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THE BLOOD OF JESUS STILL RESTORES – Ray E Horton
A Holy Thursday Message
As I was taking communion before bed recently, the Lord reminded me that:
“Even as My body was broken for you, the Body of Christ remains broken today. That is not as it should be.
“And even as My blood of the New Covenant was shed for you to restore My people to Me, so, even today, the focus on My love for My people in the shedding of My blood is the only thing that will bring restoration to the Body of Christ. It is only by the New Covenant revelation that My will for the world can be carried out effectively.”
This Thursday the church celebrates the Last Supper and the new understanding of Passover in Holy Communion. It was this day that we hear Jesus’ final teachings as He and the Apostles gathered for the Passover meal. Jesus told them: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” Luke 22:15. We read of this last meal together in the Book of John, starting with Chapter 13. Let’s let scripture speak for itself. John 13, verses 3-17 read:
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, are You washing my feet?’
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.’ Peter said to Him, ’You shall never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’ Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.’ For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, ‘You are not all clean.’
An example for us
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you
“So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
“For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.’”
We will be blessed if we serve one another in Christian love. Let us, like Jesus, humble ourselves, seeing Jesus in our brothers and sisters and seeing them as better than ourselves. That is a key to recognizing the Body.
The New Love Commandment
About that love we read in verses 34-25:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Until then we had the carryover from the Old Covenant of the command to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” This new commandment is the higher form of love, the God kind of love, which we can only do by His presence within us.
This Thursday, continue reading and meditating on Jesus’ words in John Chapters 14-17.
John 18 starts out, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.” Before that, Matthew and Mark add a nice touch: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26).
We remember His broken Body, and that the Body of Christ remains broken. Pray for the healing among us that Jesus so desires
During the last supper, the Synoptic Gospels recount the institution of Communion in remembrance of Jesus. You can read of it in Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22. We remember His broken Body, and that the Body of Christ remains broken. Pray for the healing among us that Jesus so desires. And we remember the Blood of Jesus, the Blood of the New Covenant shed for us on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins and our union with Him.
There is much rich truth in these passages, truths to meditate on during the Passion week. And remember the revelation that I expressed above: “It is only by the New Covenant revelation that My will for the world can be carried out effectively.”
