EATING THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE
In these five messages we have surveyed the subject of eating from Genesis to Revelation. In every stage of God’s relationship with man—in the garden of Eden, in Egyptian bondage, in the wilderness wanderings, in the good land, when Christ was on earth, when the churches were being established, in the millennial kingdom, and in the New Jerusalem—He made provision for His people’s eating.
This same concern about what we eat should mark us as Christians. Day by day we need to come to the Word and, by praying over what we read, take in the very Christ as our food. He Himself is our tree of life, our Passover, our manna, our good land, our fatted calf, our heavenly food.
Only by taking Him into us can God’s purpose be accomplished. God is expressed, not by our good behavior, but as an outcome of our assimilating the riches of His Son. It is by the intake of this food that we are transformed into His very image. He thus saturates and sanctifies us, cleansing us “by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26-27).
In the writings of Paul, Peter, and John the thought keeps recurring that God’s people must be fed rather than given doctrinal knowledge. They first must desire milk and then go on to solid food. At the end, eating of the tree of life again comes into view, firstly as a reward for the overcoming believers during the millennium and then for the enjoyment of all God’s people for eternity.
EATING THROUGHOUT THE DAY
May we be those who faithfully eat of this feast which God has so richly spread for us. The Bible is the means by which we feed on Christ. By our coming to this Word in a regular way and opening to Him, He will spread throughout our being until eventually our body too will be sanctified and we shall be raptured to His presence.
Eating is the way by which we are “filled unto all the fullness of God.” We must not let anything distract us from routinely coming to the dining table of the Word several times a day to take in its rich nourishment. Then we shall be transformed from vessels of clay to precious stones and be built up into His habitation. “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up” (Acts 20:32).
(Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 30, by Witness Lee)
