God has laid on my
heart the symbolism of Communion and Baptism in reference to Easter’s message
of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, which I wanted to share with you.
We know from scripture
that the wine taken at communion symbolises Jesus’s blood, which was shed for
us all at the Cross of Calvary. Wine, in
essence, is the blood of many grapes.
The power that unites those grapes was extracted in the wine press of
the Cross.
We also know that the
bread is a symbol of His flesh, which was broken and beaten, which is why we
break the bread. When you think of how bread is made, it is just many grains of
flour that are brought together by water.
With us representing the body of Christ, we too are brought together by
the waters of baptism, and baked in the fire of the Holy Spirit.
When we take Communion,
we remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross and identify with the
pain and suffering He experienced, by taking the bread of life, His body, that
saved us from our sin, and drinking the redemption wine, His blood, that was
poured out that washed us clean. Therefore, Easter is the perfect time to take
Communion, to remember what Jesus did on the Cross.
Looking back at Jesus’s
crucifixion, I often wondered why Jesus refused the first wine but accepted the
second. I was interested to learn that the first wine had been mixed with myrrh
or gall, a narcotic that is often given to those being crucified to help numb
the pain. Yet, Jesus chose to fully experience the pain, as we painfully
witnessed through the accuracy in the Passion movie.
It was only when Jesus
said He was thirsty, that He accepted the soured wine or vinegar, which was a
common drink in those days to alleviate thirst.
In a way, by quenching His thirst, Jesus was actually prolonging the pain.
He drank the wine of His Father’s wrath down to its very last dregs, and He did
so for us—that we might enjoy the new wine of His Father’s love, and live
redeemed forever in the glorious presence of the one who took no shortcuts in
saving us.
After the recent baptism
of a dear friend’s daughter, I was reminded of the spiritual significance of
this event in that you are exchanging your old worn and weak wineskin for a new
stretchable and strong one so that we can fully receive the pouring of the new spiritual
wine of Christ. You are laying down the old you and taking on a newness in the
spirit. In a sense, what Baptism symbolises is the crucifying of your flesh and
the resurrection of the new you, full of the Holy Spirit’s power and
effectiveness to keep you walking in that newness, and daily reminding yourself
that your flesh and the old you are dead. Baptism is a declaration to Satan and the
world that you are now committed to being all in with Christ.
As I remember back to
my own Baptism; I was so excited to be given the opportunity to have it done in
the Jordon River. Yet, a few weeks before the departure of our trip to the Holy
Land I felt God telling me not to wait and to have it done sooner at the
Baptist Church I was attending at the time, which I did. I strongly believe
that being Baptised before going, prepared me spiritually for the powerful
encounter I had with God, and had I not obeyed Him, I would have had a more
glorious setting of a baptism, but without the lasting and powerful
effect.
If you have never been
Baptised with the full immersion of water, may I urge you to take this next
step of faith in your walk with God? If it was important enough for Jesus to do
and because He tells us to, this is an act of obedience where we get to
publicly declare the decision made in our hearts to follow Jesus. From my experience, it is where you receive
the victory in truly becoming an overcoming Christian to live with the fullness
and the power of the Holy Spirit, and there is no better time to be baptised
than at Easter.
