#DailyDevotion YHWH Gives Us His True Flesh And True Blood To Eat And To Drink
John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
So as we come to this passage in John we have to recall the earlier readings of chapter six. “Labor for,” “come to,” “look to,” and “eat” all have as their parallel “believe in Jesus.” In this section Jesus also adds “drink.” If you forget these are all parallel to believe you will probably be as confused as the Jews Jesus was speaking.
Now what probably throws them in particular is when Jesus starts saying is flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. But Jesus is referring to himself as a whole. He no mere phantom as some heretics would later on teach. Jesus is truly YHWH in the flesh with real blood. It is in that true flesh and true blood he would be lifted up upon the cross to offer himself as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world. If you didn’t believe Jesus is truly YHWH who in a real human body offers himself as a sacrifice to make peace between God the Father and mankind then you have no life in you. To eat his true body and drink his true blood is to believe who Jesus is and what he has done for you.
Trusting in Jesus makes you one with him and he one with you. The life he offers as a sacrifice for sin he offers to you freely. As the Bread of Heaven, Jesus gives us life eternal. The Israelites who ate the manna they died. They could partake of that food without faith or thanksgiving to the One who gave it to them. But you may only partake of Jesus’ flesh and blood through faith (I’m not speaking of the Lord’s Supper where he gives us his body and blood). When we have faith in Jesus we possess eternal life. So what Jesus tells Mary and Martha later, Joh 11:25 “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Do you believe this? Do you trust Jesus? If so, you will never experience death because you have eternal life within you.
Heavenly Father, ever draw us to your Son Jesus Christ that we may come to him and receive from him his flesh and blood that we may be one with him and have within ourselves eternal life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.