In the Lord's Supper we memorialize Jesus’ blood. What is
important about His blood?In the Lord's Supper we memorialize Jesus’ blood. What is
important about His blood?1 Corinthians 11:25 – 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.”
Why should we remember Jesus' blood?
Leviticus 17:11 – For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
Since life is in the blood, “shedding of blood” is a symbolic expression for death.
To remember Jesus’ blood is to remember His death.
Why is Jesus’ death important?
Genesis 2:17 – God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Ezekiel 18:20 – The soul who sins shall die.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death.
Revelation 20:14,15 – Physical death came into the world because of sin. But the spiritual significance is that the ultimate penalty for sin is the second death, which is the lake of fire.
So because of our sins, each of us was doomed to die the second death in the lake of fire. But God had a plan by which we could be spared in spite of our sins.
(James 1:15)
Hebrews 9:22 – Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. The Old Testament animal sacrifices served as symbols showing that God would accept a sacrifice as a means of forgiveness for sin. So the wages of sin is death, but God is willing to accept the death of a sacrifice.
Ephesians 1:7 – In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Colossians 1:14,20)
1 Peter 1:18,19 – You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold … but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
1 Corinthians 15:3 – Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Matthew 26:28 – So, in instituting the Lord's Supper, Jesus said, “T his is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
The reason we memorialize the blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper is that the shedding of His blood – that is, His death – is the sacrifice for our sins. The wages of sin is death, but God is willing to accept the death of Jesus as the means for our forgiveness.
(1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 1:5; Romans 5:6-10)
2 Corinthians 5:14,15 – For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
We remember the death of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper. But as we participate in this memorial, it should also remind us that we must now live obediently in service to the One who died for us.
(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2018; gospelway.com
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Scripture quotations are generally from the New King James Version (NKJV), copyright 1982, 1988 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. used by permission. All rights reserved.