Celebrating Inner Peace:

Believers today perform a unique temple work when they partake of a meal to express their fellowship with God and one another.  This fellowship meal is referred to as the Sacrament.  It is interesting how the Old Testament fellowship offering foreshadowed this fellowship meal of today.  The blood of the animal shed during the Old Testament pointed toward the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross.  Jesus instituted the Sacrament by referring to the cup as “the new testament in my blood”  1 Corinthians 11:25.  The “new testament” in Christ’s blood means that when the Lord gave the cup to his disciples, they were receiving his blood as the sacrificial blood necessary to establish a new covenant between God and man. Jesus’ death on the cross resulted in every believer being fully forgiven and restored into a right relationship with Heavenly Father.  His temple works completed all other temple works.  He fulfilled Heavenly Father’s Law, met every one of his requirements.  There is nothing that can be added to the temple work completed by Jesus.  But only through trusting in Jesus alone, in Jesus' complete and perfect temple work, does one receive full forgiveness and salvation.  Those who place their trust in Jesus' work enjoy full fellowship with God, are rid of guilt, and have inner peace because of the assurance in knowing that their salvation has been bought by Jesus’ death on the cross.

The act of offering Heavenly Father thanksgiving for repairing our relationship with him was also a regular part of the Old Testament believer's life.  Click here to go to the parallel Old Testament article addressing Fellowship Offerings.