Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 6:57; 1 Pet. 2:2, 5; Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:20; 21:2
Ⅰ
"The Lord's recovery is the recovery of the eating of Jesus for the building up of the church"—The Greatest Prophecy in the Bible and Its Fulfillment, p. 77.
Ⅱ
God's economy is that we eat Christ and be constituted with Him— 1 Tim. 1:4; John 6:35, 51, 57:
A
To eat is to contact things outside of us and to receive them into us, with the result that they eventually become our constitution—Gen. 2:16-17:
１
To eat is to take food into us so that it may be assimilated organically into our body—John 6:48, 50.
２
To eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us so that He may be as-similated by the regenerated new man in the way of life—vv. 56-57.
３
Eating is the way to experience God's dispensing for His expression— Gen. 1:26; 2:9.
４
The food eaten, digested, and assimilated by us actually becomes us; this is a matter of mingling—Matt. 4:4.
B
God desires that man eat, digest, and assimilate Him—John 6:57:
１
God's eternal plan is to dispense Himself into us so that He becomes every fiber of our inward being.
２
God's economy is not a matter of outward things but of Christ com-ing into us inwardly; for this, we need to take Christ by eating Him— Eph. 3:17a; John 6:57.
C
In their experience of God's salvation the people of Israel, typifying the church, passed through three stages of eating—Exo. 12:1-15; 16:13-15; Josh. 5:11-12:
１
In the first stage they ate the passover lamb in Egypt, which strength-ened them to walk out of Egypt and to be separated from the Egyp-tian world—Exo. 12:1-15.
２
In the second stage they ate the manna in the wilderness, which re-constituted them with a heavenly element to be a heavenly people— 16:13-15.
３
In the third stage, by enjoying the riches of the good land, the people of Israel built up the temple as God's dwelling place on earth—Josh. 5:11-12.
４
These three stages typify the three stages of the believers' enjoyment of Christ by eating Him—John 6:51-57; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:3-4; Phil. 1:19:
ａ
By their eating in the first two stages, the believers are energized to leave the world and are constituted with Christ as the heav-enly element—John 6:51-57; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:3-4.
ｂ
To reach the goal of God's economy, the believers need to enter into the stage of eating Christ as the produce of the good land so that they can be built up as God's dwelling place—Eph. 2:21-22.
ｃ
As we eat Christ and enjoy Him as the produce of the good land, we are constituted with Him, being made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ—Josh. 5:11-12; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:16.
Ⅲ
The Bible reveals the matter of eating to produce the building—Gen. 2:9-14; Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:20; 21:2:
A
The consummation of eating Jesus is a building, a city, the New Jeru-salem—vv. 10-11.
B
In Matthew 16:18 we see the stone and the building, and in the Gospel of John we see the stone, the eating, and the building (1:42; 6:57; 14:2).
C
In 1 Corinthians 3:2, 6-7, and 9 Paul speaks of feeding, growth, and build-ing.
D
In order to grow in life for God's building, we need to be nourished with the guileless milk of God's word—1 Pet. 2:2, 5:
１
The guileless milk is conveyed in the word of God to nourish our inner man through the understanding of our rational mind and is assim-ilated by our mental faculties—Rom. 8:6; cf. Deut. 11:18.
２
Although the nourishing milk of the word is for the soul through the mind, it eventually nourishes the spirit, making us not soulish but spiritual, suitable for being built up as a spiritual house of God—cf. 1 Cor. 2:15.
３
In order to enjoy the milk of the word, to taste God with His good-ness in the word, we should receive His word by means of all prayer— 1 Pet. 2:3; Eph. 6:17-18.
４
By feeding on Christ as the nourishing milk in the word, we grow unto full salvation; salvation in 1 Peter 2:2 is a matter of transfor-mation for God's building.
５
We enjoy the "milk-Christ" who nourishes us so that we may be trans-formed with Him as the "stone-Christ" and be built up as the "Body-Christ," as God's spiritual house into a holy priesthood—vv. 2-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-13.
E
The Lord's prophecy in Matthew 16:18 is fulfilled by eating Jesus, so let us all eat Jesus for the building up of the church as the house of God.