Communion

Many people view the sacrament that we call “communion” to be a ritual where we come to church and perhaps partake in once a month. Many of us are familiar with those dry crackers that taste like air, accompanied by the tiny cups that lack the proper amount of grape juice to help choke down the dry cracker. And thus, when we have finally endured it, we’re done “communing” with the Lord. While presenting a rather humorous description to this ordinance, please do not think that we are demeaning this necessary ordinance. We are merely presenting the monotony that can be associated with such a sacrament if not properly understood. There are others that view this as a way to attain some sort of Righteousness and esteem this as such a holy work, while never fully grasping the fullness of what is taking place through such an ordinance. We hope to break down walls of ignorance and traditions of men to explain the true meaning of this ritual that commemorates what man calls the “Last Supper.”

The word, “communion,” means: fellowship, association, community, joint participation, and intercourse. The writer’s personal favorite is this last word, not because it is a “sensual” word, but rather for the reason that it implies a level of intimacy with a God that we should not be allowed to experience with our God because of sin. We remind the reader of the words of Christ Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

In all ordinances that we may have partaken, (especially religious ones), we should always ask ourselves this question, “Why am I doing this, does it make sense to me.” For those things in which we don’t have understanding, we need to seek the Lord to show us the meaning in it and if it is even biblical. The act of taking communion is much like that of water baptism, it doesn’t save us, but there is an identification with Christ that should be taking place while we partake of it. The other question one should always ask is, “Does Christ and His Sacrifice for me fit into this somehow,” because if it doesn’t, it’s not the gospel of Christ, it’s some other gospel. “That I may know Him (like Adam “knew” Eve, which is intimately), and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil 3:10). We’ll discuss more about this scripture in chapters to come; as it is imperative to understand what part the death and resurrection play for us in our lives.

Just as we explained water baptism as though we were witnessing it ourselves, we’ll approach our visualization of the Last Supper as though we are actually there as well.

THE BREAD

We sit down at the table that has been prepared by the Lord for us. He stands and holds a piece of bread up, blesses it, then breaks it, and passes it out to us and says, “Take, eat; this is my Body,” (Mt 26:26), another account says, “This is my Body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” What is Christ saying here when He does this?

Let us stop and travel further back into the Old Testament story of the book of Exodus where God created “Passover?” As we arrive we see that Moses and Aaron have been going continually before Pharaoh, requesting that he might free the children of Israel from their enslavement to him. God told the Children of Israel to slay a lamb and smear it’s blood upon the doorposts and upper portion of the doorway of their homes (Exo 12). When the death angel is to come by each house, he will pass over their home if he sees the blood. Because of the blood, no one in the house will die.

Pharaoh in this story is supposed to be a prefigurment of Satan. Israel’s slavery is a symbol for our being in bondage to sin and death. The Lamb’s blood that was applied to the door was Christ’s Precious Blood. That’s why John the Baptist called Him, “The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29). When we receive Christ into our heart, He takes His blood and puts it upon the “door of our heart.” It is then that we are saved. When the Day of Judgment arrives, we will be passed over and will live forever in the Light of Life! Israel was also instructed to eat of this lamb that night. Christ is making a reference to this particular story, so that we might understand that He is the Lamb that is spoken of here.

For us to “eat” of this Body that was given for us and doing it in “remembrance” of Him, is to understand that we daily reap the spiritual benefits of what Christ has done for us at Calvary. It is like food for our soul, knowing that He took the beating in His Body that all sinners deserved, so that we wouldn’t have to. When we evidenced faith in Christ, through our initial salvation experience, we received something that God can feed us with everyday, all day long! We’re now saved and alive with Christ!

Many people like to argue that the “eating” would imply that we are to put our constant faith in the Cross-as our object of Faith. They would also imply that there is constant work that would be needed in order to maintain our position of saved or “in Christ,” and that is incorrect. Nothing that God does is dependent upon us. The only condition for salvation is that we receive the gift that God has sent by faith. There are not other requirements of God. The price that Christ paid was “once and for all.” It wasn’t a sacrifice that has to be made 3 times a day, nor is it only for some people, but it is for the entire world! Christ was the Sacrifice of all sacrifices. There is no need for Him to die again. If there is no need for Him to die again, then there is no need for us to have to depend on our workings of faith to keep us in good standing with God. We came into right standing with God when we accepted Christ into our hearts. Now, we are reminded daily that He is the Fulfiller of all that we could not do. Jesus is the Just One that God sees when He looks at us, He’s not looking at our own personal “right doing,” therefore, our salvation is secure in Christ and is Finished Work. All we have to do is trust that what Christ has done for us is enough! That should be food that satisfies our soul everyday, all day long!

Also, there is a term that we in America use that says, “You are what you eat.” The Word of God is filled with tons of spiritual meat, proclaiming over and over again in every story that we read of Christ, His Redemptive Power, God’s foreknowledge of our need for Christ’s Sacrifice, and the need for each of us to receive it. We can daily be filled and blessed by God’s Goodness and His Love for us through Christ. The more we become aware of the fact that we are seen before God as “In Christ,” and not by our own merit or behavior, the more we are able to be the sons and daughters that God has called us to be.

THE CUP

As Christ is still standing before us, He is holding up a cup. He’s given thanks for it and says to us, “Drink ye all of it” (Mt 26:27-28). This is another unfortunate translation that can make this verse read in a very confusing way. A Greek scholar named Kenneth Wuest translates this verse to read as, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the New Testament which in behalf of many is poured out for the putting away of sins” (Mt 27-28 translated). Basically, what Jesus is saying is that His blood will be poured out so that the entire human race will be reconciled unto God.

This “cup” that is spoken of could be described as the cup of wrath or indignation (Rev 14:10; 16:19) and the cup of blessing. It is the cup of God’s wrath poured out upon Christ, as the sins of the world enter into Him on the Cross. However, as we drink of this cup, it becomes the cup of blessing to us. He drank of the wrath that would have had to drink of. Instead, Christ exchanged with us so that we could reap the blessings of Salvation.

It’s awesome that Christ chooses something that we should “drink.” After we “eat” of the knowledge that we are saved through His broken body, then we can be refreshed in washing His vicarious death down with the understanding that we are sealed forever by His blood until the day of redemption (Eph 1:13).

There is an unending list of wonderful types and shadows throughout the Old Testament that foreshadow this very subject we are addressing. The Old Testament mentions the five offerings, two of which are the meat and drink offering. These were offered to God for forgiveness of sins, all of which spoke of what Christ would do for us, thereby putting an end to any further need of animal sacrifices (Lev 23:13, 18, 37; Num Chapters 6, 15, 28, 29, the list goes on). “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Heb 10:4).

Something else that is important to know about this “Eating and Drinking,” is that many covenants in the Old Testament were confirmed and sealed often times with eating, drinking, and blood (Exo 24:8-12). We’ll talk more about covenants soon, but it is imperative that we understand that what Christ is offering us in this “Supper” is a “Heavenly transaction.” He gives us in advance the receipt for a deposit that He is making into our account, before we even knew that we had an account with God. He hasn’t even gone to the Cross yet, but is stating that if we drink this blood, we will be receiving this “New Covenant.” These are very rich statements that Christ is proclaiming to us through this “Last Supper!”

There is so much that we could share about the communion “eating and drinking,” Christ, and what He has done for us. In effort to remain simplistic in explanation, we will refrain from sharing everything. We desire simply to show that when we received Christ into our heart, we received His salvation and preservation. When we take communion, we are being reminded of the intimacy we have with Christ as our Savior. He wasn’t asking us to simply “wear” what He had done, but rather to take it into ourselves and digest it. This speaks not of personal application of Christ, but digesting it and trusting that the Holy Spirit will give us the nourishment that we need to keep going in this life. We’ll get more into this later, but it’s imperative that we mention why Christ used the “eating and drinking” metaphor. Let us look to a portion of scripture that explains exactly what we are trying to present to the reader here. 1 Pet 2:24 says, “Who (Christ) His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, (what we are when we died with Him and are baptized into Him), should live unto righteousness (Christ’s Righteousness put into us), by whose stripes we are healed.” So Christ is seeking to show us that there is more than just a surface knowledge to have of Him. Our God is an intimate God that wants not to only be with us, He desires through Christ to be in us!

Finally, we’ll just cover a few more important verses on this subject. The Apostle Paul spoke about this, making mention of those who might eat and drink “unworthily,” that they “shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” This does not mean that if one has taken communion and not known all of the things that we have shared with you, that they were “eating and drinking damnation” unto yourself and are hell-bound. What Paul is stating here is that if someone doesn’t receive Christ into his or her own heart, then they are attempting to approach God on their own merit, of which is woefully inadequate and will never be received by God. This is Paul’s way of reaching out to the sinner and bidding them to partake of the One that can save them. Jesus said it like this, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you” (Jn 6:53). Translation: if one doesn’t receive what Christ has done for them on the Cross or they reject His Vicarious Death, they are going to be damned and cursed forever and forever.

Someone said it so well when they gave this scenario:

There is a man that lived his life the best way that he knew how. He never stole from anyone, always tried to be honest and loving to others. He gave to the poor and helped old ladies across the road when they needed it. He bought a local family that was poor a huge brand new wardrobe of clothing and set them up with a month’s worth of groceries to help them out. He had a family and treated his wife and kids well. However, this man rejected Christ and did not think that he needed Him to get to Heaven.

Another man lived a despicable life. He was a drug addict and a drunkard. He abused his wife and children. He never did a thing for anyone other than himself. In fact, everything that he did in his life was for selfish reasons. His life was lived solely for himself and no one else. Just before this man died, he accepted Christ into his heart.

Which man made it into Heaven? The one who accepted Christ and what He had done for him. It’s not about what we do; it’s about what He did for us!

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost

This is a subject that if never experienced or properly taught, it might very well confuse people. Many churches and teachers have erroneously taught that water baptism saves and is the only baptism. People from “Pentacostal” denominations teach that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is what saves and if you don’t speak in tongues then you are not saved. We were taught growing up that when we were baptized in water is when we received the Holy Spirit. This is partially true and partially false, but we would like to qualify that statement. If when you were baptized in water, you in your heart asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior at the same time, you may have been born again at that moment. However, someone that watched you get baptized at the very same moment could have asked the Lord into their heart as well, while they were not baptized in water and never have been. Both are saved, as we established in our last portion of teaching, water baptism is not what saves, Jesus is.

When it comes to the Holy Ghost, people seem to freak out over the Word, “Ghost” because they might not be accustomed to hearing that particular term. It is nothing to be afraid of. He’s not some mystical “being” like in “Ghost Busters,” or anything fictitious like that. It is real and it is of God. “Ghost” just means “Spirit or Spirit of God.”

There is a scripture that seems to cause confusion when there is teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit; “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, One faith, One baptism…” It is always the “one baptism” part that has thrown so many believers off. If the Word says that there is one baptism, how can there be another?

When we are baptized into Christ, it is like we are given a glass that we drink water from. This is how one could visualize being saved. That is no small thing, for we have been given water to drink when before we were depraved and dying of thirst, (like a flower wilting in a dry and barren land). But when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues, it is as though we have just taken a dive into a pool of water! Again, when saved, it’s like we drank, but when we receive the Holy Ghost and speak in an unknown language as evidence, we are consumed and submerged into Him in a much greater capacity. It could be referred to as a “greater manifestation” of the Spirit of God in our lives.

Some preachers like to state that one cannot be saved without it. That is incorrect and leads many people to a works-based religion, rather than into a deeper relationship with the Lover of their soul. One can be saved and never speak in tongues, but we will state that their life is not what it could be in Christ, than if they had received it.


What it’s not:

1. The baptism of the Holy Ghost with initial evidence of speaking in tongues is not of the devil. A lot of “dry” denominations like to either shy away from tongues or teach that it is “of the devil,” simply because they are either afraid of what they don’t understand or they are ignorant as to why God gave it to us.

Let’s address the “of the devil” accusations first. John the Baptist was chosen of God and set apart for the Lord’s use. The Bible says of John the Baptist that there was none greater among men than he was, (Mt 11:11, Lk 7:28).

We think we could also agree that Jesus was from God? What did the religious men of that day say of Him? The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out devils by the help of Satan! (Mt 12:24) Obviously, their accusation was false, since Jesus is God and not Satan.

Not everything that comes from Heaven is what we are able to understand with our intellect. In fact, often times it is our intellect that gets in God’s way. He says that the carnal mind is His enemy, He also states that His ways are Higher than our earthly ways. (Rom 8:7, Is 55:9) God says that no man can tame a man’s tongue, and yet God chooses something like that little member of our body, (the tongue) and uses it to bring forth praise and a prayer language that the human mind cannot translate without the help of the Holy Spirit.

What is the Holy Ghost baptism used for?

It is given to comfort and leading, bring rest, edify, and build up in faith:

In John 16 Jesus says that He would send us the “Comforter” which is the Holy Ghost, and we are told that He will comfort us and lead us into all truth. The Greek Word, “Comforter” means to summon or call to ones side to help. Christ says that when He went away to the Father that He would not leave us comfortless, but that He will come unto us.

He brings us the rest and refreshing that Isaiah prophesied of when he said, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to his this people. To whom he said, This is the rest ye may cause the weary to rest: and this is the refreshing:” and it is also stated at the end of that verse, that there were some that would not hear this saying from the Lord. There are many people today that for one reason or another have not sought to receive this very treasured gift that God has given, which is a true tragedy. Why wouldn’t we want to have everything that Jesus died to give us?

In the book of Jude, he says that we are to “build up our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost.” This edifies us as an believer and it builds up our faith. There are times that we don’t know what to say to God, what to pray, or what we need. But the Holy Spirit knows what it is that is needed in every situation. In Rom 8:26 we read that, “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We can be dependent upon the Lord through this gift that He can pray through us or others His precise will for our lives and situations. That is a good thing to know.

Is it just for the Apostles?

No, that is what a lot of unbelieving believers would say, because they are usually ignorant of what it is and how He works through this gift. We can see that it was poured out upon more than just the apostles, (Acts 2:2-4, 11). Peter also went to Cornelius’ house in Acts 10 and Cornelius (a gentile) was baptized and everyone that was with them. In fact, the only apostle mentioned there is Peter. When Paul addresses the church of Corinth about the use of this gifting, he urges them to do all things in order because in the middle of a service, someone would stand up and give a tongue, then another, and another. There would be no interpretation brought forth and it was not edifying to the body, since no one knew what was being said, so Paul urged them to be in order, but not to forbid speaking in tongues. None of these people were so called “apostles,” yet they had the gift. Then there is Apollos who was saved and preached the good news of Jesus Christ, (Acts 19:1-6) was asked by Paul, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” The man said that he didn’t know what it was. He then told Paul that he was water baptized (“John’s baptism”), and Paul told him to believe on Christ and he would receive the Holy Ghost. He received it and spoke with other tongues.

In continuing to use the example of Apollos, we would like to bring up something important. We stated in the last paragraph that Apollos was saved when Paul met him, but how would we know that? In Acts 18:25, the Bible states that he was, “fervent in the spirit,” and that he had been instructed in the ways of the Lord. We looked up the word, “fervent” and it means “boiling hot,” let the reader understand that anyone that is truly born again will be “on fire” for the Lord, desiring to share this new found love with anything that has ears. Sinners do not do this. Unsaved people are not fervent about sharing the things of the Lord with anyone, in effect, unbelievers are usually very uncomfortable and disinterested when it comes to talking about the Gospel of Christ. Just because he didn’t necessarily understand everything that happened when he got saved, it doesn’t mean that he wasn’t saved. We bring this up because there is no evidence that anyone received the baptism of the Holy Spirit without first being saved. They could have “believed on Him” for the first time ever, gotten saved and simultaneously been filled with the Holy Ghost. But we’ve never seen where someone received the Holy Ghost that was not either previously or simultaneously born again. You can’t receive the Holy Ghost and not be a believer in Christ, it’s just not possible.

Who is it for?

Anyone can receive it! One can receive salvation and/or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the same manner we would receive anything from God, by simple faith in Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice for us on Calvary.

How do I receive this gift?

First of all, one would need to believe. We can’t receive anything from God that we don’t believe in. There’s really not a whole lot to do accept ask Him for it, thank Him for this gift, and allow Him to have His way. Yielding to the Holy Spirit is probably one of the hardest things for humans to do, but in our submission, God can bring forth excellent blessings that we could never have imagined.

Some people teach that someone must lay hands on the one desiring this gift, but that is not true. God can fill someone with the Holy Ghost, while they are driving down the road in their car, standing in line at a store, or walking the dog down the road. Being in a church setting or at an altar with others is not required, although for some people it is more comforting. The truth is, God will respond to our hunger. If we truly desire this gift in our lives, God can fill the person right away! Everyone’s experience in receiving it is a personal and individual experience for them, because we serve a personal God.

How do I know if I have it?

There are some that are confused and may feel like they already have this gift, but they really are not sure. The easiest way to know is this: “I don’t know, would be a no.”

We’re sure that there might be other questions that people might have regarding this gift, but the real answer will always come from the Lord Himself. Even after reading all of this, there might still be some few that are skeptical about “tongues,” feel that they don’t want it, or are just unsure. We pray that the Lord begin to move on your hearts where this is concerned though. Don’t totally rule it out, just because you are unsure of it. Seek the Lord and ask Him to show you more about it. We pray whether the reader wants it or doesn’t want it, that God fill you anyway because “every good gift comes from above,” and anything that God would have to give us we want, that it might bless our lives.

Identified with our Groom

"Where we first met"

Often times, when talking with other people and “the Lord” might come up in our conversations, we are all reluctant to think that we know all that there is to know about our salvation experience. However, my husband and I have learned through our years in serving the Lord that all too often these are what we find: either people think that they are going to Heaven when it could be obvious they are not Christ’s, or they are truly saved but are not actually secure in that position. Both would be a huge tragedy, on one hand the sinner dies believing they will be granted Heaven, only to burn in eternal darkness and anguish forever. On the other hand the believer lives a life on earth of total defeat, not every laying hold on the truth that could have forever set them free and enabled them to have the victory over sin. Why is it that both are deceived? One reason is because no one has ever explained to them the mechanics of their salvation. In this chapter, we aim to explain the truths and some fallacies about the salvation experience, in hopes to shine some light and make clear what has possibly been a confusing and jagged journey of life.

Wouldn’t it be great if when folks get saved there was just some outward sign that could just let everyone know, “Hey, I’m saved?” Like, a red mark in our foreheads, or perhaps we all walked a certain way, or maybe we could just have this little golden halo that would just hover above our heads. Then we would know for sure, especially those Christians that might have or could be doubting their salvation. One could be hearing the insistent, discouraging voice of our enemy slandering us in our minds, telling us that we aren’t saved. If we had that outward sign, we could just run to the mirror and wham, there’s the answer, “Golden halo above my head, yep, I’m still saved.” Unfortunately we aren’t afforded such obvious evidences of our faith. Then how exactly do we know (to those of you whom are sure about your faith and where you stand with God, just bare with us as we try to help others). This may not seem like such a problem to those that are completely certain, but for those of us that have been tried with fire, tempted, beaten down, depressed, oppressed by the devil, (having not lived the kind of life that we always thought we could have in Christ), we’re the group that needs a little more explanation in this area.

Let’s start with the subject of baptism. Some people have been told that if they were water baptized, then that means that they are saved. There are others that teach that you’re not really saved until you get baptized in the Holy Ghost, with the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. Both are wrong and we’ll explain why through scripture.

Water baptism is an ordinance that the church uses, and we could safely say that it is in fact something that each believer should do, but it isn’t what saves one from sin. If it were, then all we would need to do is go dunk ourselves in the bathtub or a pool and we’d be saved. Have we forgotten one very important subject in this equation if this is the case? What need then would we have for Jesus in all of this? The next refute we usually hear at this point is “Well, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and we’re supposed to follow Him, so that proves it, right? Wrong again, we as Christians need to be able to effectively explain these things to people so that they understand what their Bible truly says. If we don’t know what it says then why do we do these things? We give the devil a foothold to come in and get folks really off track when we erroneously teach things that have not been revealed by the Holy Spirit to us personally. Ignorance is one of the biggest hindrances to God’s children, as well as those who are soon to become His children.

As we turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 3, let’s begin in verse 11 and go through verse 17. John the Baptist is the forerunner of Jesus, and was sent particularly for two major purposes: First, to baptize Jesus Christ, and secondly to formerly announce Christ’s purpose as He comes on the scene to officially enter into His ministry. Has anyone ever wondered why Jesus was baptized? It’s imperative that we establish who Jesus actually is in more detail before we can answer that question.

Jesus Christ is not just an ordinary man. He is actually the God-man, the Creator disguised as a mere man, Whom is all of the fullness of the Godhead in every manner. He is Righteousness lived out for all men to see, He literally defines Perfection in every way. At Mt. Sinai, when God gave the Ten Commandments, (and later when the 613 laws were also written), God defined what He expected man to do in order to be “right” in His sight. However, mere man could have never kept all of those laws, let alone one of them for a lifetime. Jesus is the ONLY fulfiller of those laws! In every way, He walked perfect and holy before God, (in word, thought, and in deed), because He was God. Even though He was God, having all power, He didn’t use that power (Jn 1(:11). If Christ had used His power and acted as God and not man, then it would have disqualified Him from being the perfect sacrifice for man’s sins. He was never to step outside of the boundaries of being man. This is why the devil tempted Him in the desert by saying “If thou be the son of God…” (Mt 4:3, 6). Satan’s true intention was to get Christ to act as God and not as man. That word “If” is actually an unfortunate translation, for how it really should read is, “Since you be the Son of God…” A mere man (Adam) sinned and brought all of humanity under the domination of sin, therefore Christ had to come, live, and behave in the same manner, (although sinless) that the entire world could be saved.

We now know that Jesus = God. In Mt 3:11, John says, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but one mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Not all of the accounts state it exactly this way, some say with fire, some do not (Mt 3:11, Mk 1:8, Lk 3:16, Jn 1:26). The point we are trying to make is this: John states that he is baptizing people in water “unto repentance,” and then speaks of the One to come that we shall all need to be baptized of. Then in verses 14 and 15 John tells Jesus that he can’t baptize Him, rather that he (John the Baptist) needs to be baptized of Jesus. And Jesus tells him that they need to do this so they can “fulfill all Righteousness.” Has anyone ever questioned the Lord about this wording and sought to know why He would choose to do such a thing? This doesn’t make sense, does it? We should ask ourselves this very important question, “Does Jesus need to repent for anything?” No, because He is Righteousness in all it’s visual and invisible fashion!

This became a dilemma to the writer, as it was a struggle to understand the true importance of such an action (water baptism). We’re going to step back from this scene, as though we are bystanders on the side of the Jordan watching these events unfold, so let’s hit the pause button for a moment:

If we think back to what happened at the fall in Eden, what transpired there that day we find that because of sin, man was officially separated from the presence of God. Can we visualize the distance that now would exist between God and man? We can’t be with God, (due to our sin) and He can’t be near us for the same reason. We find ourselves faced with a huge problem, where do we meet? It’s like marrying a bird and a fish, where do they build their home? How do you merge a Holy, Righteous, Pure, Powerful, Omnipotent God with lowly, dung covered, grave clothed, depraved and utterly pathetic sinners. How do two such unlikely groups become one?

It is in the person of Jesus Christ that we become one. But not by Him alone, for it is not in the powerful and yet humbled Jesus that we find our meeting place with God. There was a place that was foreordained and it was on a hill in Jerusalem called “Golgotha,” where Heavenly Worhsip was postponed, that God might take time out and free the sinning slaves that He calls His children.

Many people believe the empty tomb to be the place of victory for the believer, but that is woefully incorrect and only a small part of the Gospel of Christ. For when we look ahead to the book of Revelation we find that our Blessed Savior is not referred to as “the One that rose from the dead, not even as the First Fruits unto God, but as “the Lamb” (Rev 5:6; 7:10; 14:10; 19:9; 21:22-23; 22:1,3).

As we push play again on the player, we’re standing along the banks of the Jordan, we see the Hope from Heaven has come down to meet us, in order than He might die for His beloved bride.

To better explain the significance of water baptism, we’d like to give an example of what it truly represents. Let’s use the wedding ring as an example, shall we? When a man and woman get married, (in our culture), they usually present each other with rings as a symbol of their marriage. It is something that is worn on our person to remind them of the covenant they’ve made between each other. It also shows others that they have entered into covenant. The same is what we see with water baptism. Although Jesus had not yet married His Bride, by His submersion in water, He was making an outward statement, (as though to present His Bride with the ring), stating that He is going to make this covenant with us. In turn, we receive our ring when we do the same. This is not the actual covenant that we make with Christ, for it is only a symbol of our marriage with Him. Just as the wedding ring that we wear is not the literal marriage to our earthly spouse, but rather a mere symbol of the marriage.

Christ displayed outwardly through water baptism what He would do for us at Calvary. It was as though He were preaching the gospel without words! As He stood there waiting to be immersed in water, He was a tangible expression of Total Perfection. When He passed down into the water and was fully submerged, it was a type of death. He was forced to hold His breath while there, (just as when we are in our mother’s womb), we were alive with no breath in our lungs yet. As Christ immerged from the “figurative” grave / womb, He demonstrated His resurrection from the dead.

Likewise, upon our immersion in water, we would be openly professing outwardly what we desire for Him to do inwardly in our lives. As we stand, waiting to be immersed, begin as a total sinner .Upon full submergence into the water, we identify with what Christ did for us at Calvary. This would be, our “death with Him.” When we come out of the water, it typifies our being raised in the Newness of Christ’s life, not our own. We’ll explain more on this here shortly.

So then, are we saved by water baptism, not hardly!, We are however doing so that we may identify publically with Christ while reciprocating an outward showing (like a wedding ring exchange) with our Wonderful Savior who died and paid the sin debt for us. What an awesome God that we serve!

Mysterious Narrative of Adam & Eve

As we address the events transpiring between Adam and Eve, we have beautiful treasures hidden within this little story, one that involves the Christ and His beautiful Bride.

Imagine Adam as a prefiguring of Jesus Christ, and Eve to be a typology of Christ’s Bride. If we go back, reexamining this story we’ll find where we fit into this story, and be able to apply this to a spiritual aspect of our lives. In unfolding some of the dynamics of the Word of God, we hope that the Holy Spirit will reveal to the hearts the true value of God’s impeccable wording and illustrations given, in order that His Love for us might be gleaned by us, His Bride.

Let us once again journey back to the garden and envision ourselves as His Bride and not as mere Christian believers. Let’s see our Christ not only as our God and Savior, but as the knight in shining armor, sent to sweep His Bride off of her feet, (this is not just to women, but men and women alike).

Adam was created from the dirt of the earth, as we have read in Genesis 2. Christ was God, coming to earth in the likeness of flesh like every human being before Him (John 1:14). One could describe the incarnated Christ as God’s Spirit of Life robed in flesh, for God is a Spirit (John 4:24). If there were ever a face to put on God, it would be Jesus, who is Love revealed and published openly for all to see.

In Genesis 2:21, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, so also was Christ after what transpired on the Cross (His death could be seen as a "deep sleep"). He was buried in a tomb for 3 days before He was raised in resurrection power. Here is one great portrayal of Christ that’s been hidden in this series of events.

When we look at how God created Eve , she is built from Adam’s rib, and in the original Hebrew the word “rib” actually means: rib or side. If we look at Christ upon the Cross of Calvary, the Apostle John tells us that one of the soldiers used a spear to pierce Christ’s side and out poured blood and water. In seeking the answer as to why the Holy Spirit mentioned this particular occurrence, the Lord showed us that just as man is born by blood and water from his mother’s womb, Christ’s bride was born from his side. For it is through His Sacrifice that we are “born of the water and of the Spirit.” For it is through our faith in this sacrifice on our behalf that we are cleansed from our sins while continuing to drink of Him. Only through the shedding of His Precious blood do we have the right to receive His Spirit of Life, (John 19:34,J Jn 3:5, 1 Jn 5:3-8). Christ actually is the Living water for us to drink of, and the Life, as Leviticus 17:11 informs us that the “life of the flesh is in the blood,” in reference to Christ’s Life giving blood. If we have believed on Him that God has sent and received Him into our hearts, then we are officially made His Bride.

With further examination, we can see that our sin made us aware of our nakedness before God, that’s why Adam hid in the garden after he ate of the forbidden tree (Gen 3:7). The Bible stated in Genesis 2:25 that they were both (Adam and Eve) naked and unashamed, why would God put that there? God wanted us to see that Christ took the shame of our nakedness upon the Cross. Christ was stripped naked for the whole world to see (Mt 27:35), and took that shame for us instead (Heb 12:2). At the very moment that one believes on this Jesus that died at Calvary, they are united with Christ, becoming one with Him. In becoming one with Christ, our hearts like all things, are naked and exposed to Him. However, in the presence of our Beloved Groom, they are covered because of the nakedness that He bore on our behalf, our sins being washed away forever. And walking in God’s Grace, we will continue to remain naked before our Savior, but we will always be unashamed. Instead of hiding like Adam did, it is a pleasure to bear our lives and hearts like an opened book before the Lover or our Soul.

Now let’s look at Eve: we’ve already established that she was birthed (born again) from her husband’s side, (Through the sacrifice on Golgotha’s Hill). She came from the man’s side (Christ’s Sacrifice), and by no other way. Anyone that says that they are going to Heaven but has not put their faith in Christ’s sacrificial death for them on the Cross, is no Bride of Christ’s. The Bible describes Christ as the one that must first be partaker of the fruits he labors for (2 Tim 2:6), it’s no coincidence that the Lord is referred to in this verse as the “Husbandman,” but more on that later. Just as Adam was Eve’s leader, so Christ is the Head of the Church, because Christ was made first (1 Cor 15:23, 1 Tim 2:13, Eph 5:23, Col 1:18).

Next, we can see that since Christ had to die for us before we could live spiritually, 1 Tim 2:14 tells us that it was not Adam that was deceived, but rather it was Eve that was “in the transgression.” Women generally dislike these scriptures that we are mentioning, (the ones that mention that the man is the head of the woman as Christ is the Head of the Church, and it was the woman that was in the transgression and not the man), and the truth is, the reason that we get offended at this, is because we do not truly understand the part that the Cross plays in our marriages and relationships. If we could seek God to know more about Him and His sacrifice for us, as we gain revelation of this Lost Message in our own lives and we will find that every relationship will work and flow smoothly. We also should note that the aforementioned scripture clearly states that Adam was not deceived, why is this important? If Adam is a type of Christ, then we can see that Christ was not in sin, nor had He ever sinned in His life of thirty-three and a half years, but rather, He took upon Himself all of our sin. The reason that Adam took of the forbidden fruit was two-fold: first of all, he and his bride were “one flesh”, if she partook of it then he was obligated to take part as well. Secondly, he ate the fruit because he couldn’t leave his bride alone, he loved her so much that he couldn’t bare to be separated from her. See, if Adam (Christ) had never eaten of it, Eve (We) would have been cast forth into eternal darkness and he (Christ) would have lived forever without his bride (us). Sin cannot exist where God and His Holiness abode. Adam (Christ) suffered with his wife (us), taking the punishment upon himself, because of the deep love that he had for her. (2 Cor 5:21)

In Adam

In a closer examination of Adam, we need to assess what Adam possessed within himself, (for it is through Adam that the human race was born.) First of all, Adam’s purpose in life was four-fold:

1. He was created to have fellowship with and be in Oneness with God, his Father and Creator.

We must understand that Adam had full fellowship with God when he began, God talked with him, he heard God’s voice and instruction, he was not afraid of God but rather could be considered to be his son and friend. Fellowship with God required no effort on Adam’s part, but rather, it was simply given to him as a gift. This relationship actually became part of who he was, and his complete consciousness of God was consistent and ongoing.

Being made in the Image of God, he was created to be perfect, beautiful, sinless, with total God consciousness, and the full knowledge that he is loved, in total freedom, knowing he is complete and in Oneness with God. What could be better than that?


2.God gave Adam a job and that was to dress the garden – Genesis 2:15.

God put the desire in Adam to work, but it was effortless work, the yoke was easy and to “dress” and keep the garden God had given him was meant to be a pleasurable task for him.

When God gave Adam the land, he gave him a job to “dress it and keep it.” The word “dress” here in the Hebrew means to labour, work, serve. The next word we would like to look at is “keep” : to guard, observe, protect, treasure, and preserve. In effect Adam was to take care of this garden as if it were precious to him.


3. To bring forth sons and daughters unto God, (of course with Eve’s help – Genesis 2:18).

Procreation was a great purpose for Adam, for it included the help of his wife Eve in order to do so, and they were to fill the entire earth with sons and daughters that were to grow up in the image of God and for the purpose of God.

With Adam being given the ability to procreate, (which was a gift from God to man), for it gave him the ability to bring forth something, like God had. God created man in His Image, now man would have this “god-like” attribute, bringing forth children of God. At this point, Adam and Eve have not been intimate yet, the bible is clear about that, for it wasn’t until Genesis 4:1 that they begin to procreate. At the time in which we refer to before the Fall of man, Adam held in his loins the seeds to all of humanity. At this point, the entirety of the human race was going to be perfect, sinless, and living in the same manner that Adam and his wife were.

4. Have dominion (rule) over every bird of the air and everything that moves upon the earth (Genesis 2:18).

Everything that Adam could see, he was to have dominion or rule over. That means that all things were to obey him, it was all created for his use and purpose. One could say that as all things were brought into subjection to Adam (mankind), that since he was in fact living for the purposes that God created him for, he was doing the will of his Father.

Adam and Eve were to rule over all of the aforementioned things: birds of the air and everything that moves upon the earth. That was huge! That means that God basically created the entire planet and just gave it to this man and his wife!! Since man was at total oneness with God, this would be no difficult feat though. Man had God’s voice and Divine assistance if at all needed. He had nothing to worry about.

Everything was going great, as we all know, life is NOT what we have just read. What caused such a thing to occur? Most of us know what happens next. The serpent, (which typifies the devil) tempts Eve to eat from the tree in which God commanded them not to, he twists God’s words that God spoke, she doesn’t remember the exact wording of God’s command. The serpent tells her that she and Adam will become like gods and know good and evil like God does if she eats of it. She partakes, shares with her husband, they both fall into sin, (having disobeyed God’s only rule), and it’s downhill from there!

Now their eyes are opened, they both realize that they are naked, but they don’t want God to know that they are naked so they find the worst possible leaf to cover themselves with. With fig leafs sown together, they also hide behind a bush from God when they hear His Voice, God gets Adam to admit what has happened and starts handing out the consequences of their actions. God kills an innocent animal in order that they might be properly covered and casts them out of Paradise, not allowing them back in the garden.

Man loses everything that he had known previously: He lost his oneness with God and is now separated from a Holy God by his sin. Now the garden that he once kept effortlessly has become hard labor and work that has to be done on his own, for his former father will not provide those things for him anymore. His children will now be made in the likeness of sinful Adam and Eve instead of after the perfect image of a Holy God. Now, since in his loins existed every human being that would ever live, we are all in a fallen and sinful nature at birth. Because of one man’s offense toward God, we are now damned and cursed, cast out of God’s presence forever and forever. The dominion that they had over the earth, is gone. God is no longer their Heavenly Father, they are now a father of the devil, we are all satan’s spawn so to speak. We have no blessings following us, our lives are hard, our morals corrupt and when we are born, we are born dying instead of living forever.

This is the revised version of events, all of which we come back to in a while and examine in more detail, but we want the reader to notice the turn of events that has occurred.

It wouldn’t seem as though eating of that silly little tree would have been something that would have created such havoc as it did. Do we really and truly understand how very deep the fall really was? Can the human mind actually fathom the eternal greatness that God had originally intended for us?

Adam was created to live forever, but after the fall he lived to be 930 years old. The average life for a United States citizen is not to exceed 75 years of age. Adam’s acquaintance with perfection gave him many years of life. When speaking to anyone over 20 years of age these days, we can all safely admit that life is not presently like it was “when we were kids.” When we look around the world, it seems to be getting worse and worse. Violence, murders, abuse, pain, suffering, poverty, sickness and disease, hate crimes, addictions and vices, sexual lifestyles and habits, and so many other things seem to be getting increasingly more sinful. When we look around, we don’t see much of anything in the behavior of the majority that reflect the perfection what we all visualize Heaven to be like in our minds.

Fortunately for us, God was so in love with His creation that He made provision for mans' tangled web of mistakes.

Laying the Foundation

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

There are many things that we strive to examine, in order that the foundation for which the entire Gospel of Christ is built upon. In this chapter, we’ll backtrack to the beginning of time and the creation of man, revealing and discussing the occurrences that took place, what was spawned, and where we go from there. We generally use the King James Version of the Bible for our references that we will be making, perhaps any verse by verse translation will be of help to any reader, (American Standard Version, or Young's Literal Translation are good). We have found that all paraphrase versions of the Bible only lead believers to confusion instead of truth.

In the beginning was God. He was, is, and always will be. He is independent of us, although we are not independent of Him. He had need of nothing, and yet created all He did for His pleasure and because He could.

A popular question that is often asked not only by Christians, but also by those that are not yet in relationship with the Lord, is “why did God create us.” My husband’s answer to this question has always made me smile, “Because God wanted a family.

” If there is a God, why is there so much evil? If there is not a God, why is there so much good?” –St. Augustine

These are healthy questions that deserve to be answered. We address such questions because there are not only many unbelievers that pose such things, but also doubting Christians.

God did not create this present world to be filled with the evil, deceit, pain, sufferings, plagues, railings, etc as we witness daily. What He originally created was Paradise, what we would consider to be Heaven in our own thought processes, (no bills, no pain, no tears, no death, no poverty or sickness, no hate crimes or murders), but a life where everything was beautiful, more colorful than our eyes can behold, utter perfection and hearts filled with total contentment, comfort and peace, joy unspeakable and full of glory, bigger and better, higher and more elaborate than the human mind could ever begin to fathom.

When He created this earth, it was spun into orbit along with everything else, for the shear purpose of providing an atmosphere that we could live, breathe and have our being in, complete with not only everything we could need, think, or ask for, but also giving us total Oneness with Him as our Creator. If we stop and ponder that for a moment, none of it was created for His needs, remember that He is independent from all things and yet Creator of all. He made it all for us, not Him. He not only created us to exist IN HIM, but also to be in relationship with Him as well.

It is mind boggling to think of such things, for we have never been able to experience such peace, brightness, glory and utter completeness. We can attribute all of the pain, suffering and aforementioned cons to our first parents for messing it all up for us. God created them perfectly as well, sinless and in His Image.

Let us travel over to the Garden of Eden where man was created and see if we can paint the picture for the reader, that they too might be able to comprehend the scripture:

God has just taken the first 6 Days of Creation and made all that man’s environment and living quarters for eternity. Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Man is made and given breath, he is now alive and aware of his surroundings. As he looks around, God has made Heaven and Earth, clouds, the Sun and Moon, the earth and seas have been named and separated, man has groundwater and the atmosphere above him, along with mist that comes up from the ground every day. He has every seed that is brought forth and is able to see grass, trees of every kind as he looks around, full of every fruit, nut, all of the “meats of trees and plants” imaginable. Every animal is there for his naming pleasure and companionship. Not only does God give him all of it to rule over, God also decides to give him a companion that is like man, in man’s image.

God tells Adam that he can eat of any tree that is in the garden, except this one that is called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Then God puts Adam in a deep sleep and takes out one of his ribs from his side, that He might build him a woman. Then when God is done, He closes up Adam’s side and presents to him the woman, one that is in Adam’s likeness.

Adam looks at her and says, “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”

Then the Bible states, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:23-25).

If we look at the image in which Adam was created, it was God’s. God has attributes about Himself, He has personality, feelings and emotions, God is a Person. He displays anger, wrath, love, He can be grieved at times, and He even pities us as His children. The reason we bring this up, is a lot of people like to think of God as this untouchable “being,” way up in the sky that lacks emotion, but nothing could be further from the truth. He is a Person and created us to be in His Image, (other than sinful attributes, of which He has none), we are like Him in many respects.

Eve, Adam’s wife however, was made in the likeness of Adam. She too, was made in the image of God, but she came from Adam, (not from Heaven, not from the dirt like Adam had), but from the his side or rib. There is something more intimate about the creation of Eve, in comparison to that of Adam. When we study the language of the old testament, which is Hebrew, it even bears out that Adam was formed or fashioned, where Eve was built up, more on that in a moment.

Adam looks at his wife and notices that she is like him, acknowledges that she came out of him, that’s how he recognizes her, as his. Then the Word of God very interestingly states that Adam will leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, then they two will become one. Also interesting that God says that they were both naked and were unashamed. These statements are pregnant with meaning, of which we will try to elaborate on as we continue.

With Adam being made in God’s Image, and Eve being made in Adam’s image, we see that these three are one. If God is in and with Adam, and Eve is of and with Adam, then both Adam and Eve are One, and together all three have become One in this manner. By this we are able to see that in the beginning there is total oneness with God.

Introduction

The Bible is what we believe to be the greatest love story ever written. Ensconced in it's pages is everything that we could ever need to know about God, our purpose in life, and how we are to live while we are here on this earth. This book is more than just empty words on a page, it is one of the greatest blessings that we have been given by the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately, a fallacy has been presented to the majority of the reading world by inducing a view of it being a manuscript comprised of rules and lists of do's and don'ts; promoting perfect obedience or there will be consequences of eternal damnation and fiery angry flames from a mean and hateful God. As a result, the majority of Christians and the unsaved will either run the opposite direction or they will attempt to live up to these ridiculous demands, both leaving their eternal fate hanging in the balances. Either way, what was given to aid mankind becomes his biggest hindrance and it's true purpose is never fulfilled, which is for us to know the Author of the Bible.

Not only has the book in which God has written been presented incorrectly, God Himself is grotesquely misrepresented. He is either seen as a tolerant "being" that doesn't care how people behave or one that sends destruction and disease in order that He may torture humanity. The worst part about these two views of God, is that neither are accurate descriptions. Oddly enough the main propagators of this view comes across the pulpits, and not from the secular community. Unbelievers whom have never encountered the God of the Bible don't know what to expect or who He is, rather they are often dependent upon those whom claim to know Him to find out.

What could be the cause of such disaster? Why do we have a world full of lost people that don't know Christ? In years of living for the Lord and being in various church circles, it is apparent that the world is lost, we dont know who God is, and even the Church has a skewed view of God and his perfect intentions for our lives.


Unbelievers are remaining forever lost and eternally damned, while the church appears to be miserably saved, never fully shining the Light of Christ as the beacon by which the "lost ships" are lead safely Home. Mere observation has shown this through personal experience, which is the main premise for writing that which we are presently reading. Our hope is that the Spirit of God will once again move upon the darkened and blinded places of the hearts of the people and bring forth Life Everlasting as a result. God never intended for life mankind to live under such conditions as we currently do.

There is hope. Hope for the lost soul that doesn't know how to get out of the endless cycle of the self-destructive life they lead, full of bad choices, regurgitated pain caused by themselves and those that they are subjected to. On the other hand, the Christians that live a life of daily defeat, desiring to gain the victory that Christ has already placed within them, does not know how to tap into it and leads them to doubt their salvation. Dearly Beloved, there is hope in the midst of the storm. Don't lose heart. The Lord is very near. The answer that we search for is contained in the Love Letter we call the Holy Bible.

In this book, we desire to present some truths that might aid in walking a plain path to Heaven, full of the Joy of the Lord that is unspeakable. For all of the issues of life, God's still reaching out a nail scarred Hand, proclaiming the Lost Message of the Cross to a lost and dying world, and to a brusied and battered Bride. Just know as we begin on this journey to victory, that God loves you and intends the best for you. Before the foundations of this world, God saw you and He made a way to wholeness, joy ,and victory to whosoever will believe.