Taken from the book The Hidden Mysteries of The Lord’s Table by Mark. G. Nolan
Isn’t it refreshing to know that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth? I believe that without the teachings of Jesus in John 6 it would be very difficult if not impossible to understand the Lord’s table as He intended. With that in mind please join me as I attempt to expound on John 6, with the help of the Holy Spirit of course.
“Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.”
(John 6:2)
Many people, not all, came seeking healing from the Healer, but did not come seeking the Healer Himself. They sought relief from their sufferings but didn’t seek the King and the eternal Kingdom to come. Like most today they didn’t want to turn from sin and seek forgiveness from the only One who has the power to forgive a lifetime of sin. They just wanted a quick fix for their temporal needs.
“Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”
(John 6:26)
Is it not even more so today, that most of us come in prayer with a list of wants from the Master to satisfy our own carnal wants, but don’t seek Him just to bask in His presence?
“And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.”
(John 6:3-4)
The Lord’s timing is perfect. He knows the Passover is near, so He times His declarations perfectly to teach the people the difference between carnal and spiritual bread just after the feeding of the five thousand.
“Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.”
(John 6:5-6)
Notice the unselfishness of the Lord’s request, His concern was for the people’s needs and not his own. In this verse the Lord tests Philip’s faith. It was obvious that it would be impossible to buy bread for all those people and Philip knew it, unless the Lord had multiplied the money they had.
“Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
(John 6:7)
Philip didn’t understand that nothing is impossible for God. Had he truly believed this, the amount of loaves and fish wouldn’t have mattered. If he had only understood that the Creator of the universe and everything in it were present, it wouldn’t have mattered if there had been ten million people to feed, after all numbers are insignificant to God.
This event recorded in Matthew’s Gospel says
“But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
(Matthew 14:16)
By telling the His disciples to feed the people, “You give them to eat”, Jesus was giving them a test of faith. Did the Lord tell the disciples to feed the five thousand people? Absolutely, but their lack of faith is evident by their reply.
“And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
(Matthew 14:17)
They must have been puzzled by the Lord’s command that they themselves were to feed all those people. We can only imagine their thoughts; how can we feed all these people with so little? The Lord tells them how.
“Bring them here to Me.”
(Matthew 14:18)
Only when we bring our natural resources to The Lord can they be transformed supernaturally. The same principles apply with the bread and the wine at the Lord’s table. They remain natural items until they, by faith and obedience, are brought to The Lord. When they are blessed, they are made spiritual food for us.
Once the Lord had prayed over the five loaves and two fish, He told the disciples to tell the people to sit down in groups of fifty. When the disciples began to distribute the bread and fish, they began to multiply.
Today an even greater miracle happens on a weekly basis in most Churches at the Lord’s Table. Since the Lord ascended to His Father, how many Christians has the Lord fed with the spiritual food of His body? All over the world people eat and drink the Lord’s body and blood, and this number is ever increasing as more are brought into His kingdom. This is indeed multiplication on a massive scale!
The obedience of the disciples produced a Holy Spirit miracle, and so it is with the bread and wine. The miracle happens when we, by trusting the word, put into action what the Lord has commanded us to do. Although the disciples didn’t understand the Lord’s command, they still carried out the Master’s instructions, and when they put the little faith they had into action, wow! What a result.
We too, by obedience bless the bread and the wine and distribute it by faith.
BLESSING THE BREAD AND WINE
“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.”
(Matt 26:26)
We may ask, is it so important to bless the bread and wine? Well, would we want to eat anything that isn’t blessed by God? After all, when we eat an evening meal, do we not give thanks and ask the Lord to bless the food to our bodies? If we see the relevance of giving thanks and blessing our daily food, then why is it missing during our most important meal at The Lord’s Table in many congregations?
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.”
(1 Corinthians 10:16-17)
The bread which we bless and break is the body of Christ, and the cup that we drink of is the blood of Christ, not physically but spiritually, in which we have communion with Jesus and with the brethren.
Without the blessing on the bread and the wine, they will remain common objects. Jesus did not say, “eat this bread, and drink this wine/juice,” but rather “eat my body and drink my blood.” Without the blessing, the communal service is a carnal ritual with no spiritual relevance.
THE BLESSING
The blessing that Jesus, and consequently His followers would have said over the bread and wine at the Passover meal would have been very similar if not identical to the one used by the Jewish community today.
Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam hamotzi lehem min ha’aretz.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Perhaps the believer’s prayer could be adapted to something like this,
“Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the universe who brought forth the Living Bread from Heaven.”
The blessing on the wine would have been as follows.
Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam borei p’ri hagafen.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
Personally, I always begin with the above blessings and then ask the Lord’s blessing on the bread and wine.
The fact is that the unsaved Jews when praying this blessing do not realise that they are unwittingly blessing the body and the blood of Jesus. The fruit of the vine represents the blood of their Messiah which brings forth eternal life. After all God created the fruit of the vine that ran through the veins of Jesus.
Taken from the book The Hidden Mysteries of The Lord’s Table by Mark. G. Nolan
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 