In the book of Deuteronomy, you see all kinds of produce as different kinds of offerings for the people of Israel to bring before God. These different kinds of produce are all types of Christ. Although the offerings are for God, eventually they are for us to eat. We offer them to God, yet they become our food. Therefore, we must eat what we offer.
At this stage, what we enjoy is not only the lamb but also a feast. In this feast we have oxen, sheep, pigeons, grain, new wine, and all kinds of firstfruits. We have a rich feast that includes both plants and animals. Furthermore, we eat this feast not only once; we eat it for seven days. In all seven days of the Feast, we eat a feast every day.
Today we eat Christ not only as the tree of life and as the Lamb but also as a feast. We are keeping the Feast of Christ. Every church meeting is to keep the feast and eat Christ. Come and keep the feast! Come and eat Christ!
Finally, at the end of Revelation you see the New Jerusalem with a river of water and the tree of life growing on both sides of the river. There is a verse in the last chapter of Revelation that says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have right to the tree of life” (v. 14). Therefore, we see that eating and drinking the Lord is our destiny. This is God’s ordination. If you do anything else or have any other choice, you will find death. God’s ordination is our destiny. We should not have our own choice.
God ordained even before the foundation of the world that our destiny, our future, would be to daily eat the Lord. What must Christians do? Eat the Lord! What kind of Christian are you? We are Christians who eat the Lord. What kind of church do you have? A church that eats the Lord. Christians are people who eat the Lord. This is the Lord’s recovery. What is the Lord recovering? The Lord is recovering the matter of eating Him. Christianity in general has lost the matter of eating the Lord, and it has lost sight of the fact that believers have the right to eat the Lord. The Lord is recovering this today.
Blessed are those who have washed their robes because they have the right to the tree of life. It is not the right to worship and to serve but the right to eat. Recently when the church in Los Angeles has met, the chairs were not neatly arranged in single rows but rather in many small circles. I have heard that they plan to set up small round tables, so that they can sit around them during meetings to enjoy the feast. This is very meaningful. Consider the way the benches are arranged in this meeting hall. When the brothers and sisters come together and occupy the benches row by row, it looks like a “Sunday worship service.” When you are seated in this way, the atmosphere of Sunday worship is present. Do not think that the seating arrangement does not deserve consideration. When everyone is seated in this orderly way, this is religion, and the atmosphere of eating is gone. But to have small round tables here, each with five or six chairs, and to sit around them gives the atmosphere of feasting.
The Lord whom we eat as our food is the Spirit. Therefore, which organ do we use to eat Him? We use our spirit to eat Him. The Lord is Spirit, so we must use our spirit to eat Him. How do we eat Him? By calling, “O Lord! O Lord!” To call on the Lord is to eat Him. The Bible clearly shows us that the Lord is our food, and we must eat Him. As the Spirit He is our food. The organ by which we eat Him is also the spirit. Moreover, the way to eat Him is by calling on the Lord’s name. Calling on the Lord is eating the Lord.
Some may say that we do not appear to be holding a Sunday worship service with our calling and shouting. They are absolutely right. We do not care for their kind of Sunday worship; we come here to eat the Lord. How do we eat? By calling on the Lord. You can be refined in many other gatherings but not in a time of eating. Calling on the Lord’s name may not be considered refined, but I know it is truly sweet, because I have tasted it. We thank and praise the Lord that this is the Lord’s recovery today! What is the Lord recovering? Eating the Lord! Hallelujah!
(Eating the Lord, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)