Converted baptized members of the true Church of God are admonished by God to examine themselves prior to partaking of the annual New Testament Passover, so that they do not take the symbols in an unworthy manner. We read in 1 Corinthians 11:27-28: “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
Why are Christians admonished to do that? They have to approach the Passover in as sinless a state as possible, even though they cannot be totally cleansed of sin in the flesh, since that will only occur when they are God beings in the Kingdom. It is then that they cannot sin anymore.
If we say we have no sin now, we deceive ourselves. Notice what John says about this, in 1 John 1:9-10:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
The key to being in a less sinful state is to confess our sins and to obtain forgiveness. That includes to admit to God we have a problem in certain areas of our lives, which we can discover with proper examination.
We know that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness, as 1 John 1:5-7 tells us:
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
It is amazing what light does. When I used to do drywall jobs for people and came to sand the wall, I used to put a light on the floor at the base of the wall. The light would reveal the flaws in the wall. Looking straight at the wall, it would look good, but once I sanded it, with a light on the floor, I was able to make the flaws disappear. Otherwise, when it came to painting, the flaws would show up.
When we are using, as it were, the light of God to examine ourselves, we will see certain flaws which we would otherwise ignore or neglect. Once we see those flaws (sins), we can confess them to God, ask for forgiveness, and we are then cleansed with the blood of Christ.
It is important for baptized members of the true Church of God to partake of the Passover. It is equally important for them to use the light of God to reveal their sins, so that they can repent and partake of the Passover in a worthy manner, thus pleasing their Creator God and their Saviour Jesus Christ.
