Daily Devotional December 21 - The power of Communion

"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by ordinance for ever." Exodus 12:14

Jesus proves who He is more by this one act than any other- The institution of Communion.  I want you to see the connection between the Jew (the people of God) of the Old Testament and the Church (the people of God) of the new Testament. 
It started with the Passover lamb. Passover:  The Old Covenant and the New Covenant all tied together by God to spiritually unite His people together with Himself. It was a symbol and more than a symbol of God's protection for His people and it was and is a remembrance of what God had done for His people. 

What we have come to know and understand as communion is also a remembrance and more than a remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus, the Christ. It was the institution of the New Covenant between God and His people.  Communion is the sacrament that changed the order of the Levitical Priesthood to the Church. Passover has been honored since 1491 BC.

When Jesus met with the twelve at the upper room, for what would come to be known as 'the Last Supper,' He met them to transfer the oracles of God from the Religious Priesthood of the 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob) to the 12 Disciples of Christ, signifying the end of the era of the law and the beginning of the era of grace.

It was about 1462 B.C. when God gave Moses instructions to take a lamb, without spot or blemish (Ex. 12:5) and kill it. "You shall take the blood of the lamb and strike it on the two side post of the entrance to every home wherein there is an Israelite. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians (Ex. 12:23) And it shall come to pass that when the Lord passes by, He will not enter any home protected by the blood of the Lamb."

There would be a Passover dinner to be prepared prior to this night when the Lord would pass by. This Passover dinner would consist of the lamb (a type of Christ), unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 

"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by ordinance for ever."  Exodus 12:14
The Passover had been instituted since this time, and it was this Passover that Jesus was acknowledging and attending with his disciples.  It is important to see the connection between the Old and the New, because it reveals who Christ is better than any other proof.

Matthew 26:17-30 says, "Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?  And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand: I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples.  And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them: and they made ready the Passover.  Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve."
The twelve is of great importance. Under the blood covenant of the Old Testament the twelve tribes of Israel were protected by the blood of the Lamb.  Now the church, (which began with the twelve) would be afforded the same protection, but no longer by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. It would now be by the blood of the Lamb of God, Himself. 

Communion was the birth of the New Testament, the New Covenant. It is by the blood of the Lamb of God that we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.  It was at the Passover meal that Jesus prepared the Lamb of God.  It is this moment in time that we remember. Jesus was offering Himself a blood offering once, for all. I doubt that the significance of this moment can ever be fully discovered.