A Study in Genesis Chapter 5

Throughout the Old Testament God repeatedly gives us proof that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. He gave that proof in many ways, but one of the more frequent ways was to reveal the genealogies that wound their ways unbroken right up to the birth of Christ.

Matthew reviewed the genealogies in his first chapter to help the Jews to whom he was writing to understand that Jesus is who He said He is. Although genealogies might seem too boring to read, a careful study of them is very inspirational. They prove Jesus!

In Chapter 5 of Genesis we have such a genealogy. It shows the bloodline from Adam to Noah. There are all kinds of characters in the list. Their names and their names' meanings are in the picture in the upper left.We know most about Enoch and Methuselah.

We know Enoch because he "...walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." (Genesis 5:24). Methuselah we know as the oldest man recorded in the Bible, having lived some 969 years.

The last characters in the list are Lamech (not the violent guy of chapter 4), Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

They set the stage for the most catastrophic event ever to strike earth, and event that would reveal God's character, His grace and His provision...The Flood.

Are We Still Here - A Video

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-The Name Lives On-David Phelps

A Study in GENESIS Week 4

 Reading chapters 4-11 of Genesis is like tracing the downward spiral of all humanity. After making the wrong choice, Adam and Eve could no longer trust each other. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent and both were alienated from their perfection.

Adam and Eve had been naked and felt fine about it. After they decided to do things their way instead of God’s way, they experienced shame. They hid their bodies from each other.

Sin is a vile thing. It is a stench in God’s nostrils. And because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we are born as sinners. It is not that we have a tendency to sin, it is that we are filled with the sin nature. Like God said to Adam and Eve, and later through the apostle Paul, the consequence of sin is death…an eternal death for which there is no earthly remedy.

Verses 1-2 – Adam and Eve experienced sexual intimacy for the first time, and Eve gave birth, first to Cain, then to Abel. Cain farmed and Abel shepherded his flocks.

Verses 3-7 – From the get-go, mankind has recognized the need to make things right with God. Cain felt a need to make an offering to God. He presented some of the land’s produce to Him. Abel also felt the need to make an offering. He presented God with his flock’s firstborn.

There is enough symbolism in those two offerings to last a lifetime. God’s refusal of Cain’s offering demonstrated that not just any offering can atone for sin. Abel’s offering demonstrated that only the blood of life could atone for sin. 

Hebrews 11:4 tells us that God accepted Abel's offering because he offered it by faith: "By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith." 

Verses 8-12 – Cain’s lack of understanding about making up for sin and God’s refusal of his offering made him angry enough to kill Abel, whose offering God had accepted. When confronted by God about it, Cain uttered those famous (and often misused) words, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Mankind is very prone to rationalizing and excusing sinful behavior. “It’s not my job” is a pretty standard response to taking responsibility for one’s actions.

Verses 13-18 – God’s response to Cain was punishment, but true to His nature, God’s punishment was much lighter than he deserved. Far from rendering instant death (eye for eye, tooth for tooth) God showed mercy to Cain. He even protected him. He even allowed Cain to start a line of descendants.

Verse 19-24 – A guy named Lamech appears next. Lamech accumulates wives like property. He sings songs of violence that are about how he is more violent than Cain and proud of it. This is about the downward spiral of mankind into worldliness.

Verses 25-26 – Adam and Eve then bore Seth. Seth gave birth to Enoch. This would begin the lineage of Noah and ultimately of Christ whose blood would be the ultimate remedy for man’s sin.

Video Explanation of Covenants

There are actually seven covenants in the Bible: The Edenic Covenant; The Adamic Covenant; The Noahic Covenant; The Abrahamic Covenant; The Mosaic Covenant; The Covenant of the Land; The Davidic Covenant and The New Covenant. There are a few other "minor" covenants, such as the covenant of circumcision, but these are the main ones.

In most cases, when theologians speak of the covenants of the Old Testament, they are referring to the four major covenants: The Noahic; Abrahamic; Mosaic and Davidic. There is only one covenant in the New Testament. It is called the New Covenant, prophesied in the Old Testament. The New Covenant fulfills all of the Old Covenant in Jesus, and the Old Covenant is made obselete (Hebrews 8:13).

Here is an illustrative explanation of the four major covenants.





The Bible Project

What's Your Favorite Current Christian Fad?

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Who Can Satisfy My Soul?-Dennis Jernigan

A Study in Genesis Chapter 3

Genesis 3 is an accurate historical record of what happened in the Garden of Eden. If you don’t understand this chapter, you cannot understand the rest of the Bible. You must understand sin before you can understand the need to repent of it and place you faith in the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

All of the problems in the universe have their origins in Genesis 3.  It is the foundation of a correct world view. God had proclaimed His creation good. Now it is fallen and exhibits all of the evils of its fall.

Verse 1-5 – The Hebrew word for “serpent” is Nachah, to shine, or a shining one. That is the picture of Satan given us in the story Lucifer’s fall, described in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-18. These two passages reference the spiritual power of Satan.  Angels were created before the earth. Satan fell before he tempted Adam and Eve.

The serpent misquotes God, saying that God had said Adam and Eve could not eat from any tree. 

Eve corrected that, but went on to say the God had told them not to touch the fruit of the tree of the 

Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan then contradicts God by saying, “…you shall not surely die.”

Verse 6 – Eve picked and ate the fruit from the tree because it looked good to her. Sin often looks good, but its consequences are always dire.

Verse 7-13 – After failing to trust God’s word, thus making the wrong choice, Adam and Eve can’t even trust each other anymore. This distrust occurs because Adam’s definition of good and evil might be different from Eve’s. They had been naked and felt fine about it. Now they feel shameful. They hide their bodies from each other.

Through this act of disobedience, sin entered the world. Romans 5:12 “Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” When Adam sinned, we were all there. He brought to us original sin. We all have inherited original sin.

When confronted with their sin, Adam and Eve tried to pass the buck. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed Satan.

Verses 14-19 God placed a curse on Satan. In verse 15, we read of the eventual crushing of Satan by the heel of the Messiah (Christ) at His death. When Jesus died, Satan thought it was a victory. Little did he know that it was his ultimate undoing.

Then God placed a curse on Adam and eve. A curse by God has eternal consequences. There is only one escape from the curse of God. It is not in obedience, it is too late for that. The only escape is through placing one’s faith in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary. Once you have done that, you are free from the curse of sin and death…forever.

As Christians, we do not have to run around with our “tails between our legs,” afraid that we might do something that offends God. Anything we do is offensive to God unless He sees us through Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. But if He does see us through the eyes of Christ, we are secure in Him. We are set free! The sin we inherited from Adam is completely covered by Christ’s shed blood.

We might well sin, but when we do, if we are saved, it hurts us and we determine by the power of the Holy Spirit not to repeat the sin. If we are not hurt by our own sin, we are probably not saved. As Paul said in Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!”

Through Christ, God gives us freedom; not freedom to sin, freedom to live in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Now that’s real freedom.

Aren’t you glad that Adam’s sin that was passed on to us is made right by the second Adam, Christ our Savior?

Exodus Explained for Christians

The Bible Project

How many different, meaningful sermons could you preach in a year?

There are 1,189 chapters in the bible.

If you preached a sermon built on the meaning of each one each Sunday, it would be 22 years before you had to repeat a sermon. If you preach Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening, in seven years you would never have to repeat a sermon.

Don’t worry! Every topic you can possibly think of would be covered, because the Bible touches every subject that has ever occurred to man.

So, why do so many preachers preach the same sermons so often? Are they lazy? Do they think some chapters just don’t have anything significant to say? Did they just forget that they had preached the same sermon just a short time ago? Could it be that they just don’t care?

Maybe they think that congregations are so simple minded that they can only take in sermons about Joshua’s determination, David’s triumph over Goliath, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s facing the fiery furnace and Lazarus dipping his finger in the water to cool the tongue of Diver (traditional name).

Perhaps repetitious preachers don’t think their congregations can remember that they have already preached that same sermon a half-a-dozen times within the past year or so.

To be sure, there are some chapters that lend themselves to special events. Christmas, Easter, and maybe Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day might be examples. But allowing for those, it would be even longer before a particular sermon would have to be repeated.

It could be that some people who think they’ve been called to preach are just the objects of their own vain imaginations and can’t really preach their way out of a wet paper sack.

Well Worth the Time

An Overview of the Stories and Meaning of Genesis

       I.           I.   Genesis is a book deliberately designed by God in a specific way for a specific reason. The book is divided into two main parts.

a.      Chapters 1-11 tells the story of God and the entire world.

b.      Chapters 12-50 tells about God and Abraham’s family.

c.      How the two of those parts relate is where you find the message of the book.

    II.         II.  Part 1

a.      The creation story which tells about God creating everything.

b.      God takes the dark watery chaos and turns it into a beautiful garden.

                                                    i.     In the garden we meet the first human characters in the Bible, Adam & Eve.

1.      Adam is the Hebrew word for humanity.

2.      Eve is the Hebrew word for life.

3.      They represent the creative work of God and His desire for mankind to reproduce itself.

c.      God gives Adam and Eve the moral choice about how they will build this world.

                                                    i.     Up to now, God has been defining and providing what is good.

                                                   ii.     The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents a choice for Adam and Eve.

1.      Will the humans trust God’s definition of good and evil?

2.      Will the humans seize the opportunity to define good and evil themselves?

3.      They choose to eat the fruit, desiring to “call the shots”…pride and selfishness.

                                                 iii.     Humans turn out to be horrible at defining good and evil without God.

d.      Genesis 2-11 is like tracing the downward spiral of all humanity.

                                                    i.     After making the wrong choice, Adam and Eve can’t trust each other anymore.

1.      They had been naked and felt fine about it.

2.      Now they feel shameful.

a.      Adam’s definition of good and evil might be different from Eve’s.

b.      They hide their bodies from each other.

                                                   ii.     In the next story, Cain becomes jealous of Abel, gives in to temptation and kills him.

                                                 iii.     A guy named Lamech appears next.

1.      Lamech accumulates wives like property.

2.      He sings songs of violence that are about how he is more violent than Cain and proud of it.

                                                 iv.     Things get so bad with the human race that God decides to wipe it out with a flood.

1.      This is not God’s anger, it is about His sadness and grief about the state of the world.

2.      The waters of the flood show that only God can wash things clean.

3.      God chooses Noah and his family (along with the animals) and saves them on the arc.

a.      Noah and his family “reboot” all of humanity.

b.      After the flood had receded, Noah planted a vineyard and gets very drunk.

c.      Something sketchy happens in his ten with his son.

                                                   v.     Humanity grows again and things are as bad as before.

                                                 vi.     The last story is of the Tower of Babel.

1.      All nations unite to use technology (bricks) to build a big city.

2.      They build a tower, ostensibly to reach to the gods.

3.      God knows that this city will be a nightmare.

a.      In His mercy, God scatters the people.

e.      All of these stories underline the same basic idea.

                                                    i.     When humans define good and evil themselves, it results in tragedy and death.

                                                   ii.     This leaves us wondering: Is there any hope for humanity?

                                                 iii.     The very next story will answer that question.

                                                 iv.     It is the beginning of God’s mission to rescue and restore His world.

    III.         III.   Between part 1 and part 2 of Genesis is a story that links the two parts and helps us understand what the book is about.

a.      A genealogy follows one of the scattered tribes of Babel all the way down to one man: Abram.

   IV.           IV.  Part 2

a.      The second part of Genesis focusses only on Abraham’s family.

                                                    i.     God promises Abram an uncountable number of children.

                                                   ii.     He says that through Abram and his family, all the nation of the earth are going to be able to find God’s blessing.

                                                 iii.     God will begin to reveal His plan to rescue humanity.

                                                 iv.     The generations He will use include: Abraham; Isaac; Jacob; and Jacob’s 12 sons.

                                                   v.     To each generation, God renews His promise to bless them and all nations through them.

                                                 vi.     Because of His promise to use this family to rescue the world, it is easy to read these stories as examples of how to    be a good person.

                                                vii.     But the family is dysfunctional.

1.      Two different times Abraham basically gives Sarah away to other men by denying that she is his   wife.

2.      Sarah gets impatient about having a son, so she makes Abram sleep with her servant girl.

3.      Abraham and Sarah get really old and think there is no way they’re going to have a kid of their own. Miraculously, they have a child in their old age named, Isaac. Isaac has Esau and Jacob.

4.      Jacob wants the family’s inheritance and devises a plan to steal it from his father, who is old and blind.

5.      Jacob goes on to have twelve sons, but loves his 11^th son, Joseph more than the others.

6.      Joseph’s brothers hate him and plan to kill him.

a.      Instead they sell him as a slave down in Egypt.

b.      While in Egypt, Joseph goes from being in a prison cell to becoming Egypt’s second in command.

c.      The Middle East suffers a food shortage, so Joseph’s brother come down looking for food.

d.      They find Joseph, now the ruler of the land.

e.      Joseph gives them food.

7.      God has transformed the evil of the brothers into something good. That’s the way God does things.

     V.            V.  Genesis closes with Joseph’s statement, “You planned all of this for evil, but God has turned it into something good, to save peoples’ lives.”

a.      These words summarize the message of the whole story.

                                                    i.     Humans keep choosing evil.

                                                   ii.     We think they are messing up God’s plan, but He keeps turning their evil back into good.

b.      God is going to use this family to restore humanity back to the garden.

   VI.           IV.  The rest of the bible answers the question of how God is going to accomplish this. Hint: Follow the next 38 books all the way to Jesus.                                        

SUNDAY SOUNDS OF PRAISE-Praise You-wood and petak

A Study in Genesis Week 2

GENESIS CHAPTER 2

1. God is called “Yahweh Elohim” (His unmentionable name followed by His plural name – translated as “Lord God”)
1. Stresses the closeness of man’s relationship with his Creator
2. Represents the earliest “covenant form” in Scripture…the covenant between God the unknowable and the triune knowable God with mankind.
3. You will see the phrase, “this is the history (Hebrew: toledoth) of…” used often in Scripture
4. This indicates that the things referred to are in written form.

                                                    i.     Until recently it was thought that writing had not been invented at the time of Moses, but that turns out not to be the case.

                                                   ii.     Archeologists have uncovered writing that pre-dates Moses

5. It is extremely probable that at some stage these early ‘covenant’ tablets were incorporated into a series of tablets making up Genesis 1 - 11, which almost certainly once formed a unit. 

2. 2:1 reiterates that creation had taken place.
1. Verse 2 pre-dates the Law (10 Commandments)
2. The rest (Hebrew: Shabath – seventh, complete) of God
3. He was not tired.
4. He was finished 

3. 2:4 sets the stage for the creation of man
1. Verse 7 tells us that man was made from the dust of the earth
2. Job says “dust to dust”
3. “Breath of Life” 

4. Man is not like the other life-forms on earth.
1. Intellectually superior
2. Technically superior
3. Dextrally superior
4. Compassionately superior
5. Cognitively superior
6. Emotionally superior
7. Spiritually superior 

5. Verses 9-17 - God gave man a perfect place to live; Eden
1. Eden is a picture of potential perfection
2. Man is seen by God as “Edenic” through the eyes of Christ.
3. The redeemed will live in “Eden” once again…Heaven 

6. Verses 18-23 - God made Eve (woman) to be a help-meet for Adam
1. Not a servant
2. Not a slave
3. An integral part of the mankind unit 

7. Verses 24-25 God defines the terms of marriage
1. Forsaking all others, even other family (mothers and fathers)
2. Clinging to one another
3. Becoming a total unit

Please Don't Forget

Why Not Teach and Preach What Hebrews Really Says?

I love the book of Hebrews. Oh, I love the 4 gospels, Romans, Acts, 1st and 2nd Timothy and all of the other New Testament books, but Hebrews trumps them all in my mind. It does so because from verse one to the end of the book it magnifies, and only magnifies, my Lord and My Savior, Jesus Christ (Messiah). To Bible scholars, Hebrews is known as Christology, and for good reason. Every word of it is about Christ.

I am sad when a part of the book of Hebrews is ripped from its context and used to take a sermon in any direction other than Christ-ward. That's just wrong. It is so very shallow.

The most abused passage in Hebrews is what we piously call the "Hall of Faith," chapter 11. In this abominable misuse of God's word, the book is broken up to make some moralistic, sophomoric, theosophical, ear tickling, pablumesque point about generic faith in a generic god.

To reach this despicable interpretation of Hebrews 11, it must be forcibly wrenched from its context. It must be twisted like a flag in a hurricane. It must be mistreated in the extreme.

To reach this interpretation, one would have to believe that God, the God of all order, was inspiring the writer to lift up Jesus, suddenly change the subject for one chapter and then revert to the subject he started with.

God never inspired His writers to write like that...never.

It is so easy, even lazy, to just pull that chapter out of Hebrews and treat it like it is a book of its own with an interpretation that wallows in curdled spiritual milk. When used like this, its point is to extract some form of behaviorism from those who hear it preached.

If only those who teach and preach chapter 11 of Hebrews would take the time to realize that it is part of a narrative that is designed to prove to the Jewish mind that Jesus is their long awaited Messiah. Indeed, every Jew reading the book of Hebrews would understand immediately what its author was saying: Christ is Messiah, He is greater than Moses, greater than the prophets and greater than the highest earthly priest who ever lived.

The characters listed in Hebrews 11 were not being exalted by its writer as somehow special because of their faith. No! The object of their faith was the one exalted. Their faith was not in faith, not in some poignant, generic god. Their faith was that God would bring forth the Messiah!

If the exultation of Christ is not more exciting in your mind than some esoteric concept of faith floating around somewhere in history, there is something wrong with your salvation and something wrong with your understanding of Scripture.

Go! Read Hebrews from beginning to end and see how the "Hall of Faith" is connected at both ends to the person of Jesus Christ and that He is the source of life and salvation.

Do you care about the TRUTH of Scripture, or do you cling to what you've been taught?

The problem is, too many people, teachers, leaders, teachers and professors don't care what the Scriptures really teach. They have been taught a certain way and that's the way they're going to teach, no matter what.

What if the Scriptures don't teach what those people have been taught? Would it make any difference? Probably not. Most people would grit their teeth, lock their jaws and just keep on teaching what they've always taught.

Let's take a look at one of the most often improperly taught concepts in the Bible: giving to the church.

I know. It's an emotional topic that will raise the hairs on the back of the head of many. That's OK. What the Scripture really teaches about giving for the Christian is what IT really teaches, not what may have been ingrained into the minds of learned, self-professed "scholars." 

Some of that angst you feel might well stem from fear and (would you believe it?) lack of faith. That's right, I said "lack of faith." After all, if we don't preach our standard concepts of giving, the church will suffer financially. That's analogous to politicians who think that if we don't raise taxes the country's coffers will be empty.

The first thing that has to be settled is whether the Old Covenant still applies to Christians. Are we to live under the Old Covenant and just add the New Covenant to it, or did the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ usher in a New Covenant? Does it matter?

Writing to the Jews, the author of Hebrews (whom I believe to be Paul) wrote a huge amount about who Jesus is and how He ushered in a New Covenant. According to him, the New Covenant is not just an extension of the Old Covenant, but is a replacement for it. After establishing the unequaled High Priesthood of Jesus, he then tells us that the Old Covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13) and has been REPLACED with a new agreement from God to us. It is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP with God than we previously had, one built on the Lordship of Christ.

So, if the New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant then the rules, practices and requirements of the Old Covenant no longer apply.

With this in mind, let's look at the concept of Christian giving under the New Covenant.

The same book of Hebrews that we looked at above, in chapter 7:4-6 records that Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils of war back to the Lord. By his example, the Levite priests were to collect from the Israelites a tithe or 10% to support their ministry.  

I know the arguments over the arguments: “Well tithing is Old Testament law, and we’re no longer under the Law.” That is true, but it is irrelevant to the idea of giving. So is the opposite argument that “The Bible teaches it, so we ought to do it.”

Be very careful with this kind of argument. There are some things taught in the Bible’s Old Testament that I KNOW you don’t think we are required to follow. They couldn’t step on grass on the Sabbath. Was it only that part of the Law we get to ignore under the New Covenant? There are many other more ominous teachings of the Old Testament that you don’t think we should follow.

So…do we get to pick and choose what part of the Law we follow and what part we ignore? NO. We MUST understand that the Law was completely fulfilled in Jesus. As the highest of High Priests, Jesus fulfilled the Law on our behalf so we don’t have to. Good thing, too. ‘Cause there’s no way we could fulfill it ourselves.

Even if we tried, our hearts would be our undoing. Under the Law, our giving was not righteousness. Our righteousness, even our righteousness in giving, is as filthy rags in God’s eyes.

The New Covenant concept of giving is to give as God leads, from the heart, willingly and cheerfully. It is also to give 100% of one’s life; money, time talents, everything.

Do you remember the poor widow who dropped her money into the coffers? Do you remember how Jesus praised her for giving her 10% to the Lord? Oh, that’s right. He didn’t. He praised her for giving everything she had.

Perhaps you recall the rich young Jewish ruler who came to Jesus to find out how to be saved. He bragged about having kept the Law by giving his tithe. Jesus told him to sell 10% of everything he had and give it to the poor…no, wait! He told him to sell everything he had and give IT to the poor.

WOW! Jesus’ standard is much greater than the Old Testament standard! He wants much more than 10%. He wants 100% of us…no exceptions.

Well, what about Malachi? Didn’t he say to bring all the tithes into the storehouse? Didn’t he warn against bringing poor tithes and offerings?

Yes, he did.

Well, there you go.

No, there you don’t go.

First of all, Malachi recognized the tithe as a tax paid to the priest. Ever since Abraham gave his tithe to Melchizedek, priests had demanded a 10% tax from the Jews. Not only that, they had demanded other taxes (tithes) that we sort of see fit to ignore today.

Secondly, although some try to establish some kind of analogy between the silos used as storehouses for the priests and the church as the storehouse today, there is NO Biblical connection drawn between the two. The church is not a storehouse, it is a “pass through” house. We are not to store up riches, we are to disseminate riches.

As to the fear of not being able to raise the money needed to operate a church, exercise a little faith. 

God is able to touch the hearts of people to give generously. Have you ever heard someone say something like, “If all the people here would just tithe, we would have no trouble meeting our budget.”

Well, if all the people engaged in New Covenant giving we would have so much that we’d be looking for new ministries to begin.

Why don’t people give like the New Testament teaches? Answer: They have never been taught New Testament giving. They have been taught Old Testament giving with any giving above that as “extra.”

Why would anyone suggest some small percentage when Jesus endorsed one hundred percent?

“Well I just preach the Bible, and that includes the Old Testament.” Actually, you don’t. You just read words and philosophize about them. The Old Testament’s purpose is not to instruct us in how to live. Its purpose is to point us to Christ. That’s the way it was used every time it was quoted by a New Testament character; Jesus, Paul, James, Peter, John and everyone else.

It is a dangerous thing to oppose traditional thinking. The consequences proffered by those in spiritual power can be disheartening at best, devastating at worst.

For the sake of the gospel, teachers, leaders, preachers and professors, learn to read what the Bible actually teaches. You will not be harmed by it. On the contrary, you will be blessed beyond your ability to comprehend.

What Is the Lords Supper?

Periodically we partake in the Lord’s Supper, also called “Communion.” What is it about? Why do we partake of it?

There is an uber literal interpretation of the Lord’s Supper that teaches that the bread and the wine (or fruit of the vine, if you prefer) literally become the body and blood of Christ. That is called Transubstantiation.

Another interpretation holds that the body and blood of Christ are with or infused into the bread and the wine. 

This interpretation is called Consubstantiation.

The last common interpretation is that the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ. Some who hold this view refer to it as sacramental. Others refer to it as an ordinance.

For the transubstantiationists, the argument surrounds the word is. Jesus said, “This…is my body.” So, if we are to take Scripture literally, they teach that the bread becomes the literal body of Christ and the wine becomes the literal blood of Christ.

However, those who hold to a sacramental or ordinal viewpoint remind us that in the very next verse, Jesus says, that He would not drink again from the “fruit of the vine” until the kingdom. Jesus’ own statement makes it clear that they had just drunk some wine. They did not drink His blood.

Luke also references the fruit of the vine in Luke 22:14-20 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”  

What is more essential than the surface doctrinal issue is the purpose and meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Here are the major Bible references to it.

Matthew 26:26-29 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”

Mark 14:22-25 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 11:23-29 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

There is a common phrase to each of these passages. It is the phrase, “new covenant.” Matthew calls it Christ’s blood of the new covenant. Mark also refers to it as “…my blood of the new covenant. In 1 Corinthians, Paul records as saying, “…the new covenant of my blood.”

This is exceedingly significant. By Jesus’ own testimony, the Lord’s Supper is a representation of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the new agreement God has made with man. It supersedes the Old Covenant. No part of the Old Covenant is in play anymore. If that is not true, then Jesus’ death was for nothing.

Under the new covenant, Jesus could remove a person’s sins when he believes in Him. That is, his sins were remitted, or canceled, when he repented of sin and placed his faith in, and only in the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

The New Covenant is not an extension of the Old Covenant, it replaced the Old Covenant (the Mosaic Covenant or The Law). The Old Covenant could never remove sins since the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin (Hebrews 10:1-18). It was obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). The New Covenant gave life, spiritual life by a new and better way (Hebrews 10:19-20).

When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are remembering that Christ has ushered in that New Covenant that provides us the only way to eternal life, through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.