We are told at the beginning of John 6 that the Passover time was drawing near in Israel (Jn. 6:4). This helps to explain the Lord’s meaning in these often misunderstood words. In the celebration of the Passover, the Israelites were not only to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintel of their houses, but they were also to feed upon the lamb within the house. They were to roast the lamb with fire and then eat it. In speaking of eating His flesh, the Lord was speaking of Himself as the true Passover Lamb, as well as the Bread of Life. He not only sustains life as natural food does, but He gives life.

Whatever we eat and drink naturally becomes part of us; we appropriate it for the good of our physical bodies. In eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood, we appropriate Him for ourselves. In other words, we believe in Him. However, it is believing not only in Him but in the fact that He died for us. The thought of the flesh and the blood being separated speaks to us of His death. So it is believing in Him, and His death in our place, that gives us life.

Of course, we also know Him now as risen from the dead. The life that we receive from Him is also sustained by feeding on Him. How do we do this? By reading and meditating in the word of God and seeking God’s help to see Christ in what we read. As is often said, there is nothing in this world to sustain the life eternal which we have. It is only nourished as we feed and meditate on Him and set our minds and affections on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1–2).