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By eating the kingly Christ as the all-inclusive bread, we are cleansed inwardly (Matt. 23:25-27; 15:1-2, 18, 20, 26-27):
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In order for us to be cleansed in our inner being, something must get into us, and the only way that this can take place is by eating (23:25-27).
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As our food, Christ is the best cleansing element; He washes our inner being, and we thereby experience the washing of our disposition.
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We all need an inward cleansing from the Lord—the cleansing that comes from eating Jesus.
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Eating Jesus is the secret of overcoming; the unique way to be an overcomer is to eat Jesus (Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:20; John 6:57).
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The fact that Leviticus 11 speaks of death in relation to diet indicates that our diet, our eating, is a matter of life or death (vv. 2-4, 9, 24-25, 39, 47).
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Leviticus 11 is concerned very much with death (vv. 24-25, 27b-28a):
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Death is abominable to God; in His eyes death is the most ugly thing, whereas life is the most precious thing (Rom. 5:10, 12, 17; John 10:10b; 11:25).
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me.
In order to be cleansed from within, something must get into us, and the only way this can take place is by eating. As the nourishing food, the Lord Jesus is the best cleansing element. When He comes into us as food, He not only nourishes us, but also inwardly cleanses us. He does not wash our hands; He washes our system, our very being. This matter of inward cleansing through the eating of Jesus is the link that joins the first two sections of Matthew 15.
This is the kind of cleansing we need. This is not a matter of outward washing of hands to make a display of how clean we are. It is a matter of the inward cleansing that comes from eating Jesus. We all need such an inward cleansing from the Lord. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 544-545)
Today's Reading
The secret of overcoming [is eating Jesus]....There is no other way. We must not take the way of learning things, the way of picking up teachings. May the Lord be merciful to us that we would pick up this one way, the way of eating Jesus. Day by day we must eat Him as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast. Then we will be the overcomers.For many years I did not have the secret of overcoming my temper, but eventually the Lord gave me the secret. The way to overcome our temper is to call, "O Lord Jesus." Simply breathe Jesus in a little. Jesus is the strongest "chemical agent." When He comes in, right away He neutralizes our anger. Even if we try to lose our temper, we will have no temper. I know this quite well. Previously, the more I reckoned, the more anger I had. But now when the anger comes, I call, "O Lord Jesus," and He neutralizes it; moreover, He turns the anger into praising. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 4, "Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ," pp. 185-186)
We have seen that chapter 11 of Leviticus is concerned with the matter of diet, with the matter of eating. Now we need to see that this chapter is also very much concerned with death. In Leviticus 11 the word carcass is used at least thirteen times, and the word dead is used twice. Without death, there could not be any carcasses. A carcass actually denotes death. As long as there is a carcass, there is death.
The fact that this chapter speaks of death in relation to diet indicates that our diet, our eating, is a matter of life or death. If we contact clean things, we get life. But if we contact unclean things, we get death.
Death is an ugly, abominable thing. Therefore, we need to abstain from death. Apparently chapter 11 speaks of abstaining from uncleanness; actually this chapter tells us to abstain from death. The death from which we should abstain is not mainly physical death but spiritual death. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 321)
Death is the characteristic of Satan's work. The ultimate goal of his work is to saturate man with death. Today our meeting does not depend on numbers. If we have a bigger number, it does not mean that we have better meetings. The important thing is that we have to overcome death in our meetings. We have to swallow up death and release life. If we see death in the meeting, it means that life is absent. A Christian must realize that there is nothing more evil than death. At the same time, there is nothing better than life. In God's eyes death is the most ugly thing, while life is the most precious thing. What is life? Life is not a doctrine. A person who has life has the experience of life, but it may be very difficult for him to describe what he has experienced. Life is not excitement or good feelings. Life is just Christ Himself. (CWWN, vol. 44, p. 876)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1971, vol. 4, "Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ," ch. 17; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 279