Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
PATTERNS IN THE BIBLE: BREAD & WINE #1
A Gourmet Menu
THIS IS PART OF AN UNDECIDED NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON PATTERNS IN THE BIBLE AND THEIR IMPORTANCE.
Spoiler Alert! The patterns are a record of God keeping His Promises.
There are many patterns so only a few will be presented including; three days, bread & wine, communion, 70 times 7, Genealogy of Christ.
Already published are:-
WHO WROTE THE BIBLE? Someone with a different logic to you. (Pattern: Out of Egypt I called my son)
PATTERNS IN THE BIBLE: THIRD DAY #1 The Good Samaritan — shades of mercy
PATTERNS IN THE BIBLE: THIRD DAY #2 Third day: Signature for Christ
Brace yourself! This is more of a teaching blog than an entertaining one. It may not be an easy read because there is more here than a normal, well adjusted person would generally want to know. But the time will be well spent. The detail which makes me a boring person brings the Bible alive for me. If, however, you happen to like what you read, there’s more to be found here.
[NOTE: Important words analysed below are identified with Hebrew/Greek transliterations into English and Strong’s Numbers so that whoever wants to can check them out — the recommendation is that you do. I use the Blue Letter Bible (https://www.blueletterbible.org/ BLB)]
Limping and partially blind
As Torah-fied NT Saints we stumble down the Sod like Long John Silver — one eye and one leg. There is so much to learn from the OT other than Jehovah is an old grouch. Our Jewish heritage has been stolen, including the visible assurance that God definitely is in control, definitely all the time. He shows it in the patterns.
The Pattern of the Bread and Wine
The main Sacrament in Christianity is that of Holy Communion. It was Jesus who drew attention to both the Passover meal and the bread and wine. Was it a New Testament Sacrament or does this extend back to the Old Testament?
Abraham and Melchizedek
The first mention of bread and wine is written in Genesis 14:18 || Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
It was Melchizedek, the Order of Priests for Jesus, who brought the bread and wine — just as Jesus introduced the bread and wine at the Last Supper.
Joseph in prison — the baker and the cup bearer
This is a précis of Genesis 40:1–22 || The butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended him so he put them in prison. Then the butler and the baker each had a dream. The butler told his dream to Joseph. It was about three cups of wine in Pharaoh’s hand. And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place.” The baker told Joseph about three baskets of bread. Joseph said to him, “Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.” And so it came to pass as Joseph had said.
When you read the whole text, you will notice that three days after an event there is life for one and death for another. This is the beginning of a subsidiary pattern which becomes sharper.
• bread = flesh = death
• wine = spirit = life.
(You will notice the 3-Day pattern but the emphasis here is on the bread and wine. Follow-up the three days yourself.)
Provision for Israel in the wilderness
Spiritual food and spiritual drink
1 Corinthians 10:2–4 || They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
John 6:35 || And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Hosea redeeming Gomer,
It is written in Hosea 3:2 || So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.
Gomer was the unfaithful wife. Silver is Levitical metaphor for blood. Barley is the grain used for the bread for Passover. Wine is a metaphor for both joy and blood.
The towns associated with Jesus’s youth
The formative years of our Saviour were spent in Bethlehem and Nazareth. There is something in those names.
Bethlehem: In both Hebrew and Greek, Strong’s H1035 (Beyth Lechem) and G965 (Bethlehem), the meaning is house of bread.
Nazareth: It is written in Matthew 2:22–23 || But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, after having been warned in a dream. So he left for the region of Galilee and settled in a town called Nazareth in order to fulfil what was said by the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene (G3480 Nazōraios).” The International Standard Version (ISV) of the Word of God provides a footnote that the Greek Nazoraios may be a word play between Hebrew netser (H5342), meaning branch, and the name Nazareth. As it is written in Isaiah 11:1 || And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (H5342) shall grow out of his roots.
Communion pattern practiced
In the Passover meal, Messiah declares that His Body and His Blood are the cornerstones of Christianity.
Matthew 26:26–28 || And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
( Hebrews 9:22 || Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.)
Communion pattern fulfilled
Now that you are aware of the pattern you will discover more of them regularly. If this doesn’t convince you, nothing will.
Communion is the key to enter the Most Holy Place
Hebrews 10:19–20 || Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh…
I have a question
There is so much in (small ‘c’) christian scholarship about error in the Bible by well-lettered glitterati focusing in on a word here and a word there. I’m open to correction, having no Theological qualifications, but if the Bible, written by numerous people, across numerous years, using numerous genre, can maintain these numerous patterns (when considering other evidence offered in this series) it seems to confirm the Divinity of the collection of books. I cannot understand why those charged with Equipping the Saints for Service to the Lord are so intent on gutting the Divine on such meagre evidence. But who am I? A chubby little guy relying entirely on God’s Grace to get into Heaven.
A deeper discussion of Communion coming up next.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
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