Thursday, December 29, 2011

This Is My Body, Broken For You


And when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, 
Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: 
this do in remembrance of me.
I Cor. 11: 24
Mighty Creator, the Everlasting did something He had never done, nor would again ever do in human history. Yahweh, Lord of Lords, touched stones and inscribed His thoughts. 
Man writes, but God doesn’t. God speaks. “Let there be light, and there was light.” Yet, for a great and profound mystery God reached down from above the stars and with his fingers carved into two rocks the Covenant between Himself and His son, Israel. 
After communing with the face of God for forty days, Moses embraced those precious stones understanding their eternal significance then walked down the mountain to give the law of the Covenant to His people.
The tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing engraved on the tablets. ...It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing ; and Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. From Ex. 32: 16-19 
What had Moses done! How could Moses have been so enraged as to fling down and shatter the miracle entrusted into his hands?  
†††
Seventh-day Adventists teach that the significance of the Ten Commandments being written in stone rather than upon vellum was that they should, from generation to generation, stand as a witness to the perfect law of God.
However, what the Adventist theologian does not fully understand is that these tablets were not displayed to verify the accuracy of Moses, subsequent leaders and scroll copyists in teaching God’s law. The stones were never even to be read by the individual Hebrew. These tablets would soon be buried within the protective heart of the ark, placed inside the Holy of Holies and disappear from human eyes forever. A wholly unseen holy relic. 

Moses was instructed by God to record His words in a book that would be spoken to God’s people at their holy assemblies--the Torah would never be copied and given out to the masses like published books are today. 
There is a nuance within SDA teaching that by recording something on stone, Israel could remember what God spoke. The eternalness of rock would prevent the Hebrews from forgetting His commandments. 
This too is a misunderstanding of the sovereign power of God. Engraving rock neither ensures permanence (we know this by the fact that Moses destroyed them) nor safeguards His people from forgetting. God’s word. In no sense is it more secure because it is written. God’s Word stands when He speaks, the words eventually written down and even those never written.
Then what would be the purpose of God, Yahweh, writing the Ten Commandments on stone? 
Notice that Moses was not punished for defacing the irreplaceable Holy Stones touched by the very hands of God (when later he would be bitterly punished for angrily striking the rock that brought forth living water). The reason for this was because Moses had acted according to God’s will by breaking the tablets of law.
The Lawgiver placed within Moses the righteous wrath that took the tablets held them high within the sight of the wickedness and broke the stones. 
This was a foretaste and prophecy of the Savior. 
For that Rock was Christ. One day, Christ would be raised upon a tree, taking upon Himself the grievous sins of the world and the eternal consequences. 
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53: 4, 5


Millennia later, just as Moses held up the rock before Israel and split it beneath him, our Savior Jesus Christ sitting with His disciples at the last meal lifted up the bread of life...
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. I Cor. 11: 24

Jesus became the broken one, the manna from heaven and the rock of our salvation.
Today, we observe this same eternal sacrifice in our worship. Our priest, as the New Covenant Moses,  lifts high the Body of Christ, the eternal Bread of Life who because of love, healed our brokenness by being broken.
As we gaze upon the suffering passion of infinite mystery, of Emanuel, God-with-us placed upon a tree of curse and suffering: 

We behold the Alpha and the Omega
We behold the enraged Dragon of deception thrown from Heaven, 
We behold the Light of Creation dawning upon a dark and desolate world, 
We behold Adam and Eve awakened and roused from their sleep,
We behold the crushing moment when Abram lifts the knife upon his son, 
We behold swirling white Manna, like pure snowflakes falling from Heaven, 
We behold angered Moses throwing down and shattering the Ten, 
We behold the repentant King David rise from his knees with a clean heart, 
We behold Nebuchadrezzar shedding his beastly and confused mind,
We behold Elijah fade as John is revealed in the desert,
We behold the Ave Maria, gratia plena becoming the New Eve,
We behold the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
We behold a new heaven and new earth, a universe washed clean.
We are beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
Behold Him who is broken for thee!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This doesn't even make sense. What are you suggesting? That God's ten commandments are not in effect right now? This is just confusion through sheer wordiness. Speak plainly.

Teresa Beem said...

Sorry if it wasn't plain.

Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law which is understood as the Old Covenant. The law including the Ten Commandments given to the Hebrews POINTED to Christ. The Ten Commandments on ROCK was a symbol of Christ--NOT eternity.

Christ brought in a NEW Covenant with a better set of laws--a set of laws that built upon the old and made them perfect for Christians.

Christians are under the laws of the NEW Covenant. They are what Christ commanded to everyone--not just the Jews.

If you read the New Testament you will see the laws of Christ. But to sum them up (and interestingly the Law of Moses is summed up this way too.)

Love God and love your neighbor. BOTH Covenants are summed up in these two commandments, but they are two separate covenants, based on a totally different system.

The old Covenant was good and PERFECT for its time. But all Jews understood that it was for them alone and that a New Covenant would be established with the coming of the Messiah.

Christians accept that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and therefore He brought in a NEW Covenant. Read the words of Jesus on the Mount of Olives.

Understand:

God gave MOSES and the Hebrews the Old Covenant from Sinai.

God gave us through Jesus His SON, the New Covenant spoken by Jesus on the Mount of Blessings/Olives.

Is that easier to understand?

What is confusing to all is when Christians all agree that they should live by the Ten Commandments. You will see them everywhere. So why would Christians still be using them to make a point if they were not in effect anymore?

Because they are the basics.

In Kindergarden we learn what numbers are, the basics.

A professor in theoretical physics who studies the nature of the string theory in purely mathematical terms uses symbols was different but based upon the same number symbols as kindergarteners.

This is the difference between the New and Old Covenant.

The Old Covenant of the Jews gave the basics in civil morals, that not only allowed them to be a holy people, but the children of God. Their system pointed to a better one to come through Messiah. They were on God's kindergarten system of morals.

The New Covenant opened to the entire world was one of a much deeper understanding. It may have certain symbols (laws) that look like the the other, but it is made to give the Christian a much greater and broader perspective.

To find out about the New Covenant--Read the New Testament. Especially Galatians lays out what I have been writing about.

Teresa Beem said...

I think, if you are SDA, what you are asking is:
"Why isn't the Sabbath commandment" one of those basics I am talking about?

It IS! Christians don't give up the Sabbath. But just as Jesus EXPANDED all the Ten, He expanded the Sabbath Commandment.

Just as Jesus said that no longer is it just about not committing adultery, it is about living in such a way that you never even lust after another woman. That is setting the standard WAY above the formal OT commandment.

He is changing it from merely a physical restraint to a heart of love for his wife every moment. It is now a spiritual change.

Jesus is RIGHT THERE CHANGING the Ten Commandments. He is using the adultery commandment to build upon for a BETTER commandment.

Jesus did the SAME thing for the Sabbath Commandment. He would later say--that HE is the rest. He is the Sabbath.

Now, we rest from our works every moment of every day. The one day Sabbath rest was built upon to bring in a better sabbath rest of EVERY DAY!

Now it is not just physical but spiritual.

I hope that answers your question.

Adrian said...

Hi. English is not my native language so please excuse my mistakes.
1. You said "Christ brought in a NEW Covenant with a better set of laws". What laws? Show me please.
2. You said "Jesus did the SAME thing for the Sabbath Commandment."
I'm sorry but you make confusion. Sabbath was not for jews ... Sabbath was for men! For Adam and Eve, and they were not jews.
The Sabbath commandment says: "Remember ..." that means the Sabbath was before ... before what?
Then ... explain please Genesis 26:5 ... what commandments kept Abraham? What laws? Remember ... Abraham was a jew or not?
3. You said "Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law". That's half true.
What was the role of Old Testament sacrifices? The sacrifices pointed to Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the sacrifices ... He was the lamb.

The Ten Commandments reflect God's character. Love God and your neighbor. You can change the words ... like Mathew 5:21 to 48 but is the same idea, same concept: Love God and your neighbor.

Teresa Beem said...

Adrian, this blog has dealt with those questions, so I will not take the time for the lengthy reply. Just read the blog post that pertain to those. If you are truly interested in the ubiquitous and historical Christian views about how the fourth commandment is kept today, may I suggest our book, "It's Okay NOT to be a Seventh-day Adventist" at Amazon.com (Just type in the search engine "Teresa Beem" and it should take you rich to it.--we might have a direct link from this blog, can't remember.)

Over ten chapters are devoted to explaining why the SDA church teachings on the sabbath do not conform with the Bible, Christian theology, nor history.

God bless!

Adrian said...

I'm sorry but i'm not a SDA church member and your blog is huge. Where i can find your posts?

But is very dificult for me to understand your point of view because this is God's word! And God doesn't change his word.

I will appreciate that if you give me a link with your posts. Thx.

Teresa Beem said...

Adrian,
Go to the search engine of the blog itself. It is in the right upper hand side of the blog. Type in the word
"Sabbath" and then the word "commandments." The posts are the ones related to them.

If that doesn't answer your question, and if you are really interested in understanding all about how the Jewish sabbath (Saturday) became the Christian Sabbath (Sunday) you might want to get our book. There are ten chapters that show step by step historically and Biblically how this happened.

Since you are not an SDA you haven't been wrongly taught that Constantine changed the sabbath. That is wholly unhistorical and unbiblical. The "sabbath" debate has been ongoing since the Reformation as to whether it is on Saturday or Sunday, required or not.

There was some controversy within the Catholic church about RESTING--rather than going to church, for Catholics have been having services daily since Pentecost. They have ALWAYS had corporate worship on Sunday AND Saturday. But the idea that Catholics now keep Sunday as a "change" is a misleading term.

Jesus fulfilled and BECAME our Sabbath rest. We no longer have official dogmatic Holy Days, per say, required by God.

Again, trying to understand this in a short post is impossible and lends itself to misunderstanding. I suggest if you are truly struggling with this issue, you purchase our book at Amazon.com or another reputable book on the history of Sabbath.

God bless,
Teresa