We all know that God’s central goal in the universe is life and that God Himself comes to be our life. God comes to be our life, not to be our power, because He desires to mingle Himself with us. God comes to be our life in order to mingle Himself with us; there is no way that is more practical than this.
It is true that God is life, but He also has come to be our life. Paul says, “Christ our life” (Col. 3:4). Christ, who is life, is now in us as our life. This life is Christ Himself; only by coming into us to be our life can Christ be mingled practically with us.
In order for a lamb or a cow to be mingled with us, it must be eaten. Only by being eaten, digested, and assimilated can they get into us and be mingled with us. Eating is a matter of life. Thus, the Lord said, “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven;...the bread which I will give is My flesh, given for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Then He continued, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourselves” (v. 53). This means we must eat Him and drink Him; when we eat and drink Him, we have life within us. Here we see that there is only one way, one method, for God to mingle Himself with us, and this way, this method, is life. If God was not our life, He would have no way to mingle Himself with us.
In the Bible, the thought of God becoming our life through eating and drinking is deep and profound. But among Christians, this thought does not have much weight or ground. We have never had the thought that God’s coming to be our life is similar to a cow or a lamb becoming our life by being killed and taken into us, but this is the thought of the Bible. In John 6:27 the Lord Jesus said, “Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life.” This verse speaks of two kinds of food: one is the food which perishes, and the other is the food which abides unto eternal life. The eternal life of God is God Himself. Therefore, the food that abides unto eternal life is also God Himself. God Himself is our food. This is not merely a matter of enjoyment but of constitution. When food is taken into us and becomes our enjoyment, it is digested in us to become a part of us, and eventually, it is constituted into us and mingled with us.
When we eat food such as beef, lamb, bread, vegetables, and eggs, it is a pleasure and enjoyment, but the ultimate result is that the food is digested into us to become our blood, our flesh, and our life constituents. All the readers of the Bible know that eating and drinking are symbols. Our need to eat food and drink water signifies our need to eat and drink God, that is, to take God into us by eating Him and drinking Him. This kind of speaking may sound wild, but actually it is expressive and practical. In John 6 the Lord told us to work for the food which abides unto eternal life, not for the food which perishes. This work issues in gaining God Himself. Because the Jews did not understand what the Lord said, He later told them that He was the bread of life which came down out of heaven, that He was food, and that those who ate Him would have eternal life. The eternal life is God Himself.
If we study John 6 carefully, we will see that the Lord came to earth for one purpose—to enter into man and become man’s life. He can enter into us and become our life when we take Him in as food. Preachers often tell people that without God, man is empty and unsatisfied, but with God, man is satisfied. This can be likened to the fact that without food, one’s stomach is empty; with food, one’s stomach is full. This is a simple illustration. Not only does food satisfy man and become man’s enjoyment, but it is also received, digested, and assimilated by man to be mingled with man and become man’s element. This mingling is so practical and subjective. After food is taken into us, it is not only mingled with us, but it also becomes our element, our blood and flesh. This shows that God desires to give Himself to us as food so that He may not only satisfy us and become our enjoyment but also may be digested in us and become our element. If God did not come to be our life in this way, He would have no way to mingle Himself with us and work Himself into us.
We all know that the entire Bible is about life, but when life is spoken of, eating and drinking are spoken of as well. When Genesis 2 speaks of the tree of life, the matter of eating is mentioned immediately (vv. 9, 16-17). In the age of the New Testament the Lord Jesus came. When He revealed that He wanted man to receive Him as life, He also spoke of the matter of eating. He said, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (John 6:54). In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, the Lord said, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever” (4:13-14). This shows how the Lord used eating and drinking to speak about the matter of receiving.
At the end of the Bible, Revelation 22:1-2 also speaks of life, saying, “A river of water of life...in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits.” Then verse 17 says, “Let him who wills take the water of life freely.” At the end of the Bible, when life is spoken of, the matter of eating and drinking is referred to in regard to eating the fruits of the tree of life and drinking the river of water of life. Therefore, the entire Bible speaks not only of life but also of eating and drinking. Life cannot be separated from eating and drinking.