Cont...John 6 - Feeding of the five thousands...

In typology, a mountain signifies a transcendent position. Moses was brought to a mountain in order to receive God’s revelation (Exo. 24:12). The Lord Jesus went to the top of a mountain when He was transfigured (Matt. 17:1-2). The Apostle John was also brought to the transcendent position of a mountain when he saw the eternal vision concerning the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10). So, in this picture the sea is on a low level, and the mountain is in a transcendent position.

The sea signifies the world corrupted by Satan, and the mountain signifies the high, transcendent position where Christ is and where we must be with Him. The Lord did not feed the people by the sea. He led the multitude to the top of a mountain. If you wish to be fed by Christ and to be satisfied with Christ, you must go with Him to a high place. Satisfaction with Christ depends upon our being led to and fed with Christ on the mountain. The mountain is above both the Satan-corrupted world and the God-created earth. Neither the sea nor the earth is a suitable place for us to feed on Christ. If we are going to feed on Him, we must be transcendent above the Satan-corrupted world and above the God-created earth. If we are to enjoy His feeding, we must be on the mountain with Him.

The Passover in verse 4 signifies Christ as the redeeming Lamb of God who shed His blood for our redemption and gave His flesh for our feeding (1 Cor. 5:7). At the Passover, people slay the redeeming lamb, strike its blood, and eat its flesh (Exo. 12:3-11). This typifies Christ as the redeeming Lamb of God who was slain that we might eat His flesh and drink His blood, thus taking Him in as the life supply for us to live by.

In Genesis 2:9, Christ was typified by the tree of life. The tree of life, belonging to the vegetable life, is good for producing and generating, but has no blood for redeeming. At the time of Genesis 2, man was not yet involved with sin and thus had no need for redemption. However, in Genesis 3 man fell. Immediately after man’s fall, God came in to deal with that fall by slaying sacrificial lambs to redeem Adam and Eve and to make coats of skins to cover their nakedness (Gen. 3:21). Thus, the vegetable life itself is no longer adequate for fallen man; there is the need of the animal life. We need life not only for feeding, but also for redeeming. So, in chapter six of John we firstly have the barley loaf, which belongs to the vegetable life and is good for feeding.

As we shall see, since man has fallen and needs redeeming as well as feeding, the Lord Jesus turned the bread into flesh (6:51b). The bread is made from barley, while the flesh contains blood. Barley bread is of the vegetable life, but the flesh with the blood is of the animal life. Eventually, in John 6 Christ is shown not only as the tree of life signified by the bread, but also as the Lamb of God signified by the flesh and blood. In the Lamb of God there are two elements: the blood for redeeming and the meat, the flesh, for feeding. At the Passover, the people struck the blood and ate the meat. It is the same with us today. We accept Christ in the way of redeeming as well as in the way of feeding. He is both the vegetable life and the animal life, the feeding life and the redeeming life.

5th Case - Feeding of the five thousand cont.

Five Barley Loaves Signifying the Generating Aspect of Christ’s Life

The loaves are of the vegetable life, signifying the generating aspect of Christ’s life. As the generating life, Christ grows in the land, the God-created earth. In order to regenerate us, He grew on the God-created earth for reproducing.

1. Barley Signifying Christ Resurrected

Barley signifies Christ resurrected. According to the Scriptures, barley represents the firstfruit of resurrection. The Lord told His people in Leviticus 23 to offer the firstfruits of their harvest each year. In the land of Palestine, barley ripens earlier than any other crop and is the first of the harvest. Hence, it typifies the resurrected Christ (Lev. 23:10). Therefore, barley signifies the resurrected Christ, who is our life supply. As the firstfruit, He can become our bread of life. So, barley loaves represent Christ in resurrection as food to us. The feeding Christ is the resurrected Christ.

Perhaps someone will ask how Christ could have been resurrected in John 6 when He had not yet been crucified. Even before His crucifixion, Christ was the resurrection. In John 11:25 He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He did not say, “I shall be the resurrection,” for He was the resurrection already. When the Lord told Martha that her brother would rise again, she, through her poor expounding of the Scriptures, postponed the resurrection for two thousand years to the coming age. When she did that, the Lord seemed to say, “I am the resurrection now. With Me, the eternal One, there is no time element. The past, present, and future are all the same to Me.” Eternal means to have no time element. Both before and after His crucifixion, He is the resurrected Christ. It is the resurrected Christ who can be life to us and can be bread to feed us. We are feeding on the resurrected Christ.

2. Five Signifying Responsibility

The number five signifies responsibility, the responsibility of Christ in feeding us. The number five is composed of four plus one. The number four represents the creatures (Rev. 4:6), and the number one represents the Creator (1 Cor. 8:6). The Creator and the creatures added together take responsibility. The number five is not composed of three plus two, but of four plus one. Look at your hand. It is composed of four fingers and a thumb. It would be very awkward if your hand had three fingers and two thumbs. Four fingers with one thumb enable the hand to do many things. The five barley loaves signify that the Lord as the Creator (one) added to the creatures (four) bears the responsibility to feed us. In His humanity, the resurrected Christ bears this responsibility.

The bible app from life church has the amplified version too.

FEEDING OF FIVE THOUSAND cont.

Two Fishes Signifying the Redeeming Aspect of Christ’s Life

The two fishes are of the animal life, signifying the redeeming aspect of Christ’s life. As the redeeming life, He lives in the sea, the Satan-corrupted world. The barley comes out of the land, representing the earth created by God, while the fishes come out of the sea, signifying the world corrupted by Satan.

The Lord Jesus came not only to the earth created by God, but also to the world corrupted by Satan. If He had come only to the earth created by God, He would only have been represented by the barley loaves. But since He also came into the world corrupted by Satan, He is also represented by the two fishes. He had nothing to do with the corrupted world. Just as fish are not salty though they live in salt water, so the Lord was not corrupted by Satan though He lived in the Satan-corrupted world. The Lord is like the fish that can live in the salty environment of the sea without being salted by it. In order to redeem us, He lived in the satanic and sinful world. But yet He was sinless, unaffected by the sinful world. As the generating life, Christ lived as a proper man in the God-created earth. As the redeeming life, Christ lived in the Satan-corrupted world without being affected by its corruption.

The number two means testimony (Rev. 11:3). The two fishes are a testimony that Christ is sufficient to bear responsibility in feeding us.

We have seen that barley, which is of the vegetable life, represents the generating life and that the fish, which are of the animal life, represent the redeeming life. Now we must ask, if the human race had never fallen, would Christ as our regenerating life still have been necessary? Yes. Before the fall of Adam, God put him in front of the tree of life. The tree of life has nothing to do with sin. Therefore, man must take God as his life by eating the tree of life. Even John 12:24 states that the Lord was the one grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died, after which He was raised up to become many grains. This too had nothing to do with sin, for, according to the Scriptures, the vegetable life is to produce or to generate much fruit. The one grain of wheat bears many other grains. Hence, it represents the generating life.

As we have seen, before man fell, he ate only of the vegetable life (Gen. 1:29), but after he fell, he also ate of the animal life (Gen. 9:3). Before the fall there was no need for the shedding of blood. But after man fell he needed the animal life because redemption requires the shedding of blood. The vegetable life was sufficient before man sinned, but after he sinned the animal life became necessary.

The offerings in the Old Testament always had both the vegetable life and the animal life. For example, the Passover had the slain lamb, which represented the animal life, and the unleavened bread, which represented the vegetable life. These two different lives are necessary in order to meet all of our need. Also, the meat offerings of Leviticus were accompanied with the meal offering. The meal offerings were made of fine flour, vegetable oil, and frankincense—items of the vegetable life. In Leviticus, the meal offerings could never be accepted without the meat offerings. That was exactly what Cain did. He only offered vegetables to God and was rejected, while his brother Abel offered the sacrifice of an animal whose blood had been shed and was accepted (Gen. 4:3-5).

We need the Lord Jesus to be both our generating life and our redeeming life. By His death on the cross two things came out of Him—the blood to redeem us and the water to generate us (John 19:34). His shed blood brought redemption to us, and the water from His wounded side imparted His life to us. The five barley loaves were accompanied by the two fishes. It is impossible for barley to shed blood; therefore, it could never redeem us. The two fishes represent the animal life for redemption. The Lord is represented by both the barley loaves and the fishes, for He is our vegetable life to generate us and our animal life to redeem us.

Feeding of the five thousand cont ...

Both Loaves and Fishes Signifying the Smallness of Christ Being the Life Supply to Us

It is interesting to note that the five barley loaves and two fishes came from a small boy, not a big man. This is very meaningful, because the Lord wants to indicate to us that He is our life, not as someone big, but as someone small. Both barley loaves and fishes are small items, signifying the smallness of Christ as the life supply to us. The miracle-seeking people considered Him as the promised prophet (6:14; Deut. 18:15, 18) and would have forced Him to be their king (6:15), but He would not assume the position of a giant in religion. Rather, He preferred to be small loaves and little fishes that He might be small enough for people to eat.

All of this reveals the smallness of Christ. He is small enough for us to eat. Whatever we eat must be considerably smaller than we are. We are much bigger than the bread and fish that we eat. We cannot eat something that is larger than we are. If it were larger than we are, it could eat us. Everything we eat is even smaller than our mouth. If it is larger than our mouth, it must first be cut into pieces. A small boy brought five small loaves and two small fishes. This means that the smallness of the Lord Jesus is most precious to us.

Most Christians, including ourselves, always think of our Lord as someone great. But in John 6 the Lord Jesus does not want to be great. He wants to remain small enough to eat. If the Lord were only great, we could never touch Him. Praise Him that He has become so small! Perhaps you have been a Christian for many years and yet have failed to realize how small the Lord is. To think of the Lord as a great prophet is merely a religious thought. If the Lord only became a great prophet and was enthroned as a great king, He never could have been a little piece of bread. He never could have been our food supply. Before He could become our food, He first had to become small. Thus, He was symbolized by five small barley loaves and two small fishes brought by one small boy. We need to be impressed with the smallness as well as with the greatness of the Lord. He was even born in a small manger, brought up in a small town, and raised in a lowly family. He did not come to be a religious giant. He was a little Nazarene, having nothing to do with greatness or bigness. Oh, He is so small!

Are you bigger or smaller than a piece of bread? You must admit, of course, that a piece of bread is smaller. Since the Lord comes to you as a piece of the bread of life, you must say to Him, “Lord, I praise You that You are smaller than I am. Now You can become my food. If You were greater than I, You could never be my food.” As far as the greatness of our Lord is concerned, of course, no one is as great as He is, but we must also be impressed that as far as the smallness of our Lord is concerned, no one is as small as He is. He is bread that is small enough for us to eat.

In Matthew 15 we see that the Lord not only became the loaves, but also the crumbs, which are small fragments of a loaf. Many of us were not qualified to take Him as loaves. However, surely we are qualified to take Him as crumbs. Do you remember what the woman of Canaan said to the Lord when she asked Him to help her and He said that it was “not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs”? She said, “Yes, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matt. 15:27). The Canaanite woman was not offended by the Lord’s hard words and by the fact that He referred to her as a dog. She seemed to be telling the Lord, “Yes, Lord, I am a Gentile dog, but the Gentile dog has his portion. The children’s portion is on the table, and the dog’s portion is under the table. Lord, You must realize that now You are not on the table but under the table, because the naughty children have cast You away. Now that You are under the table, You can be my portion.” The Lord admired her faith. We all need to enjoy the Lord in such a lowly way. Do not wait to go to heaven to enjoy Him. Get Him from under the table where He is right now. Praise the Lord that on the earth He is so small and available now! He is available at any time according to our appetite. However much we can take of Him, He will be that much to us. And the leftovers always surpass what we can eat.

Twelve Baskets Signifying the Overflow of the Riches of Christ’s Life Supply

This chapter not only brings out the smallness of the Lord, but also the richness of the Lord. Just five loaves are rich enough to feed five thousand people. The twelve baskets left over signify the overflow of the riches of Christ’s life supply, which fed people over one thousand times. That five loaves fed five thousand people means that it fed them one thousand times. According to the Scriptures, the number one thousand signifies a complete unit. For example, one day in the court of the Lord is better than a thousand (Psa. 84:10). One thousand is a full unit. Hence, five loaves can fill five thousand people. This reveals how rich and how unlimited the Lord is. The multitude could eat as much as they wanted, for the supply was unlimited. Even two little fishes were sufficient for all.

Twelve baskets of fragments were left over. Why were there not five, eight, or eleven baskets left over? Because the number twelve signifies eternal completeness and eternal perfectness. This means that even the fragments are eternally full and eternally complete. Even a small, fragmented Christ is full of a richness which can never be exhausted. He is so small and yet so unlimited. Have you ever compared His smallness with His unlimitedness? He is the little Nazarene, yet He has been feeding all of the generations. He has never been reduced. Before the feeding of the five thousand, there were five loaves and two fishes; after the feeding of the five thousand, there were twelve baskets left over. Therefore, after the feeding of the five thousand, more surplus remained than what was there originally. This portrays the richness of Christ, for there is always something left over after the multitude has been fed.

For twenty centuries, Christ has been feeding thousands upon thousands of people. Today, He is still rich, for there are still twelve baskets full. We need the revelation of the richness of the smallness of Christ. In form, He is the five loaves and the two fishes, yet thousands and thousands of people have been eating Him for twenty centuries. And He is still here. He can never be reduced or exhausted. Oh, how we must praise Him for His smallness in form and for His richness without limit!

Ooooo quiet lately...

This post has been edited by pehkay: Aug 15 2013, 08:24 PM

John 6 - THE TROUBLED WORLD AND THE PEACE-GIVING CHRIST

We live in a troubled world. The world is altogether troublesome. Family life, school life, and every type of occupation—all are troublesome. Who is at peace—the president, the senators, the congressmen? No one is at peace. Regardless of whom you are, you are troubled. We all have troubles. Do not boast that your marriage is the best. I do not believe that even one marriage is absolutely good; every marriage is at least somewhat poor. By God’s sovereign ordination, we all must marry—there is no escape—but everyone who is married finds himself in trouble.

Christ comes into this troublesome world as the peace-giving Christ (6:16-21). John 6 not only portrays the hungry world, but also the troubled world. Christ is the feeding Christ to the hungry world and the peace-giving Christ to the troubled world. The world may trouble everyone, but it cannot trouble Him.

A. The Stirred-up Sea and the Blowing Wind Signifying the Troubles in Human Life

The stirred-up sea and the strong blowing wind signify the troubles in human life. Under the sea are demons, and in the air are evil spirits. That is why we have trouble. How could we ever expect to have a peaceful day? We are in the wrong place for that.

B. Jesus Walking on the Sea Signifying His Overruling All the Troubles of Human Life

Jesus walked on the sea (6:19). This signifies that the Lord can overrule all the troubles of human life. He can walk on the troubling waves of human life, and all the unrest is under His feet. Christ walked on top of all the waves. It seemed that the more waves there were, the more He enjoyed walking upon them. The waves terrified His disciples, but He trod upon them. He seemed to say, “Demons, please cause bigger waves. Then I will have more enjoyment. I can walk on top of your waves.” This is the peace-giving Christ.

When the disciples took Him into their boat, immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going (6:21). Do you want to have a peaceful life? If you do, then you must take Jesus into your “boat.” Your “boat” may be your married life, family, or occupation. When He comes into your “boat,” you will enjoy peace with Him on the journey of human life [even though the situation didn't changed]. If you receive Christ into your marriage, your marriage will be peaceful. If you receive Him into your family, your family will be at peace. If you accept Him into your job, your job will be peaceful. Without Christ, the world is hungry. Without Christ, the world is also troubled. But with Him, we have satisfaction and peace. He is the feeding Christ and the peace-giving Christ. Praise the Lord!

Food Abiding to Eternal Life

In John chapter 6, verses 32 through 71, we find the food that abides to eternal life. If we read this portion carefully, we find that the Lord was incarnated, crucified, resurrected to indwell us, and ascended, and we see that He has become the life-giving Spirit who eventually is embodied in His living Word.


Coming to Man by Being Incarnated to Give Life to Man

Verses 35 through 51 reveal that the Lord has come to man by being incarnated that He might give life to man. By what way can we take the Lord as food, as the bread of life? First of all, the Lord said that He “came down from heaven” (6:33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58). By what way did He come down from heaven? He came down by incarnation. He became a man by partaking of flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14). He came in the flesh and He came as a man. The devil and the evil spirits hate this. The only way to test whether or not a person has an evil spirit is to ask the demon or spirit if he would confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). Incarnation is the first step that the Lord took in order to become our life.

Verse 35 says, “Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes in Me shall by no means ever thirst.” The bread of life is the life supply in the form of food, like the tree of life (Gen. 2:9), which is also the life supply “good for food.” He who comes to the Lord shall never hunger, and he who believes in Him shall never thirst. In the principle set forth in chapter two, this also is the changing of death into life. Death is of the source of the tree of knowledge, and life is of the source of the tree of life.

Verse 46 says, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” The Greek preposition translated “from” means “by the side of.” The sense here is “from with.” The Lord is not only from God, but also with God. While He is from God, He is still with God (8:16, 29; 16:32).

In verse 47 the Lord says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has eternal life.” To believe into the Lord is not the same as to believe Him (v. 30). To believe Him means to believe that He is true and real, but to believe into Him means to receive Him and be united with Him as one. The eternal life mentioned in this verse is the divine life, the uncreated life of God, which is not only everlasting as far as time is concerned, but is eternal and divine in nature.

(to be continued)

John 6 - Being Slain to Be Eaten by Man

The Lord’s death was the second step that He took to make Himself available for us to partake of as our food. He died for us, not in an ordinary way, but in a very extraordinary way. He was slain by being crucified on the cross. This death separated His blood from His flesh. Of course, we all know that the Roman Empire used the death penalty of the cross to crucify criminals, but the Jews used this method long before the Roman Empire to slay the lamb at their Passover. They took two wooden bars and formed a cross. They tied two legs at the foot of the cross and fastened the other outstretched legs to the crossbar. Then they slew the lamb so that all its blood was shed. They needed all of its blood to sprinkle on their door frames; therefore, the blood was completely separated from its flesh.

The Lord died in the same manner. In fact, His death occurred at the time of their Passover. We have seen that John 6 was placed in the setting of the Jewish Passover. Thus, the minds of the people were filled with thoughts about the Passover. With this as the background, the Lord told them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Instead of taking the shed blood of the Passover lamb and eating its flesh, they were now to understand that the Lord is the real Lamb for God’s Passover. All of their former Passover lambs were a type of Christ. Now He is the real Lamb who will be slain for them. His blood will be shed for their sins, and His flesh will be eaten for their real life. On the one hand, His blood will redeem them from their sins; on the other hand, His flesh will supply them with life.

The Jews did not understand this and even neglected the Lord as the Lamb of God. But today we know that the Lord is the Lamb of God who died for us, shed His blood for the redemption of our sins, and offered His flesh for us to eat as our life. It is by faith that we take His blood, and it is by faith that we eat His flesh. Then we have Him as our life.

In order to be eaten by man, the Lord had to be slain. Nothing can be eaten unless it has first been killed. So, the kitchen is a place of slaughter. For example, it is impossible for us to eat a live cow or chicken. They must first be killed. Even an onion must first be killed before we can eat it. If it is not killed with a knife, it will be killed by our teeth. Likewise, the Lord had to be slain for us to eat Him.

In verse 51b the Lord says, “And the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” At this point, the bread becomes the flesh. We have seen that the bread is of the vegetable life and is only for feeding and that the flesh is of the animal life and is not only for feeding, but also for redeeming. Before the fall of man, the Lord was the tree of life (Gen. 2:9), only for feeding man. After man fell into sin, the Lord became the Lamb (John 1:29), not only for feeding man, but also for redeeming him (Exo. 12:4, 7-8). The Lord gave His body, that is, His flesh, to die for us that we might have life. The blood is added in verse 53, where the Lord says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” The blood is added here because it is necessary for redemption (John 19:34; Heb. 9:22; Matt. 26:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rom. 3:25).

In verse 54 the Lord says, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day.” Here flesh and blood are mentioned separately. When blood is separate from flesh, it indicates death. Hence, here the Lord clearly indicated His death, that is, His being slain. He gave His body and shed His blood for us that we might have eternal life. To eat His flesh is to receive by faith all that He did by giving His body for us, and to drink His blood is to receive by faith all that He has accomplished by shedding His blood for us. This kind of eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood is to receive Him, in His redemption, as life and the life supply by believing in what He did for us on the cross. By comparing this verse with verse 47, we see that to eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is equal to believing in Him, because to believe is to receive (1:12).

(to be continued)

John 6 cont..

Resurrected to Indwell

We have seen that incarnation is the first step and that crucifixion is the second. Resurrection is the third step by which the Lord has made Himself available as our life. Several times in John 6 the Lord mentions something about “life” and “living.” On the one hand, He said that He was the bread of life; on the other hand, He said that He was the living bread (6:35, 51). What is the difference between the bread of life and the living bread? Perhaps you may feel that both phrases mean the same.

However, the proper way to study the Word is to investigate both phrases and determine the reason for the difference between them. The bread of life refers to the nature of the bread, which is life; the living bread refers to the condition of the bread, which is living. He is the living bread. Although He was crucified and slain, He is still living. He alone is the living One in resurrection. Verse 56 implies the matter of resurrection. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.” This indicates that the Lord had to be resurrected that He might abide in us as our life and life supply. The Lord could not have abode [cf. John 17; abide] in us before His resurrection. He could only abide in us after His resurrection. Thus, verse 56 indicates that He was going to be resurrected and become the indwelling Spirit.

In verse 57 the Lord says, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” Eating is to take food into us to be assimilated into our body organically. Hence, to eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us to be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life. Then we live by Him whom we receive. It is by this that He lives in us as the resurrected One (14:19-20). In principle, this also is the changing of death into life.


Ascended

Ascension follows resurrection. The Lord’s ascension is referred to in verse 62. Responding to His disciples who were murmuring about His words, the Lord said, “What then if you should see the Son of Man ascending where He was before?” Here in this verse His ascension is clearly mentioned. Ascension is the proof of the completion of His redemptive work (Heb. 1:3). The Lord ascended to the Father, and the Father accepted Him. That was a proof that His work on the cross for our redemption was acceptable to the Father. Thus, the Lord was seated at the right hand of the Father. His work on the cross satisfied God the Father.

(To be continued)

John 6 CONT

Becoming the Life-giving Spirit

Verse 63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” At this point, the Spirit who gives life is brought in. After resurrection and through resurrection, the Lord Jesus, who had become flesh (1:14), became the Spirit who gives life, as is clearly mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:45. It is as the life-giving Spirit that He can be the life and life supply to us. When we receive Him as the crucified and resurrected Savior, the Spirit who gives life comes into us to impart eternal life to us.

Many people understand verse 63 incorrectly, thinking that the flesh signifies humanity with its human nature. According to the context, the flesh here refers to the meat of the physical body, the same as in the previous verses where the Lord said that His flesh was edible. The Jews could not understand how He could give His flesh for them to eat. They thought that He would give them the meat of His physical body (v. 52). They did not understand the Lord’s word rightly. To them it was a hard word (v. 60). At this point, the Lord said that it is the Spirit that gives life and that the flesh profits nothing. In other words, the Lord told them that He would become the Spirit. He would not be literally in the flesh, but would be transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. Thus, in verse 63 the Lord explained that what He would give them to eat is not the meat of His physical body; the meat, which is of the flesh, profits nothing. What He would give eternally is the Spirit who gives life, who is Himself in resurrection.

What kind of Christ have you received? Have you received Christ in the flesh or as the Spirit? The Apostle Paul said that formerly some knew Christ in the flesh, but now they know Him in the flesh no longer (2 Cor. 5:16). Now they know Christ as the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Before His death and resurrection, the Lord was incarnated in the flesh; after His death and resurrection, He was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Therefore, the Christ we now receive is not the Christ in the flesh, but the Christ who is the Spirit. When we come to John 20, we shall see that on the evening of His resurrection, He came to His disciples and breathed on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). That was Himself after His resurrection, for after His resurrection He was transfigured into the Spirit. He was no longer in the flesh as He was before His crucifixion. Now He is the Spirit; therefore, they had to receive the Spirit. Before His death, when He was in the flesh, all He could do was be with and among His disciples, but He could not be in them. Now, as the Spirit, it is easy for Him to be within us.

Today, we do not need to contact the Lord physically. Since He is the Spirit, we can contact Him as the Spirit within us. He is the life-giving Spirit. Since He is the Spirit, we can take Him and feed upon Him as our food.

When we receive the Lord Jesus, we get the Spirit who gives life. We can prove this by the matter of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. When we call, “O Lord Jesus,” we receive the Spirit. We call on the Lord Jesus, but we receive the Spirit. Why? Because the Lord Jesus today is the Spirit. The fact that we get the Spirit when we call on the name of Jesus is a strong proof that the Lord Jesus is the Spirit today. Whoever says, “Lord Jesus,” is in the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). Jesus is the name, and the Spirit is the person. The Spirit is the person of Jesus. At this point we need to read John 14:26. “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all things which I said to you.” The Father sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Son. The Spirit is sent in the name of the Son. Who is the Spirit? The Spirit is the person of Jesus. Thus, we have both the name and the person. The best way to get the Spirit is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Whenever you call, “O Lord Jesus,” you receive the person, and the person is the Spirit. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we get the Spirit. The Spirit is the person of the dear Lord Jesus.

John 6 - 4th case cont

Embodied in the Word of Life

Christ (as the bread of life) is embodied in the Word of life. Although the Spirit is marvelous, it is too mysterious. There is a need of something solid, visible, tangible, and touchable, which is, the Word of life. In John 6, verse 63, the Lord says that “the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.”

The “words” in this verse is rhema in Greek, which means the instant and present spoken word. It differs from logos, which means the constant word, as in John 1:1. At this point, the words follow the Spirit. The Spirit is living and real, but rather mysterious, intangible, and difficult for people to apprehend, but the words are substantial. Firstly, the Lord indicated that for giving life He would become the Spirit. Then He said that the words He speaks are spirit and life. This shows that His spoken words are the embodiment of the life-giving Spirit. He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we receive the Spirit who is life.

The Word is outside of us. When I receive the Word into me, it immediately becomes the Spirit. When I speak the Word out, the Spirit once again becomes the Word. When you receive the Word into you, the Word becomes the Spirit once more, and when you speak the Word out, it becomes the Spirit again. When we preach the gospel, we are actually preaching the Word. When people believe the gospel, they believe the Word. As strange as it may seem, when people receive the Word, the Word actually becomes the Spirit within them. For example, if you came to the Lord through John 3:16, you might have prayed, “Lord, I thank You that You are so good to me. You have given Your Son to me.” What happened within you when you believed these words? When you believed these words, something within you was quickened and became living. I do not mean that you received some knowledge in your mentality, but that something became so living in your heart and spirit. You believed the Word, yet you received the Spirit. The Word outside of you became the Spirit inside of you. It was the Word without, but it became the Spirit within. When you listened to the Word and received it, you somehow received the Spirit also. This is very mysterious and marvelous.

The Lord is the Spirit and the Word. The resurrected Christ is the Spirit, the Spirit is the Word, the Word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the resurrected Lord for us to enjoy. Now we know what He is and where He is. Hence, when we contact the Word in spirit, we are actually contacting the Lord Himself as the living bread. When we receive the Word in spirit, we are receiving Christ Himself as the abundant supply of life. Now, day by day, we are participating in this wonderful, resurrected Christ as our food, life, and life-supply. He is the Spirit that gives life and He is the Word of life.

In verse 68 Simon Peter said something very interesting. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” This chapter closes with the Word of life, which is the only way to receive the Lord. The problem today boils down to the Word. If you receive the Word, you will have the Spirit within; if you have the Spirit within, then you have Christ as the inner supply of life.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Aug 29 2013, 07:54 PM

Spiritual gifts are for the Body, the building up with one another .... other than for the Body, for the reality of Body of Christ, they (gifts) are meaningless and vanity

As quoted in 1 Cor 12.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Aug 30 2013, 12:10 PM

John 6 - Last and Conclusion

We have seen all six steps whereby Christ has made Himself available for us to receive: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, becoming the life-giving Spirit, and being embodied in the Word of life. The Lord has been incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, has been transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit, and has been embodied in the Word. The Word is the embodiment of the Spirit of the Lord. You cannot say that you do not know how to contact the Lord, for the Lord has been embodied in the Word. He is the Spirit and the Word. If you receive the Word, you will have the Spirit as your enjoyment of Christ.

The human, religious concept is what the Jews asked in verse 28: “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” Throughout the Scriptures, it is only in this chapter that the religious Jews asked such a question. Religious teaching always exhorts us to do and do. Man’s concept is doing; God’s thought is believing.

The work that God desired and predestinated for us to do is to believe into His Son. The preposition “in” in verse 29 (“on” in KJV) should be translated as “into” according to the Greek text. The Lord Jesus did not tell us to believe Him, but to believe into Him. John 6 shows two ways of believing—to believe Him and to believe into Him. After the Lord answered their question, the Jews retorted in verse 30, saying, “What sign will you do that we may see and believe you? What work will you do?” They said, “Believe you,” but that was not what the Lord said. The Lord told them to “believe into Him.”

The preposition is exactly the same as that used in Romans 6:3 for “baptized into Christ.” As we have seen, to believe Him means to believe that He is true and that everything about Him is right. But to believe into Him means to receive Him and to be united and mingled with Him as one. When you believe into Him, there is a union and a oneness between you and Christ. In other words, you have come into Him and have received Him into you. According to the divine thought, there is nothing for us to do but to believe into Christ and receive Him into us day by day.

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in Him.” For us, the work of God is nothing other than eating Christ, receiving Him, and living by Him. We must be adjusted in our human concept about working for God. Daily we must eat Christ in order to live by Christ. Several times in this chapter the Lord says that he who eats Him shall live by Him (6:51, 57, 58). Today’s problem is not work, but life. What kind of life do you live? Are you satisfied with the life you are living? If you do not eat and drink of Christ, you simply do not have life. If you do not have life, how can you live? Verse 53 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” The divine thought is not to work for God, but to take Christ as our food and drink. By eating and drinking of Christ, we shall be filled with Christ. Then we can properly live for God.

The strongest and strangest sentence in the entire Bible is verse 57. “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” The Lord who is the Almighty God and the Creator of the universe exhorts us to eat Him. Man could never have such a thought. If this word had not been spoken by the Lord, I believe that none of us would possess enough courage to say that we must eat the Lord. Of course, we can say that we must worship and fear the Lord, trust and obey the Lord, pray and work for the Lord. We may use many other verbs to explain what we must do for the Lord, but we would be afraid to think that we should eat Him. We all must eat three meals a day in order to live. In other words, we live by eating. Likewise, we must eat the Lord so that we can live by the Lord. The most important point in the whole chapter of John 6 is that the Lord is our food, the bread of life. To eat Him is not a once-for-all matter. It is a daily matter and even a moment by moment experience of the Lord. Whether in the East or West, people continually eat so that they may live. So, we all must also contact the Lord and eat Him. We are not merely weak people, but hungry people who need the Lord as our life supply. The Lord is edible because He is the bread of life. He is as edible as a piece of bread. We must exercise our spirit to feed on Him as the Word and as the Spirit. Then we shall receive Him into us, digest Him, experience Him, and apply Him moment by moment. This is all—there is nothing else. We must forget about our doing and our working and learn to eat Christ and live by what we have eaten of Him. This is the divine way of life for our daily living.

John - 6th case - introduction

In the sixth case, we have the need of the thirsty. This case is in contrast with the fifth case, the need of the hungry. In the previous case the Lord is clearly revealed as the bread of life to satisfy our hunger, but in this case the Lord brings the flow of living water to quench our thirst. In the fifth case the people are hungry, but in the sixth case they are thirsty. The fifth case presents the living bread, and the sixth case introduces the living water. The bread of life is for hungry people, and the rivers of living water are for thirsty people. For the thirsty, Christ is the quenching life. He is the very life that is able to quench man’s thirst.

The thought that the Lord is our food and water is seen throughout the Scriptures. For example, in Genesis 2 the tree of life is a picture of the Lord as our life supply of food. Beside the tree of life in Genesis 2 there is the river of water, which is a portrait of the Lord bringing us the rivers of living water. In other words, this pictures the Lord’s purpose in the creation of man is that man must eat and drink. If he fails to eat, he will become hungry, and if he fails to drink, he will become thirsty. The Lord is the food to satisfy our hunger, and He has the living water to quench our thirst.

Later in the Scriptures, the children of Israel, as they traveled through the wilderness, also had both food and water. On the one hand, they had the manna from heaven as their daily food (Exo. 16:14-15); on the other hand, they had the living water flowing from the smitten rock to quench their thirst (Exo. 17:6).

In the Gospel of John, the Lord also is the living bread and He offers the living water to satisfy the hunger and the thirst of the multitude. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the three Persons of the Triune God, are very much related to this matter of food and water. God the Father is the source, God the Son is the food, and God the Spirit is the drink. The first Person of the Triune God is the source of the second Person as the food, from whom the third Person flows out as the drink.

First Corinthians 10:3-4 also points out these two things. There, Christ Himself is the spiritual food and He is the smitten rock from which flows the spiritual drink. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual drink flowing out of the crucified Christ. Therefore, Christ is our food, and the Holy Spirit who flows out of Christ is our drink.

Finally, we come to the end of the Scriptures, where we see the New Jerusalem. Again, the flow of the living water is the Holy Spirit, and the tree of life growing in the flow is Christ (Rev. 22:1-2). Hence, there is a line running throughout the whole Scriptures showing us that Christ is our spiritual food, that the Holy Spirit is our spiritual drink, and that man needs both to eat and to drink in order to satisfy his hunger and thirst.

The Gospel of John is a book of pictures. The writer used figures and pictures as well as plain words because the matters of life are too deep, profound, mysterious, and abstract. If John had only used plain words, it would have been difficult for people to probe into the riches. So John, under God’s inspiration, used various pictures. In chapter four we have a picture of a thirsty Savior and a thirsty sinner meeting at Jacob’s well. In chapter five we see a multitude of sick, blind, lame, and withered people waiting by a pool. In chapter six we see a wilderness, a mountain, and a stormy sea. On the sea is a boat, tossed to and fro, and the people in the boat are terrified. Suddenly a man comes to them walking upon the waves. This is the man who fed the hungry crowd with five loaves and two fishes. In chapter seven we see still another picture.

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John - 6th Case -THE SCENE OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES (chapter seven)

In Contrast with the Scene of the Feast of the Passover in Chapter Six

The sixth case is a continuation of the fifth case, because the matter of food is related to water. Here, there is also another contrast. In the scene of the fifth case, there was the feast of the Passover. In the scene of this case in chapter seven, there is the feast of Tabernacles. The feast of the Passover is the first of the annual Jewish feasts, and the feast of Tabernacles is the last (Lev. 23:5, 34).

The feast of the Passover, as the first feast of the year, implies the beginning of man’s life (cf. Exo. 12:2-3, 6), which involves man’s seeking for satisfaction and results in man’s hunger. The feast of Tabernacles, as the last feast of the year, implies the completion and success of man’s life (cf. Exo. 23:16), which will end and result in man’s thirst. In the scene of the feast of the Passover, the Lord presented Himself as the bread of life, which satisfies man’s hunger. In the scene of the feast of Tabernacles, the Lord promised that He would flow forth the living water, which quenches man’s thirst.

The feast of the Passover occurred early in the year, when the people were working and laboring hard. The case of the feeding of the five thousand finds the people working to fill their hunger, but failing to be satisfied. They labored, they worked, they sought something to satisfy, but they failed. The feast of Tabernacles, on the contrary, occurred at a time when the harvest was over. The people had reaped the corn and the wine (Deut. 16:13-14). Everything of the harvest had been reaped, and the people were to come together at the feast of Tabernacles and enjoy everything with their families and even with their servants. We must realize that during the feast of Tabernacles the people do not labor because the work is over, the crop has been reaped, and the corn and wine have been harvested. That was the time to rejoice in their enjoyment—but they were still thirsty![ The sixth case reveals that their thirst was not quenched even by their success.

If you read the verses concerning the Passover in Exodus 12, you will see that the Passover indicates or implies the beginning of life. The Passover, of course, is for salvation. When we were saved, we had a new start. The Passover was always in the first month of the year. Hence, it marked a new beginning. In a sense, all of the young people are in the Passover, for their life has just begun and they have many high expectations. Although perhaps you have not yet graduated from college, you expect that after graduation you will be a professor, doctor, or attorney. This is the feast of the Passover. We have already seen that the feast of the Passover always ends in hunger. After your graduation there will be nothing but hunger. The higher position you attain in your profession, the more hunger you feel. The more money you earn, the more dissatisfied you will be. In John 6, the feast of the Passover, as the initial step in life, ends in hunger.

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John - 6th Case

THE SCENE OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

Signifying the Completion and Success of Life with Its Enjoyment in a Religious Way

After the full harvest of their crops, the Jewish people observed the feast of Tabernacles to enjoy what they had reaped in the worship of God (Exo. 23:16; Deut. 16:13-15). Hence, this feast signifies the completion, achievement, and success of man’s career, study, and other matters of human life, including religion, with the joy and enjoyment thereof. Thus, the feast of Tabernacles implies the completion of your job, achievement, and career. Although you may be successful in your occupation or career, you must realize that it will all issue in thirst.

Eventually, after working your entire life, you will be thirsty, because everything has a last day. Everything ends. The last day is always a great day. After people attain a certain success, other people will give them a memorial day. A person’s memorial day is always his last day. It is the end, and the end is empty. It results in thirst. In John 6 we have the beginning of life, which results in hunger; in John 7 we have the success and completion of life, which end in thirst. The previous case sets forth the people laboring, working, seeking, and striving to find something to satisfy their hunger, but they fail to get it. This case sets forth the people already having everything they need, but they find that it does not quench their thirst. They have obtained everything; they have enjoyed everything. But with all of their success, with all of their gain, even with all of the things connected with their feasts-their religion and their temple—their thirst cannot be quenched. Therefore, these two cases compare those who are working with those who are resting. Nevertheless, regardless of whether you are working or resting, you cannot fill your hunger or quench your thirst.

However, the Lord is the food to the people who labor and He will afford living water to those who rest. Actually, humanity exists in only one of two conditions. One is that because they lack something they must seek, work, strive, and labor; the other is that because they have everything they may rejoice and enjoy their riches. In other words, at first you find that you do not have anything; therefore, you must work and labor hard. For example, perhaps you are in the first year of college and you have to labor over your studies. This is like the feast of the Passover. After you have graduated and received your degree and have an excellent occupation, you are rich. This is like the feast of Tabernacles because the work and labor are over. Now you are at rest and are in the position to rejoice and enjoy the benefits of your labor.

Which feast are you attending—the feast of the Passover or the feast of Tabernacles? Regardless of which feast you are attending, you are still hungry or thirsty. Whether you are in a poor or rich condition, whether you are in a state of poverty or plenty, you will realize that you are either hungry or thirsty.

Perhaps as a young person you are considering marriage. This reveals that you are hungry for a wife, hungry for a helpmate, hungry for a family and children. Even if you have marry the best wife, have the best children, and possess the best of everything, you will eventually be seventy or eighty years old. That will be your feast of Tabernacles in which you will rejoice in everything and enjoy everything. At that time, you will discover that nothing has been able to quench your thirst. At the Passover, you were hungry, but after the feast of Tabernacles, you were still thirsty. When you made out your application for college, you were hungry, but after your graduation, you were still thirsty. When you were first married, you were hungry, but now, after you are married, you sense that you are still thirsty.

If you see the thought concerning these two feasts, you will see the two phases of man’s condition and the two aspects of Christ as our supply of life. On one hand, He is the bread of life while we are laboring; on the other hand, He supplies us with the living water while we are resting. Once you see this thought, you will understand the whole of John 7. Although it is a long chapter, it is brief in thought. The thought is that when you have succeeded in all of your achievements, when you have enjoyed all of your possessions, when you have rejoiced in all of your best circumstances, you will then realize that your thirst has not been quenched. Nothing is adequate to quench your thirst. Only the Lord can quench your thirst by affording you the living water.

Gospel of John 6th Case - cont

LIFE’S CRY TO THE THIRSTY ONES

The Last Day Signifying the Ending of All the Enjoyment of Any Success of Human Life

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood and cried out to the thirsty ones (7:37-39). The last day signifies the ending of all the enjoyment of any success in human life. Regardless of the kind of success you have, there will be a last day. For instance, although you may have a marvelous marriage, your marriage will not last forever.

The phrase “the last day” occurs in both chapters six and seven (6:39-40; 7:37). However, these are two different kinds of last days. The last day in chapter six is the ultimate last day in the remote future when the Lord will raise us up. The last day in chapter seven refers to the many last days during our human life. The greatest last day is in the future, but before that day, during our human life, there are many last days. There will be a last day for an article of clothing that you value; there will be a last day for your marriage. Everything has its last day. The feast of Tabernacles continued for seven days, but the seventh day was the last day of the feast. The last simply means an end. Regardless of how wealthy you are, there is an end. Regardless of how healthy you are, there is an end. There is a last day for your riches, a last day to your health, a last day with your family, a last day with your dear wife or husband, a last day with your parents, a last day with your children, a last day with all of your circumstances—in short, a last day!

When I reached the age of forty, people began to tell me, “Life begins at forty.” But others told me, “Brother, you must realize that after forty, life is in the afternoon. When you were born, life began at dawn. At forty, life has reached the noon hour. After forty, life is in the afternoon. Probably sometime after sixty, life will be ended.” Sooner or later, there will come the last day of life.

Look at the picture. Israel labored for the whole year until they harvested the corn and wine. They received everything by the labor of their hands. Finally, their labor was over, and all that was left for them to do was to come together and enjoy their harvest for seven days. The seventh day was their biggest day, yet it was the end. The last day was the day that they were all dismissed.

John 6th Case cont..

The Cry to Come and Drink

While the people were being dismissed on the last day of the feast, the Lord stood up and cried, “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink” (7:37). Can you imagine how crazy the Lord is? It should be everyone has ate and drank to the fullest, yet the people were not satisfied. The things that they were enjoying during the past seven days had failed to quench their thirst. If they would come and drink of Christ, they would have rivers of living water flowing out from within their innermost being. The living water is the Holy Spirit who will flow out of the smitten rock.

As we shall see, when the Lord spoke these words, the Holy Spirit was “not yet,” because the Lord had not yet been smitten and had not yet been glorified (7:39). What does it mean for the Lord to be glorified? It simply means that He was to be resurrected (Luke 24:26). The Lord was transfigured from His frail body into a glorious Spirit by means of His death and resurrection. Before the cross, the Lord was the rock, but He was not yet smitten or crucified on the cross. When He was crucified and resurrected, the living water flowed out of Him and into us in order to quench our thirst. At the last day of your feast—at the end of your rejoicing and enjoyment when you still feel thirsty—you must come to this Jesus and receive the living water to quench your thirst.

The Flow of Rivers of Living Water

The Lord Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (7:38). In 4:14 the Lord said that whoever drinks of the water that He gives us will have in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. In chapter seven the Lord goes somewhat further, saying that anyone who drinks of Him will have the flow of the rivers of water of life. The Lord did not speak of just one flow but of rivers. The unique river of living water is the Holy Spirit. Out of this unique river, many rivers will flow out. These “rivers of living water” are the many flows of the different aspects of life (cf. Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:13; Gal. 5:22-23) of the one unique “river of water of life” (Rev. 22:1), which is God’s “Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2). One river is the river of peace, and other rivers are joy, comfort, righteousness, life, holiness, love, patience, and humility. I do not know how many rivers there are. These rivers of living water flow out from the depths of our being. This is Christ as life. In the principle set forth in chapter two, this flowing of the rivers of living water is also the changing of death into life. Death is of the source of the tree of knowledge, and life is of the source of the tree of life.

What would happen if we came to a meeting and we all sat there without the flow of living water? It would surely be a dead meeting. If no one had anything to flow out, death would be prevailing. However, if everyone would flow with some rivers, eventually the meeting would be flooded over. It would be full of life. This is the changing of death into life.

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This post has been edited by pehkay: Sep 18 2013, 10:07 AM