Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 10:3-4; 12:13; John 4:14; 6:31-35, 51, 54-55, 57b; Rev. 22:1-2a
Ⅰ
In His person Christ is the believers' spiritual food—1 Cor. 10:3:
A
The spiritual food in 1 Corinthians 10:3 refers to manna, which typifies Christ as our daily life supply for the Christian journey—Exo. 16:14-16; John 6:31-35.
B
We believers should all eat the same spiritual food, not eating anything other than Christ—1 Cor. 10:3; John 6:57b:
１
According to God's economy, we should live on Christ and on Christ alone— vv. 27, 32-33.
２
Christ should be our unique food, and we should not seek to live on any other food—vv. 54-55:
ａ
Food is anything that we take in for our satisfaction; whatever satisfies, strengthens, and sustains us is our food—Num. 11:4-8.
ｂ
The unique food that we should take for our sustenance, strength, and sat-isfaction as believers is Christ—John 6:33, 35, 51.
３
John 6 presents Christ as the believers' spiritual food:
ａ
Christ, the very God, became flesh in order to be the bread of life for us to eat; He came from heaven not only to be our Savior but also to be our food—v. 33.
ｂ
In this chapter we have five characteristics of Christ as our bread: the heavenly bread (vv. 41, 50-51, 58), the bread of God (v. 33), the bread of life (v. 35), the living bread (v. 51), and the true bread (v. 32).
４
We need to realize how much we need Christ as our daily food—v. 57b.
C
To eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us to be assimilated by the regen-erated new man in the way of life; it is in this way that Christ lives in us as the resurrected One—vv. 53-54; 14:19-20.
D
The Christ who is our spiritual food is the Christ who becomes subjective to us—Gal. 2:20; 4:19:
１
Christ is the processed and consummated Triune God indwelling our spirit as the all-inclusive Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
２
The main purpose for His being subjective to us is that He may be our spiritual food, enter into us, and be digested and assimilated by us to become part of the tissue and fiber of our being—John 6:55-56.
３
The Christ who is subjective to us, to whom we are joined and with whom we are one spirit, is our spiritual food—Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 1 Cor. 6:17; 10:3.
Ⅱ
To the believers Christ in His person is the rock flowing with the spiri-tual drink—v. 4:
A
The spiritual drink in 1 Corinthians 10:4 refers to the living water that flowed out of the cleft rock; this water typifies the Spirit as our all-inclusive drink— Exo. 17:6; John 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 12:13.
B
In Exodus 17:6 the rock is a type of Christ, Moses signifies the law, the staff represents the power and authority of the law, the smiting of the rock signifies that Christ was smitten by the authority of God's law, and the water flowing out of the smitten rock typifies the Spirit—John 7:37-39; 19:34:
１
Through incarnation Christ came to earth as the rock—1:14; 1 Cor. 10:4.
２
At Calvary He was crucified, smitten by God's law with its power and authority; His side was cleft, and living water flowed out for us to drink— John 19:34:
ａ
This living water is the Spirit, the ultimate issue of the Triune God— 7:39.
ｂ
This spiritual drink quenches our thirst and fully satisfies our being— 4:13-14; 7:37-38.
C
The spiritual drink, the living water, is the water of life in resurrection— 1 Cor. 10:4; John 4:10; Exo. 17:6:
１
Resurrection denotes something that has been put to death and is alive again; resurrection also denotes life that springs forth from something that has passed through death—John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18.
２
Because the water of life is in resurrection, it is victorious and transcends every negative thing—Eph. 1:19-22; 2:5-6.
３
When we drink the water of life in resurrection, we become persons in resurrection and of resurrection—1 Cor. 10:4; 2 Cor. 1:9; 4:14.
D
According to the biblical record, drinking is more important than eating—John 4:10, 13-14; 7:37-39; Rev. 22:1-2a, 17b:
１
If we are enlightened by the Lord, we will realize that we need drinking even more than eating; for this reason, in 1 Corinthians Paul emphasizes drinking more than eating—10:4; 12:13.
２
Actually, drinking includes eating because the spiritual food is included in the water of life—Rev. 22:1-2a:
ａ
Without the water of life, we cannot have spiritual food; thus, if we fail to drink, we will not be able to eat—John 4:14; 7:37; 6:57b; 1 Cor. 12:13.
ｂ
In Revelation 22:1-2a the tree of life grows in the river of water of life; wherever the water of life flows, there the tree of life grows:
⑴
The fact that the river flows from the throne and that the tree grows in the river indicates that the spiritual drink is even more crucial than the spiritual food—vv. 1-2a.
⑵
Since the tree of life is in the water of life, the way to enjoy the tree is to drink the water—vv. 14, 17b.
E
It is by our eating and drinking of Christ that God works Himself into us, for by eating and drinking we take the Lord in, and He becomes one with us organically to be our life and our constituent—1 Cor. 10:3-4; Col. 3:4, 10-11.