THE EUCHARIST- literal body and blood of Christ?
Our Lord has said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. . . . For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." John 6:53-55.
The words of Christ apply to our spiritual nature as well. He declares, "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life."
It is by receiving the life for us poured out on Calvary's cross, that we can live a life of holiness. And this life we receive by imbibing His word, and by doing those things which He has commanded for us to do. Thus we become "as one" with Him.
"He that eateth My flesh," He says, "and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." John 6:54, 56, 57. This is no mere outward sacramental rite, but an inward change of heart.
As we contemplate our Lord's great sacrifice, the soul assimilates the spiritual life of Christ. We can this receive spiritual strength from every Communion that we take.
As we partake of the bread and wine, symbolizing Christ's broken body and spilled blood, we will more fully comprehend the meaning of the sacrifice made by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We contemplate what Jesus did for us on the cross and this thought awakens love and gratitude in our hearts for Him. Then pride and self-worship cannot live in the same soul that keeps fresh the memory of the cross. This is what it means to "eat the body and to drink the blood of Christ". We actually must "digest" Him into our hearts which will be worked out in our lives.
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The rabbis said angrily, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" They pretended not to understand His words in the same literal sense as did Nicodemus when he asked, "How can a man be born when he is old?" John 3:4.
In just in the same what that Jesus did NOT MEAN that Nicodemus was to go back up into his mother's womb and be "born again" in a literal sense, so too did He not mean that we have to literally "eat the body and drink the blood" of Christ.
Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." To "dwell in Christ and Christ in you", means the same as the story He told about that He is the Vine and we, the branches. We must constantly abide in Christ- He in us and we in Him.
It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by "drinking" it in, that we are to have our characters changed into His likeness. What food is to the body (in nourishing us), Christ has to be to the soul (spiritually). Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our very being. Jesus will be of no value to us unless we know Him as a personal Saviour. A mere theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His character, must become a part of us.
Jesus said, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." Just as Jesus lived by faith in His Father, we are to live by faith in Christ. Jesus was so fully surrendered to the will of God, that the Father's will alone could be seen in His life.
Jesus SAID what he meant, right after He said it...
John 6:63: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
He said that it isn't the flesh that really means anything... but it is THE WORDS that He speaks to you... His Word, if not brought into the heart and soul, will mean NOTHING to you in the way of salvation, unless brought into our very lives. We must DIGEST His WORD... as if "eating" it.
Listen to Jeremiah:
Jer:15:16: Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Now that doesnt mean Jeremiah sat there at the dinner table, with knife and fork, literally eating the Scriptures. Of course not.
We do not live by physical eating, by physical bread alone... but rather Jesus - the "Bread of Life" ... Jesus and His WORD ... everything God SAYS to us in His word... is to be something we "eat" and LIVE BY:
Deut:8:3: And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that
man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live .
Once again, you can read where the Catholic idea of the Eucharist came from HERE:
http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/monstr.htm
[ February 23, 2003, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: Chrissy ]