What the Bible says about Eating Christ's Flesh
(From Forerunner Commentary)
In Deuteronomy 8:3, God draws a straight line between the Israelites eating bread He supplied from heaven and consuming and using His Word. The miracle of the manna was a daily lesson to impress on them that real living requires the individual to conduct his life in obedience to God's instructions. He urges them in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 to “choose life,” which He defines as “to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you . . .” (verse 16).
Jesus' response to the Devil's temptation in Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4, where He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, strikes the same chord. He was famished, having fasted for forty days, and Satan suggested that He could save Himself the weakness and pain by turning stones into physical bread, something the Creator God could easily do. But Jesus understood the Adversary's temptation: to put His physical life before His spiritual life. He would never do this, knowing that, as the apostle Paul would later put it in Romans 14:17, “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Our requests for daily bread, then, also cover instruction from God through His Word to enhance our walk on the path to His Kingdom. As Peter advises in II Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Paul concurs, writing, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16), “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10), and “rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). Scripture commends the Bereans of Acts 17:11 for “receiv[ing] the word with all readiness, and search[ing] the Scriptures daily,” just as the Model Prayer suggests.
But bread has an even higher antitype. In John 6:32-40, 48-58, Jesus Christ titles Himself “the Bread of Life”: “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). Our Savior not only gave His life in sacrifice for the remission of sins, but He also says He gives His flesh and blood to those who believe in Him so they can have eternal life.
The metaphor Jesus uses in this chapter—which the Jews considered to be horrific and macabre—parallels others found in Scripture like “putting on Christ,” “putting on the new man,” and “walking in His steps.” Notice John 6:56: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” The verbs “eats” and “drinks” are active case present participles, suggesting ongoing activity. Those who continue to feed on or ingest Christ—symbolic of learning about Him, obeying Him, imitating His example, and growing spiritually—remain in an active relationship with Him.
When we ask God to give us our daily bread, we ask for far more than food for our stomachs. We request complete nourishment for our bodies, our minds, and our spiritual lives, for the only sure, life-giving sustenance comes from God Himself.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Model Prayer (Part Six): Our Daily BreadRelated Topics: Bereans | Choosing Life | Christ as the Bread of Life | Christ Became Flesh and Blood | Daily Bread | Daily Spiritual Bread | Eating Christ's Flesh | Eating of Christ | Grow in Grace and Knowledge | Manna | Manna as Source of Strength | Model Prayer | Putting on Christ | Putting on the New Man | Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
Verse 52 shows that the Jews again interpret His words in a strictly literal sense: "How can this Man gives us His flesh to eat?" How utterly impossible it is for those who do not believe, who do not "come to Him," to understand the mysteries of salvation! Their hearts are ever ready to quarrel, scoff, and resist.
Jesus does not back down in the face of their scoffing. Instead, He strengthens His statement about eating His flesh by adding that one must also drink His blood! He moves from something that seems foolish to His audience to the outright absurd.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Eating: How Good It Is! (Part Four)
"Take and eat it" sounds very much like what Jesus said to His disciples when He told them to eat the unleavened bread during the Passover service. Eating the bread symbolizes partaking of His flesh, that is, devoting ourselves to the life He lives, becoming one with Him as part of His Body, living as He lives. Eating the little book has a similar meaning.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Two Witnesses (Part One)