Kenneth Copeland - The Role Of The Covenant Meal
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland and this is the believers voice of victory broadcast and I want you to join me today in welcoming professor Greg Stevens to this studio, again.
Father, we thank you for this man. We thank you for what we're learning and the description of your word, your covenant of promise, and we thank you and we praise you and bless you. We wonder, we wonder and we joy the signs and the wonder of it all causes us to be so grateful, so grateful to you for all that you've done for us in Jesus name. Amen.
Kenneth Copeland: Let's go once again to our golden text. I just, I can just hear brother Hagin saying that, can't you? That's where I got that. Let's go to our golden text. Second Peter chapter one, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and excellence whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these, by these promises, by these covenant promises, God's word, this word is his bond. Everything he says is absolute truth. Yes, sir. Absolute truth. God's word is. So, when he, when he says something and hits a promise, he's given you his word. His word. The word of God is not a book. The word of God is his bond. Yes. Amen, he bound himself to truth. Hallelujah. By these great and precious promises, you might be partakers of the divine nature. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Thank you Lord Jesus. Greg, describe that. That scene, they're sitting so close together. They're so close. And I see the difference between Peter and John. John described himself, it was his confession. He described himself...
Greg Stephens: The disciple whom the Lord loved.
Kenneth Copeland: Yeah, I'm the disciple. I'm the disciple whom the Lord loves. He's, he is there in his lap.
Greg Stephens: Yes he is.
Kenneth Copeland: And Peter comes over and says, ask him who the traitor is. Jesse did, cause Peter is not sitting there. No, at all. He's, he's further away. They've been arguing about who's going to sit where and who's has the highest importance. This is what he said. No, there's this is Kenneth talking. John said, ask him. No, no, no. You see that a lot with the disciples. You were closer to him than I am. John said, Oh yeah I am.
Greg Stephens: He agreed with it. Peter tries to get his attention. He's trying to wave him down to get his attention to ask him, you know who it is. And so Jesus will give him some instructions that, but I believe, and I can show you this later this week, that uh, Jesus covers for Judas. He doesn't let him know that he knew a long time before this that he was the one, but he didn't let them know. He, he is still, he's in covenant. He never broke covenant with Judas. Never, never. And he's covering him because honestly, sir, some of those disciples were pretty rough. Peter being one of them. Peter will get so mad on that night. He goes to try to kill a guy who's a soldier trained soldier. If he'd have known weeks ahead or months ahead that Judas was stealing and Judas was the one, Oh, it's over. It's over. Yeah. Uh, Thomas the same way Thomas will say, uh, I'm ready. I'm ready to get, let's go die with him. I mean, so Thomas is not what people think he is. He could, Thomas was a tough guy, a Fishermen. And uh, believe me, I'll show you some things about Judas later on in the week though.
Kenneth Copeland: Yeah. You can see Thomas very bold. Yes, he is. He's now, look, I don't care what you're telling me. I'm not going to believe until I see it. And that's right.
Kenneth Copeland: And he saw it. The Lord honored that.
Kenneth Copeland: He did.
Greg Stephens: He'll meet you where your faith is. Yes, yes. And he honored that.
Kenneth Copeland: Well, get down to business.
Greg Stephens: Okay. Um, all right, let's talk a little bit.
Kenneth Copeland: I can't wait.
Greg Stephens: Alright, let's talk a little bit about this. Um, first of all, Moses was told to bring them to my presence. And so in the, in the book of Exodus 19, this is after they've left Egypt, Passover night has happened. There's a very interesting little phrase here because it ties to what Paul will teach us. Paul is probably the wisest rabbinical trained man that ever was. Exodus 19 verse one and two says this. And the third month, the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt. So now they're in the wilderness here on the same day. Here's the word. They came to the wilderness of Sinai for it. They had departed from Rephidim, had come to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped, plural, plural, singular. When they got to the presence, they were no longer "they", they had become one in that time. Now it takes with me over to Hebrews chapter five, 10 verse five. See, I'm always looking for the connectors. Hebrews 10:5, rabbi, I believe rabbi Paul, people will disagree with that. Say's therefore...
Kenneth Copeland: How could you disagree with that? Go ahead.
Greg Stephens: Anyway. Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice an offering you did not desire but a body you have prepared for me. So they're one body. They're in unity. Acts chapter two they're in unity, one body. Paul will write to us. Now we know it's Paul here in first Corinthians chapter 11 that the Lord revealed to him concerning um, this, this last supper. And he talks about discerning the body.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes, he did.
Greg Stephens: So they had become one body. So when you take, when you partake of communion, the rabbis teach, it's as if you were there and you're to picture yourself every time you take communion in your new covenant. It's to picture yourself as being. Right.
Kenneth Copeland: I didn't know that, but I do that.
Greg Stephens: Yes sir.
Kenneth Copeland: I take communion a lot. And, and I, I did that. I began to do that because I wanna I want to be there. That's the reason why I'm saying to you, get rid of that picture. And I was just kidding with you when I told you to get it off the wall, but get that out of your mind. And you have the right to receive communion anytime you want to. As often as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.
Greg Stephens: And that means you're placing yourself there. Over and over and over, Paul will write to us and, and identify us with that. I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. In other words, it's identifying yourself with the crucifixion. Well, it's also identifying yourself with this new covenant established on better promises. And so we are to do that every time you take communion, my Lord put yourself there. But it's not plural. It's one body. Yes. And he's the of this body that is so, and once you get the revelation of that, I'm just a member of this body. I might be the toe or the elbow, but I'm a member of this body then therefore I can't say anything about you. That's right. Cause if I say something about you, I'm saying something about the head of this body. Yes sir. That's dangerous.
Kenneth Copeland: Very dangerous ground.
Greg Stephens: Because see now that a lot of people know, a lot of people don't connect communion or the Lord's supper or Passover with honor and it's all about honor. Jesus is going to pray there. I have glorified you. He, he, he's honoring the father and he'll honor these men.
Kenneth Copeland: If, if I'm going to say this to you, I take the communion for different reasons depending on the war we're on at the time. Be very, very, very careful about what you say and how you think about politicians. On either side.
Greg Stephens: Yes sir.
Kenneth Copeland: Don't be, don't be doing that. You don't have any right to judge the, anybody in the democratic party or anybody in the Republican party. As believers, we don't have that right. And you just, you just, you, you can't be judging people. And if you're having trouble with it, go back to that communion table, receive it and bring them in your mind. Just see yourself bringing that person into that communion table with you. Amen. You're receiving communion in the presence of Jesus, in the presence of Mr. Trump and the presence of Joe Biden and the presence of Nancy Pelosi and the presence of uh...
Greg Stephens: Chuck Schumer?
Kenneth Copeland: Any, any, any, and, and just make sure.
Greg Stephens: See those are, those are the people that are in leadership over us. I'm going to take that a step further because I think sometimes we miss it in this. You have five fold ministry gifts that Jesus placed in the church that are in leadership over you. Boy, don't you talk about your pastor, don't you do it and try to take communion. Don't you talk about the prophet, mock the prophet or the evangelists. This is still a serious thing. It's a thing of honor, brother Copeland, and that's what this whole meal is about. Matter of fact, I'll read it to you. What Paul will write in first Corinthians for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come, because that's a statement Jesus will make. He'll say, I'm not going to drink this again till I do this with you. Now look at this, wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord. Unworthily how are we unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily enters and drinketh damnation to himself, that's a key phrase because that's what will happen that night. Not discerning, not discerning the Lord's body. That's how we take it, unworthily. Now, here's the result of it. Verse 30, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep, so this is the meal that heals. But if your man, if you're in rebellion that's just another word that came up in my spirit. Not honoring the five fold ministry gifts or the people that God's placed in authority over you not honoring the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the body, then that's, that's why many of you are weak and sick. I didn't write that the Holy ghost wrote that. And so now anyway, starting to look at the typology this. So that's why I'll never say anything again. Touch, not my anointed, do my prophets no harm. And that's, that's the answer to somebody with what you've been dealing with. Brother Hagin used to pray for people and he'd say, I can't do anything about that. That's already been set into motion. There's any way to turn that, Lord, give me words so i can know how to... You know, because you've, you've, you're still saved. But boy, you've set the wheels in motion in your life. So this is a serious, serious thing. Um, okay. There are three things that are needed according to the rabbis. One of the wisest Sages, Gamaliel, he was the rabbi, teacher of Paul, um, or the apostle Paul who was Saul at the time. He said, you really need three things for Passover according to the word. Now they've added things in modern to represent things. You need the pesach or the lamb. You need the matza, the unleavened bread or, and the Mar, the bitter herbs. Those are the three things you must have for it to be a Passover Seder. The wine is part of that. But if you don't have wine or the fruit of the vine, you can use water or whatever. Just you just need those three things for it to be a true, um, Passover. So what happens is you begin the weeks and days ahead, um, in the time of Jesus, they would have been examining the lamb for that four days or so prior to according to political standards, he will enter Jerusalem and they will grill him and examine him. They're examining the lamb. That's what everything is happening. So, um, you removed the leaven. Leaven is the yeast. So if you'll look at this, this is flat. It's, it's uh, it's not, doesn't have any yeast in it. So basically a Cracker that's matza right there, kosher matza. So you removed that leaven is a type of sin. You get your house in order, you remove all the leaven out of your house. It has to be out according to the rabbis by I think it's 9:00 AM two days prior to that. I mean, it's gotta be out by that. And that's very interesting. When you connect the dots and see the timeline of Jesus, it's very, very interesting thing. Alright. Um, I'll bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptians is what the Lord told them. I'll rescue you from their bondage. There's, there's four cups. And so what I'm doing is I'm reading now or quoting to you the four different why there's four different ones. I'll take you to my people. I'll be your God. Notice I will. I will. I'm going to do this. I'm doing this because that goes back to that Kevin inner Abraham. You're on the greater, I'm the one that's going to be responsible for this. Abraham realized that and will confirm it when he takes Isaac up the mountain. Okay. So the very first thing that we do is, um, the sin, the 11 has been removed from the house and customarily you'll bring the candles in now and the time of Jesus, it wouldn't have been candles that had been little lamps. Yes. Um, traditionally the women always light the lamps and the candles. Isn't that interesting? And the reason why is they open this covenant is because the light of the world will come through, Woman. This goes all the way back to Eve. This is exactly why this happens. It happens every Friday night and Jewish homes. And it happened on that night as well. I believe in the families were with them when they were there. Next thing you do is you wash your hands. All right? Um, it's customary to do that, that point. But there's two washings that happen in Passover and you'll see it with Jesus. There will be two washings that night. They'll wash their hands at the beginning. Then he's going to get up and wash their feet, which is going to be totally a total departure from in that second washing. That's why Peter took issue with it. Okay. Traditionally now there are four cups of wine, so instead of having, he may have four cups or he may have one cup and you fill it four times. Um, and the time of Jesus, it may have actually only been three and there's reasons for that. Um, the first cup is the cup of sanctification or being set apart. Remember they were in Egypt, but they lived in Goshen. So even then he's set them apart. And Luke 22 verses 17 and eight...
Kenneth Copeland: That's where the light was.
Greg Stephens: That's where the light was. That's exactly right. In Luke 22, verse 17 and 18, it says this, then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. That's the cup of sanctification. That's that first cup. The second cup is referred to as the cup of plagues. Nobody wants to drink that one. You don't, you're not rejoicing in the sufferings of the plagues. You're recalling the cost of redemption. You're reminding yourself in that second cup. Man, it cost, it cost a lot. Those people suffered. The Egyptians, you know, Pharaoh's heart was just hardened and hardened and hardened till that last one. Um, and then the next cup, that third cup is the one that you take after supper. The scripture says, the last cup is the cup of redemption. The third cup represents the blood of the lamb that you had put on your door post. And so now here's an interesting thing in Luke 22:20, Jesus will take the cup after supper and say, this is my blood. I'm the cup of redemption. He's identifying, you've always looked at this as the blood of the lamb on the lamb. This is the cup of redemption and I'm the only one that can drink of this. I'm the only one that can redeem you. Glory to God! Amen, right? And so he's identity and now they're looking at it. They've done this all their lives. But the moment he took that cup, that's what John made note of. That's why Luke made note of it after supper after. He's identifying the third cup, it's the cup of redemption. And Jesus said, this is me. I'm the cup of redemption. Isn't that good. So now here's the bread. The bread is without sin. It's, it's has no leaven in it. And um, if you'll notice the matza, it is striped and pierced.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes, it is.
Greg Stephens: And it, and it typifies the body of Jesus.
Kenneth Copeland: There's no salt in it.
Greg Stephens: It has no salt in it. It's exactly right is it's got stripes laid upon it. And I don't know if you can see it. There's a little, there's a little holes where it's been pierced. So now what they do in pass over, now that you wouldn't use this, this is a Ziploc bag thing here, but I did this so you could see it. You take three low three of these together and they stand for, the Rabbi's call it the unity. And they stand for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you put the three in here, but before you, as you do that, you take Isaac the middle one, you take Isaac and you break it. You put that half back in its place, unified where the others, you seal that up. Um, and then you take the broken Isaac and you, you wrap it in linen like this. And then you have everybody hide their eyes and it's called the Athicoman and you go hide this, you bury this. Isaac is broken, wrapped in linen and buried at the end of the meal. You send the children to go find him. And when you do, excuse me, when you bring this back, you open this up and from this piece Jesus will take it and say, this is my body, which was broken for you. He's identified, I'm Isaac. When Abraham said the Lord would provide, he's taught, he was talking about me and then he'll take this piece and he begins to divide it. Now it's very significant. This is the piece that you will take. You've already eaten some matza earlier in the meal, but he will take, you take this and you mix it with some, this is the second stop. And you'll mix that with bitter herbs and the vegetable and, and you'll, you'll dip that. So that's, that's exactly what that is. Now we would say the father, son, the Holy spirit, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The rabbis call it the bread of unity. So they'll begin to dip this. And this at this point is after this second dipping is the second washing. He leaves. Judas will leave before, right as this is happening in all of this.
Kenneth Copeland: You just made a point. All of you, all of you, it was very important that Judas drink it. Yes. And then he gave him another opportunity when he had him, he fed Judas out of his own plate.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes he did. Yes he did that call the salt covenant. Essentially.
Greg Stephens: Yeah. And it's, it's, it's dipping into the, the Mar, The bitter herbs represent the suffering. Yes. And they represent slavery. So he will partake in the Lord's suffering.
Kenneth Copeland: This is a, this, this still in the middle East. This is still a custom. If you come to my home and I invite you to supper and then I hand you out of my plate, we've entered into a covenant. Yes sir. You're in my home and while you're in my home, I'm the provider and we're in covenant together.
Greg Stephens: Now they've seen Jesus do this. They've seen him pass the bread before and do that. We'll show you next time.
Kenneth Copeland: We're out of time.