John 6 reveals that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the Passover Lamb and the bread of life.
Christ is presented as the Passover Lamb in 6:4 and 51 through 56. Verse 4 says, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.” This indicates that the Passover was the background for what is recorded in this chapter. In the Passover people slay the redeeming Lamb, sprinkle its blood, and eat its flesh. This typifies Christ as our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7). He is the redeeming Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36) slain for us that we may eat His flesh and drink His blood, taking Him in as our life supply that we may live by Him.
At the time of the Passover, people also eat unleavened bread. Here we have three basic elements of the Passover feast: first, the slaying of the lamb and the striking of its blood; second, the eating of the flesh of the lamb; third, the eating of unleavened bread. Therefore, we have the blood of the lamb, the flesh of the lamb, and unleavened bread. These three matters are found in the Lord’s discourse in John 6.
In the Passover the main enjoyments are the Passover lamb with its blood for redeeming and its flesh for fighting and walking, and the unleavened bread, signifying a sinless living (Exo. 12:5-8). The flesh of the lamb is organic, and the blood is judicial. The blood redeems us judicially, and the flesh of the lamb is for God’s elect to eat so that they can be organically nourished and strengthened to walk out of Egypt. Christ today is the Lamb with His blood for redemption and with Himself for strengthening and nourishing us so that we can walk on God’s way out of Egypt. At the same time, we also eat Christ as the unleavened bread, signifying that we are living a sinless life.
As the Passover Lamb, Christ shed His blood for our redemption that God may pass over us (Exo. 12:12-13). In John 6:53 the Lord Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourselves.” Here the Lord spoke of His blood, which is necessary for redemption (19:34; Heb. 9:22; Matt. 26:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rom. 3:25).
At the time of the Passover, the blood of the lamb was applied to the doorpost. Yet, in John 6:53 the Lord Jesus spoke about drinking His blood. To drink means to receive. Hence, to drink the blood is to receive it. The proper way to receive something into our stomach is by eating and drinking. The significance of eating and drinking is to receive something into our being. To eat the Lord’s flesh and to drink His blood, therefore, is to receive the Lord’s flesh and blood into our being. To eat is to take food into us to be assimilated into our body organically. To eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us to be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life. The principle is the same with drinking.
In verses 54 and 55 the Lord Jesus continued, saying, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” Here flesh and blood are mentioned separately. The separation of blood and flesh indicates death. Here the Lord Jesus clearly indicated His death, that is, His being slain. He gave His body and shed His blood for us that we may have eternal life. To eat His flesh is to receive by faith all that He did in giving His body for us. To drink His blood is to receive by faith all that He accomplished in shedding His blood for us. To eat His flesh and drink 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 verses 54 and 47 we see that to eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is to believe in Him, because to believe into is to receive (1:12).
In John 6:56 the Lord Jesus went on to say, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.” The words I in him indicate that the Lord Jesus had to be resurrected so that He could abide in us as our life and life supply.