Can It Get Any Better? - Deuteronomy 4:32-34

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup

The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 4:32-34. In this passage of Scripture, Moses describes to the Israelites how awesome is their relationship with the Lord—how He delivered then from bondage in Egypt. Later (Deuteronomy 7:13-15), Moses continues to describe how awesome God is by telling them about the blessings He will give them in the promised land. Yet, as great as these blessing are, God had greater things planned for His chosen people. He would ask His Son to die on a cross that He could forgive the sins of those who believed in Him and give them eternal life. We remember Jesus' sacrifice as we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup. All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) and are used with permission.

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save! 

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "Can It Get Any Better? I read from Deuteronomy 4:32-34 (NIV). All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version and are used with permission.

32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

I agree with Moses—what God did for His chosen people was absolutely incredible! And the amazing story does not end with their deliverance. On the East bank of the Jordan River, Moses tells the Israelites what God has planned for them in the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Deuteronomy 7:13-15), "He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you." As amazing as these stories are, it only gets better and better for the chosen people of God. The authors of the Scriptures tell and retell these stories and use them as metaphors to describe His plans and blessings for the future. Yes, God continues to have a chosen people. He blesses them abundantly, even as they sleep. He has another promised land waiting for them to inherit one day. Yet, despite all these blessings, there remained one undefeated enemy affecting God's chosen people and all humankind—death. In His unfailing love for His children, He sent His Son to die that He might offer His blood for the sins of the world that we might defeat death and receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Again, "Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?" No, it has not; it is the amazing, penultimate act of the loving God to save His people. As we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we remember our Savior, Jesus. Because of Him, our lives are better than we could ever imagine. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father, I love to think about how great and awesome You are. I love to meditate on the strength of Your hand and Your outstretched arm—how You reach out and save us. We have all known good times, but in the future, You promise even better times. When we close our eyes in death, we have no fear because we know we have eternal life because of what Jesus has done for us. As we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we remember Jesus who died to save us. Thank-you, Abba, Father, for the blessings we receive because of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26:26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV), “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!