Are You Drinking the Blood of Christ?
Taking in the free
waters of life...
Written: July 2022
Jesus distressed and angered a group of listeners when he told them they needed to eat his flesh in order to please God. They became irritated because they failed to understand his illustration, or perhaps, because they just didn't want to hear what he was telling them. Rather than alter his tack because of their rebuke, Jesus doubled down and told them not only did they need to eat his flesh, but to drink his blood as well... Jesus said to them: John 6:51-53 GNB "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live." (52) This started an angry argument among them. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked. (53) Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves."
Many of those people left off following Jesus because he told them they needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood. (John 6:66) Why would he tell them they need to eat his flesh and drink his blood when he could see it was upsetting to them? Had they done something to deserve the way they were treated? Jesus was in their midst teaching he was the son of God; come to teach them what they needed to know to gain everlasting life. (John 3:16‑18) He had been healing the sick and raising the dead to prove he was God's Messinger! (Mat‑4:23‑24) It is thus obvious those grumblers hadn't really been listening to Jesus, so as to comprehend his teaching... In view of his mighty works, shouldn't they have taken time and put forth effort to understand his illustration?
How about you? Are you drinking the blood and eating the flesh of Jesus Christ? Have you put forth effort to understand what that even means; as well as how to do it? To appreciate what Jesus meant, you might begin reading where he introduced the teaching. Christ's command to eat his flesh and drink his blood actually stems from a question put to him by that group, when they had earlier asked what they needed to do to please God. (John 6:28‑29) Jesus answered saying all they needed do was listen to the one God sent to teach them. (Mat 17:5; John 12:49) Unsatisfied with Jesus's answer, no doubt because of selfish motives, they asked for a miraculous sign in order to believe. They greedily referenced the well known miracle God did for their forefathers when He gave them manna (bread) from heaven to eat for 40 years in the wilderness. (Exo 16) [The Old Testament exists, remember, as a tutor to lead us to Christ. (Gal‑3:23‑26)] Knowing their selfish motive, Jesus explained how the manna from heaven miraculously provided their forefathers really served as an illustration to help them understand the importance of what he was sent to teach: The words of Jesus are the true spiritual food coming down from heaven. As Jesus told them:
John 6:28-35 GNB So they asked him, "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?" (29) Jesus answered, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent." (30) They replied, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? (31) Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " (32) "I am telling you the truth," Jesus said. "What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. (33) For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (34) "Sir," they asked him, "give us this bread always." (35) "I am the bread of life," Jesus told them. "Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.
So... Jesus had explained the thing his hearers needed to do to please God was listen to God's son, but even with the miracles they saw him do, they weren't satisfied with his answer. Under those circumstances, then, he went on to say eating the true bread from heaven could be likened to eating his flesh and drinking his blood. There are many other scriptures that draw attention to the importance of taking in or feeding on the words of Christ. His words are the source of life! Jesus actually and plainly said his words "are spirit and are life":
John 6:63 ESV It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Something else Jesus said can help. He said his own "food" was for him to do the will of his father and to finish his work. (John 4:31‑34) Because of that attitude, illustrating his great love for and obedience to his Father, the Bible tells us Jesus was given life within himself. (John 5:25‑30) Having life within himself, Jesus is no longer dependent on his Father to sustain his life. He has God's spirit within himself to do whatever he needs to do, including giving life to you and me. Jesus said there in John 6:52 and 53 that if we believe in his words, "we" can have life in ourselves. I don't presume to know exactly what that means, until God helps us understand, but I'm pretty sure it's a really good thing.
I also know in Jesus's case, having life within himself has to do with his decision to make his "food" the doing of his Father's will. In our own case, it has to do with our recognizing our absolute need to feed on Christ...
Taking Waters of Eternal Life Free!
After saying he is the bread from heaven and that we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and that his words are spirit and life, Jesus also said he is, or brings "life giving waters;" waters that impart everlasting life. (John 4:5‑26; John 7:37‑39) When talking with a Samaritan woman at a well, Jesus told her he could give her "waters of life." After miraculously being told things by Jesus that proved he was speaking with God's authority, her first question was about her form of worship; verses his Jewish ways. She was obviously a spiritual person, and not just one of those who came looking for some miraculous gift from Jesus. What she wanted was knowledge of truth; and that's what he was telling her. Jesus went on to explain to her (and the rest of us) neither "her" form of worship, nor "his" previous form of worship, was any longer acceptable. Starting from the time Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, people needed to realize they must worship God as individuals in "spirit and truth." Neither Judaism or any other form of worship would any longer be acceptable. Very different from any other form of worship, Christians "worship" God "in spirit" because Jesus said no one can come to (learn from) him unless they are first drawn to him by his Father's spirit. (John 6:44a) They also "worship in truth" because what Jesus taught is truth! (John 18:37b‑38) The woman said she had known Messiah was coming and that he would teach them all things openly. (She thus demonstrated she understood the life giving waters Jesus offered her to be his teachings!) Jesus confirmed he was that Messiah, and he was teaching her what she needed to gain life. The teachings of Jesus, then, are the waters of life. (John 4:5‑26) And as we considered in previous scriptures, his teachings are also his flesh and his blood, and the true bread that came down from heaven...
Most churches try and make this all seem so complicated. Modern Religionists have concocted elaborate "selfish" schemes about what drinking Christ's blood and eating his flesh means. (Luke 22:7‑20) They are selfish in that they want you to believe you need "special" humans (humanly elevated members of their religious sect - Mat 23:1‑15) to provide you with Jesus's flesh and blood, and/or, that you need them to explain and govern your partaking of Christ's flesh and blood. Such teachers are false Christ's. Don't be deceived by them: Jesus did very specifically warn YOU about them. (Mat 24:28 of 23‑28) They fabricate your need for them to teach you because they are just like the people we read about Jesus talking to there in John 6 and that he warned about in Mat 23:1-15. Their real motive is to get you to misunderstand and misapply Jesus's teachings in order to get something for themselves: They want you to give (tithe) them your valuable things (your money and your time and your worship)! To glorify themselves and make you think you need them, they misapply another teaching by Jesus in verse 19 of Luke 22:7‑20. Jesus was actually reinforcing our understanding of our need to eat his flesh and drink his blood; by taking in God's spirit living within Christ's words. (John 6:63b; Heb 4:12‑13) He was not creating a new holiday for Doeg religious leaders to officiate. He was encouraging us to remember the new covenant with every meal, until he rejoined us in eating and drinking in the Kingdom of his Father. (Rev 3:12-13; Rev 21:1-4) As for you, whatever you are fortunate to learn about Christ, share freely with everyone. (Mat 10:7‑8) Never allow anyone to believe they need "you" to know or to please God. (Acts 12:21‑23) This is all just really simple: Jesus came to sacrifice his life to bring us the truth that gives us eternal life. (John 18:37b; John 3:16‑21) The value of Jesus's life can thus be thought of as existing in the teachings he left. (2 Sam 23:17 of 13‑17) His body, or remains, then, consists of his teachings as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus said his return, in the midst of his enemies (those many false teachers - Psa 110:1‑2), would be marked by every individual truly searching for God being awakened by (and drawn to) the light shining out of darkness from the Gospels. (John 12:34‑36; John 3:19; Php 2:12‑18) Put simply, all Christian people are being gathered into one group, gathered to feed on Christ's body (his teachings). (Luke 17:37) The tribulation destroying our world is forcing all sensible people to turn toward the teachings of God, found only in Christ (God's son is called the word of God - Rev 19:13). Everyone loving life and desiring to see good days (1 Pet 3:10‑12) must understand, listening to and learning what Christ said is eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It is feeding on the bread that came down from heaven. It is also taking in the waters of everlasting life. What about you?
If you want to live forever, (1 Pet 3:10‑12) recognize God's very simple solution for you; and for me! Hear God's command to listen to his son. (Mat 17:5) And then, do exactly that! Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; not once but to familiarity. Recognize you take in God's spirit contained in the words of his son, (John 6:63b) and so find healing joy and peace in reading Christ's words. (John 15:11‑16) As this world's tribulation continues to escalate and kill people by the thousands and tens of thousands, (Psa 91:7‑8 of 1‑16) rely on your hope in God as you run your mind back and forth over Jesus's words; and then, stay alive by your faith in those words. (Mat 9:20‑22) Meditate on all the times Jesus told people it was their faith that healed or helped them. (Mat 9:22; Eph 2:8; Mark 10:52; Luke 7:50; Luke 17:19; Luke 18:42; Acts 14:9; Luke 8:48 of 42‑48; John 7:37‑39; John 19:34) It would be nice handy if I thought I could tell you some of these humanly exalted Priests, Preachers, Elders and other clergymen, are going to wake up and start sharing this simple truth with you; and with the rest of the world... I do keep hoping! Sad fact is, I fear most have hopelessly chosen (Heb 6:4‑6) to be led away from these simple teachings of Christ by their own specific religious sectarian doctrine. (2 Thes 2:8‑12) You should realize, there may not be a huge large significant percentage of people now alive who will survive this tribulation. (Luke 17:26‑30) But, YOU can! (Job 33:13‑30; Psa 37:29 of 27‑29; Psa 37:10‑11) Don't be deceived by leaders among Religionists. (Mat 24:21‑28) Your hope and salvation is not tied to being an approved member of any sect. Your destruction might be! Christ's church is made up of individuals and it's roll is kept only in heaven. If you are to survive, it must be as an individual, and by your personal faith in what you actually "know" Christ taught. Only an understanding of Christ's words (gained by feeding on his flesh and blood or drinking his life giving water) can give you that hope, the hope of eternal life.
We are all caught up in a world full of people, including Christ himself, trying to convince us what is right and wrong. Choose Christ! (Deu 11:26‑28) Listen only to Jesus Christ! Understand you can only do that by reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; many times over, to the point of knowing Christ. (John 15:11-16; Rom 15:5-6; Philip 2:5-11; 1 Cor 2:14-16)
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