Eating And Drinking Eternal Life

 

Jesus said, “. . . My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:55-58 JKJV).

When you read these verses of scripture, you probably respond the same way Jesus’ disciples did when they heard the same words. “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat” (John 6:52 NKJV)? We can better understand the meaning of Jesus’ words when we discover that Jesus is the Word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-2;14 NIV).

One of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer is “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). In the petition, we are asking for daily food for both our body and spirit.

Food for our body enters through our mouth and passes through our anus into the toilet. Food for our spirit, the “Word,” enters our heart and mind through our eyes and ears, and it goes out through our mouth, hands, and feet ministering grace and truth to others. It is both word and works.

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (Matthew 4:34 NKJV). When we are speaking and ministering the “Word,” we are doing the work of Jesus, our food. It is eternal life in the kingdom of God, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).