1 Samuel 10:1-11:15
John 6:43-71
Psalm 107:1-43
Proverbs 15:1-3
John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
If you haven't read yesterday's post read it before reading today's. :-)
John 6:52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
Jesus often times spoke in what sounded like riddles to those listening. They did not have the benefit of hindsight that we have. They did not know that end of the story. We do. This if taken literally sounds crazy. But when you look at it metaphorically it speaks of a depth on intimacy that some people are not comfortable with. To bring a part of someone into your life so fully that they are part of you. There are people out there who want what Jesus has to offer but they are not willing to accept the level of intimacy required to be saved. You can't be saved unless you are willing to be changed. To eat of His flesh and drink of His blood means voluntarily taking Him into yourself and in doing so you are inviting the Holy Spirit to live inside you. That begins the process of sanctification that happens as you are willing to let Him change you from the inside out. This internal change happens until Jesus returns when we are also changed on the outside and we are given our eternal bodies.
John 6:66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
There were those who had been following Jesus who did not believe in Jesus at this depth of intimacy and they turned away. I am not talking about those who truly believed but their doubt and fears caused them to turn away like Peter does in His denials. Those are the people I was talking about yesterday. But these are the people that even after hearing the good news and even having experiences with Jesus that make them willing to admit that God exists and that Jesus is the way but they are not willing believe all His teaching. They are holding onto things that stop them surrendering to Jesus. These are the people who go to church every week and they think and live like that is enough but when they come across a teaching in the word that they don't like or a doctrine they don't agree with they walk away from God and the church.
To eat of His body and drink of His blood we must also live of His word even when we don't understand it or like it.
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