Greetings,
I have just landed in Seattle after a great week in Spain and a great weekend in Clay Cross, England. God is stirring the hearts of people to desire Him and to become Christ centered communities of His presence. It is good to be a part of the family of God. Thanks so much to the hungry hearts of Clay Cross. It was good to be with you and to pray with you this weekend, including the Nuns of Saint Francis.
We are a diverse group of people being united by the radical Spirit of life only found in the Holy Spirit. We are receiving heavenly blessings that go beyond our limitations has men and women in the natural environments of our world. We don’t understand each other well in the natural, but we know Him and our world is become a Christ centered world of radical mercy, grace, and love.
When mankind understood one another naturally, they attempted to leave the earth so that they wouldn’t be scattered across the earth. But God wants to fill our lives with His presence so we will fill the earth. It is difficult to be scattered when we fill every place. We can’t be separate when there is no place to be separate. This has always been God’s desire. So, a time came, when God said that is enough. The fullness of time came and Jesus became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. He lived as a man who was in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Because of that, He did what He saw the Father doing. Then He died on our cross. Think about the cross. It was an instrument of torturous death. The Romans used it to torture and kill people. It was symbolic of the curse of the fall. Where do we access the cross? Where do we find it today? Picture, it as an electric chair, a gas chamber, or a hangman’s noose. This is what the cross was. By itself it is hideous and vengeful, but with the presence of Jesus it becomes a testimony of love and forgiveness for us all. We can see something disgusting became a gift of beauty. How do we as individuals find the cross? The only place we can truly find the cross is at the throne of grace. An ugly thing has become beautiful because of the love of God and the access that is given to a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. It has only become beautiful as a symbol where mercy has triumphed over judgment. An ugly thing has become a testimony of love. The true gift given by the cross is not the death of Jesus, it is a connection with His life on the throne. A connection with Holy Spirit is the true testimony of the cross. It is the life of the Spirit that gives meaning to the cross.
Luke 22:17-20 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.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
The only thing that can proclaim that Jesus died on the cross for us is for us to drink the cup of the Spirit. This is the cup ‘after supper’. It is fellowship with the Holy Spirit that proclaims the death of Jesus. This is why Jesus took the cup ‘after supper’ and called it the blood of the New Covenant. This isn’t theologically correct. The cup ‘after supper’ in the Seder meal is not the cup of blood. The cup before the meal is the cup of blood. Jesus called the cup ‘after supper’ the cup of blood. He separated the blood of the Old Covenant from the blood of the New Covenant. This is the cup of the Holy Spirit. This is the cup that proclaims His death. This cup is a cup of personal relationship with God in our hearts. It is the cup of finding our life, expression, and very being in Christ. This was also confirmed by the words of Paul.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
The cup after supper was the cup of Hallel, the cup of praise. This is not human praise. It is not natural praise. To experience the cup of Hallel is to be declared legally insane by natural standards. We have experienced something supernatural. As often as we drink that cup we proclaim His death. What is that cup? It is fellowshipping Holy Spirit. Whenever we fellowship the Holy Spirit we are experiencing the blood of the New Covenant. Blood brings life throughout the body. It circulates oxygen, nutrition, fights infections, brings healing, and carries needed hormones, enzymes and other needed substances that provide for the attributes of life. My body is filled with arteries and veins and my heart is pumping blood throughout my body that causes me to be a living body. This is true of Holy Spirit. The blood of the New Covenant is not the blood of the Old Covenant. It is the life of the Spirit, not the life of the flesh. The cup we bless is the cup of fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It brings life to the body. It is communion with God that causes us to be the community of God in heaven and upon the earth. Drinking the cup after supper is not just a community experience in the eating of bread and drinking wine. It is proving we are the bread of the body of Christ by our fellowship with Holy Spirit. Our community experience with one another is centered around our communion experience with Holy Spirit. The more we commune with Him, the more we become empowered to be life and to give life to the world we live in.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
