†

1
THE BODY COMES TOGETHER

He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Luke‬ 22:19‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

IMAGINE YOURSELF AS ONE OF THE DISCIPLES reclining at the table with Jesus during this last supper. You know that something's weighing on the heart of Jesus. You have followed Him long enough to know that this moment is significant. He has been telling you that He must go away, and you recognize that His voice has become more urgent. While you are wondering what that will mean for you and the other disciples, Jesus takes one piece of bread representing His body. He blesses it, He breaks it, and He gives each one of you a piece.

The one Bread, (Christ), became many pieces

Look at your hands and imagine that you are holding a piece of His body. Each disciple was given a piece of Him. Then He tells you to remember Him. To re-member is to put something back together. Now that you have seen yourself with a piece of bread in your hand let's remove ourselves from this setting for a moment to see what He was saying to the ones in the room. Consider that His words were not just for the disciples in the room—they are also for you.

Jesus gave each disciple a piece of bread. He was showing them that each of them made up His body and when they come together, they re-member Him. That's powerful!

After the bread, Jesus gave them a cup of wine. They all drank from the same cup, and He said, “This is My blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins. This is a new covenant.”

Visualize those words underlined and in bold type:

A NEW COVENANT!

At that moment Jesus established a new covenant. Why? Because the old covenant with all of its legal requirements was passing away. He replaced it with a new covenant that says we are the Body of Christ. Each of us is a member of His body. We are all drinking from one cup, which is Christ, and this cup overflows with a new wine. It’s a new covenant ratified by the blood He shed on the cross.

The next day Jesus would go to the cross and seal this covenant, but not before showing us in an illustration how we will operate in this new covenant—together as the pieces of His body, His church, coming together and drinking from one cup.

The bread is Jesus, and it is you as well. Now that you have eaten the bread, you and the bread have become ONE. When all the pieces that are one with Him come together, we form ONE body.

The Body of Christ is like a puzzle. It is all Christ, but each individual piece reveals a different part of the picture. Each piece by itself is a picture, but by itself the entire picture cannot be revealed.

When parents produce children, their offspring each manifest their parents’ nature or DNA in different ways. They do not look totally alike, yet they are all their children. They do not have the same abilities, yet they are all their children. They manifest their father and mother in different ways, yet the full manifestation of the parents is seen in the entire family.

The Body of Christ is Christ, but He has set us in the Body as He wills. Each of us has an assignment and that assignment makes a distinct sound. When we are all together, we make a harmonious sound. It’s like a symphony. We are not all the same instrument, but all the instruments reveal the masterpiece. Jesus is the masterpiece, and every part of His body reveals a part of who He is. The manifold wisdom of God is seen in the totality of the Body when it operates and functions together.

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

Song of Solomon‬ 4:7‬ ESV ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

In this scripture from the Song of Solomon, King Solomon has closely observed His bride, and He tells her, “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” You are "All Together," and when you are "All Together," you are beautiful and without flaw.

We are the bride of Christ, and we are only beautiful in His sight when we are "All Together." As individuals we have a piece of Him. We each have a calling, an assignment, and a function in His Body. We are each anointed to do what He has purposed for us to do, but when all the anointed come together, joined piece to piece, then and only then are we truly flawless.

This is not to take away from the power of the individual. You are loved individually, and you can grow in Him and do powerful things through His Spirit. However, perfection is achieved when "we all grow to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Read Chapter 4 of the Song of Solomon. The bride’s parts are individually beautiful, but she is altogether (All Together) without flaw.

THE BRIDE

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Genesis‬ 2:21-25‬ ESV‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

When God looked at Adam, He said that it is not good for man to be alone. I will create for him a helper (Hebrew “êzer”: help, succour, one who helps (Strongs 5828))—someone who will see him for who I created him to be, and someone he can see himself in, and see her for who she really is. This was the first marriage.

When God presented Eve to Adam, Adam exclaimed, “AT LAST! This is bone of my bone!” When Adam makes this statement, he is acknowledging that, finally, there is someone like him—someone who will help him to perpetuate more humans like himself in the world. Someone who can join in the work with him. Someone he can be fruitful with, multiply with, and replenish the earth with. Someone he can have dominion with.

Eve, who was taken out of Adam, became his helpmate. Before God removed Adam’s rib, He put Adam to sleep. This is a type of dying, foreshadowing the death of Jesus on the cross. Then out of Adam’s side God took a rib and formed for Adam exactly what he needed.

Everything in the Genesis creation account foreshadows the new creation that will be brought about by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve are a perfect picture of Christ and His church.

Let me show you what I am talking about—

‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬When they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and...