◄ What Does John 6:57 Mean? ►

When Adam, the progenitor of the human race, sinned against the living God, fellowship with his Creator was broken forever, and fallen man was eternally separated from God by sin. But in His omniscience, God already knew of man's ruinous choice, and so before the foundation of the world He planned to give His dearly beloved Son to be the only acceptable ransom for the sin of the world. And when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, into the world so that the world through His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection might be saved.

The unbroken fellowship and eternal bond of love that exists between the Father and the Son was to be broken for the first time at that pivotal point in history when, as perfect Son of Man, Jesus was to pay the purchase price for the sin of the whole world.

At the appointed time, Christ was sent into the world. His Father had prepared a body for Him. The Seed of the woman was born of Mary, from the tribe of Judah and the lineage of the house of David. He grew in stature and in favour with God and man, but He was born to die. Throughout His earthly life He walked in spirit and truth, in-dwelt by the Holy Ghost, and only saying and doing only those things that He heard from His Father in heaven. Throughout His earthly life, Christ's face was set as a flint to His eternal destiny, and the Cross drew ever closer.

In Him was life and that life was to be imputed to all who would trust in His name for salvation. This new-life-in Christ was to be breathed into all who would believe in Jesus as their Saviour. God planned in eternity past that whosoever believes in Him by faith was to become part of a new creation in Christ (by means of 'eating' of His flesh and 'drinking' of His blood), and those that were reborn as part of that new creation in Christ would also live because of Him. Whoever was to believe in Him was to become 'bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh', a member of His Body, the Church.

And in the same way that the living God sent the eternal Son into the world to live a life of total dependence upon His Heavenly Father, we too are sent into the world by Jesus to live a life of total dependence upon Him by faith and through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

When the Lord spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood to the unbelieving scribes and hypocritical Pharisees in this passage, He was pointing them to the Cross, where His body was soon to be broken for them and His life blood was soon to be poured out so that whosoever believes in Him by faith might be saved and live.

And today, when the sacrificial offering of Christ on the Cross is believed by faith, His resurrected life is imparted to the one who trust in Him as their substitute for sin: "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, will also live because of Me."

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus into the world to be broken for me on the Cross and to shed His life-blood so that by faith I might live and be imparted with His eternal, resurrected life. To You be all praise and glory, AMEN.