Unleavened bread was used for the Passover meal. In a normal situation, five loaves of bread would not come close to feeding more than five thousand people! That bread was miraculous bread!Ī third kind of bread mentioned in the Bible is unleavened bread.
Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.Ģ0 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.Ģ1 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. With only five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus fed more than five thousand people!ġ9 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Here Jesus fed the multitude supernaturally, using natural food. Another instance of miraculous bread is found in Matthew chapter 14. God miraculously supplied natural bread for the Israelites to eat. God miraculously met their need by giving them “thin flakes like frost on the ground” (Exod. Even though this was also natural bread for physical sustenance, this bread was God’s supernatural supply from Heaven.įollowing their exodus from Egypt, the Israelites found themselves in the desert without food. Partaking of the Communion table is a necessary part of our Christian life, and is something that we should treat with high respect and reverence.Ī second type of bread mentioned in the Bible is what I refer to as miraculous bread. But it is to be part of our spiritual sustenance. The Communion bread is not meant to be our natural bread. We know that the Communion bread, or wafer, will not physically sustain anyone. We have to consume natural food in order to live. A person who goes without food for an extended period of time will die of starvation. God intended that we eat natural food on a daily basis to sustain our physical life.
The food may include bread, but it isn’t limited to bread. Many times, when the Word uses the word “bread” in regard to natural bread for eating, it is simply talking about food in general. Matthew 6:11 is referring to this natural food when it says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This bread is the natural food we eat for the nourishment of our body. In the Bible, “bread” is used in several different ways. I want to talk to you about Christ: the Bread of Life. Both the bread and the cup represent the same thing-Christ Jesus our Lord. The salvation Jesus provided contained both the bread and the cup-both His body and His blood. But the body has just as much significance as the blood, because you can’t separate the two. We focus on the blood of Christ and the remission of sins-and rightly so. Often during Communion services, the bread sort of takes a “back seat” to the cup. In this passage, Jesus Himself declares that the bread represented His body, which was broken for us. Notice the use of the word “bread” in this passage of Scripture.Ģ3 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,Ģ4 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me.”Ģ5 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”Ģ6 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. It is very popular to read First Corinthians 11:23–26 during Communion services. The bread represents the body of Jesus that was broken for us. The cup represents the blood of Jesus that was shed on the Cross for the remission of our sin. Those two elements are the cup and the bread. It’s commonly referred to as “The Lord’s Table.” And on that “table” are two elements-emblems that represent two very important aspects of Christianity. The ordinance of Communion is something most Christians celebrate on a regular basis during their church services. He gave His body for us just as much as He gave His blood!
But Christ’s blood and body are significant to us. And for many, the bread is simply an afterthought to the cup. For many Christians, Communion has become a church ritual, and they have forgotten the importance and the value of the Lord’s Table.