Except You Eat “HIS” Flesh
No statement that came from the lips of Jesus Christ created as much consternation as the above title. The Son of God brought all that was in His divine nature into His human experience. That divine life in Him is the same divine life that He gives to us. But no man has that life except they receive it by faith. The unsaved multitudes are living in a constant state of dying. Sin kills the victim slowly, so the world has become oblivious to the process. Jesus Christ came to give us life on a divine level, but the majority of the human race has no clue as to what they are missing.
Let’s first read the words of Jesus Christ, “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (John 6:53-57). “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:66-68). If we are willing to accept this challenge from God’s eternal Son, a powerful, even wonderful, life is available.
Now, we must understand the spiritual truth that Jesus was teaching. We are spiritual creatures, created just a little lower than the angels. The breath of God in us has the full capacity to know God and to fellowship with Him. That is why He created us. This spirit in man can have a relationship with God similar to a relationship between two individual persons. My flesh can eat wonderful food and maintain a healthy body. My spirit can enjoy God and receive His life and graces into my life and enjoy a healthy spiritual life. This is the life that flowed from Andrew Murray, A.W. Tozer, and many of God’s chosen stewards of the faith.
Most of our world feeds the flesh but never stop to feed the spirit. A multitude of those individuals that have recognized their inner spirit are seeking for spiritual substance in the wrong places. Satan has created many religions and is a master of deception. Those religions and similar spiritualistic schemes give nothing but bondage to their slaves. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the one and only source to true spiritual life and triumphant living.
Now, we can begin to understand what the Son of God was teaching us. His theologies were not some strange, mystical ideas. He came to fill us with the life that Adam and Eve had before they sinned. They talked directly with God and were fully ready to live forever. Sin entered the human family and this couple ran to find cover when the Father’s footsteps echoed in the garden. Everything that Satan stole was replaced in His passions of death. Our spiritual life is available today, and our eternal physical life will be replaced at the Resurrection.
This spiritual life is what we receive when we “. . . eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood” (John 6:53). It is a genuine spiritual experience. It is not eating a wafer or unleavened bread nor drinking wine or grape juice. Yes, we should take communion because we show forth His death until He comes. But, this life on a spiritual level is what Christ described when He was speaking of His flesh and blood. He clearly stated, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
All that the Son of God possessed in His divine nature was brought into His physical person so that it could then become part of our redemption. By the Holy Ghost’s inspiration, John stated, “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). Everything He was and is, is also ours and is received by faith and total surrender.
How far below this abundant life we have fallen! We must discover what we have lost and return. Remember, His words are spiritual words. Your spirit — after it is renewed by the Holy Spirit at the Born Again experience — becomes fully capable of feeding on the Holy Scripture and fellowshipping with God. Prayer is ordained by our Father to be fellowship, not just begging. It is perfectly right to make your request known but only in fellowship with Him. Learn to wait and welcome the Holy Spirit to draw you after Christ. When you go to prayer, stay there until fellowship and communion is established and His presence is real. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:6-7, 9-10).
Your spiritual life will begin to grow and, more and more, His presence will satisfy your deepest longing. Nobody can teach you the beautiful life of “eating His flesh and drinking His blood,” except His Holy Spirit. If I should try to teach you, it might be treated as mechanical; but if He teaches you, it will be divine. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Corinthians 4:7).