We are here sitting down with Jesus Christ, and we are doing so in His kingdom. He is Messiah the Prince, and all authority has been bestowed on Him. From the River to the ends of the earth, He is the Lord. From the east to the west, He is the king over all of it. All the families of the earth are streaming to Him, and the word promised to Abraham is being fulfilled, year after year.
But He did not assume this rule granted to Him by His Father in order to fill the earth up with His peons. He has made us, the Bible tells us, kings and priests.
This means that when we sit here with Him, we are sitting with Him in the kingdom, and we are partaking of the gracious rule that He is exercising over all nations, kingdoms, confederations, and tribes.
This is the establishment of His kingdom. And, as Isaiah clearly declared, of the increase of His government there will be no end. When Jesus broke the bread on the hillside during His earthly ministry, in that breaking was a multiplying. According to worldly wisdom, the more you break something up, the less you have of it.
But we have a wisdom that the rulers of darkness do not and cannot comprehend. The more this bread is broken, the more it is able to feed. Five loaves and two fish feed five thousand men. Jesus broke one loaf at the inauguration of this covenant meal, and that one loaf is still nourishing and feeding the world. We are still partaking of it.
The one who seeks to rule over all must become the least. The bread from heaven that feeds the world is taken in Jesus’ hands and broken. This is my body, He says, broken for you. And as it is broken, the less it diminishes. The more it is broken, the more it is able to feed a starving world.
And so we invite the world to the waters of baptism, so that they may partake together with us. There is more than enough, and to spare. See? It is still being broken.