Most people will agree that sacrament is a religious ceremony observed by the followers of Christ Jesus to commemorate their special relation to God through Christ. It signifies the ratification of their obligation to God and symbolizes their separation from the things of the world through obedience to God's precepts. And it commemorates the sacrifices made by the Master to demonstrate what God is, our eternal relationship to Him, and what this means to us.
In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul compares the sacrament with the passage of the children of Israel through the wilderness and the Red Sea, as recounted in the Old Testament. Paul writes, "I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; ... and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."I Cor. 10:1, 4.
Here we see Paul's recognition of Christ's preexistence, for he plainly says that the Rock was Christ. In other words, the divine power and presence that guided, protected, and sustained the Israelites was the eternal Christ, Truth, working on earth even before the human appearance of Jesus and continuing throughout the ages. Jesus also confirms this truth in his statement "Before Abraham was, I am."John 8:58.
