In Covenant With Jesus

Jesus knew all this when He gathered His own together for the sacred occasion that night. So into the cup He poured the entire meaning and intention of God, as yet stored in the blood still flowing in His body. His desire was that by that cup He should tryst with them and they with Him to enter into covenant and communion with Him. At that time He personally was in an eternal bond with His Father that He should bring many sons to glory; what He wanted them to do was to share in that oath of commitment. At that time they knew nothing of it, but they loved and trusted Him. 'Drink ye all of it', He said, offering them the cup, and they drank it.

He had already given them the bread of His body; it was all part of the communion; but a bloodless body is a dead body. In order to have life they must have the blood of that body too; so with Him they drank His blood from the covenant cup. Within it was the covenant He had made with His Father. By a solemn exchange of immutable promises they had committed themselves each to each, that God's will may be accomplished; the commitment was absolute. Because of the nature of this oath, not all people may drink it; it can only be shared by those who are prepared to enter into covenant with the Father and the Son, and upon the same grounds. It is only for His elect; it is not for all; only those who have entered into the spiritual truth displayed by the outward act are members of His Church, and they alone.

The many for whom His blood was shed for remission of sins must have clear understanding that they have been forgiven those sins for this purpose. Having been freed from guilt and shame and punishment, they must forthwith enter into sacred covenant with Jesus. Without reservation they must as one solemnly agree with Him to fulfil His Father's will. This involves the absolute necessity that they should become members of His spiritual body and share the spiritual content of His blood. In other words each member must have His nature and personality, and live as He in this world. For this every member must have His Spirit. It is this covenant in its entirety implied by the wine in the cup, which at the feast was referred to as the blood of His bodily life.

He intended the cup to mean and convey to us the entire spiritual content of His combined Godhead and Manhood. Although the blood of this life was spilt on the ground and trampled underfoot at Calvary, the life of the blood was not spilt on the ground; by symbol that was poured into the cup. God's will cupped the life of Jesus unto us; it was as the secret mixture of the divine life with the human. For this He became first a babe, and guarding the sacred union through boyhood and youth grew to manhood. Having perfected it in the fires of temptation He kept it for this moment when He could share it with them. It was for them, only for them, and all the 'many' they represented, though at the time they did not understand what that meant.