God is with us. He is Emmanuel. He has answered our prayers, drawing near to us and then calling us to draw near to Him. This table is prepared for that event. It is the consummation of God’s promises to us, that the body of Jesus, the Temple of God, should dwell with His people.
And so Jesus is here with us, not just in bread and wine, symbols or promises but He is really here. His Holy Spirit is dwelling here in the blessed gathering of God’s people. He is also here in the hearts of all who are His.
God inhabits the praises of His people, moving and dwelling and ministering in their midst. His promises to us are tangible as we have a witness in our hearts of the reality of God’s presence. We know that Jesus is here and we trust, by faith, that He will always dwell with us, that He will never leave us or forsake us.
These symbols testify to us this truth. We eat and drink in faith, believing as Jesus said in John 17:21-23 That we are all one in Christ; as the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father, that we are also one in God: that the world may believe that the Father has sent Jesus. And the glory which the Father gave Jesus, Jesus has given to us so that we may be one, even as the Father and the Son are one: Jesus in us, and the Father in Jesus, that we may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that the Father has sent Jesus, and has loved us, just as the Father has loved Jesus.
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