Evening Reading for March 20 John 6:48-59 Suggested further reading: Hebrews 9:11-14 Few passages of Scripture have been so painfully wrested and perverted as that which we have now read. The Jews are not the only people who have striven about its meaning. A sense has been put upon it which it was never intended to bear. Fallen man, in interpreting the Bible, has an unhappy aptitude for turning meat into poison. The things that were written for his benefit, he often makes an occasion for falling. Let us consider carefully what these verses do mean. The expressions they contain are, no doubt, very remarkable. Let us try to get some clear notion of their meaning. The `flesh and blood of the Son of man mean that sacrifice of his own body, which Christ offered up on the cross, when he died for sinners. The atonement made by his death, the satisfaction made by his sufferings as our Substitute, the redemption effected by his enduring the penalty of our sins in his own body on the tree — this seems to be the true idea that we should set before our minds. The `eating and drinking, without which there is no life in us, means that reception of Christs sacrifice which takes place when a man believes on Christ crucified for salvation. It is an inward and spiritual act of the heart and has nothing to do with the body. Whenever a man, feeling his own guilt and sinfulness, lays hold on Christ and trusts in the atonement made for him by Christs death, at once he `eats the flesh of the Son of man, and drinks his blood. His soul feeds on Christs sacrifice by faith just as his body would feed on bread. Believing, he is said to `eat. Believing, he is said to `drink. And the special thing that he eats and drinks and gets benefit from is the atonement made for his sins by Christs death for him on Calvary. For meditation: Food left on a plate is of no benefit to the body. When Christ is not received by faith he is of no benefit to the soul.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:09:33 +0000
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