First the water (blood), and then the bread (body)
Just as was in the order of the offered atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
First, His blood was shed for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the which he suffered for all our heartaches, pains and infirmities, as well as all abuses suffered, and even things albeit, inflicted by God Himself, for our own growth in His purposes.
Secondly, Christ’s bodily harm. This, because we need Christ’s forgiveness from all our sins. His scourging, and placement of plaited thorns, as well as nails pierced in sacred place, being hung in shame, and spear thrusted through His sacred side. He partook of our sins, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He partook of the bitter cup of the effects of all our sins, handed to Him by Satan, with the punishments that accompany them, into/onto his body, organs and flesh. And with His goodness, He neutralized them with His own sacred blood and body, letting them pour out through his pores, in the which His beloved heart also burst inside his beloved chest.
Later, He took on the punishments of our sins through His torn back, pierced hands, wrists, feet, head, and side. He died, thus having overcome all our sins, for He had taken them all into and upon Himself, and it brought Him to the death He offered us, to bring us all to life in Him, even eternal life, as we transform our eyes, to see the beauty of his agony, and the wonder of his love and life He obediently gave.
He was not killed, even after all this, for He willed Himself to live, even at the cost of having His Father’s sustaining help removed from Him for a time, wherein He had to sustain Himself, under all that pressure. Then, when it was done, He voluntarily commended His Spirit unto God His awaiting Father, who could not wait to embrace His faithful and beloved Son.
The significance is this, we all need love, before we can repent. This is why Christ suffered our afflictions in the Garden of Gethsemane first, wherein He took our pains, infirmities, suffered abuses and so forth, infusing into them metabolically, the true essence of His love (charity), wherein the bad blood was neutralized, when met with the good in Him.
Afterwards then, came the scourging, mocked crowning, carrying “our” cross, and excruciating crucifixion, all to the point of bringing into his soul, through the Father’s holy will, the punishments for all our sins and transgressions.
My thoughts on this are thus, as the Lord prepares His Saints to become more worthy and ready for more blessings, He will then restore the proper order of the Sacrament, even as the Lord replaced the Law of Moses with the Sacrament in the first place. This will mean, partaking of the water first, and then the bread. For He first loved us, before we could love Him. We need to be loved, before we can repent. Thus the blood, and then the body, or, the water, and then the bread.
There will be no other changes to the sacrament, prayers or otherwise. Also to remember, that the Priests are not blessing the tokens of His flesh and blood, but we are asking God the Eternal Father Himself to do so, as is stated in the Sacrament Prayer.
However, our receipt of these blessings is upon our faithful repentance and obedience. We must do as the sacramental covenants require and promise.
Note: These are my thoughts only, and not coming from the heads of the church, meaning, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Shane
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