Communion, Part III

It is interesting that God chose bread and wine to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ in communion as bread and wine are staples of almost every diet in the world. Whether rich or poor these elements are a chief part of our food supply. Just food for thought... no pun intended.

The bread and wine have two separate meanings in Passover. First, the Jews were delivered and protected by the blood from God's 10th and final punishment upon Pharaoh's kingdom. After this punishment where the firstborn children were all killed in the night, Pharoah finally let God's people go free. Set free as Christ set us free through His life, death, and resurrection.

The bread symbolizes life just as the blood represents protection of that life. After the Passover meal, the Jews would eat unleavened bread for 7 days to remind them of their time wandering in the desert. God provided them life and sustenance through manna or a bread-like substance that appeared on the ground in the morning. This is what they ate on a daily basis. Just as God provides bread to His people for their survival in a desert environment where food is scarce, so God provides us the body of Christ in a place where sin has separated us from our God. Just as the Israelites relied on God to provide them manna (bread) in the desert, so we rely on God to provide us bread from heaven which is the body of Jesus. This bread represents life and our reliance on God for our salvation and deliverance.

In performing communion, we remember God's redemption through His Son under the new covenant as the Israelites remembered their redemption under the old covenant during Passover. Remembering the suffering and cost the Lord Jesus paid upon the cross during communion has a spiritual impact on us as it strengthens our resolve and our compassion, not only for Christ but for others. The bread and wine (body and blood) are physical elements but they do indeed bring about spiritual change.

John 6:53
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

John 6:54
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:55
For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
John 6:56
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

John 6:47
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
John 6:48
I am the bread of life.

John 6:49
Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.
John 6:50
But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."