The Water & the Bread

      Concerning the broken bread, the apostle Paul reminded believers that we should feed and care for our bodies, just as Christ cares for the Church, “For we are members of His Body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). Again, he wrote, “Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Cor. 12:27).
      Why did God allot two great Days or 2,000 years before Christ would come again? The span of time in the mystery-plan has been for the purpose of calling out His Church and for building His living Temple of living Stones. In His infinite knowledge, God knew that it would take that amount of time to complete the process.
       Paul received this revelation of the Body of Christ directly from the Lord (see Gal. 1:11-12). He also made this same claim concerning the Lord’s Supper.  “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’ ” (1 Cor. 11:23-25).
       What was instituted at the Last Supper is what we call the sacrament of communion. The singular loaf of bread represents Christ’s flesh and blood body. During the ceremony, it is broken into individual pieces and distributed to each of the participants. Each participant receives and consumes the piece given to them.
The other sacrament we practice is water baptism. It is how we identify ourselves as being in Christ. We are washed in His sacrificial blood; we arise out of the water to new life in Him. When we eat the communion bread, in a figurative sense the bread becomes a part of us. And we become a part of His Body, the Bread of Life broken on our behalf. Paul must have realized that Christ’s body was not only broken literally for them, but broken into them.
          Likewise, the wine or fruit juice is distributed to each participant. When we drink it, in a figurative sense we partake of the blood of Jesus, becoming “blood brothers and sisters” with Him. Since the life is in the blood, we take His life in us. Paul taught that we are all made to drink into one Spirit. In short, communion is a tangible, physical reminder that we are not only “in Christ,” we also have been saved and healed through His broken body.