I doubt anyone here would posit that Moses is Greater than the Lord Yeshua but, my question today has to do with who you are following.

Shabbat Shalom ?

PASSION -- BROKEN SYMBOLS -- CONTINUE

3 -- A BROKEN BODY:

Near the Cross, Fanny Crosby wrote, Yeshua keeps me near the cross and multiplied thousands have sung it as a prayer. Those near the cross could hear the dripping of His blood and see it form a dirty pool on the ground. They saw it trickle down His naked side and drip off His toes. They saw it oozing from the nails through His wrists and ankles. They saw it gush in a sacrificial fountain when the spear was thrust into His side. Those near the cross heard the sighs, the groans of our Moshiach. They saw the agony on His face when YHVH would not listen to Him anymore, but let Him die all alone. They heard His voice when He prayed, [My YHVH, my YHVH, why have You forsaken me?] They saw His lips, feverish and parched, when He begged for water and was given vinegar to drink. They were there to see Yeshua’ head drop to His chest as He breathed His last. Adonai’s Supper represents the broken body of Yeshua Moshiach on the Cross. It represents the agony and the pain; Yes! But more than that, it represents the length to which YHVH is willing to go to restore the broken world and the broken lives that dwell there. The only way that YHVH could heal the broken world and our broken lives was by coming to earth Himself and taking the punishment for our sins in our place. Because of His great love for us, Yeshua Moshiach, YHVH in the flesh, came to earth to offer Himself as a sacrifice of substitution. [So, Moshiach was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.] -- Hebrews 9:28. [For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the Blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the Body of His Flesh through death, to present you holy and un-blameable and un-reprove-able in His Sight.] -- Colossians 1:19-22. It is through the broken Body of YHVH hanging on a Cross that our brokenness is healed, our sorrows diminished, and our souls reconciled to our Elohim. Peter wrote: [who His own self bares our sins in His own Body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.] -- 1 Peter 2:24. The broken symbols of Adonai’s Supper are a reminder that our healing was purchased with the price of Moshiach’s death.

4 -- A BROKEN HEART:

Does your heart break when you learn what Yeshua has done for you and when you recognize how you have run away from Him? The symbols on the table represent your heart if it is willing to be broken. The old spiritual asks the question: [Were you there when they crucified my Adonai? Were you there when they crucified my Adonai? O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble and tremble! Were you there when they crucified my Adonai?] Why should we tremble at the memory of Yeshua’ crucifixion? Because it shocks our system to come to the realization that this YHVH of the Universe, the Elohim of the World, would Love us so much as to choose not to punish us for our rebellion, but embrace us with His Love and an offer of reconciliation. When I see my own life, when I consider the times when I have rejected YHVH, when I think of the many sins that I have committed against Him and to know that He Loves me so much that He is willing to die in my place, my heart is broken. It is broken because I have come to the realization that I was there when they crucified my Adonai! It was my sin and my rejection of YHVH and my foolish ways that drove the spikes into His wrists and ankles. It was my deliberate [In Your Face YHVH] kind of attitude that thrust the spear into His side. It was my hate that ignited His Love, my complacency that moved Him to action, my cruelty that fuelled His compassion and my sin that brought His grace.

My heart becomes broken when I fully see that I have broken the heart of YHVH. To have a broken heart and to see it represented on the Communion table, is a good and honourable thing, because it is only when our hearts are broken that they become pliable. It is only when we come in shame for our sin that we are able to see and accept YHVH’s outstretched hand. Martin Luther said, [YHVH creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, YHVH can make nothing out of him.] What does YHVH make of us and our broken hearts? When we come in faith, accepting what Yeshua has done for us, He takes our broken heart and replaces it with one that is brand new. [Therefore, if any man be in Moshiach, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.] -- 2 Corinthians 5:17. Through Yeshua’ broken body, the broken world, our broken lives and our broken hearts are reunited with YHVH for all of eternity. I hope your heart is broken for YHVH. The world is filled with broken things. A child weeps over a broken toy. An archaeologist weeps over a broken jar. A broken atom powers a city. Before you, when you are in your church, are two broken symbols: partake in these symbols, be fully aware of what they represent and let it be a time for both reflection and rejoicing.

PASSION -- BROKEN SYMBOLS

Whenever we refer to something as symbolic, we are saying that it is representative of something else, generally of something much greater than the symbol itself. For instance, on your left hand, you wear a symbol, a ring that represents the covenant you made with your wife / husband. In Uni lecture hall as I stand at the pulpit, to my right and to my left are two other symbols; one a flag representing believer’s faith and the other flag representing the United Kingdom. On the table in front of the pulpit are more symbols, quite simple ones really, just some pieces of bread and cups of juice. But these simple elements are representative of something much greater. Those of you who have spent any time in any church are familiar with these symbols, but it is quite probable that many of us have become overly familiar with them. I believe it is vitally important that as we focus on Grace, we emphasize the Grace these symbols represent more than ever. Paul records for us what Yeshua had to say about them: [For I have received of Adonai that which also I delivered unto you, that Adonai Yeshua the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, He break it, and said: Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, this cup is the New Covenant in My Blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me] -- 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. One item that many overlook in Yeshua’ Words is one of the most important; it is the Word [broken.] The symbols that Yeshua used to describe the great reality of His impending crucifixion were symbols that were broken, broken to represent four significant truths that should have a tremendous impact on each one of us.

1 -- A BROKEN WORLD:

YHVH Created this world perfect in every way. The earth itself was devoid of any pollution and any corrosion. In the original created order there were no earthquakes, hurricanes or tornadoes. There was only rich soil, clean air and water, flawless vegetation and an absolutely perfect atmosphere. In the human realm there was no disease, no sickness and no death. YHVH Created humankind to be perfectly healthy in every respect. Morally, there was no animosity, rebellion, racism or division in any way. But when the first human couple rebelled against YHVH by sinning, YHVH’s perfect Creation was broken, every part of it, the natural, human, animal and moral realms of creation were all affected negatively by sin. [Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.] -- Romans 5:12. Adam’s sin broke the world. It caused division between the created order and man, man and man and man and YHVH. YHVH had given Adam dominion over the entire creation; one was connected to the other, so when sin entered into Adam it also entered the natural world. YHVH said: [And unto Adam He said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I Commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.] --Genesis 3:17. It was like the proverbial house of cards that came crashing down. Not only does Genesis record for us the fall of man, but also the fall of the world in every single respect. Yeshua’ celebration of Adonai’s Supper was looking forward to the day when YHVH’s broken world would be reconciled with YHVH. [For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of YHVH. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of YHVH.] -- Romans 8:19-21. Our time of Communion [even here on TTN] is a time of looking into the future, when YHVH’s New Order becomes a present reality, when the shackles that bind the hands of the world are loosed and YHVH’s original design is reinstated. [Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.] -- 2 Peter 3:13. The broken symbols that we partake of are a reminder of the broken world in which we live, and which Yeshua came to heal. They are a picture of the certain hope of a world that will be fully restored and within which we will dwell for eternity.

2 -- A BROKEN LIFE:

As Yeshua broke the bread and distributed it to His disciples, He had in the mind the broken lives of every man, woman and child that would ever live. He could look at all of us, from Adam down through all of His descendants and His heart was stirred with a desire for reconciliation and restoration. YHVH’s deepest desire is that the broken lives of today become the restored lives of tomorrow. When Yeshua sees the brokenness of our souls and bodies He is moved to compassion. [And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it.] -- Luke 19:41. Why did Yeshua weep? Because He was looking out upon a city of people with broken lives that would not accept His offer of reconciliation, Yeshua was looking at people just like us and He saw lives broken because of sin; he saw broken bodies, broken marriages and broken souls in need of redemption. He saw disease that needed to be healed. He saw relationships that needed to be restored. Yeshua saw tears that need to be wiped away and sin that needed forgiven. Concerning His ministry, Yeshua stated: [The Spirit of Adonai is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of Adonai.] -- Luke 4:18-19. Yeshua’ anointing was directed toward the broken lives of His culture and ours. The good news of YHVH’s gifting is for those whose lives are dominated by poverty, for the imprisoned seeking liberation, the afflicted in search of healing and the oppressed who so badly need their burdens to be lifted.

A number of years ago I was a member of a church where a man who had been afflicted for many years by polio also attended each week with his mother. This man had full mental faculties but his body had been so ravaged by this dread disease that he could not walk or even speak. Men from the church would drive out to his house, lift him onto a sheet of plywood and then place him in the back of a station wagon to drive him and his elderly mother to the worship service. When they arrived at church, they would place him on a flat cart and push him to the very front pew. Each week, when the ushers passed out communion, they would go to this man’s side where his mother would take the bread and the cup and place it in his mouth. One day I was asked to assist in passing out the elements for communion. It just so happened that I was the one who would take the cup and bread to this man. As I handed the elements to his mother, I watched as she lovingly placed the bread in his mouth and then the juice. As he swallowed, I looked into his eyes and saw the tears begin to well up. And from the look in his eyes, I could tell that he knew a better day was coming! As Yeshua broke the bread that day so many years ago, He saw the face of this man and He saw your face and mine. Yeshua came to restore us and make us whole again. Adonai’s Supper distinctly represents the fullness of a life that has been cleansed and renewed by the sacrifice of Yeshua Moshiach. The elements are a constant reminder that He has come to restore our broken lives and make us whole again.