The meal offering typifies our Christian life as a duplication of Christ’s God-man living; by eating Christ as the meal offering, we can live because of Him and can live the same kind of life on earth as He did.
Many times we read the Bible, especially the Gospels, and we are so impressed with the Lord’s human living.
There was something different about Him; He did not live, behave, act, or do things like other people.
The others could go to the feast when they wanted, but the Lord was on the Father’s schedule – so He went, but He went secretly, a bit later.
He did not do His own work, neither did He speak His own words.
Rather, He did the work that the Father gave Him to do, and He spoke the words heard from the Father.
He was God incarnated to be a man, but He did not live in Himself, by Himself, for Himself, or for His glory. Rather, He took the Father as His source.
He denied Himself and lived a crucified life before He went to the cross. He was “seasoned with salt” by living under the cross day by day.
Furthermore, His living satisfied the Father, for everything He did and spoke was for the Father’s satisfaction and delight. In this One God is fully focused, for He satisfies God.
His living was filled with the Spirit and saturated with resurrection, even as He lived a life under the cross.
Though He passed through so many sufferings, Christ lived a life in His humanity mingled with His divinity and expressing resurrection out from His sufferings. Wow.
He lived a normal human life, but He lived by the divine life, even living out the resurrection life.
As He passed through suffering, rejection, and persecution, Christ fully expressed the Father and gave Him rest and satisfaction.
Everything He did bore the aroma of resurrection. His humanity, His human living, His words, and His actions were fine, tender, and mingled with the resurrection life.
He was truly a meal offering for the Father’s satisfaction and for man’s enjoyment. There was no leaven (evil thing) and honey (natural affection or goodness) in Him.
What a Christ we have. This One is in us, and His life and living is for us to enjoy, partake of, and live out.
We do not try to imitate Christ; we eat Him, enjoy Him, partake of Him, are constituted with Him, and become His reproduction to express Him and live Him out.
We are becoming a reproduction of Christ as the meal offering for man’s satisfaction and supply and for God’s satisfaction.
The Meal Offering typifies our Christian Life as a Duplication of Christ’s God-man Living
The God-man living of the Lord Jesus seen in the Gospels needs to be duplicated in us.
We are not here to outwardly imitate the Lord’s living; rather, we need to eat Christ and live a Christian life as a duplication of Christ’s God-man living.
God wants that the God-man living seen in the Gospels to be duplicated in us.
Ephesians 4:20-21 says that we need to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus.
We need to learn Christ, that is, learn Christ in a subjective, experiential, and intimate.
We don’t learn about Him – we are learning Christ as the reality is in Jesus.
The reality in Jesus is the actual condition of the life of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels.
In the Gospels we see a man, Jesus, who did everything and said everything in God, with God, through God, and for God.
God was in His living, and He was fully one with God. This is the reality in Jesus.
He is the meal offering. Our Christian life needs to be a meal offering as a duplication of Christ’s God-man living.
We need to enjoy Christ as our meal offering day by day for our priestly diet so that He can live again on the earth through us in His divinely enriched humanity (Lev. 2:3; John 6:57, 63; cf. Psa. 92:10; 1 Cor. 10:17; Phil. 1:19-21).
How can we live a Christian life as a duplication of Christ’s God-man living?
We need to eat Christ as the meal offering so that we become what we eat, that is, become the same as He is.
As the living Father sent the Son and the Son lived because of the Father, so he who eats the Lord will also live because of Him, thus being a duplication of Christ’s God-man living.
We are all learning Christ according to the actual condition of the life of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels.
As we are enjoying Him in His word, as we pray-read the word of God, we are infused with what He is, and His living is reproduced in us.
Paul wanted to know Christ experientially and have the reality in Jesus being duplicated in him.
When we come to the word of God and exercise our spirit to touch the Lord, we eat the human life and living of Jesus.
By exercising our spirit to touch the Spirit consolidated in the Word, we eat the human life and living of Jesus, we are constituted with Him, and His human living becomes our human living (Eph. 6:17-18; Jer. 15:16; Gal. 6:17). Amen!
Our Christian life should be a duplication of Christ’s life. Romans 8 tells us that we have Christ’s humanity (v. 3), the Spirit of life (v. 2), the cross (v. 13), and resurrection (v. 11) wrapped up together as one.
Today we should live the same kind of life that Christ lived. Even as He was a man, so we are a man.
Even as He was mingled with the Spirit, so we need to be mingled with the Spirit.
Even as He was salted by the cross, so we need to live a crucified life.
Even as He lived a resurrected life with the fragrance of His resurrection, so we need to be in resurrection and live a resurrected life.
Even as He had no natural affection nor anything evil, we need to have no natural affection nor does anything evil needs to be found with us.
May we eat Him as such a One. May we eat Him day by day and live because of Him.
May we eat Him in His word by pray-reading the word of God until we can say like Paul, To me, to live is Christ.
The more we eat the Lord, the more the humanity of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus, the cross of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus becomes our constitution.
The more we eat the Lord in His word, the more our Christian life becomes a duplication of Christ’s God-man living (Lev. 2:4; Psa. 92:10; 1 Pet. 2:21; Rom. 8:2-3, 11, 13).
May we bring this to the Lord in prayer and open to HIm again and again regarding this matter, telling Him,
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You as our meal offering day by day so that You can live in us again on the earth today. May our Christian life be a duplication of Christ’s God-man living. We come to You in Your word, dear Lord, and we take You as our priestly diet so that You can live again in us in Your divinely enriched humanity. We exercise our spirit as we come to Your word, dear Lord, so that we may eat You. We want to eat Your humanity, Your human living, and all that You are and have done. We just open to You and we exercise our spirit to touch the Spirit consolidated in the Word to eat the human life and living of Jesus. Yes, Lord Jesus, may the human living of Jesus become our human living! May our Christian life be a duplication of Christ’s God-man living.
Eating the Human Life and Living of Jesus for Him to Live in us in His Divinely Enriched Humanity
When the Lord Jesus said that He came as sent by the Father and lived because of the Father, He was a pattern of what we should do today.
We need to exercise our spirit as we come to the word of God so that we may eat Christ as the meal offering.
He is not expecting us to imitate Him outwardly but to take Him as our life and supply inwardly so that He may live again in us in His divinely enriched humanity.
If we exercise day by day, little by little, to eat Christ as the meal offering, we will become what we eat, and we will live by what we eat.
In particular, when we eat the Lord in His word and thus partake of the human life and living of Jesus, we are constituted with Jesus, and the human living of Jesus becomes our human living (Eph. 6:17-18; Jer. 15;16; Gal. 6:17).
![And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. Eph. 6:17-18](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/And-receive-the-helmet-of-salvation-and-the-sword-of-the-Spirit-which-Spirit-is-the-word-of-God-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. Eph. 6:17-18")
When we masticate Jesus by prayerfully musing on the word of God, our human living is affected; the divinely enriched humanity of Jesus will be expressed through us.
As we eat the Lord in this way, many characteristics of HIs divinely enriched humanity will be expressed through us, and our Christian life will be a duplication of Christ’s God-man living.
One characteristic is that the humanity of Jesus fulfills all righteousness (Matt. 3:14-15).
Before the Lord started His ministry, He went to John the Baptist and entered into his ministry by asking John to baptize Him.
John the Baptist said that He had to baptize him, but the Lord said, Allow it so that we fulfil all righteousness.
This is the humanity of Jesus. He was right in His living and doing, and He did things in the way ordained by God. He was God incarnated, but He entered into John the Baptist’s ministry, for that was God’s ordained way.
The humanity of Jesus has no resting place (8:20).
The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.
If we eat Jesus in His word, this is our portion.
Yes, we may have a house or flat, and we may have a place to rest our head, but in reality we don’t have any resting place here on earth.
The humanity of Jesus is lowly in heart (11:29).
He is not only humble; He is lowly in heart. So He calls us to come to Him and bear His yoke. We come to Him as we are, and we learn from Him.
The more we eat Jesus by eating His humanity, the more we become lowly in heart even as He is.
The humanity of Jesus loves the weak ones (12:19-20).
He doesn’t break a bruised reed. We may not make a harmonious sound, but He does not discard us or reject us. He doesn’t quench a smoking flax.
We may not have a lot of oil and smoke may come out of us, but He does not quench us. We become the same as He is as we eat Him.
The humanity of Jesus is flexible (17:27).
Though He doesn’t have to pay the temple tax, He still did it, so that He would not stumble others.
Peter made a mistake in saying that the Lord does pay the tax, so the Lord taught him a lesson by asking him to go fishing and take a coin out of the fish’s mouth to pay the tax.
The humanity of Jesus serves others (Mark 10:45).
He came as the Son of Man not to be served but to serve.
When we eat the Lord’s humanity and human living in His word, we will not want to be served but to serve others, even to lay down our soul-life for them.
The Lord Jesus is a person that did things immediately; in the book of Mark again and again Christ as the Slave of God immediately did this and that, serving God and man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
If we eat Christ in His word, we will not procrastinate.
The humanity of Jesus cherishes people (Luke 4:16-22; 7:34; 19:1-10).
He cherished others by assuring them that, what is impossible with man (for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of the heavens) is possible with God.
He cherished Zaccheus by going to his house and having dinner with him and his friends, and salvation entered that house.
The humanity of Jesus is orderly, not sloppy (Mark 6:39-40; John 6:12).
He was not sloppy. When He fed the five thousand, He didn’t “cause bread to rain” on them but rather, arranged them by groups and did things orderly.
When we eat Jesus in His word, we will be orderly, not sloppy.
The humanity of Jesus is limited by time (7:6). He was limited by God’s time, not man’s time.
The humanity of Jesus is unique (Mark 7:46).
When the attendants of the temple came from the scribes to arrest the Lord Jesus, they were empty-handed, because they were impressed with what kind of person He was.
The humanity of Jesus knows how to weep (11:33, 35). He sympathized with others and was moved to tears.
Finally, the humanity of Jesus is humble (13:4-5). He humbled Himself and is humbling Himself, even to the point of washing our feet and laying down His soul life for us.
Christ’s God-man living is reproduced in us as we eat Jesus in His word.
The characteristics of Christ’s divinely enriched humanity are expressed through us as we eat Him as the meal offering.
May we continually eat Him so that we may live because of Him and have Him live in us.
Lord Jesus, we want to eat You in Your word so that the human living of Jesus becomes our human living. May the characteristics of Your divinely enriched humanity become ours in our daily living. Amen, Lord, we want to eat You and be constituted with You to the extent that we fulfil all righteousness, take You as our resting place, are lowly in heart, and love the weak ones. Make us the same as You are, Lord, so that we may be flexible in our humanity and serve others, cherishing them. May we partake of Your humanity and human living in Your word so that we may be orderly and not sloppy, be limited by time, and be humble by living one spirit with You. Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us eating You in Your word until we’re constituted with You to become Your reproduction today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1971, vol. 2, “Christ as the Reality,” chs. 4-7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 2, entitled, Enjoying Christ as the Reality of the Meal Offering to Have a Meal-offering Christian Life and a Meal-offering Church Life, Consummating in the New Jerusalem as a Great Meal Offering—the Ultimate Consummation of the Mingling of the Triune God with the Tripartite Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Let us eat Jesus every day, / Eating His flesh in such a way / That in the trials great or small / He as a Man will be our all. / Eat, eat more of Jesus! / Eat, eat more of Jesus! / Why should we undernourished be / When we have His humanity? (Hymns #1146 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Based on the burnt oblation / And the meal offering too, / We now may offer Jesus / As our peace offering true. / The more we eat and drink Him / In His humanity, / The more we may enjoy Him / While feasting corporately. / What fellowship, what fellowship / With God and man we share! / O what a joy, O what a feast / With all God’s people here. (Hymns #1104 stanza 3 and chorus)
– Oh, what wonder! Oh, how glorious! / God in flesh is manifest. / We the members of His Body / His humanity express. / For the building of God’s dwelling / We His human life possess. (Hymns #1174 stanza 5)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1971, vol. 2, “Christ as the Reality,” pp. 34, 41
Our Christian life should be a duplication of Christ’s life not by us trying to imitate Him but by eating Christ as the meal offering.
We need to eat the Lord’s humanity by coming to His word and pray-reading the word to receive the Spirit.
In the Spirit there is the cross of Christ, His resurrection, the Holy Spirit, and there is no evil or natural affection.
Amen, Lord Jesus, live in us today.
Amen Lord help us to eat you everyday so that we can be you fully !
Amen, may we eat the Lords by coming to His word and pray-reading the word to touch the Spirit in the word and be constitute with the Spirit in the word ,thus we eat Christ as the meal offering .
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was fine flour, He was oiled with the Holy Spirit, He was always being salted, and He lived in resurrection, having the flavor of frankincense.
But with Him there was neither leaven nor honey. Therefore, He could be a meal offering. The situation with us today should be the same.
This means that our Christian life should be a duplication, a xerox copy, of Christ’s life.
Day-by-day we eat Christ, eventually we become Christ because we become what we eat.
The more we eat the Lord, the more we can live the life that He lived. This life expresses the humanity of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus, the cross of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus.
In this life, there is the fine humanity of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the resurrection life and the salt. In this life, there is no ground for leaven & honey; no ground for sin and natural “goodness.”
The way for us to eat Jesus is by the Spirit. The Spirit gives life and the Spirit is embodied in the word.
We need to daily touch & enjoy the word because the Spirit is there.
By exercising our spirit to touch the Spirit in the word, we can eat the human life and living of Christ.
Spontaneously and without self-effort we will be as Jesus is.
Let us eat richly of Christ as our meal offering for our priestly diet…
O Lord May we live by eating you and for us to live is Christ and die gain. May we live in the resurrection spirit by offering you only the fine flour, oil, frankincense and salt.
Hallelujah!😃
Ameeen!!!!
We are the priests, so we must eat Christ as the meal offering for our priestly diet. If we eat the meal offering, we will live because of this offering. We are what we eat. Amen!!!