DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND DEATH

Let us look at the Lord’s supper from another angle. Let us start at the beginning.

16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."  (Genesis 2:16,).

God basically said to Adam, "Hey, do not do this dumb thing or you will suffer a horrible consequence." The consequence of sinning is death. Now, death is a big word. It means curses, eternal hell, physical death, tears, suffering and more. Sin leads to death. Romans 6:23 states that "...the wages of sin is death...."

After Adam and Eve sinned, God looked down from heaven at man’s condition and saw two things that He did not like. He saw man doing stupid things on the earth, i.e., sin. And, He saw the horrible consequences man suffered and will suffer because of his sin, i.e., death. Sin and death are equally repulsive in God’s sight.

Then God sent His Son to die for man in order to set him free from sin and death. The eating of the two elements of the Lord’s Supper, the bread and the cup, proclaim the Lord’s death (1Cor. 11:26). The bread symbolises deliverance from sin (1Cor 5:6-8; 1Pet. 2:24; etc.). The cup symbolises deliverance from death (Col. 1:14; etc.). How simple can things get?

Every problem that mankind has can be categorised as either a sin problem or a death problem; or usually both. The Lord’s Supper, which symbolises the Lord’s death, proclaims God’s solution to every problem you and I have.

We need to see our deliverance from death in the cup. Curses that we labour under are lifted because of the blood. As we apply the blood by faith to our curses, and stand on the truth of the blood, we will see curses lifted in our lives and in the lives of other people. By speaking in faith the truth of the blood and by acting in faith, we are effectively applying the blood to the particular situation or condition we are concerned with. This is the New Testament fulfillment of the truth symbolised by the Hebrews applying the blood to their doorposts during the Passover. The angel of death had to pass over the houses that had the blood applied. Of course, condemnation and a guilty conscience are also lifted by the application of the truth of the blood by faith.

As we stand on the truth of the bread; i.e., that we are delivered from sin; we will experience true freedom from sin’s bondage.

As we stand in faith on these two great pillars of the cross, other truths of the cross like our deliverance from sickness and demons will be experienced more easily.

In all of the above, the devil will oppose us and try to separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39). He will try to talk us out of these truths that ensure our complete deliverance from sin and death. Thus, we must stand and fight the good fight of faith with these great truths of the cross. Eating the Lord’s Supper with understanding helps us in this fight of faith.

In order to clear up some possible confusion, we need to understand that repentance is implied by both the cup and the bread. One needs to repent and believe to receive both forgiveness for sin and deliverance from sin. The Exodus story has two pictures of repentance. For the Hebrews to be shielded from the angel of death they were instructed to stay inside their houses. This is a picture of the repentance necessary to receive forgiveness of sins. Also, for the Hebrews to experience deliverance out of Egypt, they needed to be trying to get out of Egypt.   The opening in the Red Sea that the Lord made for them would only benefit those who were willing to move their legs and start walking across. The picture of the Hebrews walking away from and out of Egypt is a picture of the repentance necessary to receive deliverance from sin.