This is my body and my blood...

I have been looking at the bread and the wine for a few weeks now. Daily there is some new insights.

The bread in I Cor 11 has also something to do with I Cor 10, Math 18 and Matt 5. I 've come to realize that the blood is our vertical relationship with God and all we are in Him and through Him and few has a problem with this.

The bread signifies our relationship with one another.

John 6. Jesus spoke of himself as bread from heaven that came down for us. He also said in John 12? that the grain of wheat have to fall in the ground and die... or be alone. Alone one grain of wheat means little. Together, crushed and made into a loaf of bread, we have significance. The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We cannot be the Body or Temple of God all by our lonesome. We need to become part of the greater Body of Christ to be this.

The bread part of communion, the eucharist, is where we slip up. Reading through 1 Cor 11 we can see that it is the "one another" part of it that Paul was most concerned about. The new covenant is a huge part, but without the "Body" part we are being deceived.

I looked up the portions of Ephesians that dealt with our behavior as relating to one another. It was about 50% of that letter. There were also 5 very important "one another" 's in there.

We can no longer relate to God as hermits, islands and logs pulled out of the fire. It is time to recognise the importance of "one another"

For those who'd like to study this:

Concider, Gideon's loaf, threshing floors, bread and body.
and
covenants, blood, sacrifices, testament and new wine.

KNOWING GOD ...

In my study of David I came across the portion where David wants to return the ark of covenant to Jerusalem by using the Philistines(flesh) method. The dire consequences off course is that Uzza lost his life, David got scared and send the ark to Obed-Edom's for a period of three months during which God/Jehovah just bless this home.

David as king of Israel were required by the law to hand write himself a copy of the law, the first 5 books of our Bible. It included Leviticus and Numbers where Jehovah gave clear instruction about the care and transport of the ark of covenant. Let me just insert here- He cares a great deal about the details if it is His details. This piece of holy furniture represented the presence of God.

Did David forget about this ordinances or did he think that his familiarity with God excluded him from it. What was he thinking? He must have either forgot the law or disregarded it. Why else would he follow the Philistines (flesh) in handling the presense of God?

Did David know God or did he know Him by His actions? Knowing God by His actions leave a lot to guess work and subjective surmising. How do we get to know God? Can we know Him by His actions alone ? That would not be possible because our minute understanding of this vast, gigantic God is so pea-brain limited. God cannot be fully known by our experience of Him alone.

We have to study the word. Paul said to Timothy: Study to show yourself approved... There is some alone time in study and Berean time in group study neccesary to know God. He has ordained it that we, together with other believers, should know Him. Know God. Knowing just His actions is open to unbelievers, heathen and atheists as well. Know God by what He declares Himself to be, then measure your experience by that.

David later corrected this error and maybe that is part of what made him such a great King; his willingness to be corrected.

For further study try J.I.Packer - Knowing God or J.B. Philips - Your God is too Small.