Day 15: Through Communion, I Receive the Body and Blood of Jesus!
As a born-again Christ-believer, a new attribute of becoming God’s royal priesthood is freely given through grace to His people (1 Pet 2:9). This means that we are kings as well as priests under the king-priesthood of Jesus Christ. This has never happened before in the history of God’s people. In the Old Testament, kings and priests were two distinct groups of people. You were either a king or priest, but not both at the same time.
So what does being God’s royal priesthood allow His people to do? Because we are in Christ, we are king-priests—a royal priesthood. This means that we have a double portion of speaking power because as kings, “Where the word of a king is, there is power” (Ecclesiastes 8:4), and as priests, “by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled” (Deuteronomy 21:5).
Today, however, I just wanted to expound some more on the priestly duties and blessings of God’s people specifically in the area of communion. In Luke’s account of the Last Supper, Jesus specifically commanded His disciples (and by extension all Christ-believers) to do the communion in remembrance of Him.
In some Christian circles, they have delegated this very important and beneficial gift to only a select few individuals in the congregation, specifically those called “priests.” In those circles, unless performed by those designated as “priests,” no one can actually receive communion. This requirement causes a lot of unnecessary burden for those really needing the spiritual and physical benefits of doing the communion as often as needed (1 Cor 11:24).
Friends, do not be deceive by this false notion that the priesthood of Christ for believers is only reserved for the chosen few. Let us be reminded that for those who are in Christ, we are now king-priests in Him. As such, we can perform and receive communion without the need of any “special” people from the congregation. Do not be robbed of the benefits of the communion because of this hindrance. Receive Christ and His healing through His broken body as represented by the bread; and receive Christ and His forgiveness of our sins through His blood as represented by the juice.