Thursday, January 18, 2007

A Sign for Good

Show me a sign for good,
That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,
Because You, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
(Psalm 86:17)
Today I took the Table of the Lord using this verse, for the bread and cup of His Supper, being divinely instituted, is indeed a sign of His favor*. The bread is the revelation of Jesus’ body given for us, and the cup is the sign of the New Covenant issued in His blood.

Our adversary, the devil, hates the blood of Jesus with fervent intensity, for it spells out his doom, and the destruction of all his works. So when we take of the Lord’s Table, it is a sign of God’s favor and goodness toward us that puts him to shame.

Anytime is a good time to enjoy the Table of the Lord, for as often as we eat that bread and drink that cup, we show the Lord’s death until He comes again (1 Corinthians 11:26) — that is, it is a revelation of Jesus Christ and a promise of His return. But when the devil is trying to come in on you with his strategies and schemes, that is a particularly good time to take the Lord’s Supper, for it shows the death of the Lord Jesus, by which He triumphed over satan. As David said, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5).

So as you sit at this Table, let it speak to you of the victory you have in Jesus Christ. And remember what David said in Psalm 86:17 (rendered here from the Message Bible):
Make a show of how much You love me
So the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,
As You, GOD, gently and powerfully put me back on my feet.
The Table of the Lord is the sign of God’s favor toward you in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it puts the devil to shame.

(* Baptism is also a sign of God’s favor, divinely instituted by Jesus Christ, and demonstrates our entrance into the body of Christ and the family of God. I have written a song about this wonderful sign, called I Have Been Baptized, from our Walking Barefoot CD. You can listen to it in streaming MP3.)

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:43 PM

    Jeff,

    Hey....that is a coooooool song!

    Are you the one singing it also?

    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:21 PM

    Jeff,

    I wanted to change my last comment.

    It is not only a coool song.....it is fantastic!

    The music has a really wonderful beat and whoever is singing has been gifted with a great voice.

    The music and the voice are great gifts.

    The words are awesome.

    I sat and listened to it several times.

    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Jeff, I'm glad you like it. Yes, that's me singing.

    ReplyDelete