Resurrection From the Dead, Part 10
August 31, 2018
It has always been a marvel to me how the Table of the Lord
– that which we commonly refer to as the Communion Table – is treated as an
“ordinance” – a ritual, if you will; something we just have to do because Jesus
commanded it. Many Christians just don’t
get it!
We are celebrating a Covenant! We are entering into and participating in
that Covenant – the Covenant that ends death and opens to us a supernatural
dimension in the realm of the Spirit.
This is our opportunity to play a very real part and to exercise faith
in all that Jesus has done on our behalf.
Because the transition from death to life is an overcoming
process that must be worked out in our lives, it is critical that we get a
handle on this. Even though Paul makes
it clear in his letter to the Corinthians that the change takes place “in the
twinkling of an eye,” our getting to the place in our understanding and in our
spirits where that becomes a reality requires a complete revision of our
thinking and our belief structure.
Jesus made it clear that He is coming back for an
overcoming people – not a people who simply want the change to take place in
them instantly without their having to overcome their flesh, their natural
desires, their fears, and all that the Enemy throws at them. Overcoming the death mindset is a part of
that.
That said, let’s get back to where we left off last week.
As
the miracle of the loaves unfolded, Jesus was demonstrating what He would say
to the people shortly thereafter, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Do
you see the significance of what Jesus is saying? He is trading His life in order to cancel the
sentence of death resident in the human race.
As One unworthy of death because He had never sinned, His coming death
and crucifixion on the Cross would — by proxy — suffice to cancel the sentence
of death for all those who would accept and acknowledge His sacrifice.
He
was willingly giving up His natural life as a human being in order to restore
eternity-based and immortal living for those who would walk in Him! On many occasions, Jesus made statements such
as the following:
John 6:57: "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live
by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me."
John 11:25-26: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me."
In
his first general epistle, John writes, "For the life was manifested, and we have seen
it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the
Father, and was manifested unto us." (I John 1:2)
The
Table of the Lord -- which took the place of Passover -- provides us with a
daily (or as often as we eat and drink of it) impartation of the life, the
multiplication that comes in that divine life, and we receive for ourselves
healing, health, wholeness, deliverance from bondage and oppression, and the
abundant provision of all that Heaven has for us. Each time we partake of
this Table, we remind and refresh ourselves in the Resurrection Life that Jesus
imparted (and continues to impart) to us.
Consider
the event that took place when the Syrophenician
woman came to Jesus.
Matthew 15:21-28: "And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out
of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O
Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a
devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and
besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth
after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.
Then came
she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and
said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto
her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."
See
the picture? Are you understanding just how powerful the bread of life
really is? This woman was not even of the house of Israel. Yet she
understood the significance of the Table of the Lord. She understood the
picture of the Bread of Life, and she realized that just a dried-out crumb of
that bread that had fallen under the Table would bring healing and deliverance
to her daughter.
Brother!
I sometimes marvel that the body of Christ -- who is supposed to have a grip on
what it means to be seated at the Table of the Lord -- has yet to understand
what it means to eat of the Bread of Life. David certainly had the
picture. Remember the 23rd Psalm?
"Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Who is
preparing this table? Hello!?! The Lord Jesus Christ, of
course. And what are the enemies in whose presence this Table is
spread? Hmmmm ........ Let's see, now ....... Sickness, disease,
infirmity, death, poverty, bondage of every kind, demonic oppression, fear,
doubt, unbelief ..... shall we go on?
Yet,
for the most part, the body of Christ today still treats the Table of the Lord
as anaxios: to treat
irreverently, to treat as commonplace and ordinary. There is nothing, and
I do mean NOTHING about the Table of the Lord that is commonplace or
ordinary. This is not a ritual. This is not some duty to keep.
The
Table of the Lord is a way of life, a manner of living. Eating of the
Table of the Lord takes a person out of this time-space,
sin-and-sickness-based, death-imposed realm and transports them into the
eternity of eternities -- the Kingdom of God!
When
we eat of the Bread of Life, we are eating of the Word Himself. But we
have to do it with revelation and understanding. Otherwise it becomes
just another "thing to do" as a Christian. Personally, I
dislike -- no, I'll make it even stronger than that -- I detest the form and
ritual that has turned our sacred Communion at the Table of the Lord into
crackers or wafers and dinky little "communion cups" (so that folks
don't transmit or catch some disease by drinking from a common cup).
When
Dwain and I were still at Long Beach Christian Center back in the 1970's, we
stopped the "crackers-and-grape juice-in-communion cups" ritual and
went to breaking a whole loaf of bread and drinking from a common cup or
chalice. It began the transformation of my understanding of what it means
to partake of the Lord's Table.
That
was some 40-plus years ago, and you couldn't pay me to go back to the old
ritual! I've yet to see someone "catch something" by drinking
of a common cup at the Table of the Lord. It just doesn't happen!
That would make the Table of the Lord a lie -- and there is nothing but truth
that emanates and is imparted when we eat and drink with revelation!
Wheww!!!
We've only just begun to scratch the surface. There's a whole lot more to
go just dealing with the covenant picture of the Table. Let me share with you this observation as we
continue:
The Lord has set a table before us
that is fit for kings and priests -- and we are both in Him! We have a
feast set before us designed to help us function as kings who rule and reign,
and priests who worship and come before God's presence in boldness and
joy. Deliverance from death, Eternal
Life, transitioning from mortality to immortality, Health, wholeness, strength,
healing, restoration, deliverance, prosperity -- they are all set before us on
this Table!
John 6:53-58: Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me,
and I in him. As
the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This
is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna,
and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
What
Jesus did by instructing us to eat of Him was to reveal a process that the
world simply cannot get a hold of. This
is a spiritual picture and it is a spiritual reality. It defies human reasoning, and as a result
many believers fail to grasp the significance of what we have available with
Christ in us.
Many
of you will remember Jesse Duplantis’ experience when he went to Heaven and saw
Jesus merging into the father and then coming back out.
In
the realm of the Spirit, none of the laws of physics apply. There is no time in the Spirit, and there is no space. If you’ll pardon the Sci-fi illustration,
this is “interdimensional living.”
Jesus
tells us that if we eat and drink of Him, we are in Him and He is in us. The apostle Paul explained it like this:
II Corinthians 5:17-19: Therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us
to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation.
The
picture that Paul draws is that not only was Jesus in the Father, but that the
Father came to earth IN JESUS!
This was a real conundrum for Philip.
He couldn’t figure things out.
Jesus was telling the disciples that He was getting ready to leave and
prepare a place for them in His Father’s house.
Philip said to Jesus (and I’m paraphrasing), “Lord, we’ll understand
things a whole lot better if you’ll show us the Father.
John 14:9-11: Jesus saith unto him, Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that
hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the
Father? Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth
the works. Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for
the very works’ sake.
The
body of Christ still doesn’t grasp this.
We don’t really grasp it yet.
We have a concept and perhaps an image of it in our minds but lack the
revelation. If we can receive this
revelation and allow it to permeate our beings, it will radically change how we
think, how we live and how we function day-to-day.
This
is why and how Jesus could follow what He said to Philip with this:
John 14:12-14: Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Understand? The revelation of this is that whenever we
ask anything of the Father in the name of Jesus, we are asking the Father just
as if Jesus were doing it. If He is in
us, then Jesus is making the request.
This
is how the onoma of the Lord
works in us, through us, with us, around us.
His onoma is His character, His makeup, the very
essence of who He is! With His onoma comes
His authority, His power — AND — His relationship with the Father.
Pretty
simple isn’t it? We’ve so complicated
this that we’ve lost sight of who and what Jesus is in us. It isn’t just Him! It is the Father, as well.
That’s our stopping place for today.
In
case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our
Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about
10:45AM Pacific. That conference number
is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these
gatherings available by Skype. If you
wish to participate by video on Skype, my Skype ID is regner.capener. If you miss the live voice call, you can dial
(712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in
later. The video call, of course, is not
recorded – not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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