A MODEL FOR CHURCH RESTORATION -III (Restoring Communion) 2 Chronicles 30

The First Sunday of each month we as a Church come together to celebrate communion, the Lord’s Supper. Together we take the elements of grape juice and bread. But did you every think how the grape juice got to replace the wine that was initially served at communion? Here is the story: Dentist Thomas Welch was the Communion Steward for the congregation of the First Methodist Church of Vineland, New Jersey, in 1869. During that summer, to his great dismay, the communion wine used by the church set one of his houseguests off on quite a binge. Determined to do something about this, he and his family spent the following September picking and pressing about forty pounds of grapes. In an attempt to repress the natural fermentation properties in the fruit, he heated the juice, pasteurizing it before sealing it in bottles. For the next few weeks he listened anxiously for the sounds of exploding bottles, but nothing happened. When Welch opened the containers, he found nothing but sweet, unfermented grape juice. Dubbed unfermented wine, this beverage was an instant hit. After introducing it to his own church, Dr. Welch began selling it to various other congregations and denominations. By 1890 Dr. Welch's Grape Juice had become a staple on communion tables, where for many congregations it remains so today.[1]

The true essence of communion is not so much about the wine, or grape juice and bread, as it is about the hope that is found in Christ our redeemer. In order to find out its true meaning, where it all started and to restore communion to its right place, we will look at the third restoration of King Hezekiah after restoring the temple and the temple worship in 2 Chron 30.

II. THE PASSOVER: A REMINDER OF GOD’S REDEMPTION

The Passover was the first of the three great festivals of the people of Israel. It referred to the sacrifice of a lamb in Egypt when the people of Israel were slaves. Remember, the night they were finally made free from their slavery they were to smear the blood of the lamb on their doorposts as a signal to God that He should “pass over” their houses when he destroyed all the first born of Egypt? (Ex 12:13) God commanded the Israelites, “Observe the month of Abib (first month) and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt by Night.” (Deu 16:1)

God instituted the celebration of the Passover in order to remind the people of Israel how He delivered them from their bondage of slavery in the land of Egypt. It is a time of rejoicing in their freedom by giving thanks as they sacrificed each year the sacrificial lamb. In our text we read King Hezekiah after he restored the temple and the worship in the temple restored the most important festival the Passover. How did he bring about that restoration?

Just to remind you until that point in history, the nation of Israel was widely divided. It was divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah. Hezekiah ascended to the throne of Judah after the death of his father King Ahaz. What have we learned about King Ahaz? He was a very bad king, he did detestable things to displease God. He built altars to false gods throughout Jerusalem and offered sacrifices on those altars. He shut the doors of the temple in Jerusalem, which means there were no sacrifices in the temple, no worship and definitely there were no celebrations of Passover and other feasts. No one knows for how long the doors were shut. Here comes Hezekiah, reopens the temple, consecrates it and restores the worship. Life in Judah became normal; and the glory days were back again. But one thing was lacking that was the celebration of the Passover festival.

II. RESTORATION OF PASSOVER: (2 Chronicles 30:1-27)

It must have been a long time since the Passover was celebrated in great numbers. Hezekiah wanted to invite all of Israel to come together and join the festivities. The couriers got busy; they went throughout all Israel and Judah with the invitation letters from the King and the princes. The content included, “O sons of Israel return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped and are left from the Hand of the kings of Assyria.” (Vs 6). It was a call for repentance and restoration and a homecoming to God.

I was reminded of another call to attend a wedding feast from one of the parables that Jesus told in order to explain what the Kingdom of God looks like. Here is the parable: A king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn’t come. He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, “Look everything is on the table; the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast. They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them.”(Matt 22:1-5 (The Message) What a sad story of missed opportunity.

Today the King of the universe is sending his couriers throughout the earth calling people with the message of repentance and of restoration so that they can enjoy the heavenly banquet. But sadly, how many are hearing and responding to that call? In the Church we send out e-mail, make announcements to attend certain important meetings or church services. Even today many seem to have other priorities rather than entering in to all that God has.

Coming back to our text; did the whole of Israel respond to the King’s invitation? I wish I could say yes! Sadly, the answer is No!! Many refused; some even laughed at and scorned the one who carried the invitation.

Nevertheless some men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.(Vs 11) That is how it works even today, God invites every one to come to him and worship Him. Many refuse, some laugh and scorn at the invitation at their own peril, but thank God there are others who humble themselves and accept the invitation and enjoy the eternal blessings.

What keeps you away from coming to God? Nothing can keep you away from God except your pride. Humility must precede access to God. Listen to what God says about humility; “For this is what the high and lofty One says; he who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”(Isaiah 57:15) Many of us are not seeing breakthroughs in our lives simply because we are too proud to ask God to help us in our situation. God will let us struggle as long as we remain proud but when we humble ourselves and come to him with a contrite spirit then he will revive our hearts and come and dwell in our hearts.

We see another example of humility in the birth, life, and death of Christ. If Christ could humble himself even to the point of death on the cross, are we greater than Christ where we don’t see the need to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God?

In our text we read; all those who humbled themselves came together as a very large assembly and celebrated the Passover with great joy. It is recorded, that the King contributed thousands of animals for the sacrifice. There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. When the priests blessed the people, “their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven. That indicates that God was pleased with the restoration of the Passover.

You may be wondering what significance does this event of thousands of years ago have for me today? Isn’t the Passover only meant for the Jewish community? Or does it have any connection with the communion in the Church? What is the significance of communion?

III CONNECTION BETWEEN THE PASSOVER AND COMMUNION

There is a direct connection, between the Passover and the Christian communion. We see rich symbolism and parallels in both. What is called the "Last Supper or the Lord’s supper" in Christianity was in fact the Passover Sedar. The meeting in the upper room was specifically to observe this appointed day observance. We see this account in Mar 14:13-16, “So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, God in the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, “The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there. The disciples went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.”

In Luke 22:14-20 we read the words of Jesus, “‘I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you....’ Then He took a loaf of bread; and when He had thanked God for it, He broke it apart and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, given for you. Eat it in remembrance of me.“ After supper He gave them another glass of wine, saying, ‘This wine is the token of God’s new agreement to save you - an agreement sealed with the blood I shall pour out to purchase back your souls’” (Luke 22: 14-20 Living Bible Translation). By celebrating the Passover, Jesus followed the age old Jewish tradition. He also commanded his disciples to continue this tradition until he returns. How did the early Church establish and carry on this tradition? How did they call this tradition? What are the parallels between the Jewish Passover and the Christian communion?

IV. PARALLELS BETWEEN PASSOVER AND COMMUNION

In the early Church, worship consisted of both Word and Table. The Word proclaimed the saving deed of God in Jesus Christ, and the table was the response of thanksgiving (Eucharist is the Greek word for thanks). The New Testament uses four terms to describe worship at the table: Breaking of bread(Acts 2:42) The Lord’s Supper( I Cor 11:17-34), Communion( I Cor 10:16) The word communion means participation, and refers to the Thanksgiving God’s people give for the death and resurrection of Christ. Eucharist (John 6:11, I Cor 11:24)

What parallels do we see between the Passover and Communion? The Passover was instituted by God as a thanksgiving feast of his great redemption of his people from the bondage of slavery. The word redeem means, “to obtain release by means of payment” It was a reminder, so that parents would educate their children with its significance and meaning. It was a community event where much preparation is needed before they could participate. It was a yearly event where a sacrificial lamb was sacrificed symbolizing the first Passover before the exodus. It was a great time of celebration and rejoicing.

We see this parallelism in Christian Communion. Christ was offered himself as the sacrificial lamb once for all, not only for the Jewish community but for the whole world. By doing so he became our redeemer. By believing in the redemptive work of Christ we are set free from the slavery of sin. As the Jewish community needed to consecrate themselves before observing the Passover we too are required to examine our hearts before we partake in communion.(I Cor 11:28) Passover was a reminder, in the same way we need to remember to participate in communion. Finally, we need to educate our children regarding the importance and significance of communion. Each time when we come to the table to partake communion we are thanking God for his redemption and also celebrating our Jewish heritage. Amen.

---

[1] From Holston United Methodist Reporter, Vol. No. 31.