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Humble Hero
to come to Christ. Those who had learned from God had been
listening to His Son, and they would recognize in Jesus of Nazareth
the One who had declared the Father.
When Heaven Begins
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has ever-
lasting life.” And Jesus said, “I will raise him up at the last day.”
Christ became one flesh with us so that we could become one spirit
with Him. As a result of this union, we will come out from the grave,
because through faith His life has become ours. Those who see
Christ and receive Him into the heart have everlasting life. Through
the Spirit, Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received by
faith, is the beginning of eternal life.
The manna that the fathers ate in the wilderness did not prevent
their death nor insure immortality, but the bread of heaven would
feed the soul for everlasting life. The Savior said, “This is the bread
which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.”
Only through dying could Christ give life to us, and He points to His
death as the means of salvation: “The bread that I shall give is My
flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
The Jews did not recognize the Lord’s body in the symbol of the
Passover lamb. The words of Christ taught the same truth, but the
people still did not recognize it.
Now the rabbis exclaimed angrily, “How can this Man give us
His flesh to eat?” To some extent they understood Jesus’ meaning,
but by misinterpreting His words, they hoped to prejudice the people
against Him.
Christ repeated the truth in even stronger language. “Most as-
suredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and
drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
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day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He
who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot
benefit us unless it becomes a part of our being. And spiritually,
a theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon
Christ. We must assimilate His life, His love, His grace.