylonian porridge, (2) Median beer, (3) Edomite vinegar, (4) Egyptian
barley beer; C (5) dyers’ pulp, (6) cooks’ starch flour, and (7)
scribes’ paste. D R. Eliezer says, “Also: Women’s makeup.” E This
is the general principle: Whatever is made of any kind of grain, lo, this is
removed on Passover. F Lo, these matters are subject to a prohibition.
G But extirpation does not apply to them.” (Mishna Pesachim 3:1, 200 AD)
3. Christians: Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 11:27-29
a. "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight." (Acts 20:7)
b. "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly." (1 Corinthians 11:27–29)
4. Sunday, “First day of the Week”: Acts 20:7
a. "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight." (Acts 20:7)
5. Assembly “Sharing together” 1 Cor 10:16-17; 11:20-22
a. "Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread." (1 Corinthians 10:16–17)
b. "Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you." (1 Corinthians 11:20–22)
D. PUTTING THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF COMMUNION IN PRACTICE:
1. The Lord’s Supper requires all 5 elements present to be scriptural. This Biblical pattern speaks to two practices in the church regarding the Lord’s Supper.
2. Communion always requires an assembly of the local church.
a. God allows individual Christians to “forsake” the Lord’s Supper for the exact same reasons He allows them to “forsake” the assembly. Nobody faults an individual Christian for missing the church assembly if he is sick, thousands of miles from a sound church while travelling or on a boat cruise or if the government bans assemblies larger than 10 persons during the Coronavirus Pandemic. God approved exceptions from Sunday assembly also apply to communion.
b. This is further reinforced by the fact that hermeneutically, the frequency of the Lord’s Supper is determined by the frequency of weekly Sunday assembly. Another factor is if Jesus statement “where two or three are gathered” can be applied to individual families having “church at home” during the Coronavirus assembly ban. Local churches are organizational units with treasuries, plural qualified elders etc. Applying “two or three gathering” to individual families worshipping at home during the Coronavirus becomes further complicated when the husband is an unbeliever and the wife/mother is required to lead the “church service”.
c. Exceptional circumstances do not change the Biblical pattern. In AD 257 sprinkling replaced full immersion as brand-new practice justified by an exceptional circumstance when a man was on his death bed and could not be immersed. Exactly 500 years later in AD 757 sprinkling was approved by Rome in cases of necessity. Finally, in AD 1311 the Roman Catholic church was official born when sprinkling replaced full immersion in all cases. The slippery slope of except therefore, can lead to full blown apostacy. Having the Lord’s Supper at home while watching live church services through the internet has already led millions for over 60 years, to stay at home Sunday morning all year long and watch the TV evangelists.
d. The Coronavirus exception is a case of history repeating itself because many today believe watching church services on TV is a God approved replacements for weekly assembly, communion and freewill offerings. Be sure that some will justify private communion as a replacement of attending the Sunday service while on a weekend fishing trip citing the Coronavirus scenario of home communion.
3. The Biblical pattern provides guidance in the practice of the “second serving the Lord’s Supper Sunday night”.
a. If a church determines to offer it once Sunday morning, then those unable to attend are excepted from both the morning assembly and Communion that Lord’s Day.
b. If a church has a second service on Sunday night a few factors need to be considered.
c. If Communion is offered all should partake, not just those who “raise their hands” indicating they missed the morning service.
d. If all five elements are present twice on a single Sunday, nothing prohibits individual Christians from partaking twice. In fact, local preachers who lead 3 Sunday services in three different geographic locations at three different times (ie. 9 AM, 12 PM, 3 PM) routinely partake of the Lord’s Supper in all three churches.
e. On the other hand, it is perfectly acceptable for a local church to offer Communion only once Sunday morning but not during their Sunday evening service. However, if churches chose to offer of the Lord’s Supper twice on Sunday then all should partake twice, not just those absent from the morning service.
f. Finally, during winter months, most Sunday night services fall on the 2nd day of the week, Monday, because according to Jewish time, the day changes at Sunset. Sunday evening communion at 6 PM after Sunset may be unscriptural because it is being offered on Monday, not Sunday. The communion service in Acts 20:7 happened on Saturday night Roman time, which was the first day of the week Jewish time. Paul began to preach on the first day of the week (Saturday night) and continued past midnight, then they partook of Communion (v11). If this was a Sunday evening service, then communion in Acts 20:7 actually occurred on a Monday morning.
4. Midrashic misuse of the second serving of the Passover in Num 9 as authority for the second serving of Communion on Sunday in church:
a. “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean because of a dead person, or is on a distant journey, he may, however, observe the Passover to the LORD. ‘In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight, they shall observe it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ‘They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it. ‘But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the LORD at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin. ‘If an alien sojourns among you and observes the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.’" (Numbers 9:10–14)
b. Those who appeal to Num 9 are using the Midrashic hermeneutic of inference without knowing it. The problem is, they are misusing the Midrashic hermeneutic.
c. The Passover was eaten on Nisan 14 but it someone was unclean they were forbidden from partaking on Nisan 14 and were permitted to eat the seder meal one month later on Lyar 14.
d. Lyar 14 always falls on a different day of the week than Nisan 14 the same year.
e. The Passover was eaten privately once a year in individual homes, but the Lord’s supper is eaten communally while assembled every Sunday.
f. The Passover was an annual sabbath and the only exceptions were ceremonial uncleanness and being out of town and away from your home for either work, vacation or any other reason.
g. A person who was physically near their home was not exempted from the Passover because of work.
h. A sick person was not exempted because they would be laying I bed inside their home and could participate and eat along with his other family members who were not sick.
i. Non-covenant Jews were permitted to eat the Passover in private homes.
j. APPLICATION: Those who desire to use the Midrashic hermeneutic by appealing to Numbers 9 as authority for a second serving of the Lord’s supper must be consistent and cannot pick and chose which details in the text they will accept as a pattern and which they will ignore. If Num 9 is authority for a second serving of the Lord’s Supper, then individuals can partake of it privately on a different day of the week like Thursday. They must partake at home and alone. If they were out of town for any reason they are exempt. Those who miss the Lord’s Supper Sunday morning because of work, if they work in town are condemned and in need of repentance.
k. Conclusion: Numbers 9 cannot be used as instructive for a second serving of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday evening and doing so is a misuse of the Midrashic hermeneutic of inference.
5. A local church has options available regarding the second serving of communion:
a. Many local churches have three worship times: 10 AM, 11 AM and 7 PM Sunday.
b. A local church can determine to hold one, two or even three different worship services on a single Lord’s Day.
c. A local church can determine to offer the Lord’s supper in one, two or all three services.
d. If a local church determines to offer the Lord’s supper in one of its three services, all members are exempted from taking the Lord’s upper in the two services that where the Lord’s supper was not offered.
e. If a local church determines to offer the Lord’s supper in two or more of its Sunday services, all should partake as a unified congregation, not just those who missed it in the previous service.
f. We have direct Bible authority for Christians to partake of the Lord’s Supper more than once on the Lord’s Day.
g. A local church can determine to offer communion during the 11 AM Sunday service but not offer communion during the 10 AM and 7 PM Sunday service.
6. It is important that individual Christians need to be aware of these details and make up their own minds. What happens in the home is individual action and individual choice. God is blessed in all circumstances of individual choices in these matters. In congregational matters, we need to be more careful.
By Steve Rudd 2020: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
