In John 6 the Lord Jesus showed us how He is the bread of life, and just as He lives because of the Father so we who eat Him as the bread of life shall live because of Him (John 6:57-58). In order for us to live Christ and express God from within, we need to eat Christ as the bread of life.
To eat means to take food inside of us so that the food would be digested by us and assimilated into us to become the very cells and tissues of our being. The Lord Jesus is the bread of life; when we eat Him, we take Him into us in the way of life so that He may be assimilated by our regenerated new man and become our very constituent inwardly.
If we eat Christ and digest Him, we will live because of Him, just as we eat because of the physical food that we eat. We daily eat physical food – we eat at least three times a day, and the food we eat is constituted into our being and causes us to live on. In a similar way, we need to eat the Lord by eating His words, and we will express Christ by living Him.
How do we eat Christ? How can we eat Christ as the bread of life? In John 6:63 the Lord told us clearly: the flesh profits nothing (we don’t have to eat Christ’s physical flesh!); it is the Spirit who gives life, and the words the Lord spoke are spirit and are life.
The way we eat Christ as the bread of life is by eating His words, digesting them, and allowing His words to operate in us and be assimilated into our inward spiritual being.
We live not by Christ as if He would be a “spiritual cane” on which we rely to support ourselves; we live because of Christ – He is the very energizing factor of our living. When we receive the word of God into us by means of all prayer and petition, it becomes spirit and life to supply us inwardly.
Christ became the life-giving Spirit, and today the Spirit is embodied in the word of God; when we exercise our spirit and pray-read the word of God with a heart turned to the Lord, God’s word becomes spirit and life to nourish us and supply us inwardly.
Eating, Digesting, and Assimilating Christ into our Being to Live because of Him
When the Lord Jesus told His disciples that they need to eat Him so that they may live because of Him, many of them were bothered and troubled, and quite a few left Him. Of course, the Lord Jesus didn’t say that His disciples need to eat His physical flesh – later He said that “the flesh profits nothing – it is the Spirit who gives life!”
If we put together John 6:57 and John 6:63 we realize that the Lord wants to be the bread of life to us to supply us, and the way this takes place is by Him becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) and this Spirit is embodied in His words so that His living instant words applied to us would impart life to us.
The Spirit is living and real, but at the same time he’s mysterious, intangible, and difficult for us to apprehend; Christ’s words, however, are substantial and we can take them in by reading them in a prayerful way, and they will dispense into us the Spirit and life contained in them.
Christ’s spoken words are the embodiment of the Spirit of life; Christ is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive the word of God by exercising our spirit, we receive the Spirit, who is life, and the Lord comes into us to be assimilated by our regenerated new man in the way of life.
To be assimilated is to be consumed and incorporated as nutrients into our body after digestion. When we eat and digest Christ, He is consumed and incorporated as the divine and mystical nutrients into our being, after we digest Him.
However, it is one thing to EAT and it is another to DIGEST. We may eat something but we may have problems with our digestion. Spiritually, we may eat the Lord by calling on His name and praying over His words, but we also need to digest Him. To digest the Lord is to give Him the thoroughfare into our being so that He might touch things and deal with things in our being as He is assimilated into us.
Many believers enjoy calling on the name of the Lord and praying over His word, but at one point they may lose their appetite; they have “spiritual indigestion”. After we call on the name of the Lord and pray-read His word, we need to tell the Lord,
Lord, be merciful to me. Keep my whole being with all my inward parts open to You. Have the thoroughfare in my being.
The problem is that we are not so open to Him – we open only a little to the Lord, but when He touches our natural being and things in our mind, emotion, will, background, and heart, we may not agree with Him.
We can call on the Lord and pray-read His word to get His riches, but then He comes into us to move within us to touch our being; we may then have a sense of something moving in us and exposing us, speaking to us, and touching us – we need to cooperate with this inner sense, and we will assimilate the Lord into us.
If we allow the Lord to move in us and touch us, we will have a better, richer, bigger, and deeper appetite for Christ, because a good spiritual digestion brings in a higher appetite.
If we argue with the inner sense, we will have spiritual indigestion; we will not be eager to pray, call on the Lord, or pray-read His word. However, if we respond to and go along with the inner sense, the appetite will come back, our digestion will be proper, and the riches of the Lord Jesus will become our cells and tissues, causing us to grow in the divine life and making us strong in the Lord.
We need to eat Christ and allow Him to be digested into our being so that He may be assimilated into us, and we will get the spiritual nourishment.
Lord Jesus, be merciful to us. Cause every part of our being to be open to You. Lord, have the thoroughfare into our whole being. We want to eat You as the bread of life and allow You to be digested into us so that You may be assimilated into our being. Lord, keep our being open to You. We want to go along with the inner sense resulting from the eating of the riches of Christ in His word through calling on the Lord and pray-reading the Bible. Lord Jesus, we come to You to eat You, and we allow You to be digested and assimilated into us so that we may live because of You!
Living Because of Christ as our Energizing Element and Supplying Factor
Many believers think they need Christ to help them to live as a Christian; they want to “live by Christ” – taking Christ as their support in their Christian life. To many believers Christ is an instrument like a cane, helping them to walk the Christian path.
But what God wants us to do is to live not “by Christ” but “because of Christ” as our energizing element and supplying factor! We don’t live “by the food” that we eat, taking the food as our “cane” to be supported; rather, we live because of the food we eat, allowing the food to be digested and assimilated into our being to strengthen us to live.
We live Christ in His resurrection (John 14:19) not merely “by Christ” but “because of Christ”. Christ is the bread of life which we eat and digest, and as He is assimilated into our being, we live because of Him as our energizing element and supplying factor within.
This is what Paul was talking about in Gal. 2:20 when he said, It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live…I live in faith. Paul lived Christ by allowing Christ to live in him; Christ was supplying factor within, and Christ was lived without.
“No longer I” indicates that we are finished; “the life which I now live” indicates that we still live; “Christ lives in me” plus “I live in the faith of the Son of God” show us that we still live, but it is Christ who live in us.
Christ as the heavenly manna, the bread of life, is available for us to eat, digest, and assimilate; in this way, He becomes in us the inward Christ, the inner man, our inward spiritual being which now lives in us. The open manna is available for everyone to eat; as we eat and digest the manna, it becomes the hidden manna in the Holy of Holies, the center of the tabernacle.
Christ with His riches is available for us to eat; as we eat Him and digest Him, He becomes in us the inward Christ we experience, digest, and assimilate, and this Christ is the focal point of our Christian life and of God’s building.
We eat the Lord Jesus as our spiritual food, receiving Him as the Spirit who gives life, by eating His words of spirit and life; we eat the Lord’s words by receiving them by means of all prayer (see Jer. 15:16; Eph. 6:17-18).
Every day we need to make a fresh discovery of the word of God, finding His words and eating them so that they may become the gladness and joy of our heart. When we eat the Lord’s words by means of all prayer and petition, the word of God becomes the sword of the Spirit killing the enemy within and the adversary without.
Hallelujah! We need to receive the word of God not merely by exercising our mind but by exercising our spirit, and then our mind will be renewed and our inward being will be supplied with the Spirit of life.
Lord Jesus, make us those who exercise our spirit over Your word in the Bible so that we may receive not merely knowledge and understanding but spirit and life. Lord, we want to eat You in Your word every day, allowing You to be digested and assimilated by our inward regenerated new man, so that we may live because of You. Thank You for being so available to us in Your word; we exercise our spirit, pray over Your word, and take You in as spirit and life! Oh Lord, may we have a fresh discovery in Your word every day and may we eat Your words every day until they become the gladness and joy of our heart!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Experience and Growth in Life, msg. 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 9 / msg 9, The Change of Diet to the Heavenly Christ as the Unique Food for God’s People.
- Further reading: recommending, A Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ (by Witness Lee) – see the chapter on, Eating and Digestion.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee, / Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer; / Reading and praying, I eat and I drink, / Praying and reading-Lord, Thou art my fare. (Hymns #811)
# Lord, as we’re eating here / And in the manna see / The riches of this glorious Christ, / We’re filled with praise to Thee. (Hymns #1147)
# When the Word of God I study, / I must touch the Lord; / If in mind and not in spirit, / Dead is the Word. / O what riches, O what glory / In the Spirit shine! / When I exercise my spirit, / All are mine. (Hymns #612)
About aGodMan
The Greek word for words, in John 6:63 and 68, is rhema, which denotes the instant and present spoken word….The Spirit is living and real, yet He is very mysterious, intangible, and difficult for people to apprehend; the words, however, are substantial. First, the Lord indicated that for giving life He would become the Spirit. Then He said that the words He speaks are spirit and life. This shows that His spoken words are the embodiment of the Spirit of life. He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we get the Spirit, who is life. (John 6:63, footnote 3, Recovery Version)
Amen Hallelujah Amen! Tank You Lord, Thank You that You have become our bread of life, Thank that we can eat Your delicious word , and be nourish . We love You Lord! Thank You Lord Jesus!!!!!