Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
PATTERNS IN THE BIBLE: BREAD & WINE #2
A Gourmet Meal — and it is outrageous
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
PATTERNS IN THE BIBLE: BREAD & WINE #1 A Gourmet Menu
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)]
Setting the scene
It is written in 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 || For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner 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.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
If this has never been weird to you, you have never really thought about it. It is not recorded that the Disciples flinched but they didn’t take it so well the first time they heard it.
Flashback to John 6:22–68
Imagine yourself as an Israelite at the synagogue in Capernaum, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, about 2,000 years ago. You are a good Jew. You have religiously attended the weekly Torah readings since you were of age. You know the Ordinances against the ingesting and spilling of blood. You also know that, even though cannibalism is not expressly forbidden anywhere in the Tanakh, human beings are not included in the list of kosher animals to eat. So you deduce that when Leviticus 19:18 commands you to love your neighbour, it does not mean love the taste of him char grilled.
But there is a man here who is out of the ordinary. His name is Jesus, he calls himself, “The Son of Man.” Some people say he is the Messiah, the Son of David. He has done astounding miracles and he isn’t a wimpy preacher like the Rabbi School graduates. He speaks with authority (Australian, grunt; Hebrew, semicha [shmee-HA!]).
He says something outrageous.
He says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
But he doesn’t stop there. He goes on,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven — not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
The Religious Glitterati quarrel among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” [They know the Torah. This is a definite No-No!] And many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” [They also knew this was not on.]
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?”
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
All this talk about cannibals and vampires — let’s cancel this guy.
I’m open to correction but it seems that the church today is more sanitised than Sanctified. In today’s Western Culture we tend to hear with our eyes and think with our emotions, (I can’t reference that quote because Ravi Zacharias has been cancelled). Before having a cadenza and start ripping pages out of the Bible [a practice in the (small ‘c’) church which long precedes secular cancel culture], what about getting some evidence upon which to judge.
TO JUDGE OR NOT TO JUDGE?
The Macca’s Hermeneutics Technique
Explanation: If you try to eat a Big Mac burger by stuffing it into your mouth in one go, you will die. Whereas, if you take bight-sized pieces, they can be chewed and digested. (It will possibly still kill you — but not today.)
RATHER THAN, “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?” ASK, “WHAT WOULD JESUS KNOW?”
At the time He was speaking:-
Would it be reasonable to expect Jesus to know the Law about drinking ingesting blood and human flesh being unclean?
Yes. He knew Torah.
- He was born under the Law of Moses, as is written in Galatians 4:4 || But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
- Even as an adolescent boy He astonished the teachers in the Temple, as is written in Luke 2:46–47 || Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.
- He soaked up the knowledge of His Father (Joseph wasn’t), as is written in Luke 2:51–52 || Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.
- He had knowledge that astounded his religious adversaries (who didn’t know where He got it), as is written in, John 7:14–16 || Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
- He knew much more about the Torah than the Religious Glitterati. They didn’t know their Grammar. In Matthew 22:41–46 there is a savage argument about whose son Messiah is. As you, no doubt know, when you read it you will find out that David’s Son is David’s Lord. It all hangs on the י in לאדני. I like the way the stoush ends in Matthew 22:46 || And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
JESUS WOULD KNOW A LOT.
Did Jesus have a body of Human Flesh?
Yes. As is written in Galatians 4:4, above, He was born of woman.
Would His flesh be exactly the same as other Humans, say Lazarus?
Not exactly.
Human flesh is corrupted because of the Fall. (It is actually devolving, but that is another story.) It is written in John 11:39 || Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.(KJV) Whereas, the account of the first encounter between the Resurrected Jesus and Mary, John 20:11–18, gives no hint of unpleasant odour. It had been three days.
Why would this be worth mentioning?
There had to be no sniff of sin about Him — spirit, soul, and body. That’s why His Father was literally the Holy Spirit 1 John 3:5 || And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
Would Jesus cause others to sin by breaking the Torah?
No.
James 1:13 || Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
Bringing it all together up to now.
Jesus is not speaking about cannibalism or vampires.
Now that’s settled, what is he talking about?
You’ve suffered enough. More coming next time.
Point to ponder
Jesus uses a yod to confound the Religious Glitterati in the Matthew 22:41–46 incident mentioned above (י in לאדני). It had been written hundreds of years earlier, in the correct place, to be used at the correct time. If that yod had fallen away the Law would have fallen away. Or don’t you think so?
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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