In our celebration of Christmas we remember the first advent of Jesus Christ, the prophecies to Israel, the doctrines of the virgin birth, the hypostatic union, and impeccability.
Jesus Christ entered the human race so that He could fulfill the Father's plan as savior of the world through His substitutionary spiritual death and spiritual victory on the cross,
Our celebration of the Lord's table recalls that spiritual victory, God's strategic victory that Jesus Christ accomplished while he was on the earth in unglorified humanity.
Under the principle of pivot power, Jesus Christ is the pattern for humility and obedience to the Father's plan. Luke 22:42;
Our celebration of the Lord's Table is an expression of our reciprocal love for our Lord who is the strategic victor of time and eternity. We concentrate on him through the elements of the only ritual for the post-canon period of the Church Age Luke 22:19-20;
Jesus Christ was obedient to the Father's unique plan for His life by enduring the suffering and death on the cross Phil 2:8; that resulted in his humanity being exalted above every created being, such that, every created being will ultimately bow down to him. Phil 2:9-10;
He completely and perfectly fulfilled the directive will of the Father by unilaterally providing a way of salvation for all men. Rom 5:8; as the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" Rev 13:8; KJV John 1:29;
While we were enemies of God, God demonstrated his love for us by giving his uniquely born Son "monogenes" who entered the world through the virgin birth. John 3:16
As a result, God is free to reconcile mankind from their fallen state of depravity without compromising his perfect righteousness and justice because TLJC willingly laid down his life for us as our substitute. John 15:13; 1John 3:16
This is why believing in TLJC is the only way to a relationship with God John 14:6, salvation Acts 4:12 and eternal life John 3:16;
Anyone can appropriate this Grace gift of salvation which is secured by the Power of God John 10:26-29; simply by believing in TLJC 1Cor 15:3-4 in the same way that Paul and Silas instructed the Philippian Jailer who asked "what Must I do to be saved?"
Their response recorded In Acts 16:31
Anyone, any time, anywhere can become saved in a moment in time simply by believing in TLJC privately in their thoughts only.
TLJC left his friends, the members of The Royal Family of God, this one and only ritual in the church age The Lord's table which we are mandated to observe in remembrance of Him.
The mandate is found in 1Cor 11:24; in the second person plural present active imperative of the Greek word " poieo" that where Paul references TLJC's own instruction found in Luke 22:19-20;
An expanded translation of 1Cor 11:24 taking into consideration the tense mood and voice of "poieo" would be " Keep on doing this in remembrance of me"
Because these verbs are only imperatives regarding ritual in the New Testament the Lord's Table is one and only ritual of the Church Age and it is a test of our capacity to concentrate on our Lord Jesus Christ through the Bible Doctrine that is resident in our soul as we partake of the elements that represent his work on our behalf.
We have these instructions for partaking of the Lord's table from the Apostle Paul starting in verse 26 of 1Cor 11.
1Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
We understand from this that we are to evaluate ourselves in the light of the word, privately in our thinking, in the privacy of our priesthood, and when we find we are outside of the word, we apply the first problem solving device, and simply acknowledge the sin as described in 1 John 1:9;
If we acknowledge our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Having examined ourselves, and taken appropriate action, we are then instructed to partake of the elements, the bread and the cup.
The bread which represents his body in which he bore the sins and the judgment for our sins and the sins of the whole world, past present and future.
1Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
eat the bread
The cup which represents his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross which purchased the freedom from spiritual death and eternal condemnation of everyone who believes in him.
1Cor 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my Blood do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
drink cup
In our study of Mark last time we were in Mark 7:24; where Jesus traveled to about 40 miles to Tyre after his confrontation with the Pharisees. We took up a brief study of the history of the city of Tyre and saw that Alexander the Great had destroyed the city. Tyre was not restored to its former glory but was inhabited to some extent when Jesus traveled there.
Mark 7:25; It was extremely rare for a woman to approach Jesus especially a Gentile woman, but this woman was desperate and she knows who Jesus is so she understands that Jesus can solve her daughter's problem.
She recognizes that Jesus Christ is the only answer. She is relying entirely upon the Lord and depending on what the Lord will do for her in spite of the fact that she is a Gentile woman.
The word translated "immediately" is the Greek word "euthus" that can be translated "as soon as", so as soon as she heard Jesus was there she went to Him and fell at this feet.
Mark 7:26; Mark describes the woman's heritage. The word "Hellenis" that is literally translated "Greek" in the NET and KJV and "Gentile" in the NASB does not refer to her as being from Greece but rather distinguishes her as being a Gentile rather than a Jew. She was Syrian in nationality, and Phoenician in race. She was a Syrophoenician so she was a Phoenician of Syria not Phoenician of North Africa.
She kept on asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. The Greek word "erotao" is in the imperfect tense indicating that she kept on calling out to Him over and over again and she did not stop.
In the parallel passage in Matt 15:22; we see what she kept on asking Him. Have mercy on me, O Lord (title for His deity) my daughter is cruelly demon possessed."
Here is a Gentile woman who recognizes the deity of Christ, and we have to assume from this that she is already eternally saved because based on the principle of 1Cor. 12:3b; no one can call Jesus Lord apart from the ministry of the Spirit.
She recognizes that Jesus Christ is the God-Man and that in His humanity He is the ruler of Israel. She calls Him the son of David because the Canaanites and the Phoenicians are very familiar with King David, the Davidic line and the Davidic claim to the Israel's throne.
This woman is extremely unusual in her perception because this appears to be her first personal contact with Him and she already understands more than most of the disciples because she demonstrates that she has a clear understanding of the doctrine of the hypostatic union.
She understands that Jesus Christ is the unique person of the universe, that He is God, and at the same time He is true humanity, that He is the God-Man forever, that He can help her and she is going to keep on begging Him until He does.
She had all of this down simply by hearing the word about Him Rom 10;17; This is the same way we are to learn about Him. We see in Matt 15:23; that Jesus is going to use her to teach his disciples a lesson so He does not answer her.
He is going to use Her example of faith to emphasize the importance of faith-rest to His disciples and again they will fail to pass the test. In our study of Mark 7; we have seen a series of faith-rest tests and for the most part they have failed to pass any of them.
"He did not answer her a word." The Greek word translated "did not answer" is in the aorist tense indicating that at that point in time He did not answer her but it also indicates that He is going to answer her but before He does he is going to test his disciples.
"and his disciples came," another aorist tense indicating the same point at which Jesus was maintaining silence toward the woman; they came "and implored him," imperfect tense that means they kept on begging him; "saying, "send her away; because she keeps on shouting at us."
So now both the disciples and the woman are begging Jesus at the same time. She is begging Him to heal her daughter and his disciples are begging Him to send her away because she is bothering them. They were completely insensitive to her pleas for help.
Something we can learn from this is that our Lord may delay an answer to our prayer because He is using our situation and our positive volition that is demonstrated by our faith-rest to teach someone else and we are completely unaware of it. Remember that is what happened to Job and it is what Peter states in 2Pet 3:9;
Jesus disciples were inconvenienced and embarrassed by her importunity. It was very embarrassing for them because they are Jews and a Gentile woman is following them around hollering out "Have mercy."
They had their eyes on themselves (they are embarrassed), they are guilty of arrogance and self-pity, and the only way the disciples can pass the test is to have some compassion on her.
They cannot personally help her but they could have taken her to Jesus or asked Jesus to help her. After all, He has been healing people everywhere he has been with them.