24 who Himself bore our sins in His own BODY on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.
(1 Peter 2:24).

The above scripture actually sums up the meaning of the bread of the Lord’s Supper. His body as referred to in the above scripture is represented by the bread. His body was delivered up to deliver us from sin so that we can live for Him. This scripture speaks of being set free from sin, not just forgiven for sin. As we will see, the cup speaks of forgiveness for sin, but here, the message of the bread is one of us being set free from or delivered out of our sin through Christ’s death on the cross. There are numerous other scriptures that make this point; i.e., Romans 6:1-11, Romans 6:18, Galatians 2:20, II Corinthians 5:14-15, etc. Let me repeat, the above mentioned scripture tells us that Jesus bore our sins in His BODY (bread) on the cross so that we 1) have been set free from sin, 2) can live for righteousness. This, in a nutshell, is [... read more...]

Understanding the Cup of the Lord’s Supper – Most Bible-believing Christians understand that the cup of the Lord’s Supper stands for the blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of our sins. What relief and peace we have in understanding that our sins are forgiven. Apart from Christ, we stand guilty and deserve to pay the penalty for our sins; we deserve to go to hell, a place of eternal punishment. Jesus took our place and Himself paid the penalty for our sins. We get off Scott free. We are declared righteous (imputed righteousness). If you have ever sinned, and you have, you know or can imagine what a relief it is to know that you are off the hook. We drink the cup to proclaim this fact.

14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:14).

7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7).

In the above scriptures we see that redemption, the forgiveness of sins, was won for us through the blood of Jesus. The cup of the Lord’s supper stands for this message [... read more...]

1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.
7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be
killed. Luke: 22:1,7

17 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples
came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do you want us to prepare for You
to eat the Passover?” Matthew 26:17

7 ‘And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
8 ‘Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Exodus 12:7-8

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Passover were celebrated by the Hebrews on the same weekend. The Feast of Unleavened Bread extended further for seven days. Also, on the Sunday of that very weekend of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover, the first fruits were offered. The first fruits were offered on the day after the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:11). The first fruits were symbolic of the resurrection of Christ (1Corinthians 15:20). (All of the feasts of the Lord are introduced in Leviticus chapter 23.) Luke 22:1 quoted above, shows that the great gathering of the Jews on this weekend was called either the Feast of Unleavened Bread or the Passover. These two feasts were not celebrated with each other by accident. It takes two feasts to adequately and completely symbolize the meaning of the Lord’s death. This is in line with what the New Testament declares in 1Corinthians 11:26; where it also shows that it [... read more...]

We have seen the relevance of the symbols in the Holy of Holies in this book.  Now let’s look at the entire tabernacle and see how it all fits together.  The Holy of Holies was certainly the heart of the temple (tabernacle), yet there was much more to the temple than its heart.  How to be saved is found at the entrance to the temple. We are going to see the fulfillment of the main symbols in the Hebrew temple, in Acts chapter 2.  From Acts 2:37 where the apostle Peter was giving the gospel message on how to be saved, through the very last verse in Acts 2, the main points of the temple were fulfilled. The last verse, verse 47, was where the believers were “praising God and having favor with all the people.”  Let’s start with Peter’s message:

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of  the apostles, “Men and brethren , what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:37-39

There were four points to Peter’s message in verse 38: Repent (Turn from sin and turn from false [... read more...]

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

The greatest revival in the history of Christendom is recorded in Acts chapter two.  Acts 2:38 noted above is the gospel message that God used to start this revival.  There are four parts to this gospel message: Repent Be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ For the remission of sins Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit God used the apostle Peter to kick off this revival with the above four part gospel message. The people were asking him, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” in Acts 2:37. In response to their question, Peter gave the above gospel message.  These four points are not only the way to get saved, but they form a blue print for the way to be saved and walk with God on a moment by moment basis.  The believer should be applying these four fundamental truths or instructions for his life on a moment by moment basis.  For example, when I become [... read more...]