Paul
the apostle told the church members in Corinth “the
things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and
not to God”
and he added, “and I would not that
you should have fellowship with devils”.
In chapter ten and verse twenty-one of
First Corinthians, Paul told the church members “you
cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils”
where we read:
You
cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils:
you
cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
The verse begins, “You
cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils:”.
Paul began
with the word, “You”
which refers to “the church members” “cannot
drink” which
means “are not able or capable of imbibing” “the
cup” or
“the
drinking vessel” “of the Lord”
which refers
to “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power
of deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah”, “and
the cup”
or “the drinking vessel” “of
devils”
which means “of evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the
devil”. Paul informed the church members they could not “drink”
or
participate in “the cup of communion” and “drink”
or worship “devils”
at the same time.
The verse goes on to
say, “you
cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.”
Paul
continued with the words, “you
cannot” which
means “the church members were not able or capable to” “be
partakers”
or “take part in and use” “of the
Lord's”
which refers to “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which
he has power of deciding; master and the title given to God the
Messiah's” “table”
which means “an eating place where a banquet or feast is set”,
“and the table”
or “the eating place where a banquet or feast is set” “of
devils” which
means “evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil”.
The church members could not “drink”
of the “cup of the Lord”
and “devils”,
nor could they “partake” of the “Lord's
table” and
the “table of devils”
simultaneously.
When
we consider these words from Paul, we see how participating in
“communion” with God and participating in “evil spirit”
activities do not mix. The church members were either on one side or
the other, and there was no way to mix both. The church members were
to belong exclusively to Jesus Christ, and all other activities
related to worshiping “false gods” and “idols” was to
be non-existent in their lives. God desires to have a relationship
with everyone through His Son Jesus who paid the penalty for all sin,
and those who are wise shall submit their lives to Him and put away
all association with anything else that becomes as “partaking”
with “devils”.
Next
time Paul asks the Corinthians, “Do
we provoke the Lord to jealousy”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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