and yet they refused to drink Jesus’ blood figuratively and thus show they were innocent.—Acts 5:27, 28, NW.

31. What does Paul say concerning those Jewish priests who refused to drink, and so who is entitled to drink Jesus’ blood emblematically at the Lord’s evening meal?

³¹ For thus faithlessly refusing to drink his blood those Jews were not brought into the new covenant and did not drink the only life-giving “true drink” to salvation. Many were priests. Hence the apostle says concerning those priests who refused Jesus’ sacrifice and who kept on serving at the material altar in Herod’s temple in Jerusalem: “We have an altar from which those who do sacred service at the tent have no authority to eat. For the bodies of those [atonement day] animals whose blood is taken into the holy place by the [Jewish] high priest for sin are burned up outside the camp [of Israel]. Hence Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate [of Jerusalem]. Let us, then, go forth to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach he bore.” (Heb. 13:10-13, NW) Those who go forth to him outside this old system of things drink his blood figuratively by faith. They are entitled to drink it emblematically from the cup at the “Lord’s evening meal.” Each one of them fully esteems the “blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified.” (Heb. 10:29, NW) They worthily eat of the emblematic loaf because they can say: “By the said ‘will’ [of God] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.”—Heb. 10:10, NW.

SHARERS WITH JEHOVAH RATHER THAN WITH DEMONS

32, 33. (a) By eating of the communion sacrifice with whom were the Israelites having communion, and why so? (b) How did idol worshipers share with the demons and drink their cup?

³² Does what is said in the foregoing paragraphs harmonize with the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:16-21? It should do so; and does it? There Paul is talking about sacrifices, those to demons and those to Jehovah God. These sacrifices were in the nature of communion sacrifices, and the altars upon which they were offered were likened to ‘tables,’ because sacrificial food was offered upon them. That upon which sacrifices were offered to Jehovah God He himself called “the table of Jehovah.” (Mal. 1:7, 12, AS) When a communion sacrifice was offered to Jehovah, a drink offering of wine was also commanded to accompany it, to be poured upon the altar. (Num. 15:8-16; Ex. 29:40; 30:9) When the worshipers ate their allowed portion of the communion sacrifice they were “partaking of ‘the table of Jehovah’” and they were “partaking with thanks.” By eating the sacrifices, the fat of which had been burned on the altar, the blood being sprinkled upon it, they were “sharers with the altar.” That altar belonged to Jehovah God; it was his table upon which his food was offered. So by sharing in a sacrifice with Jehovah they were in reality sharing with Jehovah; they were having communion with him, enjoying food together.

³³ Likewise when idol worshipers sacrificed to the demons and ate their portion of the sacrifice, they were “partaking of . . . the table of demons.” They were thus “sharers with the demons”; they were having communion, company, association, with the demons, enjoying food with them. When they drank from a cup of wine at the feast in honor of the demons, they were “drinking . . . the cup of demons.” This shows what occurs when one partakes of the Lord’s evening meal.

34. By this comparison, how is the Lord’s evening meal to be viewed, and so what are the loaf and the wine cup to be discerned as meaning?

³⁴ By making the above comparison, the apostle Paul indicates that the Lord’s evening meal is to be viewed as a sacrificial meal. What, then, are the “loaf which we break” and the “cup of blessing which we bless” to be understood as meaning? The loaf of unleavened bread is to be discerned as the “body of the Christ,” which he gave to God for the life of the world, his sinless flesh, which is “true food.” The cup of wine over which Jesus gave thanks is to be discerned as the “blood of the Christ,” with which he validated the new covenant, and which is “true drink.” This complete sacrifice of the Christ is here viewed as being like the communion sacrifice at the inaugurating of the covenant, the fat of which was made to smoke on Jehovah’s altar and the blood of which was divided, half of it being sprinkled upon God’s altar and the other half of it being sprinkled first upon God’s law book and then upon the people taken into the covenant. The great altarlike arrangement upon which Christ’s sacrifice is offered up the apostle Paul calls “the table of Jehovah,” and of this “table” the Christians in the new covenant partake. The cup of Christ’s blood, which is sprinkled upon Jehovah’s great altar arrangement and upon the symbolic book of his new covenant, is the “cup of Jehovah,” and it is symbolized by the wine cup of the Lord’s evening meal.

35. By partaking of the loaf and cup, of what larger things do Christians picture themselves as partaking, and with whom on earth do they have a visible sharing?

³⁵ The Christians in the new covenant who drink of the wine cup and eat of the loaf of unleavened bread show by this action that they are partaking of the human sacrifice of Christ, both of its blood and of its flesh. They are thus picturing how they are “drinking the cup of Jehovah” and “partaking of ‘the table of Jehovah,’” being “sharers with the altar.” They are picturing how they are partaking of the benefit of forgiveness of sins and of salvation through Christ’s blood-and-flesh sacrifice. So now the big question is, With whom are they sharing or having communion, companionship, association, when doing this by faith each day and symbolically each year at the Lord’s evening meal? “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing [Greek, koi.no.niʹa] in the blood of the Christ? The loaf which we break, is it not a sharing [koi.no.niʹa] in the body of the Christ?” Yes, but sharing in these things with whom? Of course, it is a sharing with all the “congregation of God,” with all who “have been sanctified in union with Christ Jesus, called to be holy ones.” (1 Cor. 1:2, NW) That is to say, with all the spiritual Israelites who are in the new covenant.

36. But with whom primarily are they sharing, and of what things? And how is this true of divine enlightenment also?

³⁶ But is that all? Is that as far as the apostle Paul’s argument goes here? No! Because we are also sharing with Jehovah God, and primarily with him. Just as partaking worshipfully of sacrifices offered to idols means to “become sharers with the demons,” so our partaking of the one great sacrifice to Jehovah, Christ’s sacrifice once for all, means to become sharers with Jehovah, to have communion with him. We accept as a sacrifice for us Christ’s sacrifice that was offered to Jehovah. Of course, Jehovah does not share in the literal loaf of unleavened bread and in the literal cup of wine at the Lord’s evening meal, but he shares in the real flesh and blood of which the loaf and cup are mere emblems. By jointly partaking of this one and only acceptable sacrifice to God, the benefits of which he makes available to us, we and He are parties to one new covenant. Yes, and we are having a sharing together, a communion, a partnership with him, just as we do in the matter of divine enlightenment. On this it is written: “That which we have seen and heard we are reporting also to you, that you, too, may be having partnership [koi.no.niʹa] with us. Furthermore, this partnership [koi.no.niʹa] of ours is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. If we make the statement, ‘We are having partnership [koi.no.niʹa] with him,’ and yet we go on walking in the darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. However, if we are walking in the light as he himself is in the light, we do have partnership [koi.no.niʹa] with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”—1 John 1:3, 6, 7, NW.

37. So the eaters of the Lord’s evening meal must be all for whom, and why so?

³⁷ The choice, then, is between Jehovah God and the demons. No course of compromise, no being lukewarm, no limping upon two different opinions, like crutches, can be acceptable. There must be a full, undivided worship of the one true God Jehovah or of the false demon gods. If those Christians in the new covenant come together to “eat the Lord’s evening meal,” doing so in remembrance of him, and they then partake of the emblems, the loaf and the cup of wine, then they are declaring that they are partaking of “the table of Jehovah” and that they are “sharers with the altar” of Jehovah. For this reason they have to be all for him. They cannot divide their worship and service. They cannot also participate in the sacrifices that the nations of this world (including Christendom) are offering to the many idols of various kinds in this modern age.

38. How could partaking of the emblems of the Lord’s evening meal be acting a lie, and to what would it be inciting Jehovah, to what consequences?

³⁸ At one and the same time, you celebrators of the Lord’s evening meal, “you cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of ‘the table of Jehovah’ and the table of demons.” So the apostle Paul says. “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For . . . what fellowship [koi.no.niʹa] does light have with darkness? . . . And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.” (2 Cor. 6:14-16, NW) By trying to divide up your love, your devotion, your worship and your service between Jehovah God and the demons, you are acting out a lie if then you attend the Lord’s evening meal and partake of the emblems. By that you pretend to have fellowship with the God of light or to share with him, but you are not actually doing so at all. You are fooling yourself. You are acting hypocritically. You are “walking in the darkness, . . . are lying and are not practicing the truth.” You are “inciting Jehovah to jealousy,” for “he is a God exacting exclusive devotion.” He will not accept a divided love. (Ex. 34:14, NW) Such inciting of Him leads to serious consequences. Why? Because, as Paul asks, “we are not stronger than he is, are we?” (1 Cor. 10:22, NW) No, we are not. So we have no measure of strength able to withstand and overpower the destruction that he brings upon us for inciting him to jealousy.—Ps. 78:58-64.

“One Body” of Partakers

1. How should eaters of the Lord’s evening meal be in their worship and service of Jehovah, and to what “one body” does Paul refer in arguing for this?

THOSE Christian spiritual Israelites who are in the new covenant should be undivided in their worship and service of Jehovah both individually and as a congregation. That is why, after speaking of the cup and loaf of the Lord’s evening meal, the apostle says to such ones: “Because there is one loaf, we, although many,