The Body and Blood of Jesus- Jason Schrock

Greeting speech on this morning in the name of the

one that we have come to commemorate his work. Appreciate

what's been shared already. Thank you Leland for sharing the

story of the creation, death or the sin, and then

the death and suffering of Jesus. Because of that, so

this morning, as has been mentioned, we have a communion

service where we remember what Jesus did for us. I'm

going to begin this morning by reading the account in

Matthew of the Institution of Communion Matthew twenty six, Verses

twenty six through twenty eight. And as they were eating,

Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and

gave it to the disciples and said, take eat. This

is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks,

and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it,

for this is my blood of the New Testament, which

is shed from any for the remission of sins. This

evening or this morning. The title of the message is

just simply the body and blood of Jesus. Now that

seems maybe fairly simple, but it's it is profound. And

so when Jesus came to the end of his earthly life.

He wanted his disciples to remember him in the days

to come, and so he did not say, now, when

I'm gone, I hope you remember the kind deeds I did,

the healing of the sick and the ministering to the needy.

He didn't say, remember all the things I taught you,

because that's going to be important. You're going to need that.

He didn't say, remember myself sacrificing life. Nor did he

tell them to remember that he was God. Now he

had just been interrogated, or was going to be interrogated,

about whether he was the son of God. But what

was impressive to me as I thought about this is

Jesus asked them to remember something that had not taken

place yet. How could they remember his broken body and

his shed blood hadn't even happened yet. But that's what

he told them. And so when Jesus instituted the Lord's suffer,

he chose two symbols that his followers should use to

remember his death and suffering. And both of those symbols

portray his humanity. They do not portray his divinity. He

was human because he had a body, He was human

because he had blood. God is a spirit. Then, how

can God be represented as human? His flesh and his

blood that flowed through that flesh showed that he was human,

and that was a sacrifice that was acceptable to God.

In Hebrews ten five, it says, wherefore, when he comes

into the world, he says, sacrifice an offering. Now wouldst

not but a body? Hast thou prepared me? Now? I

think that's quite significant that a body, a human body,

was prepared to house the son of God. So what

kind of a body did Jesus have? I believe that

it must have been a perfect body. He was the

second atom. I think Adams was created perfect. This body

had five senses. He could see, he could hear, he

could touch, he could taste, he could smell. And I

don't know. As I meditated this, I wondered, were his

senses maybe even more keen than what ours are? Because

I believe he had a perfect body. Within this body

was God. Within this body was the spirit of God.

His body was a veil to veil what was within.

Hebrews ten nineteen and twenty says, having therefore, brethren boldness

to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

by a new and living way, which he had consecrated

for us through the veil, that is to say, his

FLEs and so his flesh, his material body, you might say,

concealed that which was within this body that Jesus had

was able to experience pain. And I had to wonder,

could he maybe even experience a greater pain than an

average person. I don't know. But this body was abused,

it was mutilated, it was pierced, blood was drawn from it.

Isaiah fifty three to five says, but he was wounded

for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The

chastisement of our piece was upon him, And with his

stripes we are healed. If you care to, I would

invite you to turn to Isaiah fifty two and fifty three,

like to take a few thoughts there. We believe that

this is a death a prophecy concerning Jesus and the

things that he experienced, the things that he went through.

First of all, I'm going to read a Psalm fifty two,

verses thirteen to fifteen. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently.

He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

And many as many were astonished. No, as many were

estonied at thee. His visage was so marred more than

any man, and his form more than the sons of men.

So shall he sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut

their mouths at him, for that which had not been

told them? Shall they see? And that which they had

not heard? Shall they consider? Now? I'd like to look

particularly at verse fourteen. It says there his visage was more. Now,

what what is visage? I I looked on the strongs

to see what what that would be, and and visage, Uh,

that word has a thought of view to an appearance.

To see that word also has a thought especially handsome

or comeliness. All right. And then the word form in

that in that verse, I look that up also, and

the form has a figure or appearance beautiful, calmly countenance.

And so both of those words would have the thought

that that this person had a lovely, beautiful countenance. Now,

then there's another word in here that says he was

marred more than any man. Now what does the word

marred mean? It basically means disfigurement, and it says here

more than any man. And so here was this beautiful

human specimen that was marred more than any man. And

so I tend to think that this prophecy indicated that

the physical Messiah was commonly, perhaps handsome, beautiful. But then

what do we do with verse two of chapter fifty three.

It says he hath no form nor commliness, and when

we shall see him, there is no beauty that we

should desire him. I don't know for sure. Was this

speaking of him in his prime of physical life, or

was it speaking of him after he'd been mistreated? I

don't know, but it's interesting now. Having said that, I'd

like to look a little bit yet at the prophecy

here in Isaiah fifty three. It be worthwhile to read

the whole chapter. But first of all, I think I'm

going to read verses four and five. Well, let's see,

I'm going to read verses three, four and five. He

is despised and rejected, a man, a man of sorrows

and acquainted with grief. And we hit, as it were,

our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed

him not surely he hath borne our griefs and carried

our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him, stricken, smitten of

God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our

piece was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Do you pick out some words in what I read

there that show that Jesus was human, that showed that

he had a body. Notice in verse four stricken, smitten, afflicted,

and that was to his body. Notice in verse five wounded, bruised,

stripes again to his body. If we go on through

the chapter, verse some of these words are repeated. Verse seven, afflicted,

verse eight, stricken, verse nine bruise. And so as we

think of what took place there on the day of

the crucifixion, on the night before and on the day

of the crucifixion, his body was slapped, and it was punched,

It was pierced with thorns, scourged, He was nailed to

the cross, his side was pierced with the sword. And

so from these Old Testament scriptures and the account of

the abuse of the physical body that's recorded in the Gospels,

I believe we can assume that here was a perfectly

a perfect specimen of a physically fit man a body.

But this body was offered as a sacrifice. It became bruised,

it was marred, it was broken, it was wounded, it

was struck. There were stripes, and there was abuse. And

that's what we're here this morning to commemorate this broken body.

But the Leland already talked about the passover a little bit.

I'm going to go back to Exodus twenty and read

just a little bit here, and I'd like you to

notice the uh. I'm going to read Exodus, let's say,

twenty Exodus twelve, five to eight, and we find here

that the lamb that was to be slain for the

passover needed to be a perfect lamb. It need to

be a lamb of the first of the first year,

and with no with no blemage Exous twelve, verses five

to eight. Your lamb shall be without blemage, a male

of the first year. You shall take it out from

the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep

it up until the fourteenth day of the same month,

and the whole assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall

kill it in the evening, and they shall take of

the blood and strike it on the two side posts

and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein

they shall eat it, and they shall eat the flesh.

And that night rose with fire and unloven and with

bitter herbs. They shall eat it. And so here Israel

that night. At in centuries later they were depict a

perfect lamb, one that had no blemish, one that was

probably the best of the flock, and offer that and

shed its blood and eat its flesh. Jesus said, you

need to eat of my body, which is broken for you.

Going over to Leviticus twenty two, I found it interesting

to see how that any sacrifice that was offered was

to be no blemish. I'm going to read Leviticus twenty

two nineteen to twenty four. Ye shall offer it your

own will, a male without blemish, of the beeves, of

the sheep, or of the goats. But whosoever hath a blemish,

that shall ye not offer, for it shall not be

acceptable for you. And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace

offerings under the Lord to accomplish his vow or free

will offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect

to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein blind

or broken, or maimed, or having a wind or scurvy,

or scabbed. Ye shall not offer these to the Lord

to make an offering by fire of them upon the

altar to the Lord, either a bullock or a lamb

that hath anything sup superfluous, or lacking in his parts.

That mayest thou offer for a free will offering, but

for a vow it shall not be accepted. You shall

not offer under the Lord that which is bruised or crushed,

or broken or cut. Neither shall you make any offering

thereof in your land. Now why did God ask this?

Why did he want an animal that was perfect, that

had no blemish? I think it was because it portrayed

this perfect lamb of God that was going to come,

that had a body, and this body was well, you

might say, at thirty three years of age, probably in

the prime of life. So now let's follow a little

bit the physical abuse that Jesus experienced in this body

in which he lived. So you know how that Judas

led the I don't know the guard or whoever it was,

out of the garden to arrest Jesus, Matthew twenty six

fifty seven says, And they that had laid hold on

Jesus led him away to Chaphus, the high priest, where

the scribes and the elders were assembled. So here they

were the important religious leaders of the day, the high priest,

the scribes, the elders, they were together. What were they

doing together there at night? Leave that there? And they questioned,

and they insulted him, and it turned physical. Now I've

been in some pretty tense meetings already in church life,

but it's never come to blows that I know of,

where someone's taking their fist and punched somebody in the nose. Now,

maybe they felt like it, but here were these religious leaders.

They actually got physical with Jesus. Verse sixty seven says

then they did spin on his face and buffeted him,

and others smote him with the palms of their hands.

Now I was wondering what this word buffett means, And

according to Strong's again, it means to rap with the fist.

In other words, they would have clashed their fist and

give him a good blow, and they slapped him. Now,

the buffeting and the hitting caused pain in this body

that Jesus had taken on. Even though he was God,

yet in his human body he suffered pain. And then

we find that that pilot then later scourged him or

flogged him, and the Roman soldiers placed a crown of

thorns on his head, and those thorns pricked the scalp.

Then the soldiers took a reed and they hit him

on the head. You know how it is a little

bit if you get a little bit of a sliver

or a briar or something, how you want to get

that out. But they just they embedded those thorns in

his scalp. And we know that Jesus's physical body was

so exhausted that he could not finish carrying the cross

to the place of execution. He carried his cross for

a while, but he didn't have the physical strength. He

had been so abused and so mutilated that he, uh,

he could not carry it. So they got Simon of

Syreene to carry it for him. Then they took him

and crucified him and nailed his hands and his feet

to the cross, and then they took that cross, and

I assume that that went into into the ground. And

what a what a jar that must have been to

his human body. Now, with all of the physical abuse,

there was also mocking, scorning, rejection, all of this taking

a tremendous emotional toll on Jesus. Now, I want to

think just a little bit of the blood this body

that the Son of God put on also had a

circulatory system as we know it, which pump blood, had

a heart that pump blood throughout his whole system. I

guess I should have looked a little bit. What how

many miles of blood veins there are the capillaries and

all those things. I didn't really go into that. But

this blood kept the physical life of Jesus going. Leviticus

seventeen eleven says, for the life of the flesh is

in the blood, and I've given it to you upon

the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it

is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.

And so it says here the life is in the blood,

and you need to take the blood of a perfect

animal and shed that to make atonement for or by

reason of the life. And so the Old Testament sacrifices

required blood. The life was in the blood, and it

was by the blood of the paschal lamb that was

a means that the firstborn were saved. There in Egypt

again in Exodus twelve verse seven, and they shall take

of the blood and strike it on the two side

posts and on the upper door post of the houses,

wherein they shall eat it. And then in verse thirteen

of chapter twelve, and the blood shall be to you

for a token upon the houses where you are. When

I see the blood, I will pass over you. And

so the sacrifices in the Old test with the rituals,

pointed to the seriousness of sin. And so God said

in the Old Covenant, if you shed the blood of

a perfect animal, that will be a substitute. And it

is an act of atonement by which you will be

restored to fellowship with me. But he didn't take away

the sinner sin. It was just an appeasement of God's

wrath for sin. I have a Xonophone Encyclopedia of the

Bible in my study, and I look there, and there

it says that the word blood is used one hundred

and three times in the Old Testament, referring to sacrificial blood,

the blood of animals one hundred and three times in

the Old Testament. So what happened to that blood that

was shed? So they take an animal my that I've

I've wanted up must have been quite a slaughter house

there at the where they bring animals and and uh,

and kill them and take the blood. And I was

interested in what actually happened to blood. Well we know

there we saw in the case of the Passover, it

was applied to the doorposts and the linils of the house.

But when an animal was sacrificed at the tabernacle or

the temple, whatever it was, and the blood was applied,

that blood was sprinkled or poured out on the altar.

There was an altar of I can't even say the

name of it now, but the the the altar of

where the where the sacrifices were were given to God.

And so it was also sprinkled on the priests and

on their garments. And there was some blood that was

put on aaron's ear as a high priest. Uh. Then

if a priest sinned, if we know that all sinned.

But when a priest sinned, he was to being a

bull for an offering, and the blood was to be

sprinkled seven times before the veil. Now in the in

the tabernacle, there was a veil that covered the holy place,

the mercy sea. It couldn't be seen as if I

understand right, it was a thick veil. Now we said

that the body of Jesus was a veil, but this

was a veil in the in the tabernacle. And so

that blood was to be sprinkled seven times before the veil.

Some was to be put on the horn of the

ultravi incense, and the rest poured out at the bottom

of the altar of burnt offerings. And I guess that's

what the term I was trying to think, the altar

of burnt offerings, that's where most of the blood would

be poured out. Once a year, there was a day

of Atonement where the uh and that's such an interesting

study to look at the day of Atonement what they

did once a year, and the High Priest would go

once a year into the Holy of Holies and bring

a sacrifice or bring blood into that. On the day

of Atonement, the high Priest was to kill a sacrificial

goat and a bull, and he was to take the

blood of each and sprinkle the mercy seat, that mercy

seat where the god dwelt. And so we know that

the shedding of blood of Jesus upon the cross is

central to our forgiveness and restoration to fellowship with God.

I'd like to just look at a few scriptures that

have to do with the blood of Jesus. The first

one I'm going to read in Acts twenty verse twenty eight.

Here we have a you might almost say a business transaction.

It says that the Church of God hath been purchased

with his own blood. Acts twenty twenty eight. Take heed

there for under yourselves and to all the flock or

which the holy ghosts have made you overseas, to feed

the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his

own blood. And so this blood that was shed purchased

our redemption. It purchased our forgiveness of sins. It purchased

our place in the Church of God. Ephesians one seven

says whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness

of sins, according to the riches of his grace. I'm

going to turn to Hebrews nine. We probably could have

spent all morning in Hebrews. That's so interesting how the

writer to the Hebrews explains so much about this. I'm

going to read nine verses eleven to fourteen. But Christ

being come and high priest of good things, to come.

So let me back up here just a little bit.

In his exposition of of the change from the Old

Covenant to the New, the writer of the Hebrews says

that actually Jesus is now our high priest. He has

taken the place of erin. He is a high priest. Okay,

But Christ being come, and high priests of good things

to come by a greater and more perfect tabern Michael

not made with hands, that is to say, not of

this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,

but by his own blood. He entered in once into

the Holy Place, having contained eternal redemption for us. Now

remember that the high priest went in once a year

to the to the holy be holies. But here he

says that this high priest, Jesus, went in once and

made an offering for our sins Verse thirteen. For if

the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes

of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying

of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God,

purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God,

and so let's get the picture here. Jesus was a

perfect sacrifice. He was sinless, and he was accepted of

God because of that. Because of this sacrifice, no longer

do we need the blood of bulls and of goats.

In fact, in the following chapter, verse four, it says,

for it's not possible that the blood of bulls and

of goats should take away sins. That's not possible. But

the blood of Jesus Christ takes away sin. And so

again and again we're reminded of the flesh of Jesus

and his blood. I'm going to read a little bit

from the Gospel of John, and I had to think

about it. How John was. I'm not sure if he

was the only one of the disciples that was standing

there to cross when Jesus was crucified there. But we

know John was there because Jesus talked to John. He said,

behold thy mother, take care of my mother. But John

said in the first chapter, verse forty or verse fourteen,

And the Word was made flesh, the Word being God

was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld

his glory, the glory as the only begotten, the Father

full of grace, and truth, and so he talks about

the incarnation of Christ, the word became flesh. Then going

over to chapter six, he gives the account of Jesus's

teaching and interaction with some of the people there with

the Jews. I'm going to in chapter six, I'm going

to begin reading at verse fifty one. And this is

Jesus speaking, I am the Living Bread which came down

from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he

shall live forever. And the bread that I will give

is my flesh, which I will give for the life

of the world. The Jews therefirst, drove among themselves, saying,

how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

When Jesus said him to them, Then Jesus said him

to them, verily, verily, I say to you, except you

eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink

his blood, you have no life in you. Now what

strange words this must have been to these people Verse

fifty four. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood

hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at

the last day. For my flesh is meat, indeed, and

my blood is drink Indeed. He that eatth my flesh,

and drinketh my blood. Dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Hebrews two fourteen says, for as much then as the

children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself

likewise took part of the same, that through death he

might destroy him that had the power of death, that

is the devil. And so Jesus took upon him flesh

and blood, that he might destroy the power of death.

Now the apostle John again, I'd like to read what

he has to say in his first Epistle, Chapter four,

verses two and three. He says, hereby know ye the

spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ

is come in the flesh is of God. And every

spirit that confess us not that Jesus Christ is come

in the flesh, is not of God. And this is

that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it

should come, And even now already is it in the world.

And so I believe this morning that we testify here

that Jesus came in the flesh. We testify because we

remember his body. We testify because we remember his blood.

And those were physical aspects of Jesus. So after Jesus

was crucified, after his spirit was severed from his body,

the body still remained. The blood was gone, the breath

was gone, the spirit was gone, but there was still

a body. So what did we do with that body?

It was a broken body, it was a mutilated body.

It was ugly. I'd like to read several verses again

from John John nineteen, verses thirty eight to forty two.

After this, Joseph Armathia, being a disciple of Jesus, but

secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilot that he

might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilot gave

him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.

And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came

to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of murr

and aloes about one hundred pound weight. Then took the

body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with

the spices, as a manner of the Jews is to bury.

Now in the place where he was crucified, there was

a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein

was never man yet laid there, laid that Jesus. Therefore,

because the Jews of the Jews, preparation day for the

sepulcher was nigh at hand. So this body that had

been inhabited by God was laying there lifeless. What did

we do with it? Well, they did what they would

do with other dead bodies. They prepared it for burial

and put it in the sepulcher, and there it is.

Had that body stayed there, we would have no reason

to be together today. But there's good news. That broken

and mutilated body was resurrected into a glorious body, and

that glorious body ascended to Heaven and is now in

the presence of the Father as a constant reminder of

the sacrifice that was made upon the cross. Because of

my sins and because of yours, we can now stand

justified before the Father because of the death and sacrifice

of his son. Not like to go back and referra

a little bit yet to Isaiah fifty three. I'm going

to read verses ten and eleven. Yet it pleased the

Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief.

When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.

He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,

and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper nns. He

shall see the travail of his soul and shall be

satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify many,

for he shall bear their iniquities. I've often thought about

this and appreciate this. In verse eleven, it says, and

shall be satisfied. The father saw what his son went through.

He saw the body that was broken, he saw the

blood that was shed. He saw that his son was righteous.

There was no fault, he was perfect, he was without blemish.

And he says, now this will do no more, no

more sacrifice. For saying he was satisfied, he shall see

if the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.

And so there is need for no further sacrifice. I'd

like to invite you to turn to number three hundred

and fourteen in the Church hymnal. I was looking at

this song this morning, wishing that I knew the tune.

But I don't think I do. Ah Norman says, no, okay,

I'd like to just read the words of this song,

and does anyone know this? All right? But Let's read

this in thinking of the body and the blood of Jesus.

Bread of heaven on thee we foot, excuse me, bread

of heaven on thee we feed, for thy flesh is meat. Indeed, ever,

may our souls be fed with this true and living bread,

day by day, with strength supplied to the life of

him who died. Fine of heaven, Thy blood supplies this

blessed cup of sacrifice. Lord, thy wounds are healing. Give

to thy cross we look and live, Jesus. May we

ever be grafted, rooted, built on thee. And so as

we partake of the bread this morning, let's meditate upon

the broken body of Christ. As we partake of the

fruit of the vine, let us meditate upon the blood

that was shed for our sins. Let's kneel together for Praim,

our Father in heaven. This morning. We thank you in

a special way again for what our Lord Jesus Christ

did for us. How he came and took on an

earthly body so that he could be a perfect sacrifice

before thee. And so we want to commemorate that today

in this service. And we thank you for the precious

blood of Jesus that was shed for our sins, and

so we just want to thank and praise THEE and

realize that we are unworthy of this offering, this sacrifice

that was made on our behalf. We pray this on

the name of Jesus Amen m HM