EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD
Friday – January 25, 2019, Sh’vat 19, 5779
Greetings dear partners and friends of Eastern Gate Ministries International and The Three Minute Word publication. The featured picture today is of the ruins of the Church at Sardis. You will no doubt recall that the seven churches which Jesus addresses in the Book of Revelation are all located in what is now modern-day Turkey. They are all in ruins and Islam is by far the predominate religion in that part of the world apart from Israel. How did that happen? Was it the plan of God, the will of God, all along for the Church to enter into perpetual disaster? Of course not! All authority rests with the Church and we have Holy Spirit to enforce this delegated authority. God is not going to go crossways our authority for that violates the Word and our freewill (given us of God). Looks like the devil does a real good job at deception to this very day and the Church chooses to be subject to his deception for we are not diligent in the Word of God. Brother and sister, it is all about choices. We, the Church, have chosen to maintain a mixture of the Kingdom of God (knowledge of good) and the world (knowledge of evil). Now, let’s go to our primary Bible Text for today’s study.
John 6:51-56 (KJV)
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Sin arises out of a corrupted mind and is expressed by the flesh. For example, the first act of fornication is in the mind and then expressed through the flesh (physical body) and the same is true for stealing, lying, and so on. Jesus was spirit, soul, and body just as we are spirit, soul, and body. His spirit was perfect, His soul (mind, will, emotions) were uncorrupted and thus He was sinless (by choice). His body matured (from a baby to an adult) but due to the absence of sin was uncorrupted (no sickness or disease). Let me ask a little mind-bending question. If Jesus was not to go to the Cross how long could He have lived on the earth in that natural body? If we would quit sinning how long could we live in our natural body on the earth? Now back to our lesson. When He was made sin for us, the sins were manifested in His body not because He sinned from a corrupted mind but the Father placed all sin upon Him. The wages of sin are death and so His spirit man died. However, his soul remained intact and uncorrupted thus in Hell He was able to point to His own innocent Blood and speak the Word, the Word of Prophesy that spoke of this day. So, His testimony, the Word of God concerning Him and His innocent Blood brought Him roaring out of Hell by the Father. God, the Father, then performed His Word restoring life to His dead spirit (dead for He was made sin). Jesus then went into the Bosom of Abraham and preached the gospel and they were saved by the Blood of the Lamb and the words of their testimony. Jesus was then resurrected for the dead given an uncorrupted body and all the Old Testament saints with Him. He then took them and His sinless Blood to Heaven and applied it to the Mercy Seat. He gave His body and His blood for us and in return we are to surrender our body and our life (blood) for Him. Let’s review a couple of Scriptures before we move on.
Leviticus 17:11 (KJV)
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Romans 8:2-3 (KJV)
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
We are to be dead to sin, he who is dead does not sin. I think as each of us review the following passage we can see that even as a Christian we choose to sin or not. Let us each one of us determine to make the choice not to sin at it’s first presentation. I recommend my book titled “Temptation” which can be obtained on Amazon for further reading on this topic. The key to not sinning is to not enter into the temptation at its first presentation.
Romans 6:10-14 (KJV)
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
We have the power by the Grace of God not to sin. Jesus took our sin. Just as He surrendered His body and Blood for us, we surrender our body and blood (life) to Him. We commemorate this whenever we take the Communion elements. The unleavened bread of the Communion elements represents the body of Christ and the grape juice represents the Blood of Christ. Likewise, we surrender our body for His use and our life (blood) for His purposes (dying to self). In ancient Israel the potential bridegroom (Jesus) would present himself and a goblet of wine (symbolic of blood) to the potential bride (you and me). He would give himself, his very life to her and present her with the goblet. If she accepted, she would pledge herself to him and partake of the goblet. The bride would make the same commitment to the groom that the groom made to her. I hope this has been useful in understanding a difficult section of Scripture.
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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