The things that the Lord is declaring unto us are coming from the realm of paradise. It is important to be attune in the spirit to receive these things. They are not going to come as visions but will come as tidings of understanding through preaching and teaching. These things should not be missed lest one misses out on a visitation of paradise.
When things of paradise visit us they come with the purpose of putting their things in us. There is a grace that is to be brought to us for the purpose of bringing forth a particular kind of response from us (1Pet 1:13). Our seeking for the blessed hope should not be mechanical (Tit. 2:13). Rather, as we receive the things that are being taught to us, they generate a particular kind of response of looking for the blessed hope. We can not look for things that do not yet matter to us. Things of reward, inheritance and His appearance must mean a lot to us for us to look for them (2Pet. 3:12).
There are many things that we would not understand as believers until they are opened up to us. One of such things is our understanding about drinking “of the fruit of the vine anew in the Father’s Kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). Jesus was not referring to a communion in heaven. Jesus served a bread to His disciples that He Himself was not eating. He had gone beyond that bread that was for the remission of sins and had gone ahead to wait for men who would come to where He was and partake of that realm also.
The bread that a man can eat corresponds with the level of revelation that he stands to receive. This is typified by the different breads that were present in the various portions of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. The bread that a priest partook of depends on the portion of the tabernacle where he stood. Therefore, where a man stands determines what bread he can eat.
What Paul received from the Lord as pertaining to the communion was a doctrine (1Cor 11:23). Therefore, one must have received the doctrine that he delivered through teachings to be able to partake of the table that he sets. What Paul received is a doctrine which is the strength of that same table that Jesus revealed to him. The remembrance that accompanies the table is an anamnesis (1Cor. 11:24-25). It is not just a recollection of the times and events of Jesus. The remembrance speaks of a recollection of the doctrine of Christ and agreeing to its terms. This agreement is what makes us able to eat of that table worthily.
The eating and drinking of Jesus’ flesh and blood is supposed to be the preoccupation of His church. We are not supposed to be eating strange meats but should be preoccupied with the doctrine of Christ. One of our utmost duties is to show the Lord’s death and we can not show the Lord’s death without His doctrine (1Cor. 11:26). The church ought to show and anticipate the death and coming of our Lord Jesus respectively. Showing His death keeps the church in a place waiting for the next revelation that awaits the church.
The church is yet to understand the potency of tables. Tables are meant to be set before the church in different levels and heights. The Lord continually prepares tables before us (Psa. 23:5). If we have not eaten other prepared tables, we should not expect to eat of the table that is prepared in the presence of our enemies. It is after eating this table that we can lie down in green pastures for the purpose of preparing us for still waters (Psa. 23:2). The green pasture and still waters are portions of Christ which are aimed at restoring the soul by remission of sins (Psa. 23:2-3).
Our souls are to be restored by the remission of our sins. These sins are ignorances that cause us to violate the commands of Christ blindly. This is why we need to eat well for our eyes to be opened. We need to eat very well before we can fight the enemy. Opening of eyes will prevent us from engaging in spiritual warfare against our own brethren mistaking them as the enemy.
Another level of eating is the leading “in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psa. 23:3). This is why Satan fights our feeding so much and makes serious attempts to stop us from receiving doctrine. We have to be very desirous of doctrine for us to win the fight for our food. Our souls are fed by understanding. Many of us have become the professionals that we are today as a result of knowledge which was given to us in various centres of learning. The New Testament is also a training ground that is meant to teach us for the remission of sins to occur within our souls.
The church ought to remain preoccupied with the Lord’s death (1Cor. 11:26). It is the life of Christ that is called His death (Rom. 6:10). Showing the Lord’s death means living out the life of Christ here on earth. Living this life of Christ is what Paul refers to as dying daily (1Cor. 15:31). The church is meant to perpetually live out the life of Christ so that there would be no room for worldliness amongst us.
It is Christ that would teach us how to die in various ramifications of life such as marriage. We are meant to show the Lord’s death in our marriages. Two people can not dwell together if either one or both of them are not dying. We all are supposed to be dying to self and to this world. The congregation of the righteous is a company of those who are dying.
Jesus Christ died accurately throughout His life on earth so that He could afterwards live unto God by being quickened (Rom. 6:10). Corruption would not be quickened/immortalized within us. This is why we have to first be put to death and be made to forsake our sins before God comes to quicken us.
The Lord would appear unto us in doctrine and expect us to keep His doctrine as a commandment to show that we love Him (John 14:21). How we know a true lover is how he/she responds to the commandment. True lovers are men who are dying. Cain saw the dying of the Lord in Abel and hated it. There are men today who respond hatefully when they see their brethren who are dying the death of the Lord. On the contrary, “precious in the sight of the Lord us the death of His saints” (Psa. 116:15).
Jesus declared Himself as the bread of life and as the living bread (John 6:47-51). Both breads come from heaven. One is His flesh (doctrine) which is given to replace the life of the world in men. How men live in the world is a result of how men have been taught over the years and Jesus has a bread that can replace that. This bread is part of the table of the first flesh and blood which is shed for the remission of sins.
There are two tables which both have flesh and blood. The first flesh and blood is given for the remission of sins while the second flesh and blood is for a higher purpose of entrance. The second flesh and blood is the realm of the father which constitutes the veil for entrance (Heb. 10:20). The measure of this flesh and blood that we eat determines how much we would enter through the veil.
Tables can be upgraded from one flesh and blood to another by the fulfillment of will. The body that was prepared for Jesus was to do the will (Heb. 10:5). As Jesus was doing the will His body was trapping properties and was prepared as a priestly body. The things that He was trapping were being stored in His blood. The flesh is only a veil that veiled the life that was secreted in His blood. There was a will that Jesus which upgraded the life that was in His blood.
The first blood is the life that is to be partaken of in remembrance of Him. However, it takes the second life to gain entrance into the holiest (Heb. 10:19-20). It takes this doctrine to give us boldness for the sake of entrance. This doctrine is going to the lead to the fulfillment of Jesus’ desire to drink that cup anew (Matt. 26:29).
Eating of the table of the Lord unworthily leads to sickness (1Cor 11:29-30). In like manner, eating of His table worthily would grant a manner of life that is commensurate to that table. The church ought to drink and eat of Jesus’ table for the right purpose so that we can arrive at the point where we drink it anew with Him in His Father’s Kingdom.