Communion: the eternal oath
Communion is an affirmation of an oath showing that (you) the participant understand the new covenant, agree
with it, worship the Lord of Heaven and earth, who is “I AM” the eternal God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) and that you will actively live the faith until Christ Jesus’ second advent. This might seem pretty obvious, but churches don’t always speak of the particulars, so it’s no surprise that many are easily led to believe it is little more than a symbolic tradition - a remembrance ritual versus the most important covenant you, as a disciple of Christ will ever enter into.
Extensive writings are available on covenants and on the Lord’s supper, but a page or two throughout will give the
reader the essentials without getting bogged down. The word Communion is derived from the Greek word koinonia,
which generally means, to be a partaker or associate, and specifically, to raise the right hand in an oath of fellowship, as one would in taking an apostolic office. The root is koinonos, which in some contexts pertains to the altar in Jerusalem upon which sacrifices were offered. The word sacrifice is important to remember because later a
connection will be made between the taking away of the “daily sacrifice” and the substituting in of a false communion. A sacrifice is what you are consuming when you take communion, because a sacrifice of sorts always seals a covenant be it of flesh (where humans are active partakers) or where God’s solemn word alone acts to seal the oath.
While the churches focus on peculiar ideas about whether the communion is symbolic or an actual transubstantiation of blood and body, their material musings entirely miss the point. To consume God has nothing to do with putting something in your mouth and everything to do with what your spirit marries. This was the point Christ was making when He said, "You must consume Me blood and body" (John 6:48-60) He made the same point just before Adam and Eve were booted from Eden as noted:
"Behold the man has become as one of us, knowing good and evil and what now
if he should reach forth his hand, take of the fruit of the Tree of Life, eat and live forever.” Genesis 3:22
Naturally, the Lord is the tree of life and it is we who are to "consume" Him. This consumption was understood not as cannibalizing, rather as Christ explained this concept to the dumbfounded:
"It is the spirit that makes you alive; the flesh means nothing: the words that I speak to you,
they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63
It should be clear then, that the bread and wine are symbols that provide our primitive senses a tactile glimpse into what flesh can't grasp - that being the ultimate and endless reality: the spiritual realm.
