Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:4 indicates that Christ is the rock flowing with the spiritual drink: “All drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” The spiritual drink here refers to the living water that flowed out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6), which typifies the Spirit as our all-inclusive drink (John 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 12:13). We should all drink the same spiritual drink, not drinking anything other than the all-inclusive Spirit.
Through incarnation Christ came to earth as the rock. At Calvary He was crucified, smitten by God’s law with its power and authority. His side was cleft (John 19:34), and living water flowed forth for us to drink. This living water is the Spirit, the ultimate issue of the Triune God. This spiritual drink quenches our thirst and fully satisfies our being.
Literally, the Greek words rendered “a spiritual rock which followed” are “a spiritual following rock.” The rock that was smitten and cleft to flow out the living water for God’s chosen people was a physical rock. Yet Paul calls it a spiritual rock because it typifies Christ smitten and cleft by God to flow out the water of life to satisfy the thirst of His believers. Hence, Paul says that the rock was Christ. Because it was a spiritual rock signifying Christ, it was able to follow the children of Israel. This indicates that Christ as the real rock is following the believers.
We should not regard the eating and drinking of Christ as mere parables or metaphors. These are facts. Daily, even hourly, we should eat and drink of the Lord Jesus. In John 6 the Lord says that He came from heaven to be our food. This is not a parable or a metaphoric utterance; it is a divine fact. In John 7:37 and 38 He goes on to say that whoever thirsts may come to Him and drink and that out of his inner being will flow rivers of living water. This also is a heavenly fact.
Although eating and drinking are very common in our daily living, in the Bible they are matters of crucial significance. It is by our eating and drinking of Christ that God works Himself into us. By eating and drinking we take the Lord in, and He becomes one with us organically. As we eat and drink certain elements, those elements are taken into us and become one with us in substance and essence. As we eat and drink, our food becomes one with us organically, and, when it has been digested and assimilated, it actually becomes part of our being, our very fiber and tissue. Realizing this will help us to see the importance of eating and drinking the Lord. We all need to eat Him and drink Him.
According to the biblical record, drinking is more important than eating. In the Scriptures more is said about spiritual water, or the water of life, than about spiritual food. If we are enlightened by the Lord, we shall realize that we need drinking even more than eating. For this reason, in 1 Corinthians Paul emphasizes drinking more than eating. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 he says that we have been given to drink of one Spirit. Actually, drinking includes eating. This means that the spiritual food is included in the water of life. Without the water of life, we cannot have spiritual food. Therefore, if we fail to drink, we shall not be able to eat.
According to Revelation 22:1 and 2, the tree of life grows in the river of water of life. This reveals that wherever the water of life flows, there the tree of life grows. The fact that the river flows from the throne and that the tree grows in the river indicates that the spiritual drink is even more crucial than the spiritual food. To the believers Christ is both spiritual food and the rock flowing with the spiritual drink.
In His person to the believers Christ is also light. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” It is absolutely true that the life is the light. When we called on the name of the Lord Jesus, receiving Him into us, the divine light came into our being. Immediately we had the sense of something shining within, but perhaps, at the time, we did not have the language or the utterance to describe it. That shining was the shining of Christ as light. Because this light shines, the life is the light of men. The shining of the light within us is a strong confirmation that we have been born of God to be His children.
When the Word is heard and life is received, the life becomes the light shining within to enlighten us. When Christ, as the divine life, shines within us as the light of life, we are under His enlightening. Having been born of God by receiving the Word, we have the divine life, eternal life, and this life becomes the light shining within us. Christ is the Word of God, the expression of God by which we may know God. When we receive Him as the expression of God, He becomes our life, and this life becomes the light that shines within us.
Ephesians 5:14 also indicates that Christ is light to the believers: “Wherefore He says, Awake, sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall shine on you.”
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