As believers in Christ, we have the privilege of participating in communion. We partake of bread and wine, or other drink, as a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood on our behalf.
Communion is not just for church gatherings. It can be done anywhere, and as often as you would like to meditate and receive from the life-giving body and blood of Jesus. There are no hard and fast rules as to the elements. You can use water if you don’t have juice. I use small round oyster crackers for the bread.
Here are some powerful thoughts to meditate on as we participate in communion:
1) The word “commUNION” invites us to come into “UNION” with Christ. The Bible says Jesus BECAME OUR SIN AND OUR CURSE, which means He became one with us by putting our sin and the curse of our sin into His sinless, perfect body. The curse includes ALL sickness, mental torment, shame, as well as many other things listed in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
This is just my personal opinion, but I believe Jesus literally took our sin and curse into His body in the Garden of Gethsemane when He drank from the cup mentioned in Matthew 26:39: “Going a little further, He fell to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'”
“God made Him who knew no sin to be MADE sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having BECOME a curse for us, for it is written; ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'” Galatians 3:13
During communion, as we bite down on the bread, we remember how Christ took our sin and our brokenness into His body. As we consume the bread, we see ourselves now as one with His righteousness and wholeness. He took our sin and curse into His body, and now we take Him, our “Bread of Life,” into our body.
2) After Jesus became our sin, He then allowed His body to be beaten beyond human recognition and nailed to a cross. He would now pay with His own blood the price for our sin that He took into His body.
His blood poured out for us as His back was shredded 39 times with a whip laced with bits of bone. This is mentioned in 1 Peter 2:24 where it says, “By His stripes we have been healed.”
A crown of thorns was shoved down into His scalp. Spikes were driven into His hands and feet, and He was pierced in His side with a spear. His sinless blood completely satisfied the wrath of God, paying the penalty of every sin, not only for each of us, but for all mankind-past, present, and future (1John 2:2)!
After spending three days and nights in hell, Jesus took back the keys to death and hell as mentioned in Revelation 1:18. He had a public parade in hell of His triumph over satan (Colossians 2:15) and was resurrected back to life! When He returned to His Father’s throne, He literally sprinkled His shed blood on the mercy seat for every sin and every curse of sin (Hebrews 12:24).
I believe every drop of His blood had been collected and not one drop was wasted. Imagine in your mind hearing the sizzle as each drop extinguished sin’s power and curse over us forever!
3) Jesus then sat down at the right hand of His Father. Because we are IN HIM, we are seated there as well (Ephesians 2:6). Now every time we approach our Father’s throne, He sees us covered in the precious, sinless blood of Jesus!
This blood, containing the very LIFE of God, has made our spirit holy, RIGHTeous, and blameless before our Father (Leviticus 17:11, Colossians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21). This gives us the RIGHT to every benefit of our salvation. As we drink the juice during communion, we can picture ourselves being infused with the LIFE of God and remind ourselves of these great privileges listed in Psalm 103:2-5 below:
- He forgives all our sins!
- He heals all our diseases!
- He redeems our life from destruction and danger!
- He covers us in love and compassion!
- He restores our youth and reverses damages in our body and mind.
- He brings justice to our oppression!
John 6:57 – “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will LIVE because of me.”
4) During communion, we can honor Jesus by worshiping Him in song, thanking Him for all He has done on our behalf! Here is a powerful song of remembrance by Charity Gayle: