The Apostle Paul apparently received instruction from Jesus Christ through revelation regarding the ordinance of the sacrament, for despite not being present that night when the Lord administered the bread and wine to the apostles he had then called, Paul states:
"For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.' For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again" (1 Cor. 11:23 – 26, NLT).
Paul then goes on to make a curious statement regarding the persistence of sickness and untimely death among the Corinthians in connection with their improper attitudes and unrepentant hearts during the ordinance:
"So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world" (Ibid. vv. 27 – 32, emphasis added).
President John Taylor read those words literally and exhorted the saints in his day to be unified in feeling and devotion during the sacrament, that they might strengthened in health through the ordinance. He said, quoting the King James Version:
"People wonder sometimes why we have sickness amongst us. The Apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians, in referring to divisions that existed among them, together with their unworthiness, when partaking of the Lord's supper, says, 'For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.' Do you believe a principle of that kind? I do. Let us fear God then, honor Him, and keep His commandments" (JOD 20:360).
It would appear then that a direct blessing of "always having his spirit to be with them," meaning those who worthily partake of the sacrament (D&C 20:77), is a sustained bodily health. Perhaps this is what the Lord had reference to in the Doctrine and Covenants when he expounded on the results of worthy handling of the priesthood: "Whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies" (D&C 84:33, emphasis added).
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