Is Bread and Wine Symbolic or Literal?

This is one of the most controversial questions right from the time Jesus preached them.

Do we really need to discuss this?

Yes… we do, because we are doing things more ritualistic rather than it being meaningful to us. Also, if you read further it will throw light on something which you already knew but were struggling to accept it. Stop giving excuses for rituals… Its time that we raise above these rituals and only love, trust, believe and wait upon the Lords coming, staying on the path of righteousness and walking and doing the will of GOD and purpose for which you were born and are chosen for.

John 6:27 says Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

Here Jesus is saying that earthly food perishes away but the food that God has sent gives everlasting life.

John 6: 31 -33 sums up where the people tell Jesus that Moses gave them Manna, the bread from heaven to eat. But Jesus says that the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

It means that Jesus is the Bread of Life…

Also Matthew 4:4 says But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

To live we need to eat and drink. However, here Jesus says that bread does not give life to man but the word that proceeds from God’s mouth.

Also, in John it says in the beginning it was word and the word was with God and the word became flesh (John 1:1,14) …. This is nothing but JESUS… JESUS gives us life and Jesus is the Bread of Life, we need Jesus more than anything else so that we can LIVE… and LIVE LIFE abundantly.

John 6:35 says And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

HUNGER	THIRST
i.e. BREAD	i.e.WINE
i.e BODY OF CHRIST	i.e. BLOOD OF CHRIST
Means COME TO JESUS	Means BELIEVE IN JESUS

John 6:53-58 says; 53So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55“For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58“This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

Jesus goes further to say in John 6:63; It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

It is the Spirit who gives life. Jesus came to SAVE us not our FLESH but our Spirit. The life that Jesus gives us is, to our Spirit. The promise of eternal life is also for our Spirit. We are free from Sin in Spirit. So, eat his flesh and drink his blood has to be understood in Spirit and not in Flesh.

Many of the disciples could not understand this and so many of them left, there were few who actually stayed back after this preaching.

I mean If I too were there, then I would not understand with my intellectual ability but If I believed in JESUS and that JESUS is the son of GOD then I would believe anything that JESUS says because that is where my faith is.

Eat his flesh and drink his blood is not in the physical realm but in the spiritual realm because Jesus is the word of GOD and GOD’s word gives Life, and his blood has sealed the new covenant, drinking of it is believing in everything that JESUS is and JESUS has done for us, the sacrifice that JESUS has made for us so we may have eternal life.  

Its believing in JESUS….

But what do we do?? We believe in everything that we are asked to follow by religion through rituals from Generations to come. Because we believe in following rituals and not following Jesus.

Are rituals important. YES… they are important but don’t you think understanding the meaning behind it is more important so you can choose to follow it or not?

If today I kiss the bible while praying 3 times and bow to the bible 3 times. I teach my children the same that I have followed and my generations to come will also do the same. But this is not from GOD. It is a manmade ritual because I felt the BIBLE is holy and I have to kiss it.

So are we following what GOD has told us or what MAN is telling us to do all these years? We have started following MAN and Manmade rituals and JESUS has become just a NAME.

BREAD AND WINE is a ritual that we follow and THIS IS from GOD, but have we really understood the meaning of this or are we doing this only because it is followed from many generations to come and going against it would be a SIN.

We have so many rituals in CHURCHES today and we follow it to be part of the CHURCH, if not then who will be Baptize us? Or get us Married? or Bury us? We are following this to be a part of the Church to show people around us that we are Holy. But is your Heart really Clean and Holy.

We want to please people and not GOD…. That is what Christians are doing… Infact we have mixed the rituals that we have got from the religions around us which we may have been a part of once. Then aren’t we following the rituals of heathens and then saying that because we stay in a geographical region, we also need to follow these because these are our origins. The moment you accept JESUS you are part of the new COVENANT. Follow what JESUS has asked you to do and not what MAN has asked you to follow. Whatever is written in the BIBLE is from GOD and you ought to follow that. If its not in the bible then it is not from GOD to be followed.

Luke 22:19-20 says; 19And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

We all know about covenants. Covenant means agreement.

Definition of Covenant as per Hebrew 9:16 says; 16 For where there is a [last] will and testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.

The meaning of covenant and testament is the same-An Agreement

So, what are the different covenants in the bible? There are 5 important covenants in the bible.

But to start with covenant its very important to understand what was GODs PLAN for us all along.

God always wanted MAN to have dominion over the earth to rule over the earth (Gen 1:26-28). Adam was to live with God forever, along with all his descendants. But when SIN came into the world, Death came along with it and MAN became distant to GOD. GOD wanted to have a relationship with MAN and wanted to make known that he is the creator and supreme GOD. He had a plan right from the beginning when Adam sinned of how he will bring MAN to his side again. He established these Covenants to show his LOVE and GRACE for us.

NOAHIC COVENANT-God made a promise to Noah that he will never again bring a flood to destroy the earth (Gen 9:1-7). The sign that reminds us of this promise is the rainbow.

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT-God promised Abraham that he will make him into a great nation and he will be a blessing. The sign that reminds us of this promise is the circumcision of males (Gen 17:4-8).

MOSAIC COVENANT-God promised the Israelites that if they followed the commandments and requirements, they would be a special treasure for GOD among all the people (Ex 19:5-8) and stay prosperous in the land God promised them (Deu 6:3). The sign that reminds us of this is the Sabbath.

DAVIDIC COVENANT-God made a promise to David that he would raise up David’s offspring and establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2Sam7:5-16). The sign was an eternal throne that was fulfilled by JESUS.

NEW COVENANT-God made a promise with Israel that the laws will be in the mind and hearts of the people and all shall know the lord and their sins will be forgiven and shall not be remembered any more(Heb8:7-13). Jesus sealed this covenant with his blood thus reminding us that this is DONE and accomplished. The BREAD AND WINE reminds us of this new covenant and Jesus has asked us to remember what he has done for us whenever we have bread and wine. The New Covenant is GOD’s REDEMPTION PLAN for MANKIND.

JESUS is the ONLY one that gives you REDEMPTION. He is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE (John 14:6).

God wanted to do away with the old covenant and have in place a new covenant. Jesus has fulfilled all the promises that GOD had made in the old covenant hence the Old covenant has become Obsolete and the New Covenant is what Stands now promising us an eternal life. The communion of the bread and wine reminds us every time of this NEW COVENANT. Repent and Come to Jesus and Believe in Jesus will give you eternal life and Following Jesus will ensure that you live on earth in a holy way pleasing GOD and doing his will. The choice is still ours what we need to follow.

Many have communion thinking it is Jesus entering us because that is what may have been taught and we should have it being humble and pious, but It is not Jesus entering us when we consume the bread (Eucharist). But it is remembering that Jesus was bruised and transfigured and tortured for us, he paid the ransom for our freedom by taking all our shame and suffering and torment on himself. He has healed us because he has borne the stripes for every sin that we commit.

He wants us to remember that he shed his blood so that our sins are washed away by that blood and now we are able to stand in the presence of GOD holy and pure, even though we are unworthy and all are sinners and we all fall short of the glory of GOD.

Many of us are just taking the communion without acknowledging the new covenant of GOD with us.

We are children of GOD, joint heirs along with Christ receiving eternal life only because we believe in JESUS. Partaking of the Communion of Bread (Eucharist) and the Wine is acknowledging every time we take it that we believe in you JESUS. We believe that you DIED for us and only because of your blood, we are worthy to stand in the presence of GOD our FATHER and we thirst and hunger for you JESUS. We need you JESUS and we yearn to follow you JESUS and wait patiently for your coming.

When we remember that JESUS did all this for us. How can we live in SIN, how are we worthy to have sin in us and receive the communion which is a gift from GOD?

1 Corinthians 11:26-29 says; 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 27Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

This means whenever we have the Communion, we need to have it in a worthy manner. You need to ask forgiveness before having the communion. You cannot have hatred, enmity and jealousy against anyone and have communion. You are not partaking communion to eat the flesh of Jesus because it is not LITERAL but you have communion because you remember that he died for your sins and because you believe in JESUS that he can forgive SINS and so you are forgiven and can now receive the communion.

But if you have SIN in your heart and you take communion you have not accepted JESUS, you are just a GOAT pretending to be a SHEEP, pretending to be a Christian to please others. You will be judged for this. We all know our deep secrets and we need to confess them to JESUS because even though we are sinners we are worthy to him but we need to acknowledge that and accept JESUS, repent and be willing to turn away from SIN to receive the communion in a worthy manner.

BUT some say there is so much power in the bread (eucharist) that it heals???

NO…. THE BREAD (EUCHARIST) does not heal you.

When you have asked forgiveness and have accepted JESUS …JESUS heals you. JESUS has already healed you. To claim that healing you only need to BELIEVE that ‘JESUS HEALS’

We are commanded to have communion because JESUS said do this in remembrance of me.

JESUS is already living within us. Jesus has said if you follow my commandments, I abide in you and you in me. Then how can we be so blinded saying that the bread (eucharist) is the literal body of Christ. It is a symbol, a sign as we have for all the other covenants.

JESUS does not stay in the BREAD (EUCHARIST) he is a living GOD, he is risen; he is omnipotent and he resides within us as long as we keep his commandments. But do we do that?

We only need shortcuts to follow. We need to understand the importance of COMMUNION of having both the BREAD AND WINE not bread alone but both together.

We are commanded to follow this until he returns as PAUL said we have the communion proclaiming his death until his return(1Corinthians 11:26).

We are not doing that and we fail to understand basic things when you start worshiping idols and Bread (Eucharist) and some miracles and then you are not giving GOD importance… You are stealing the glory of GOD and giving it to a non-living object. All glory and honor and praise belongs to GOD the father. The Communion heals because you are claiming the healing but Glory belongs to JESUS, it belongs to GOD and no one or nothing else. We will be judged for our thoughts and actions. And we need to examine ourselves. You cannot do that for me and I cannot do that for you. 

So, in current times like this where people cannot gather in Churches, the communion is something that is not being taken by people, and the enemy is rejoicing. But Is it that only the Priest and Pastors can minister the communion? Its wrong… The enemy is deceiving you… Jesus has asked everyone to do this. The bible talks about a church is where people assemble (Heb 10:25). In times like this when you assemble in a place where there are 2 or more gathered to praise and worship the Lord you can give thanks and partake the communion together giving glory to GOD and proclaiming his DEATH.

So now whenever you have BREAD AND WINE remember that we drink from the New Covenant and acknowledge what Jesus did on that Cross so you and I can be free from SIN and live a SINLESS life for the GLORY of GOD.

Whenever I have the bread and wine, I proclaim his DEATH UNTIL HIS RETURN… DO YOU?