Communion Message
(A veil of flesh)
July 28, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night on which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

There's a beautiful comparison that is drawn in the book of Hebrews between the Old Testament form of worship and the worship we enjoy as Christians. The writer says, and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, speaking of Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies were made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He said before, "This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sins. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He concentrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

The writer to the Hebrews now comes to the very practical implications of all that he's been saying. From theology he turns to practical exhortation. He is one of the deepest theologians in the New Testament, but all his theology is governed by pastoral instinct. He does not think merely for the thrill of intellectual satisfaction, but only that he may, the more forcibly, appeal to men to enter into the presence of God. So he says this about Jesus; that Jesus is the living way, the presence of God.

We enter into the presence of God by means of the veil, that is, by the flesh of Jesus. That's a difficult thought. What he means is this. Before the holy of holiest in the tabernacle hung the veil to screen off the presence of God. For men to enter into that presence, the veil would have to be torn apart, and Jesus' flesh is what veiled His Godhead.

Charles Wesley, in his great hymn writes: veiled in flesh the Godhead see. It was when the flesh of Christ was rent upon the cross that men really saw God. All His life showed God, but it was on the cross that God's love really was revealed. As the rending of the tabernacle veil opened the way to the presence of God, so the rending of the veil, the flesh of Christ, revealed the full greatness of His love and opened up the way to Him. He says one more thing about Jesus, he said, He's the High Priest over God's house in heaven.

As we've seen so often, the function of the priest was to build a bridge between man and God. This means that Jesus not only shows us the way to God, but when we get there, introduces us into His very presence. A man might be able to direct and inquire to Buckingham Palace, and yet be very far from having the right or the authority to take him into the presence of the queen. Jesus can take us the whole way into the presence of God.

And Jesus is the only person who can really cleanse, the writer tells us. In the priestly ritual the holy things were cleansed by being sprinkled with blood of the sacrifices. Again and again the high priest bathed himself in the laver of clean water, but these things were ineffective to remove the real pollution of sin; for only Jesus can really cleanse a man inside. His is no external purification. By His presence and His Spirit, He cleanses the inmost thoughts and the desires of a man until he is really clean. And so we learn from these, and the writer to the Hebrews says; because He died for us and in His flesh that veil was rent. When He cried it is finished, in the temple, that veil was torn asunder saying, God's thrown room is open to whosoever will. Let's come into His presence now on our knees, shall we?. Kneel with me.

Lord Jesus, those who went to worship in ancient past never had the joy that we have because that veil always was there separating the worship are from Your presence. Then when You died on that cross, dear Jesus, all the restrictions, all the hindrances, all the barriers, were taken away and through Christ we have the joy of coming into Your very presence, dear God. And just by whispering Your name, Jesus, we're in Your presence. Thank you for loving us so much, Almighty God, that You sent Your Son Jesus to be our savior. Thank you for the blessings of salvation.

This bread that we hold, dear God, reminds us of the death of Christ. In His body He became the substitute, the sacrifice for us because He took our death penalty; because the wages of sin is death. So we, because we're sinners, You had already assigned our eternal judgment, death. But Jesus, You came and You died in our stead, and because You died we now have life and will live forevermore in Your presence.

This blood: this cup represents Your blood, dear Jesus, that cleanses away all of our sin, and we don't really understand the mystery of that. We know one thing, that when we came to You and we asked You to forgive us and to cleanse us, You did that, and we felt Your peace. We sensed Your forgiveness and we knew that we were in fellowship with You as our wonderful God. So we understand the power of the blood that cleanses us from all sin. So it's with joy today we identify with You, our wonderful cap savior, in partaking of these elements. Let's take the bread first, shall we?. And then the cup.

In a world filled with so much tension and strife that pulls us constantly away from the eternal, just to have this moment with You, dear God, is an exceedingly precious moment. Thank you for loving us so much. In Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said, amen.