The Last Supper

The Last Supper

Luke 22: 19-20: "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."

John 2: 18-22: "Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."

John 6: 48-63: "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 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. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 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. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

I Corinthians 10: 14-17: "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread."

The Roman Catholic Church (and probably most Catholics) think that celebrating the Lord's Supper in the Mass means something. The Catholic Church says that the bread and wine are literally the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is absolutely ridiculous and it is idolatry. The Catholic Church will use the term transubstantiation to explain why the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus Christ: this is philosophical and theological gobbledeegook.

If you look at the above Scriptures, Jesus says that He is the bread of life; He is very clear. When He broke bread and drank wine with his disciples at the last supper, He was pointing towards His death on the Cross at Calvary. Jesus' body was broken and His blood shed for those who are called to eternal life. If we abide in Him spiritually, our lives will be living sacrifices--broken bread and poured-out wine--for others. We abide in Him spiritually--in faith--not by eating physical bread and physical wine. Scripture is very clear: Jesus is NOT in the bread and wine; He said "Do this in REMEMBRANCE of Me."

When Jesus spoke of His temple, He wasn't talking about a stone and mortar temple in Jerusalem built with human hands. He is speaking figuratively. When He speaks of the bread and wine at the last supper, He is speaking figuratively of His death on the Cross.

The carnal mind does not receive the things of the Spirit, so the carnal mind has to invent religious rituals and liturgies to make the sinful, carnal mind (pride) feel good about itself; look at all the man-made rituals and liturgies in Protestant and Catholic churches. The carnal mind is ridiculous and idolatrous.  John 6: 60-63:  "This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

In I Corinthians 10: 14-17, the inspired writer is warning Christians to FLEE from idolatry. He probably knew that the carnal mind would turn the last supper into some man-made idolatrous ritual. How do we have communion with bread and wine? We don't:  we eat it and drink it---it is a physical, bodily function.  Communion is spiritual; communion with the Father is accessed through faith in the Finished Work of the Cross. "For we being many are one bread, and one body." Does this mean that we are one big loaf of multigrain bread? No, the writer is talking about a spiritual Body of Christ, bread from Heaven.

If we abide in Christ (die to self), we are broken bread and poured-out wine--a living sacrifice--for others to feed upon. We are spiritual food for a sin-sick world hungry for Jesus, Bread from Heaven.

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George Fox--An Autobiography
By Rufus M. Jones

Chapter XVII
"At the Work of Organizing"
1667-1670

"When we came before Dublin [Ireland], we took boat and went ashore; and the earth and air smelt, methought, of the corruption of the nation, so that it yielded another smell to me than England did; which I imputed to the Popish massacres that had been committed, and the blood that had been spilt in it, from which a foulness ascended."

"Passing thence about four and twenty miles, we came to another place, where we had a very good, refreshing meeting; but after it some Papists that were there were angry, and raged very much. When I heard of it, I sent for one of them, who was a schoolmaster; but he would not come.

"Thereupon I sent a challenge to him, with all the friars and monks, priests and Jesuits, to come forth, and 'try their God and their Christ, which they had made of bread and wine,' but no answer could I get from them. I told them they were worse than the priests of Baal; for Baal's priests tried their wooden god, but these durst not try their god of bread and wine; and Baal's priests and people did not eat their god as these did, and then make another."

Jesus IS the Word of God
The Hidden Streets of Babylon
John Milton: Writer and Revolutionary
The Miraculous Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588
A Great Multitude Followed Him
The Second Coming
Mother Teresa of Calcutta:  False Christian
How Christendom Became Babylon

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Shiloh
By Tim Shey

Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.

Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.

The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.

The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.

My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.

The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).

My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.

Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University

Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”