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Scripture Reading: John 6:35, 48-58, 63; 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 10:3-4; Rev. 2:7; 21:6
In John 6:35 the Lord said to His disciples, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst.” Even though the Lord spoke only of the bread of life, He addressed the problem of thirst as well as the problem of hunger. This proves that the bread of life is related to the water of life. The bread of life deals with the problem of hunger, and the water of life deals with the problem of thirst. In verses 48 through 51 the Lord said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh, given for the life of the world.” The Lord focused first on bread and then on eating. He who eats the bread of life shall not die, and the bread is the Lord’s flesh, which was given for the world to have life.
Verses 52 through 58 say, “The Jews then contended with one another, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. 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. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread shall live forever.” The words eats Me in verse 57 are rendered as “eats My flesh” in the Chinese Union Version. However, the word flesh is not in the Greek text.
Verse 63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” In chapter 7, verses 37 through 39 say, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Chapter 6 is concerning bread, and chapter 7 is concerning water. This means that chapter 6 is concerning eating, and chapter 7 is concerning drinking.
First Corinthians 10:3-4 says, “All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.”
Revelation 2:7 says, “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.” In chapter 21, verse 6 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.” Chapter 2 speaks of eating, and chapter 21 speaks of drinking. Even the end of the Bible is concerning eating and drinking.
We have looked at the tree and the river. Now we will consider eating and drinking. The Bible is different from every other book in the world. Classical writings in the world use profound and mysterious expressions or doctrines that are difficult to comprehend. The Bible is different. On the one hand, the Bible is profound, containing sentences such as, “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). On the other hand, the Bible is easy to understand, and it often presents the deep things of God with plain words. For this reason, when we give messages, we use very plain words to explain spiritual matters.
The Bible reveals a tree and a river as the means for man to enjoy God. We cannot partake of the tree or the river apart from eating and drinking. The fruit on the tree is food for us to eat, and the water of the river is a beverage for us to drink. According to the human concept, God is dignified and great; hence, we need to worship and fear Him. However, in Genesis God presented Himself to man, not as a dignified or great person but as a tree and a river. God’s intention is to enter into man to be man’s life supply; therefore, man must eat and drink Him.
I had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem, and I saw how Muslims worship. The old temple site in Jerusalem is occupied by the Arabs, who have built a great mosque on that site. The Muslims are more pious than Christians when they worship. First, they worship from morning to evening. All day long people are worshipping, and the elderly spend even more time worshipping.
Second, the Muslims are pious in their posture; they prostrate their whole body to the ground when they worship. This is different from Christians, who often only lower their heads and close their eyes. Moreover, the more time Muslims spend prostrating themselves, the more piety they show. Their worship is solemn and grave. Everyone has to remove his shoes, just as Moses did when he saw the burning bush on Mount Horeb (Exo. 3:4-5). This shows how pious their worship is outwardly.
Although Muslims are pious, they do not worship according to the true knowledge of God. They worship God, but they do not know God or His heart’s desire; hence, they worship in vain. They do not know that God never intended for man to worship Him in such a way. They do not know that God is the tree of life and the river of water of life. The tree and the river are not for man to worship but for man to eat and drink.
Many of us have been Christians for a long time, and some have even been here since they were in the children’s meeting. How many times have you gone to a meeting with the concept of eating and drinking God, not with the concept of worshipping Him? Have you ever said, “Lord, I did not come to worship or venerate You but to eat, drink, and enjoy You”? Do we have such a concept? Many Christians might condemn me and say, “You are too daring and preposterous. How can man eat and drink God instead of worshipping or venerating Him? It is unimaginable that man can eat God!”
While visiting the West in 1958, I spoke concerning eating and drinking the Lord. After the meeting an American brother told me that he felt the expression eating the Lord was too crude. He also said that this expression was not in the Bible. I asked him to read John 6:57, where the Lord Jesus said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.” I told him that this translation is according to the Greek text. Thus, it is not that this expression is not in the Bible but that natural concepts have prevented believers from accepting it. A person who says that these words are crude disapproves of what the Lord Jesus said, for these are His words.
For several decades the chapels in China have had a Worship Service Schedule posted on the door. About ten years ago it was changed to Worship Schedule. Now words like service and worship are rarely found; instead, there is a Meeting Schedule. However, God does not want us merely to meet; He wants us to eat Him and drink Him. We should not consider the meetings to be services for worship but for eating and drinking the Lord.
Suppose there is a tree with fruit that is good for food, and next to the tree there is a river. There is no point in our worshipping the tree and the river. If the tree and the river could speak, they would scold those who piously worship them, saying, “We are here for you to eat and drink; we do not need your worship.” We cannot touch God’s heart by meeting near the tree of life and the river of water of life. God does not want us to merely meet; He wants us to eat and drink Him when we meet.
I hope that we will grasp the concept that God is a tree and a river and that we need to eat and drink Him. We have given many messages on eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord, but I am afraid that we still have not clearly seen that God is a tree and a river and that our relationship with God depends on our eating and drinking Him. We must be impressed with this point.
According to John 6, to believe in the Lord is to eat the Lord. If we say that we believe in the Lord and yet we have never eaten Him, then our believing in Him is largely religious. It is not enough to look at a meal; we must eat it. However, this is the way that some saints believe in the Lord Jesus — in a religious way. My mother believed in Jesus and often told me that He is good, but I did not eat Him. Many saints also believe according to tradition and teaching, but they do not eat and drink the Lord.
The Bible says that we should eat the Lord. It is not enough to believe that food tastes good; we need to eat the food. The proper concept is to say, “Lord, I believe in You, but my believing is focused on eating You. I love You by receiving You into me. I worship You by receiving You into me.” Believing, loving, or worshipping the Lord without receiving Him will ultimately leave Him in the heavens. As a result, the Lord is the Lord, and you are you; He is still outside of you.
To believe in the Lord and to love and worship Him are to eat and drink Him, that is, to take the Lord in as our supply. Those who believe in Him, love Him, and worship Him by eating and drinking Him are those who contact the Lord. Those who do not eat and drink the Lord have little to no contact with Him. We must be deeply impressed that God is a tree and a river and that we must eat and drink Him. He is the bread of life and the water of life for us to eat Him and drink Him. This is the way to gain Him.
Believing in the Lord for our salvation is a once-for-all matter, but eating and drinking the Lord is a daily matter. We need to eat and drink every day. It is possible that a brother who believed in the Lord ten years ago has not eaten the Lord since the day of his salvation. This is the experience of many saints. Some have not eaten the Lord for three days, a year, or even longer. I marvel that a believer can go without eating the Lord for so long and still be spiritually alive. Many believers are not living because their sins have not been confessed, but many more are dying of starvation and thirst. Any believer who has not eaten the Lord for two years is probably “dead” from starvation.
Eating and drinking the Lord are a daily matter that must not be interrupted or stopped. It is possible to quit a job or miss a class, but we cannot do without food and water. Similarly, a believer cannot say that he has believed in the Lord and that he understands everything about the Lord. It is not a matter of understanding or comprehending but a matter of eating and drinking. Our need is to eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and enjoy the Lord. Eating and drinking are continual and must not be interrupted.
Remember that the Lord is a tree and a river. He is the bread of life and the water of life. The Lord said that those who come to Him shall by no means hunger and that those who believe into Him shall by no means ever thirst (John 6:35; 4:14). The purpose of our coming to the meetings should not be merely to meet but to eat and drink the Lord. “Come, for all things are now ready” (Luke 14:17). The fattened cattle have been slain, and the wine has been pressed. Our only need is to come, eat, and drink. God does not want us to do anything. Nothing that we do can touch His heart. Only eating and drinking Him please and satisfy Him. He longs for us to eat and drink Him in every meeting. He longs for our prayers to be our eating and drinking of Him, for our reading the Bible to be our eating and drinking of Him, and for our fellowshipping with other saints to be our eating and drinking of Him. He wants every saint to eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him. Then we will be satisfied, and He will be satisfied. May the Lord be gracious to us.
