What does Jesus mean by the sayings recorded in John, Chapter Six? How do we eat Christ ? First of all, we must realize that Christ is alive today—right now. He is the Divine Nature, the Substance of the Godhead.

Eating Christ means eating the living, Divine Nature. Eating Christ means eating Christ. To eat Christ is to partake spiritually of the living Word of God. It is a spiritual process and is different from the mental process of gaining knowledge from the reading of the words of a book.

Christ, the incorruptible Seed in us, must be renewed continually by contact with the external Christ—with Him who is at the right hand of the Father. Sometimes Christ comes to us through our Scripture reading. Sometimes He comes while we are in supplication or worship; sometimes in the sacrament of Communion. On other occasions, Christ comes to us as we read Christian literature or as we go about our tasks each day.

When we make an effort to contact Him, and keep ourselves in a spiritual condition in which He can communicate with us, He does come to us. He, Christ, the living Word, comes to us through the Holy Spirit. He feeds us with His body and gives us to drink of His atoning blood.

Christ takes of Himself and feeds His own Life that is being formed in us. The new man of our heart takes of the Substance of Christ as a plant takes sunshine, water and minerals. The life of Christ that is being formed in us must have continual contact with Christ who is at the right hand of God in Heaven.

We Christians must use our will and judgment to insure that we keep ourselves in the place where our Beloved can come to us and feed us with the Living Bread from Heaven. This is the meaning of the showbread in the Holy Place. It typifies the flesh of Christ that He gives for the life of the world.

The Apostles felt the need to give themselves to "prayer, and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4).

The Word feeds the inner man of the Christian.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1,2)

The enormous creative energies of the Word are described in the next verse of John:

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)

There is no life apart from the Word. Mankind is dependent absolutely on the Word—Christ.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

The Word of God became the flesh of the body of Christ.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

If we would live we must eat the Word—eat the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood.

Then Jesus said unto them, 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. (John 6:53,54)

To be continued.