Is eating the Lord’s Supper important? Can eating a piece of bread really bring about great miracles? Don’t forget: It was by one act of eating that man fell. Man ate from the wrong tree. The fall of man and all the curses that accompanied it—poverty, disease, sickness, death—came about because Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Today, by partaking of what the second Adam did on the tree of Calvary, you reverse what the first Adam did at the wrong tree. In 1 Corinthians 11:23–25, Paul says:
1 Corinthians 11:23–25
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.”
We know that the wine in the cup represents His blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. What about the bread? It represents His body, which was broken for us, so that our bodies can be healthy and whole. So by eating the bread in faith, we are partaking of Jesus’ life, health and wholeness. But because eating is so simple, we who are intelligent and logical cannot understand it! We cannot understand the simple ways of God. We look at the piece of bread and the cup, and we ask ourselves, “What are these compared to medicine and doctors! Can these drive out cancer? Can these cause you to live long? It is only a piece of bread! It is only juice!”
We forget that the way God works is that He uses weak things to confound the mighty. He uses foolish things to confound the wise. I am not against medicine. By all means, continue to take the medicine your doctor has prescribed. But at least give the same respect to the Lord’s Supper.
I thank God for medicine and doctors, but they still speak of man’s efforts. And I read the other day in the Bible: “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils…” (Isaiah 2:22, KJV) The Holy Communion, however, is provided by God, not man. This is not the blood of man. This is the blood of the Son of God. It is the blood of deity that we are partaking. If Israel can partake of the roasted lamb and have none feeble among them (Psalm 105:37), how much more we who partake of the Lamb of deity will be healed and well!
A Part For A Part
Down through the years, people have studied medicine. Chinese medicine, for example, has this theory: If you want a diseased part of your body, say your liver, to be well, you eat the liver of an animal.
Some parents, when their children are having examinations, make them eat pig’s brains. How do I know? My mum used to make me eat that! They believe in “part for part”.
I am not for or against Chinese medicine. I am not saying that this “part for part” thing is a scientific fact. But where did they learn it from? Somewhere along the way, man learnt it. I am going to share with you how it was taken also from the Passover meal. But before I go into that, I want to tell you about another principle of medicine: Fight poison with poison.
Poison For Poison
Let’s say that you are bitten by a venomous snake. What does the doctor inject into you to save you? Anti-venom made with the same venom! Fight poison with poison. To combat smallpox or chickenpox, what does the doctor inject into your children? A bit of the germs, not medicine, so that their bodies will develop immunity against it.
Now, where did this medical principle come from? Remember the children of Israel in the wilderness? They were bitten by snakes. They cried out to God and God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and to lift up the bronze serpent. The Bible says that everyone who was bitten by the snake would be healed if they would look at the bronze serpent.
See Your Disease Judged At The Cross
God wanted the children of Israel to see their snake bites taken at the cross. What is that a picture of? Jesus Christ. Why a bronze serpent? Bronze speaks of judgment. In other words, you must see Jesus on the cross judged with your diseases. If you have a kidney problem, see Jesus’ kidney smitten with your disease. Once you see that Jesus’ body was smitten with your disease, it cannot remain in you because God cannot punish the same sin twice!
Because our sins have been punished in our substitute Jesus Christ, God’s holiness and righteousness are on our side demanding our justification, forgiveness and deliverance! So it does you no good to see Jesus on the cross clean and sanitized, like how some paintings depict Him.
Don’t Eat It Raw But Roasted
The first thing we learn about eating the Passover lamb is not to eat it raw.
Exodus 12:9
Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails.
In other words, you cannot take the bread and say, “Oh baby Jesus, the Lamb of God. Oh Jesus, sweet Jesus…” And you think of Him all the time as the Jesus before the cross. No, you cannot partake and receive in this manner. You are eating Him “raw”. You must see Jesus punished for your sins and smitten with your diseases! Then, you will receive your healing.
My Bible says that His visage or face was beyond recognition. His form was marred more than any man. (Isaiah 52:14) That means He looked deformed, hideous and ugly. There was no beauty in Him, the Bible says, when He was on the cross. (Isaiah 53:2)
That is why God blessed Mel Gibson for making the movie, The Passion Of The Christ. He did not whitewash the sufferings of Jesus. Most paintings of Jesus on the cross are very clean—small wounds, and you can still see His face and form. They are making people eat Him “raw”. They do not help people to see that He was smitten.
On the cross, Jesus took every tumor, cancerous growth, deformity, rheumatoid arthritis and all kinds of diseases. His form was beyond that of any man that God had to cover the whole place in darkness for three hours. No human could look at that scene and not vomit. Even Mel Gibson said that his movie was not as violent as it was supposed to be.
Don’t Water It Down
So don’t eat it raw. Don’t boil it with water either. That means don’t water it down or sanitize it. Eat it roasted in fire! See Jesus smitten with your disease! When you take the bread, and you have a heart condition, you must see Jesus on the cross with His heart smitten with your heart disease. Then, when you eat, that heart disease in your body has no right to remain there! And that is not a demand from any earthly government or court, but from the highest court in heaven, from the King of kings Himself! There is no way that that disease can stay in your body.
Child Healed Of Eczema And Thyroid
One of my care group leaders, Brian Pang, shared with me a tremendous testimony. He told me that recently, he was with his friend from another church. And this friend has a four-year-old daughter. Ever since the child was born, she had two major problems: Atopical eczema (a skin disease) and thyroid. According to the doctors, both conditions are incurable.
At first, she was given shots twice a week, then once a week followed by once a month. So Brian advised his friend to partake of the Holy Communion with his daughter. He also knew that his friend had to be fed with the Word first because faith comes by hearing the Word. (Romans 10:17) So Brian told him to read an excerpt from my book, Health And Wholeness Through The Holy Communion.
His friend read the excerpt and began to partake of the Holy Communion with his daughter daily for one week. At the end of the week, the child was healed of atopical eczema. By the end of the second week, the child was healed of thyroid.
The doctors were surprised and asked the father what he did and what medicine he had given the child. The case was even brought to the attention of Israeli doctors for further study. How I wish I could have the chance to tell them, “Hey, this is your ancient Jewish ritual… it is your Messiah who has healed this child!”
From now on, when you partake of the Holy Communion, do it in this manner: Let’s say you have an eye condition, for example, cataracts. As you look at the bread, see Jesus on the cross being smitten with your eye disease, then partake of it. When you partake like this, you will partake with gratefulness and feel the love of the Lord.
Eat The Roasted Head
God also says in Exodus 12:9 to eat the lamb’s head. The head is a symbol of intellect and wisdom. So when you partake of the Lord’s Supper, you are partaking of Jesus’ wisdom and His intellect.
The mind of Christ is perfect. Even when He walked the earth at 12 years old, the Bible says that the adults were amazed at His understanding and answers. (Luke 2:46–47) Now, He didn’t own any Bible. In those days, to listen to the Word of God, people had to go to the synagogue. This means that Jesus retained in His mind whatever He heard. Students, imagine this: Every time your teacher says something, it is retained in your mind! You hear it just once and it is retained!
And just because you age, it does not mean that you have to become forgetful. Your intellect and memory will be sharp because you are partaking of the mind of Christ. So partaking of the Lord’s Supper will help your mental health.
Eat The Roasted Legs
What about the roasted legs? Why did God tell the Israelites to eat the roasted legs of the lamb that night? Don’t forget that they were slaves. They could only walk within the confines of their work areas. And the next day, they had to walk hundreds of kilometers in the desert. So God wanted them to be strong. The Bible says that when He brought them out of Egypt, not one of them was feeble.
Psalm 105:37
He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.
Do you know that the Hebrew word for “feeble” in this verse is the same word for “lame”? In other words, there was none lame among His tribes. Every old person that came out of Egypt came out without a walking stick! So this talks about the renewal of youth—old people being able to walk.
Eat The Roasted Entrails
Now, we come to the entrails—the intestines. Why did God tell the children of Israel to feed on the roasted intestines of the lamb? Because God wanted their intestines to be strong. As they journeyed from Egypt, they had to eat the food that they had packed.
“But Pastor Prince, God gave them manna.”
No, the manna came only after they had crossed the Red Sea. That journey took a number of days. This meant that they lived on whatever food they carried with them. None of them had diarrhea. They had strong intestines because they fed on the roasted intestines of the lamb!
Healed Of Tailbone Pain
Doesn’t all this make you look forward to the Holy Communion? When I partake of the Holy Communion at home, I use a big piece of the Holy Communion bread. I bite a portion and meditate on feeding on His head—His wisdom. I partake of the mind of Christ. Then, I feed on another part and see that part smitten with my disease.
Two years ago, I was in a restaurant overseas with my wife. When I sat down, there was a sharp pain in my tailbone. After that, whenever I sat on hard surfaces, there would be this pain. I began to take the Holy Communion for it. Whenever I took the bread, I imagined Jesus’ tailbone smitten with my pain. Was I healed immediately? No. And that is what I want to end with.
No Pressure On Your Faith
I can’t remember how many times I partook of the Holy Communion for the problem and when exactly I was healed. One day, I just realized that the pain was no longer there. And it has been more than half a year now that I have not had the pain.
One of the wonderful benefits of the Holy Communion is this: There is no pressure to believe that you receive all of your healing when you partake of it.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Mark 11:24 is a valid truth. It is one way to receive healing—to believe that you receive your healing there and then. But not everyone has the faith to do that.
The Holy Communion is different. Every time you partake of it, you can believe that you are getting better and better until one day, you realize that you are completely healed!
This article is excerpted from the message, Supernatural Health Through The Roasted Lamb, preached by Joseph Prince on 11 December 2005.
