COMMUNION SERVICE: MY BODY WAS GIVEN FOR YOU. Luke 23
I prepared for communion
in our fellowship, enquiring from the Father the meaning of the precious words,
heading this note. He flooded my mind with these truths.
Christ’s body was battered
when he was ‘Wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our
iniquities. Isaiah 53 The Roman soldiers brutally pounded His face
out of recognition. ‘His visage or
facial appearance was more marred than any man.’ ( Isaiah 52 : ) ‘So that when we shall see Him we shall
not desire Him’. Calvary was hideous.
Our sins more so!
‘He bore our sins in His
own body on the tree,‘ a once-for-all giving of His perfect life.
What was the meaning of’
My body being given in suffering for you‘? In terms of His natural vision, His
eyes wept over Jerusalem. ‘How often
would I have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings.’ ‘And you would not’, He continued.
‘His sweat was as great drops
of blood, falling down to the ground,‘ spoke of the intensity of suffering,
demanding that an angel from glory comfort the Lord. One of my patients sweated
from every sweat gland such drops of blood, as a toxic response, that she
needed an urgent blood transfusion. ’By the sweat of your brow’ reminded us of the
effect of the Fall.
While burdened with the
cross, His eyes beheld women, to whom He spoke comforting words and gentle
warning. ‘Jesus, turning to them, said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep
for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.’ (23:28)
‘They put a sponge full of
vinegar to His mouth ( sour wine would have scorched His throat). He refused the acetic acid, rejecting any
painkiller. The hyssop stick carrying the sponge reminded Him of the dabbing of the blood over the doorway on
the Passover night. He was God’s Passover Lamb - and our’s, too. I trust HE is your’s.
The taunting of the crowd
alerted HIM, ‘He saved others, he could
not save Himself.’ Simply,‘ Because He saved others, He could not save Himself.
‘He was the corn of wheat that fell into the ground, and brought forth fruit.’
Today, we thank our God for His conquering death - and glorious
resurrection.
‘He gave His back to those
who smote Him and His cheeks to those , who plucked out His beard.’ ( Isaiah
50:6 ) Oh, how painfully they savaged
Him, lacerating skin and muscle out of His back; while numerous bleeding points
showed the cruel tearing out of His hair. Blood flowed from His back and
face. He bore our sin in His body.
The Lord of glory hung
naked on the cross, for ‘They took His garments, ripping one into four parts,
and gambling for the outer, beautifully-woven robe.’ So heathen executioners
unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy in
the Psalms. Our Lord Jesus suffered the
extreme shame of nakedness, forbidden after man’s first rejection of His Lord
in the garden. I recall in Genesis 3
how God killed an animal, and covered Adam and Eve with the skin to remove the
shame of their fallen state. A type of
Christ’s sacrifice. He bore my sin in His naked body.
His Speech unravelled some
of the meaning of ’bearing my sin in His body on the tree.’
Our Lord spoke seven times
on the cross as ‘ He was made sin for
us, Who knew no sin.’
‘My God, my God, why have
you forsaken Me?’ ( psalm 22:1 ) told how the heavenly Father abandoned Him as the burden of our wretchedness rested on Him.
Then He cried, ’Father,
forgive them. They know not what they
do.’ The dying Son of God showed mercy on His executioners. Oh, what an example
for us who love Him. Only the operating of Christ in our lives enables us
to forgive.
He gave hope to the dying
thief, who had repented of his evil ways, assuring that ‘Today you shall be
with Me in Paradise.’ His death was
vicarious.
While His strength ebbed
away, He provided for His Mother, when He said, ‘Behold your son. ‘ Mary had
carried Him in the womb, nurtured Him at her breast, and cared for Him during
the years of growth and development. He
cared for her, assuring her of John’s home for her mature years.
In His body, pinioned to
the wooden cross, He charged the one who had often leaned on His breast at
supper, with ‘‘Son, behold your mother.’
John supported Mary, devotedly opening his heart to her.
Only when He knew that all
things were accomplished did He cry, ‘I thirst.’ Having shed much of His blood
and being dehydrated with shock, flogging, and the cruel sun on His naked body,
He longed for sips of soothing cold water. While extreme thirst may drive men
out of their minds, the Saviour calmly endured in His body this unbearable
hardship.
Hear the Saviour’s
triumphant cry to heaven and the world, ‘It is finished.’ ( that is, performed,
accomplished. Salvation is perfected.)
( Psalm 22:31) The highest
mountain has been scaled. The deepest river has been crossed. Satan has been eclipsed. In quiet confidence our Saviour
surrendered Himself, crying ’Into Your hands I commend My spirit.’
His hands and feet were nailed
to the cross, as King David prophesied, . ‘They pierced My hands and My feet. (
Psalm 22:16 ) Our Lord had ministered to many, gently healing the leper,
restoring sight to the blind, strengthening the paralysed, and raising the
dead: yet his hands are pinioned . His feet carried only the life-giving
gospel, yet they too are nailed to the cross.
The Old Testament burnt
offering demanded that an entire sacrifice be offered to God, with only ashes
resulting; hence Christ bore our sin as a total surrender to the Father. He
withheld no part of His perfect Life, in this complete yielding.
They pierced His side,
from which came blood and water ( serum), speaking of His blood atonement, now
accomplished, and the out-flowing of
the gracious Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Truly, we thank our God that His blood was poured out as an atonement
for the soul. (Leviticus 17 ) And that the Spirit of God fell on the church at
Pentecost; and on us today.
‘I beseech you, brethren,
by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service, or worship. ( Romans 12;1 )
Please click on GOD’S PLAN, reading the salvation invitation in your own mother tongue.