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The heavenly Christ is the reality of the heavenly manna sent by God to be the daily life supply of His chosen people—John 6:31-35, 48-51, 57-58, 63:
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He is the heavenly bread as the bread that came down out of heaven—vv. 31-32, 41-42, 49-50.
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He is the bread of God as the One who is of God, who was sent by God, and who was with God—v. 33.
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He is the bread of life as the bread with eternal life, with zoe; the bread of life refers to the nature of the bread, which is life; it is like the tree of life, which also is the life supply”good for food”—vv. 35, 48; Gen. 2:9.
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He is the living bread; this refers to the condition of the bread, which is living—John 6:51.
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He is the true bread; He is the true food, and all other foods are merely shadows of Him as the real food; the reality of the food that we eat daily is Jesus Christ—v. 32.
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“As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me… It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life”—vv. 57, 63:
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To eat is to take food into us that it may be assimilated organically into our body; hence, to eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us that He may be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life.
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We live not merely by Christ but because of Christ as our energizing element and supplying factor; we live Christ in His resurrection, and we live Christ by eating Him—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a.
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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, receiving His words by means of all prayer—Jer. 15:16 and footnote 1; Eph. 6:17-18:
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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.
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When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we get the Spirit who gives life—cf. Hymns, #612.
Morning Nourishment
John 6:32-33 …My Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.48 I am the bread of life.
57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.
In John 6:57 the word because implies that there is a factor. The word by (used in the KJV), however, indicates an instrument, not a factor. To walk by Christ implies that Christ is the instrument for walking, as a cane is used for walking. To walk because of Him indicates that He is the factor of our walking. We do not live by Christ, taking Christ as our instrument; rather, we live because of Christ, taking Christ as a factor of our living. The food that we eat is not an instrument but a supplying factor. We live not by food but because of the food. Food supplies us so that we can live because of its supply. In using a cane as an instrument to walk, there is no need to eat the cane, but to live because of food, we must eat the food. Without eating, food cannot become a factor of our living. We live Christ in His resurrection, and we live Christ by eating Him. Eating brings in a factor to our being. When we eat a good breakfast in the morning, the nourishment we receive energizes us. The energizing element of Christ is a supply, a factor, for us to live Christ. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 3,”The Experience and Growth in Life,” pp. 17-18)
Today's Reading
John 6 is unique in giving many details concerning the Lord Jesus as the bread of life…. As the bread of life [vv. 35, 48], He is the bread that came down out of heaven (vv. 41, 50, 51, 58), He is the bread of God (v. 33), He is the living bread (v. 51), and He is the true bread (v. 32). Here we have five characteristics of the Lord as our bread: the heavenly bread, the bread of God, the bread of life, the living bread, and the true bread. As the bread that came down out of heaven, He is the heavenly bread. As the bread of God, He is of God, He was sent by God, and He was with God. As the bread of life, He is the bread with eternal life, with zoe. As the living bread, He is living. The bread of life refers to the nature of the bread, which is life; the living bread refers to the condition of the bread, which is living. As the true bread, Christ is the bread of truth, or reality. Christ is true, real. He is the true food, and all other kinds of food are merely shadows of Him as the real food. The physical food that we take in every day is a shadow of Christ. The reality of the food we eat daily is Jesus Christ. Christ is the true bread of life sent by God to bring us eternal life. We all need Christ to be the bread of life to us. Today this bread is not merely the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ but the Christ who has become the life-giving Spirit.In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus said,”It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”…Here the Lord explained that what He would give us to eat is not the meat of His physical body; the meat, which is the flesh, profits nothing. What the Lord gives us is the Spirit who gives life. Here the”words” follow the Spirit. The Spirit is living and real but rather mysterious, intangible, and difficult for us to apprehend. However, the Lord's words 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 indicates that His spoken words are the embodiment of the life-giving Spirit. 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 receive the Spirit who is life. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2,”The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” pp. 209, 216, 215)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1982, vol. 2,”The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” chs. 18-19; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3,”The Experience and Growth in Life,” ch. 3