Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my meditation today is "The End of the Beginning." I read from Joshua 1: 1-9. All quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.
1 After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Seaa in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
The LORD commissioned Joshua to lead the Israelites following the death of Moses. I do not read anywhere in the Scriptures that he volunteered or was put forward by a selection committee. God chose him to lead an army of 601,730 warriors and oversee the care of them and their families. In perhaps the greatest of all pep talks, God tells Joshua, “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua & the Israelites would cross the Jordan River to claim the land God had promised them. We might call this transitional period in the history of the Israelites the end of the beginning; they go from hoping in a promise made to seeing a promise fulfilled. Before, they were wanderers, now they would have a new life in a home of their own, the one God had promised their ancestors. Today, we celebrate Palm Sunday, remembering the arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem. As Matthew relates (Matthew 21: 8-9),
8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
Not long afterwards, He would be betrayed by one of His own apostles, condemned to death by Jewish religious leaders for claiming to be the promised Messiah, and crucified by the Roman empire. All these events were foreknown by God and had been made known by His prophets from the beginning of time. We might likewise call this transitional period in the history of humankind as the end of the beginning. We go from hoping in God’s promise to redeem humankind to seeing His Son offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins to save us from death. We are offered the opportunity to become citizens of His eternal kingdom, the church. As we partake of the bread and drink from the cup this morning, we remember our Savior, Jesus, and the price He willingly paid for us. As we look back to our past, we celebrate the end of our beginning and our new life in Him. 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. As we meditate on the events of the week of the Passion of the Christ, we are reminded that all these events were foreknown by You. And, yet, knowing this is how Your Son would be treated, You still asked Him to offer Himself for us, and He agreed! How great is Your love for us! How wonderful is Your grace in Jesus Christ! As we partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we remember Your Son, all that He has done, and will do for us. You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised! In His name 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 (NLT), "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his 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. The benefit of creating an account in one of the directory apps, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart, is that you can add this podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. I do not receive compensation of any kind when you download and listen to my podcast. 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!