MESSIAH’S BLOOD THE NEW COVANENT
Mark 14:24…“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.”
The blood of Messiah’s washes every sin of mankind as John the Baptist says, “Behold the lamb of Elohim which taketh away the sins of the world.” John.1:29. Heb10:10,”we have been sanctified (made pure) through the offering of body of Messiah once for all.”
The purpose of Messiah’s birth on earth was to bring salvation to mankind by His death on the cross and by the shedding of His blood. Before His birth, the Israelites sacrificed goats, bulls and rams and shed this blood and sprinkled it on the altar for remission of their sins. This offering was called as the sin offering. But sprinkling the blood of bulls and goats on the altar was temporary and could not save mankind or bring them into the eternal kingdom. Heb. 10: 4. ‘For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away our sins.’ Messiah was the Pascal lamb and He offered Himself for the sin offering on the Passover day, to redeem people from their sins. (Heb.9: 13-15.)

The first covenant or the old covenant was the lamb sacrifice on the Passover day which was on the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar, called Abib or Nissan. That was the old covenant made with the blood of goats and bulls (Heb.9: 18-22), ‘whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. The first covenant was faulty; therefore He had to make another covenant which is the New Covenant. Heb.9: 7-13,’for if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean….for this cause He is the mediator of a new testament.’

Messiah instituted this new covenant before He was crucified and we partake in this as the Communion or the Lord’s Supper, remembering His death. 1 Cor.11:26,’ for as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.’

How often should we take part in this communion? Is it daily, weekly, monthly or yearly? The Bible teaches us to take part remembering His death. i.e. the day He died on the cross. Messiah Himself instituted it at supper time .i.e. in the evening the day before His crucifixion. This day comes once a year.By taking part in the Lord’s Supper, we tell people about the death of Messiah, His blood shed on the cross for the remission of sins of mankind and we have to continue taking part in the Lord’s Supper till He comes again .i.e. we have hope and we are waiting for His second coming so that He takes us along with Him to eternity. By taking part in the cup we proclaim 1) that we are partners in the new covenant of which Jesus (Yahshua) is the mediator, 2) that we are in unity with others in the body of Messiah.

Let us read the passage from Mattew.26: 26-29, when Messiah instituted the Lord’s Supper. ‘As they were eating, Yahshua took bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples saying take, eat, this is my body, And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s kingdom.

In John.6:56-58, Yahshua says to them, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.   Whoever partakes of 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 partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me.  This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and died; he who partakes of this Bread shall live forever.
Three promises are given to us if we take part in the Lord’s Supper:
He promises that he will live within us,
He will raise them on the last day,
He will give us life eternal.
In 1 Cor.10: 16 Paul calls the cup a ‘cup of blessing’. The cup seals his agreement of salvation to his people. The cup is His New Testament and it cost Him His life. In 1Cor.11:26-32 Paul tells us how we should partake in the Lord’s Table. If we eat or drink unworthily, if we come to the table without repentance, we are guilty of crucifying Him again. We should take part in the table in a reverent manner. We should not make this as just a ritual or a formality, something to be observed as a matter of routine and then to be forgotten the whole year.

Again, in 1Cor.5:8, Paul tells us to keep the feast, not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Leaven is something that is decaying, corrupting. So, Paul is warning us of the leaven in our lives. This leaven is the doctrine of men (Matt.15:9), malice or evil intentions or thoughts or feelings towards our neighbours, doing something which harms or hurts our neighbours. In other words, all evil that comes out of the heart of men should be forsaken or left behind, and we should put on the new man, who lives by the word of Elohim. This bread of truth is the word of Elohim (John.1:1). And if we live according to His word, we walk in the newness of life and we are renewed daily in the Spirit.

Paul mentions here (1Cor.11:30) that many who took part in the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner, without cleansing themselves, are now sick and some are dead. Let us therefore come to His table with a humble mind, leaving aside all negative thoughts and characteristics and take part in the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner, with a clean heart and a new mind and receive His blessing so that we may enter into His eternal kingdom.
(This article originally appeared in March 2004 issue of “Trumpets”)