22/11/2021 - PERFECT AND COMPLETE COMMUNION

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And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month. Genesis 29.14

As servants of the Most High, we are blessed to sense whether someone who is introduced to us is a good person or not. A person may declare himself to be a Christian and try hard to appear so, but in two minutes of conversation with them – we will realize whether they are in communion with the Lord or not. So says the Bible: For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure (John 3.34). Be vigilant!

When Philip told Nathanael about Jesus, Nathanael asked where the Son of God was from. When he learned that the Savior came from Nazareth – although he was born in Bethlehem of Judah, but grew up in Nazareth – religious prejudice spoke louder: And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see” (John 1.46). The wisdom used by Philip in answering him made that man go and see and meet the Man of God.

What convinced Nathanael was the anointing of the Holy Spirit on Jesus (John 1.49). You may ask, if Jesus was God, why would He need the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Well, to come into the world and pay the price of our redemption, He stripped Himself of divine prerogatives and came as a normal man, like one of us (John 10.1). Without the maternal birth, Christ could not be here; but since He became like us, the world is His home. Hallelujah!

See the blessing that God’s anointing works in us: it makes us equal, making us members of the Body of Christ. Jesus is the Head of His Body, the Church. If the Head is holy and powerful, no one should say that he is weak, but affirm as the Scriptures say: Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong. (Joel 3.10). Take your place in Christ!

When Laban saw Jacob, he embraced him, kissed him and declared that he was his bone and flesh. Now, this symbolizes our encounter with Christ, when we become part of His blessed Body, bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. What more do we need to become overcomers? To submit ourselves to God. With the declaration that we are part of His Body, He does not want to see any of His members suffering at the hands of the devil.

Can we stay out of it? If we understand that we are a new creation, we understand that we are in the Lord. Now, being in Him, and His words in us – we will determine what we want, and it will be done for us: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me (John 15.4). Our operation in God must be great. Do you believe?

At first, Laban convinced Jacob to stay with him for a month, but with Jesus, we will stay for a lifetime. He said: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out (John 6.37). One day, Christ will return for His own, and those who are waiting will go up with Him. Are you already saved and waiting for Him?

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares