Scripture reading: John 6:48-51
The whole operation of the third church realm, as represented with the Table of Shewbread in the Tabernacle of Moses, is a type of man feasting on Christ.
John 6:48-51, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
This does not merely represent man feasting on the word of God from the pages of the Bible, BUT it represents man feasting on the living CHRIST Himself. Feasting on Christ is a spiritual business, not a memorizing of scriptures or any other physical act, but an entering into the Spirit, and a submission to the Spirit of God, who is able to feed us with the living word.
We feed upon Jesus Christ in three dimensions.
(1) The Christ Within – Christ is in the Holy Ghost. When the believer receives the Holy Ghost, he receives Him in his spirit. Immediately, the Holy Ghost begins to energize the soul, so that the Christ might enter. The still, small voice within the soul of the believer should be nurtured and obeyed. Very often, our tendency is to obey the voices from without, and to reject the voice within. As a matter of fact, the majority of the churches teach that we must obey our leaders, and that women must obey their demon-possessed husbands, no matter what they say or what they do. I am teaching that we obey the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost in the believer will lead us to obey good and not evil. If a woman takes this as license to rebel against her husband, or if any Christian takes this as encouragement to rebel against his leader, then that Christian is not hearing the voice of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost leads us into all truths.
(2) We feed on the Christ in the body of believers. Those who have gone before left us very real teachings and examples which we should keenly observe and follow. Since there are so many counterfeits, we have to depend on the Holy Ghost. God, therefore, will send to the body the necessary spiritual food they need. In the assembly, there is a movement of the Spirit, which cannot be found anywhere else. Where the two or three are gathered together, the Spirit will move with gifts and blessings which are not present anywhere else. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). Two words stand out in this quotation: “ourselves,” and “together.” “Ourselves” in this passage means those who are one with you in the Spirit, and “together” means being in one accord. On many occasions, many assemble, but they are not together and they are not the “yourselves.” Sometimes we gather together under man’s auspices, and man dictates the terms upon which we meet, therefore God is secondary in the gathering or the assembly. Every assembling of Christians must have God as King of the congregation, and He must be thus recognized in our gatherings. The following scripture will bear this point out.
Matthew 18:19-20, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
This passage clearly shows that Jesus Christ attends our meetings, and that the key of our gathering is being “together.”
(3) We feed on Christ in a third dimension in His presence and person. This means that the man Christ Jesus is walking about our houses, in our bedrooms, in our dining rooms, in our living rooms and in our churches. He is not there as a visitor to whom we will show kindness, but as Lord and King. If this is so, then we WILL feed on Him night and day, sleeping or waking.
(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 92-94)
Thought for today: If we make Jesus our Lord and King, we will feed on Him night and day, sleeping and waking.
Sonlight Devotional 