In our study of Mark we have recently discussed the doctrine of the cup and the doctrine of baptism.
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 through the baptism of the cup that occurred 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.
Jesus Christ is the pattern for humility and obedience and becoming a channel for the fulfillment of God the Father's plan by complying with the grace principle of pivot power where the power of God's word is deployed through positive volition. Luke 22:42;
God demonstrated His love for us first Rom 5:8; 1John 4:19; we reciprocate love by complying with His mandates. 1John 5:2-3;
Our celebration of the Lord's Table is therefore 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 everyone. 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 we are in Mark 10:39;where James and John said they were able to drink the cup and be baptized with Jesus' baptism.
We saw that this was a statement made from ignorance because Jesus was the only person ever that was qualified to be baptized with the cup.
To explain this we have studied the doctrine of baptism, the doctrine of the cup and we are now in a study of the doctrine of retroactive positional truth.
The doctrine of retroactive positional truth explains how James and John and every other church age believer shares in Jesus' cup and Jesus' baptism. This is because through imputation. 2Cor 5:21; every believer appropriates what Jesus did on the cross at the moment they believe through faith alone that Jesus is the Son of God. John 3:16;
The retroactive positional truth that every believer receives at salvation positionally separates them from human good and evil so that Satan's rule over them and the sovereignty of the old sin nature are terminated positionally.
When retroactive positional truth is coupled with current positional truth it becomes the basis for the rescinding of the sovereignty of the old sin nature that rules human life in spiritual death.
At the same time, the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is the mechanics for retroactive positional truth and current positional truth establishes the sovereignty of the Jesus Christ as Lord in the life of the believer.
Retroactive positional truth is the basis for believers being blessed from the justice of God, Rom 5:12-17;
When the imputation of God's perfect righteousness and justification at salvation is combined with Bible Doctrine in the soul through the daily PMA of doctrine capacity is created for God to bless the believer during their life on the earth in time.
This blessing comes in the form of escrow blessings that are conveyed when the believer has the capacity from metabolized Bible doctrine to receive them.