EATING JESUS BY EXERCISING OUR SPIRIT TO CONTACT HIM
From the first page to the last page of the Bible, there is the eating of the Lord. Many know that Jesus is the bread of life, and some also know that we need to feed on Jesus, but they do not know the way to eat Him, to feed upon Him, and to be nourished by Him. How do we eat Jesus? The Jewish believers at the time the Lord Jesus spoke concerning eating Him were puzzled. They said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?…This word is hard; who can hear it?” (John 6:52, 60). Then the Lord Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (v. 63). He seemed to be saying, “Do not consider that I am only the flesh. You have to know that one day I will become the life-giving Spirit.” By being resurrected, the last Adam in the flesh was made a life-giving Spirit. Christ today is the Spirit who gives life, and this Christ is in our spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22). The Lord is within us, in our spirit, so we must exercise our spirit to contact Him.
CALLING UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD
The proper way to contact the Lord is to call on His name: “For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12). Learn to call on Him. Do not be a silent Christian, that is, a dumb Christian. In 1 Corinthians 12:2-3 Paul says, “You know that when you were Gentiles, you were always being led away to dumb idols, whenever and however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” Formerly we were dumb worshippers, but today we are dealing with a speaking God. Therefore, we should no longer be dumb. We have to utter something. The Lord is rich unto all who call upon Him.
Suppose that during a gospel meeting, two unbelievers are inspired and become new converts. One prays in a very silent way, “Lord Jesus, I am sinful. You died on the cross for me. I believe in You. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.” The other one, however, prays in a calling way, “O Lord Jesus! O Jesus!” The first one is saved, but not strongly. If we were to ask him whether or not he is saved, he may reply, “Yes, I think so.” However, the second one without being asked will say, “I am saved! I may not be clear, but I know that I have joy.” To call on the Lord makes a real difference. Do not think calling on the Lord is a small matter. I was a dumb Christian for many years, but one day I began to call, “O Lord Jesus!”
EATING THE WORD AS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE LIVING CHRIST
We have calling on the Lord, and we also have the Word. The Word is the embodiment of Christ. We must not consider the Bible to be a book of knowledge. If we consider the Bible as a book of knowledge, we will make it the tree of knowledge. We must consider the Bible as the embodiment of the living Christ. The Bible is the written Word, and Christ is the living Word. We must not merely exercise our mind to understand the Bible. We must exercise our spirit to eat the Bible. “Your words were found and I ate them” (Jer. 15:16).
We need to learn to eat the Word. The Word is the embodiment of the living Christ. By calling on the Lord’s name and by eating His Word, we enjoy Christ. In this way we will see light, and we will also see growth and transformation. In the next chapter we will see the matter of transformation which comes out of the eating of Jesus. Transformation comes out of the nourishment.
(Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
