For us, it is almost impossible to understand that we are invited to sit at his table and join in on the banquet. But you want to know something? The Lord has invited us, you and me, to sit and dine with Him. He Himself, is present at His banquet because He said to us: Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this to call Me to remembrance. He took the cup also, saying, This cup is the new convenant in my blood. (1 Chorintians 11:24,25).
The Holy Communion is a banquet where everything speaks of Jesus, where He gave us everything en which points to Him. It is a banquet where you feel the immense love He has for you.
Jesus did not invite equal people to His banquet, but he invited sinners. He invited people who where looked down upon by humans, like the poor, the sick and the helpless. Lets say He invited you and me.
He admonished us to sit and dine with Him, so as it is admonished by our King of kings and Lord of lords, we be better follow it. He said take, eat, commemorate, belief and do this to call Me to remembrance. I am the bread of life (John 6:35). Just like Israel, in Mozes’ time needed daily manna, so do we need our daily bread. We need Jesus’ bread of life every day. What is the bread of life? It is His Word, which is our spiritual nourishment. We need it daily to keep strong. Jesus also gave us the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand His Word better. We start with this nourishment like babies, with milk, and as we grow stronger in the Lord our food will become solid. But how often do we forget to take this nourishment because we are so trapped in our daily stresses of life? And when we are worn out because of lack of strength due to lack of proper nourishment? It is then when we remember Jesus and His Word again.
God knows this and it is therefore that He commemorated us to take the Holy Communion. To refresh ourselves with His Word. He didn’t say take, eat, commemorate, belief and do this to call Me to remembrance for nothing. By taking part in the Holy Communion we refresh ourselves again with His Word and come and commune with Him again. This re-strengthens us spiritually.
It is therefore important for us to take part of the Holy Communion on a regular basis. Jesus himself said: I, am this living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread He will live forever. (John 6:51).
By taking of His Bread we are drown closer to Him again and reinforced spiritually. It is important for us to be strong spiritually so we can stay strong when our daily stresses affect us and when the devil attacks us.
Why the Holy Communion?
Forgiveness of sins
There are a number of reasons why we need to take part of the Holy Communion. The first one is, as the HC (Holy Communion) was made for us, sinners, we need to take part of it to acknowledge that through His marvellous work on the cross we found forgiveness of our sins. Important, therefore is, that before we take part of the HC we acknowledge our sins and confess them before the Lord. While doing this, we truly need to feel repentance in our hearts. God looks at our hearts. You need to realize that you are a sinner and that you need Jesus. We can not take part of the HC if there is still unconfessed sin in our lives. You must also fully realize the work on the cross. Your faith in Jesus must be real and deeply rooted in your heart. Also, believe what is written in John 14:6, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Me. You must believe that Jesus died for your sins. He died for you so you would have eternal life. That God loves you so much that He gave His only begotten Son for you.
If we partake in the HC in an unworthy manner we sin against Jesus’ body and blood. Without His body and without His blood we are separated from Him, and without Him we can do nothing. ( I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength, Phil 4:13) To take the part of the HC superficially we show Him that we do not fully acknowledge His work on the cross. The result of this action is that we do not acknowledge healing and the power of His blood that was shed for us. This is serious, because in Hebrews 2:14-15 the bible shows us a clear example of what can happen if we take the HC in an unworthy manner. People did not acknowledge the whole meaning of the HC and where infested with psychological, psychosomatic problems that resulted even into physical death.
It is therefore important that we judge ourselves before we partake on the HC. Judge yourself if there is anything you need to confess before the Lord. Do not dishonour his banquet. It brings some serious consequences with it if you do!
Gratitude
Another very important aspect as to why participate and take the HC is that we ought to be thankful for what the Lord has done for us at the cross. There, His body was pierced and His blood was shed on our behalf. Because of His deed on the cross, we have healing for our bodies, and forgiveness of our sins through His shed blood. His shed blood has tremendous power for it provides us with protection, forgiveness, deliverance, power, freedom, it cleanses us, through the blood we have freely access to the Lord and peace. Through His deed at calvary we have gained a new life. The devil was defeated and we have the power to overcome his kingdom through Jesus. Everything has been given to us at calvary! That is why we should be thankful to Him.
Isaiah 53: 4,5 states: Surely He has born our grieves (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains, yet we considered, smitten, and afflicted by God. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes (that wounded) Him we are healed and made whole.
Another aspect as to why we should be thankful to the Lord is because through the work at calvary we have eternal life.
However, there is one condition attached to it, and the condition is, that we believe that He died on the cross and was risen from death after three days and sits now at the right hand of the Father. Romans 10:9 states: Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth), you will be saved.
Blessings you get from the Holy Communion
Nothing that our Lord does He does for nothing. If we follow His commands there is always a blessing attached to it. This also applies to the HC. The first blessing is that we have communion with the Lord. What does this mean? It means that through the participating in the HC we renew ourselves with His Word again, and this changes our relationship with Him. It becomes deeper and deeper because of the Word and what it does for you.
Jesus promised before His departure from this world that He would send us someone who would teach, guide us, enlighten us and foretell things to come (John 14:25). This is of course the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, who testifies of Jesus, we get knowledge from Him. The Holy Spirit is a Holy identity, it is a Person. He is part of the divine Trinity of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
If we have communion with each other, then the church community will be entirely blessed. It is therefore expedient that we cleanse each other from any sin or dislike that we hold on towards each other and commune with each other. Strong revivals take place if sin is taken from our middle and we honour Jesus by taking part of the HC. The Holy Ghost is then empowered to do mighty works, just like healing miracles etc. If we hold something against each other we grieve the Holy Spirit and He can therefore not work in us. This grieves our Father as much as it grieves Jesus. He sent us the Holy Spirit so that His kingdom can be established on earth. There are so many benefits you get from the Holy Spirit that it is so sad when we do not let Him work in us. Think about the gifts of the Holy Spirit for example, the gift of prophecy, the gift of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, faith, working of miracles , and the discerning of spirits. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11. God distributes these gifts as He thinks fit. All these marvellous gifts are for the use of the church, so for you and me. It is so important that we let the Holy Spirit work in and through us, it only benefits us .
There is another blessing which is very important that comes our way when we take the HC, and it is that it empowers us spiritually. How many of us are not worn down by the daily stresses or even by the attacks of the enemy? We need to be spiritually fit to cope with these attacks. No matter what the source of them are, we need to be able to stand and fight the good fight. We can certainly not function without food, and the same applies for our spiritual condition. Without its food, The Word, we become spiritually weak. The Word gives us the power to overcome any situation in our lives. There are about seven thousand promises in the bible that apply for any situation we might encounter in our lives. That is something, isn’t it? It means that for every situation we budge into in this life, God made a provision to take us out of the situation, and when I say out I mean successfully out of the situation.
As we daily learn to apply God’s Word into our lives, our faith in the Lord increases. It increases by the knowledge of His Word because in it we find how He is. When we learn about who God really is, we believe more and more in Him. Our faith increases. Just Hebrews 11 :1 says: Now Faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as a real fact what is not revealed to the senses).
Along with faith comes hope. Without hope no faith. Through the knowledge of the Word our hope increases and faith will establish the promises.
Conclusion
There is only but one conclusion, and the conclusion is that we need to take part in the HC on a regular basis. The early church did it every day, then they decided to do it every week and later on it became once a month. Nowadays, there are churches who do it four times a year and another churches who do not offer the HC at all. This with the excuse that their church member do not believe in it. How sad, that the church elders, who are responsible for the congregation have no knowledge at all of the importance of this banquet.
Many people have testified major miracles and spiritual power after partaking on the HC. We need it, it has so many benefits for us. Otherwise the Lord would not have summed us to partake on it on a regular basis. You can do it at home if you like, as long as you follow the right steps. Do it on a regular basis, honour Jesus by taking the HC, because with it we honour His sacrifice for us at the cross.
God bless you all!
When should I not takeprt in the Holy Communion?
As God admonished us to take the Holy Communion on a regular basis, there are some aspects as to why better not take it, or maybe take it at a later time.
One of these aspects is, if your heart is not for Jesus, then don’t take the HC. Maybe your heart is for Jesus, but is not burning for Him. Maybe you think, well I know Jesus, I know what He did but you do not fully realize the meaning of what He did. Or perhaps, you think that your sin is not sinful enough to confess. Sunday’s at church you are present, you wear your best clothes and you act as if you really love the Lord but while in worship you see people really going out of it for the Lord and you think to yourself. Those are crazy or fanatics. Your heart is not right with the Lord. If you qualify for all of these aspects mentioned above you better not take the HC.
Another aspect not to take part of the HC is when there are some differences at church between church members. We all know this happens, have we not all heard of gossip, slander, malice between church members? If this is the case, you better go up to the person you hold something against, and get it straight. Get a clean slate.
The consequences of partaking in the HC if there is still slander amongst church members is that the wrath of God will fall upon the entire congregation. This is because you have dishonoured His HC.
The last aspect of why not participate in the HC is that you must be a believer, a born again believer. What is a born again believer you ask? Well, a born again believer is somebody who has accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour into their life and follows His decrees. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that a born again believer can not sin, for we all know that while we are in the flesh we will sin. The important part is that we confess it, that we live as Jesus ordered us to, to the best of our ability.
Our heart must be full of the Lord, just like Psalm 42 states: As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.
How to celebrate the Holy Communion
The Holy Communion is a preparation for the marriage of the Lam. This gives the whole event of the HC something special, it gives it something festive.
In the early church days, they knew not of a Sunday day off. They had to work seven days a weak. People went to church before work or shortly thereafter. The same was with the HC. Usually the richer amongst the congregation took more bread and wine for he poor and the last ones to arrive, as they where one of the first ones to come to church. This was of course, because they could afford to leave earlier and others did not even have to work. The church waited upon the whole congregation to arrive before starting the HC, but the poorer you were, the longer hours you had to work, and it could happen that while arriving at church the HC was already taken or taken place.