The end of exile (5) Communion

While it may take some explaining to demonstrate that baptism symbolizes the end of the exile, the other ordinance instituted by Jesus, the LORD’s Supper, seems to need no such explanation. Consider what we read in Jeremiah 31: 31: “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with [...]

The coming of Jesus marked the end of exile; for both Jews and Gentiles. In His ministry, Jesus instituted two practices/sacraments/ordinances which those who are His followers are to observe. The first is baptism and the second is the LORD’s Supper. While there is much disagreement about these two ordinances, one finds [...]

While the coming of Jesus marks the end of exile, those who have followed Him out of exile are in another sense exiles. Denis Haack uses the analogy of being in Babylon. The language of the Gospel of John is of being in the world but not of the world. Paul speaks [...]

If exile has ended, why are things the way they are? Why are things not the way they should be? Why are we still here, in this mess of a world? Simply put, we are here to demonstrate the reality that exile has ended; in the words of Charles Wesley’s carol: “God [...]

On the last Sunday of 2009, we finished our study in the book of Jeremiah by examining chapter 52, a recap of the fall of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem. But several issues remained. What happened to the people of Judah- those left in the land, those taken into exile in Babylon, and [...]