1. “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst”; “The bread which I will give is My flesh, given for the life of the world”; “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”; “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink”; “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever” (John 6:35, 51, 54; 7:37; 4:14).
Everything in the universe has a symbolic meaning. Most things symbolize God’s salvation in Christ. This is not a coincidence; it is God’s arrangement. God arranged for the visible things in the universe to be symbols of spiritual things. Different human relationships are such symbols, and even items like food and clothing are symbols. Food and drink symbolize Christ as our food and drink of life. Christ said that He is the bread of life who satisfies man’s hunger. His living water also causes man to by no means thirst forever. Through His death on the cross, He gave Himself and flowed out His life as living water to man. If a person is willing to come to Him, believe into Him, and receive Him, which is to eat and drink Him, he will be given the satisfaction of life so that he will by no means hunger or thirst forever. Every time we eat or drink, we should realize that the Lord is the bread of life for us to eat and the living water for us to drink and enjoy, causing us to be full and satisfied.
2. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God”; “Your words were found and I ate them” (Matt. 4:4; Jer. 15:16).
Food symbolizes the word of God as the food of our spiritual life. We must learn to live not on bread alone but on God’s word. We should eat the word of God as food. Every time we eat physical food and our body gains nourishment, we should be reminded of how our spirit needs the word of God to nourish it.
1. “Both the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:25).
Before the fall man did not wear clothing, but he was not ashamed. Although he was naked, he was without sin; therefore, he did not need clothing to cover any shame.
1. “The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves” (Gen. 3:7).
After he sinned, man was ashamed of his nakedness. Therefore, he felt a need for clothing to cover his shame. Although he used leaves of a tree to make loincloths to cover his shame, these leaves could not cover the shame. Sinful man always tries to cover his shame with his own actions and behavior, but such a covering is not possible through human actions.
2. “Jehovah God made coats of skin for Adam and for his wife and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).
The loincloths of leaves made by fallen man could not cover them, so God came and covered their shame with the skins of killed animals—sacrifices—as clothes. This signifies that even though fallen man cannot cover his shame through his own actions and behavior, God can cover our shame with the killed Lamb—Christ—as righteousness.
3. “Covered the nakedness” (Gen. 9:23).
In principle, after the fall God wants man to wear clothing to cover the shame of his nakedness. Therefore, any clothing or style that covers the body well is proper. Clothes that expose the chest, shoulders, feet, and legs do not correspond to God’s desire for man to be covered.
1. “Neither shall you go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness may not be uncovered on it” (Exo. 20:26).
In the dispensation of the law God continued to tell man to wear clothing in order to cover his shame and to not expose his body. God did not allow the Israelites to use steps to go up to His altar so that the nakedness of their lower body would not be exposed. As sinners, we need to wear clothes to cover ourselves at all times.
2. “A woman shall not put on a man’s clothing, nor shall a man wear a woman’s garment; for everyone who does these things is an abomination to Jehovah your God” (Deut. 22:5).
God did not allow the women among His people, the Israelites, to wear men’s clothing or the men to wear women’s clothing. Great confusion occurs when the protection of the difference between men’s and women’s clothing is eliminated. This encourages adultery, so it is an abomination to God. Today most women dress like men. In principle, this is not pleasing to God.
3. “You shall not wear clothing of mixed materials, of wool and linen together” (Deut. 22:11).
In the dispensation of the law God did not allow the children of Israel to wear clothing made of different materials, such as wool and linen. Wool comes from the animal life, and linen comes from the plant life. This signifies that God does not want our acts of righteousness, which are symbolized by clothing, to be something from Christ and something from Adam, that is, a mixture of a spiritual and fleshly living. God does not want us to live by such a mixture.
4. “Make for themselves fringes on the borders of their garments...and to put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue...so that when you see it you will remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, so that you do not seek after your own heart and your own eyes, according to which you committed fornication; that you shall...be holy to your God” (Num. 15:38-40).
In the Old Testament God told the Israelites to attach a fringe to the borders of their clothing and to put a cord of blue on the fringe. Blue is the color of the heavens. A cord of blue on the fringe of their garment surrounded their legs and signified that their steps were under the heavenly limitation. When they saw the cord of blue, they remembered the commandments of God, and they also remembered to not follow their own heart and their own eyes to commit fornication, causing them to be holy to God.
5. The garments of the priests (Exo. 28:1-43).
The garments that God ordered the priests to wear in Exodus 28 were completely different from the clothing of the people of Israel. Every item of the priestly clothing has spiritual significance.