The Real Meal
It’s more than a book, yet it’s more than a novel. The Da Vinci Code is a book of mysteries with the biggest clue coming from a famous painting of the Last Supper by the great Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci. But is it true what Dan Brown says? Was Jesus really just a man who fell in love with Mary Magdalene, had relations with her and fathered a child with a royal lineage that continues even today? I’m Charles Morris and welcome to Haven Today, telling the great story, it’s all about Jesus. This is a program called, “The Real Meal”. Last week we were broadcasting a few days from Lee Strobel’s home in Southern California. We mentioned a special DVD that he shot on Da Vinci Code settings in Europe. If you’d like to hear those programs and also watch a preview video just go to our website, haventoday.org, that’s haventoday.org. Now would you seek the truth with me, the truth that could change your life? Let’s start by worshipping the God of Mighty Wonders, the God of Truth that sent his only Son Jesus to die for us.
Song: God of Wonders
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This is Haven Today, we’re worshipping the Lord. We always do that when we start out together, thank you for joining me. “The Real Meal” is what we’re talking about together. Why does this matter? Well after 40 million hard back copies, piles of discounted paperbacks are now showing up everywhere and the movie, The Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks is scheduled for release May 19. Can a novel based on obscure speculation by only a few scholars be taken as truth? Apparently so, 1 out of 3 Canadians now believes Jesus had a child and that lineage survives today. In the United States, 53% of those who have read the book believe it contains valuable spiritual wisdom. Forget the work of fiction by Dan Brown though for a moment. Think about what we know Leonardo Da Vinci, in his time, with his style of Italian art was really trying to portray. I want us to realize something wonderful. The meal that Jesus had and ate the last evening of his life with his disciples is the richest meal this world has ever known. It represents something you and I can enjoy even right now in any circumstance we find ourselves. And it represents something that we believers can look forward to enjoying for all eternity. Our eternal destiny is a joyous, satisfying banquet with Jesus and all our brothers and sisters from all times. Of all the ways God could have described the glorious future he has planned for his people he most often describes it as happening around a meal. Listen to Isaiah 25, “The Lord of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain. A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow and refined, aged wine. And on this mountain he will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces.” The Lord promises to take away death for ever and wipe away all our tears. And he promises to personally prepare a banquet better than any others with the finest food and drink. He paints a picture of the finest meal and places it before our eyes today to encourage us in our travels. “You’re coming home,” he says, “dinner’s waiting.” I think we can take this image on a couple of levels. I think that it will be literally true, but I think it also represents spiritual realities that are so glorious that we can’t begin to grasp them. They ring with the promise of celebration as well as intimate fellowship. Our deepest longings will be satisfied. And not only our deepest longings, but the deepest longings of the Lord will be satisfied at that feast. It’s called a marriage feast because it celebrates the final, full union of Christ and his people. That’s the real meal. The bride and the groom will be able to enjoy each other at last. These are mysteries, but they’re mysteries so full of potential joy that they take our breath away. And these are mysteries that are true. Another thing we know about this feast is that it will be a time of reward. Just like a victory dinner that honors soldiers who fought and won the war, the feast in the New Heavens and the New Earth will honor the people of God. Jesus says that when he comes again, and finds his servants faithfully engaged in their duties, he will insist that they take a seat and he will personally serve them. As we contemplate that amazing promise it makes us realize that he is our main reward. His presence, his delight in us will be the essence of the feast and we are his reward. To have his faithful loved ones gathered at his table will be his moment of greatest joy. He even told his disciples at the Last Supper that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until that day. He’s waiting with anticipation, just like we are today.
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This is Haven Today and the program’s called, “The Real Meal”. I’m Charles Morris. When Jesus took his disciples to the upper room to eat the Passover, the meal we call the Last Supper, he told them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will not eat it until it’s fulfilled in the Kingdom of God,” and then he adds, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the Kingdom of God comes.” Jesus longed for that Last Supper. He yearned for a time of wonderful food and table fellowship with his loved ones, but that meal represented something deeper than eating and drinking and visiting, it represented communion between Christ and his people. Our fellowship with Jesus is like a meal where he’s not only the host, he’s the feast itself. He gives us himself as food to eat, his body broken, his blood shed, both we take into ourselves as spiritual sustenance. They are life to us just like food is life to the body. We must feed on the Gospel by faith, by Jesus Christ, every day. Not only do we need the work of Jesus on the cross daily, we need Jesus himself. We can enjoy that fellowship right now as we go through life with all its strains and pains. We can partake of the richness of the Lord Jesus in the present. He says so clearly in Revelation 3:20, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him and him with me.” the fellowship we have with Jesus everyday can be like a meal, a rich time of food and table fellowship. This communion with Jesus is mysterious, yes, but every believer knows something about it even if we can’t always describe it. He shares himself with us internally, in our souls. The Bible says we have the very mind of Christ, we have union with him. In the very depths of our mind and heart he communicates himself and spreads around an aroma of peace and joy. Let me just list a few of the ways that happens. He washes our feet for us as he forgives our sins and cleanses our consciences of condemnation. He meets with us in the privacy of prayer, whether we retreat from the distractions of the world or simply send a wordless cry in the heat of temptation. He’s there. He dines with us when we go to the Word of God and applies the scripture to our hearts. Let me suggest another way that you can enjoy this fellowship with Jesus. Recognize the simple, good gifts that he gives you. Realize maybe that even a crisp apple is a token of his love, or a sunset to see, take it in and as you enjoy it realize that it’s been given to you as a gift from the One who loves you. Jesus pours out himself to us every moment in the little ways and the big ways. He is our food and our sustenance, so join me and give thanks.
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I’m just giving thanks and we do that in music too for what our Lord has done for us here on Haven Today. One final thing about the Great Story, compare 2 versions of the last supper. The Da Vinci Code would have us believe that Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting reveals the hidden mystery of that special evening before Jesus went to the cross. Dan Brown in his novel says that the person leaning on Jesus in the painting was really Mary Magdalene, not the Apostle John. And he says that she and Jesus had a carnal relationship and the Holy Grail, that is the cup, was actually Mary, pregnant with his child. That’s Dan Brown’s version based on no, credible historical evidence. Now, here’s the version from the New Testament. Keep in mind, the biblical account is also supported by other historical documents over the next 100 years after Jesus died. Here’s how the Bible talks about it in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.’” In the second version, the biblical version, Jesus is both the host and the feast at the Last Supper. His guests are all believers who make up his church and his church is his true bride. That’s the true mystery revealed and that’s the Great Story. We must receive this food like the prodigal son returning to his father. Our presumption is gone and our demanding hearts are humbled. We know we don’t deserve to eat, but Jesus shines his face of love on us and with open arms he commends us to feast on him. The food we enjoy cost Jesus a terrible death on the cross, yet it draws together believers of every age who look forward together to a future meal, a banquet when we will all finally meet our Savior face to face. The real meal is past and the real meal is future. May you and I partake of both. Last week in Lee Strobel’s home here in Southern California, I asked Lee to lead us in prayer:
LS: Father we do pray that your truth would go forth in all its power and the people who have read this book and will see this movie who are spiritually confused who are believing lies, who are believing things that are just not true, that Father you would super cede that, that your truth would go out and help convict people of their sin and bring them to faith in Jesus Christ where they can find forgiveness and grace and eternal life. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Amen. Thanks Lee. This is Haven Today and the program is called, “The Real Meal”. If you have internet access we’ve loaded up a preview video of the DVD that Lee Strobel has just made regarding the Da Vinci Code. It’s there along with our 2 full days last week over at Lee’s house. And if you missed the programs last week or want to just see the preview video, just go to haventoday.org, that’s haventoday.org. And when you’re there you can find the book that Lee’s just written called, “Exploring The Da Vinci Code”. We have that in single copies and 6-pack copies for use by small groups, Bible studies or for you to just give away. We also have a kit available that includes the book, the DVD and a leader’s guide and haventoday.org tells you all about it.
(Haven Ministries spokesperson)Excuse me Charles, but due to technical difficulties with our primary 800 number we ask our listeners to please call our alternate toll free number which is 888-65-HAVEN, that’s 888-65-HAVEN. And we ask that you please use that number until further notice. Haven Ministries apologizes for any inconvenience. Again, please use our alternate toll free number, 888-65-HAVEN.
CM: I’m hoping that our first shipment fresh off the press reaches our warehouse tomorrow but I need to let you know that Zondervan has suddenly found themselves in a backorder stage for Lee’s material. We know we have one shipment that should get here at least in the next day or two. Last week I talked with Zondervan’s leadership team and together we’re trying to get you this material as quickly as we can, so it’s important for you to contact us right after the program right now, first come, first served. And let me give a special thanks as well to everyone who has said, “Thank you,” to us for offering these special programs that are so needed for this confusing world in which we live. I hope you’ll join me in praising God that in Jesus Christ we have answers, the only answers. I’m Charles Morris, thank you for being with me. Would you come back again tomorrow when again we will lift high the cross and the Great Story that’s all about Jesus together here on Haven Today?
