In Loving Memory Of

"They must eat those things by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration."

~ Exodus 29:33

He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

~ ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:24‭-‬25‬

As a part of their ordination and consecration as priests, Aaron and his sons were to eat of the very same lamb that was slaughtered for their sins before their very eyes. God so designed their ordination in this way to be a holy sober reminder of their sinfulness and the death of an innocent lamb to pay for their sins instead of them.

Do we not as Christians and as "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9) do something similar in the ordinance of communion? And what a greatly humbling reminder of my crimes is the bread and wine! The bread symbolising the body of Christ my Maker, scourged mercilessly and hammered to a cross because of my crimes! The wine: a symbol of the sacred, priceless blood of the Son of God spilt in the place of a criminal! We cannot know the sweetness of God's pardon unless we truly contemplate the depravity of our sins and the absolute holiness of the One we have rebelled against.

O the great love of Christ, That He should ordain and consecrate us criminals with the inestimable privilege of becoming a royal priesthood to serve Him! And He did not set us apart through mere rituals and documents but by the shedding of His own blood!

In the words of John Newton the hymn writer:

"T'was grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved"

"Now to Him who loves us, and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests to serve His God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever, and ever, amen." (Revelation 1:6)