In the book of Revelation, we are charged to eat Christ as the tree of life (2:7b; 22:2). Genesis 2 reveals that the tree of life is good for food (v. 9).
The book of Revelation also speaks of Christ as the hidden manna (2:17b). The open manna was for the Lord's people to enjoy in a public way; the hidden manna, signifying the hidden Christ, is a special portion reserved for His overcoming seekers, who overcome the degradation of the worldly church. We should get away from all persons and distractions to have a personal time with the Lord, in which we can enjoy Him in a hidden way. We can enjoy Christ in a public way with all the saints, but we still need a time apart from everyone to enjoy Christ as the hidden manna. We need to be in a private place to contact Him, to praise Him, and to enjoy Him in the holy Word. A number of us may eat only an open, public Christ, but we all need a time to eat a private, hidden Christ.
Christ is eatable and Christ is drinkable. We need to drink Christ as the life-giving Spirit (John 7:37-39) and as the water of life (John 4:10, 14; Rev. 21:6b; 22:17b).
We also grow in the divine life by breathing Christ as the spiritual breath (John 20:22). Just as eating, drinking, and breathing are essential to our physical life, they are also essential to our spiritual life. If a person does not eat, he will eventually die. If a person does not drink, he will die even more quickly. But if a person does not breathe, he will die in the quickest way. This shows us that breathing is the most vital thing. In his Gospel the apostle John told us that our Christ is eatable, drinkable, and breathable.
In 1958 in Taipei I received this light from the Lord, and I told people for the first time that Jesus is eatable. My subject was on eating Jesus. I quoted John 6:57, where the Lord says, "As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me." After the message, a professor from a top university told me that my message was very good but that what I said seemed too wild. He wondered how we could eat Jesus. I told him that we simply had to take what the Lord said in John 6. The Lord Himself told us to eat Him. A husky American is actually the totality of what he has eaten of the riches of America. We are what we eat. Someone who eats beef all the time will even begin to smell like beef. We become what we eat, and we express what we eat. When we eat Jesus with all His riches, we smell like Him (2 Cor. 2:15), we express Him, and we become Him.
We need to eat Him, and we also need to drink Him and breathe Him. Eating is mentioned in John 6; drinking is mentioned in John 4 and 7; and breathing is mentioned in John 20:22. In the same Gospel we are told Jesus is eatable, Jesus is drinkable, and Jesus is breathable. It is by eating, drinking, and breathing the Lord that we grow in the divine life.