Wine Anyone?

Through the years, I have always been taught that Christ's sacrifice was given to quench the wrath of an angry God for all the sinfulness of mankind. Seemed sound and reasonable in that context alone without scratching much deeper under the surface. But, once I began to scratch, I couldn't help but think there is more, much more to consider. Like this... who made the FIRST sacrifice on behalf of Adam and Eve? They didn't. God did. Was it to appease HIS anger and wrath? Maybe, maybe not. It might have appeared to them that He was mad. Especially given the way we perceive our reality through the lens of a guilty conscience.
It makes sense to me that, since the guilty couple had already tried miserably to appease their conscience, or guilty soul, for the blatant sin they committed by sewing fig leaves together to "cover their nakedness" God took measures and did something that would become an ongoing reminder (type-shadow) that would ASSURE their guilty souls, and future generations, that the relationship had not been fully severed. Even though death was brought into the human picture by their sin, and would not be altered spiritually until Christ's provision could make fallen humanity "alive" again.
Jewish priesthood provided the same thing. A type and fore-shadowing only. The New Testament concurs that the blood of animals did NOT and does NOT pacify God or "settle the score" where human sinfulness/guilt is concerned. YET... Israel's priesthood continued to offer these emblems for whose sake? God's? Maybe, maybe not. For THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE? Quite possibly. EVEN IF THEY BELIEVED it was to appease God's wrath, the sacrifices ultimately were MORE suited to appease the guilt of their own souls from year to year, providing the assurance that God had not left or forsaken his people. Consider the day and culture and those surrounding Israel in its written history. Pagan. Heathen. Poly-theistic. Barbaric. Brutal spiritual darkness. Blood sacrifice was the norm... for EVERYONE. Cattle, goats, sheep, doves, even babies were laid upon fiery altars when  guilty souls were fear stricken, believing they had no other recourse with an ANGRY GOD. For the course of their sacrificing upon altars, in tents and Temples, Israel was looking to the future... Messiah... Jesus. Israel should have been able to READ EVERY SIGN that POINTED to what HE SACRIFICIALLY OFFERED WILLINGLY... BECAUSE OF LOVE... FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM. Not to appease the anger of a relentless deity, but to provide ONCE AND FOR ALL THE REALITY, not mere powerless symbolism as in Old Testament sacrifices, but what SHOULD be the crushing blow to all human superstition, dread and fear. Yes, God has done for us what we could never have done for ourselves, and thereby, through accepting this provision, and believing its promise, efficiently clears our guilty conscience by understanding the offering of Himself on our behalf, ending the need of fallen, inadequate, broken human behavior to DO SOMETHING SACRIFICIAL TO APPEASE AN ANGRY GOD.
Now consider this. For the same reason... why do we celebrate communion and "drink the wine"? I know Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of him. But to what end? What purpose? Does it not provide the same REMINDER for our souls? How about when standing GUILTY of an offense before a Holy God? When we partake of the wine and allow our bodies to become infused with the symbolic liquid that penetrates and nourishes our being on a cellular level, how do we perceive what is taking place? When we drink... do we remember that HE has lovingly tended to the business at hand of providing a Lamb, whose shed blood offered on our behalf is an eternal banner that our relational position with Himself is on an unshakeable foundation? Does it prevent our guilty soul's fear from NOT TRUSTING the GRACE that made this gift of righteousness available by faith alone? Does it make us certain that HIS righteousness is infused to the core of our being? That no other sacrifice is now acceptable? God's love has become the solution for our greatest problem, the satisfaction for our greatest hunger, and the provision for our greatest need... and our guilty souls are purged. "For God so loved the world, that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Wine anyone?

Drink deeply.