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Prelude to Light |
The Judas Heart.
Scripture Reference.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the TRUTH is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. But If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness: And we will walk in the Light as He is the Light, and will have Fellowship/Koinonia/Communion one with another, for the Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. (Understand the context in 1st John 1.)
Likewise
also the cup after supper, Jesus saying, This cup is the New Testament in My Blood,
Which is shed for you. “But,
behold, the hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the table”. And
truly the Son of Man goes, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by
whom He is betrayed! And they began to enquire among themselves, which
of them it was that should do this thing.
“But, behold, the hand of him that betrays Me, is with Me on the table”. We might think that the writer of the Gospel of St Luke, has this scripture event out of order. It certainly gives us pause. Judas had left the Pascal feast between the 1st cup and the 2nd cup of the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John all bear this out according to what was written down later after the forty or fifty years of oral tradition. As previously outlined, each of the four cups of wine would sequentially conform with the ritual traditions of the Jewish Seder. After the 1st cup of wine, Jesus dipped the morsel of 'matzah' bread into the dish of 'morar', (the sop) which were herbs of bitterness, and symbolic of slavery, and then Jesus gave the sop to Judas. Then Judas in the following moments would go out from the assembly of the Lord's disciples to do what was right in his own eyes. And after the sop Satan entered into him (Judas). Then said Jesus unto Judas: That thou doest, do quickly. (John 13 verse 27.) Judas did not participate in the 2nd cup of wine, let alone the old Covenant Passover lamb: Therefore seeing that Judas was no longer at he Table and in the Presence of the Lord, it was impossible for Judas to partake in the Lord Jesus Christ's inaugurated New Covenant Meal in His Body and Blood, even as some of the religious have thought otherwise. In heart, Judas was not clean and a true follower in faith and reliance upon Jesus Christ. Judas lacked true repentance for his previous and present rebellious actions toward His Lord that were hidden in his own slavery to sin and to Satan, the author of sin and death. So then, it was before the Lord's revelation of the hidden matzo Bread to be the True Bread of Heaven, and also the 3rd Cup of Blessing to be the Blood of the Son of Adam given by Yahweh God's Spirit of the Word of Yahweh God in Jesus Christ, for Jesus had already dismissed Judas from His New Covenant Table, to perform his heart's dictates as that of a traitor, and the emissary of Satan. (See John 13 verse 26 thru 28.)
Are we not all like Judas Iscariot? Our actions and inactions betray us to be dead in our sin!
“But, behold, the hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the table”. In the recording ascribed to Luke's gospel, it would appear that the Lord was making reference to all of His disciples at His Table of Grace, and not just Judas: Otherwise this scripture from Luke 22 sticks out like a sore thumb, for Judas was no longer present at the New Covenant Table of the Lord. Says the Lord of hosts: Awake, O Sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn Mine Hand upon the little ones. (See Zachariah 13 verse 6 thru 7.)
Now having read those verses in Zachariah, consider the rest of Luke's Gospel account revealing the prideful dispute that arose among the disciples, arguing which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. (See Luke 22 verse 24 thru 27.) Then we hear the Lord address Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22 verse 31 thru 34.) Then said Jesus unto them, All of you shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. (Matthew 26 verse 31.) When the Roman soldiers came with some of the Jewish Sanhedrin to arrest Jesus, all of His disciples abandoned the Lord. Later in the remaining dark of that Passover day, even as the Lord Yeshua/Jesus had foretold, Simon Peter completely denied his Master 3 times, and then the rooster crowed.
All of us that are called into God's New Covenant of Faith, have for the sake of a tradition, nonchalantly partaken of God's Table of Sanctifying Grace in the LIFE Blood of Yeshua, and yet in our unbelief of the TRUTH, we have each betrayed the Lord and His Covenant in His LIFE Blood. Scripture reminds us again, "You are not your own: You have been bought with a price"; (1st Corinthian 6 verse 19 thru 20.) and that price is the Holy LIFE Blood of Jesus Christ. Now if we are not our own, and have supposedly abdicated our rights into the hands of Yahweh God, then we need to be very careful of how we discern our Covenant relationship to Holy Yahweh God Almighty through His Spirit's Provision of the LIFE Blood of Jesus Christ. Make no mistake: For the LIFE that is in the Blood of Christ is administered through the One Holy Spirit of Yahweh God, for His Grace of LIFE is supplied for the unification of the faithful believers into the One Holy resurrected Body of Jesus Christ.
The scriptures admonish us to fully examine our hearts before coming to the Lord’s Table of Grace. It is vital to be clothed in humility, for we as believers, should know that we sinners through faith have been baptized into the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as members in our Lord's Body, we are resurrected into LIFE through His Blood, and are to put on the fullness of the resurrected Jesus Christ, the Servant of all. If we all understood this premise, and we're a doer of the Word of God, then petty judgments among repentant believers ends in Communion
with the One Lord God Almighty, for why would you want to judge your own body, and that which belongs to the Judge of all creation. Having purposed in our heart to come together in humility of spirit, then Holy Communion, is the time to come into Yahweh God's Holy Presence to worship the Almighty in His Spirit of TRUTH.
However, defiled hearts will not make that journey into His Presence. When ever sin is persistent in an apathetic church, then there will be a lack of unity in the Spirit, and the absence of true spiritual blessing from the Presence of Yahweh God's Holy Spirit. For the individual that remains in their hidden sin, then there can be sickening morphological changes in the human flesh, and even an early death. In either case, we have eaten of our own judgment for not discerning the Body of Christ, whose members we are in Jesus Christ. Foremost in God's correcting judgment, we may be guilty of not reverencing the Covenant Blood of Jesus Christ that is given to cleanses us from all of our sin and give us LIFE in Yahweh God's LIFE in His Only Begotten Son..
Paul's letters, to the first century church at Corinth, sends a severe warning for today's churches in general. God will not tolerate gross infidelity to God's New Covenant, sealed in the LIFE Blood of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ! Can you not see of the dire consequences that occurred through out the centuries because of sin's fermentation through out the Church? Without repentance toward God, the law of sowing and reaping will prevail. He that has not, even that which he thinks he has, shall be given to another who has, and he shall have the more abundance; but the unprofitable servant shall be cast out into utter darkness. (See Matthew 25 verse 29 thru 30.)
"Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this Bread, and drink (from) this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty (worthy of death) of the Body and Blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that one Bread, and drink of that cup: For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, (understand, there are no metaphors or allegories here for) not discerning the Lord's Body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. ( 1st Corinthians 11 verse 27 thru 32.)
God, in His faithfulness, will forgive and cleanse the humble communicants of their acknowledged shortcomings to His Holiness, (See these scriptures.) but consider the severity of this warning: For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himselF for not discerning the Lord's Body. This is a rather extreme judgment in Communion, if we were drinking just lifeless wine and eating just bread. The Body of Jesus Christ is Holy, and yet by Faith we are together each members of Promise IN the Body Christ Jesus. Have we learned nothing from the historical churches' gross historical failures resulting into bloody conflicts, that were born out of the churches' spiritual adultery? Shall we continue to put the Lord to the test?
He that despised Moses' Law, died without mercy under two or three witness. Of how much sorer (worse) punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the Blood of the (New) Covenant, wherewith he was sanctified (set apart from sin, to serve the living God), an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of Grace? For we know Him that has said: Vengeance belongs unto Me, I will recompense, says the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. For it is a dreadful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God. (Hebrews 10 verse 28 thru 31.)
What do you suppose would be a worse punishment than the physical death that was pronounced under the Mosaic Law?
Note: Prior to the two Communion dreams within the previous chapter "Arise Shine", I had another very significant dream concerning the same Protestant church, which I was attending at that time. The dream portended of impending disaster.
I was traveling in my car upon the same street where my business was located. I glanced to my right and saw a small plain looking church in the background between the passing buildings. In seeing the church building, I marveled that I had not seen it before this time. As I traveled, this church seemed to be enlarging itself with the same rate of speed with which I was moving. Again I marveled that the church was expanding, and much larger than I had first perceived. But, in the next moment I found myself standing in water, ankle deep and looking at a sand dune, with another church building setting on top of the tall dune. The church structure was rather narrow, and had many steeples coming forth out of its gabled roof.
Directly in front of the church that was built on the sand dune, were a half dozen telephone like pylons, seemingly shoring up the sand dune foundation of the church. On either side of the pylons, there was erosion taking place with ruts extending from the top of the dune to the bottom reaching the shore line. Standing in the water beneath the dune and church, I understood that there was an attempt to shore up the churches foundation problems with the pylons. I heard myself saying, "Look where they have built this church, and when the next storm comes, as it will, what will become of the church". Structurally, I did not recognize the church building, but in my heart I knew that this was the evangelical protestant church that my wife and I had been attending for several years. At this time, I was not privy to the inner workings of the church leadership or thier internal problems.
The next moment I saw a massive building, with large granite blocks that made up its structure. This extremely large building came rushing from the left side of the people conceived church. It seemed like this neatly fitted structure would displace the protestant church with all of its steeples, and take what is known as the church, right off its foundation of sand. I perceived that this great building, which had just arrived on the scene, was actually God's Ecclesia/church that I had seen earlier while traveling in my car. This massive church sturcture seemingly would give no room for any planned expansion of the protesting church with all of its steeples which was built on sand.
I told this dream to the leadership, and later prophesied in the Spirit, with a compelling cry for repentance so that the whole of the congregation would hear. Not mature enough in the Lord’s way, and a very reluctant prophet at that, I became uncomfortable and embarrassed within myself, and left this church without telling the two Communion dreams that are written within the chapter "Arise Shine". Months later, the evangelical church was torn asunder by scandal. This came about as a result of immorality by a leading member of the ministry team, and also the failure of the leadership to deal with any kind of sin expeditiously. This bright young assistant pastor went to prison, forfeited any ministry, and eventually lost his wife and children through divorce. The protesting church, looking to fill a new 1500 seat auditorium, lost most of its membership, and languished for 10 years with 60 or so remaining members, loyal to the head pastor. Financial pressures forced the protesting church to merge with an independent congregation with a little stronger following, and the congregation was led by the incoming pastor who would also leave the remains of dearh.
Although the redeemed of the Lord will never obtain perfection of this earthly flesh, our God of the Living gives us the ability to control the affectations of sinful flesh through His Spirit of Holiness and His Sword of correction. God's Covenant Agreement is to cleanse sin from repentant believers of faith, for God is faithful to His New Eternal Covenant in the Blood of if His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, the Son of Man/Adam. He is faithful to His Word and that which He has purposed for our own eternal good. Not even the Apostle Paul, in his pleading with the Lord, is delivered of his thorn in his flesh, so that the ministry of God's Spirit takes preeminence over the potential of Paul's pride in his flesh. (See 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 7 thru 10.) For in our weakness and dependency upon God, Yahweh God’s strength is magnified and made perfect with in us. The perfection we may desire, is only as a living member within the resurrected Body of Jesus Christ, where, in the unsurpassing Love of God for His people constrains us. When partaking of the Table of our Lord, it is neither a symbolic act, nor a staged performance on our part to placate our Holy, Holy, Holy God. In the fullness of Holy Communion with our Eternal God, His Promise in His New Covenant brings us forward into the fabric of time, where Jesus' death and His resurrection victory over our sin and our death, gives us LIFE IN HIM Because of Yahweh God's Love, that was given to us sacrificially on His Son's cross, we joyfully embrace the Lord Yeshua's victory over our sin and death. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, for it is the Love of God, manifested in our hearts unto obedience, through our obedient Faith in Yahweh God Almighty's beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the victorious Son of Man/Adam. (See John 5 verse 1 thru 5.)
When the unbelieving, or the believing carnal church repents and begins to follow the TRUTH of God Almighty and to honor His Table of Grace, then Yahweh God will begin to give His Grace and revive the dead assemblies, which have lost their first Love. Sin brings death, but the Love of God, when received IN the TRUTH, revives the heart and soul of the lost.
And He took the cup (wine skin), and gave thanks, and said: Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying: “This is My Body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me”. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying: “This cup is the New Testament in My Blood, which is shed for you”. (Luke 22 verse 17 thru 21.)
To visit the next section and next chapter, please click on Transubstantiation, Consubstantiation, Symbolism.