The same is true with the breaking of bread. On the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, “Jesus took bread and blessed it, and He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took a cup and gave thanks, and He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine...” (Matt. 26:26-29a). Some look at this from a physical point of view and say that once the bread and the cup are blessed, the bread changes its nature, becoming the Lord’s flesh, and the vine product changes its substance, becoming the Lord’s blood. Some look at this from an intellectual point of view and argue that the bread and the wine have not changed in substance; rather, they are merely representations. The bread represents the Lord’s body, and the vine product represents the Lord’s blood. But the emphasis in the Word of God is not on a change in substance or on the matter of representation, it is on a spiritual reality. When we “take, eat,” there is a spiritual reality behind it. When we “drink of it, all of you,” there is a spiritual reality to it. He said, “This is My body.” He did not say, “This represents My body.” He said, “This is My blood of the covenant.” Following this, He said, “I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine.” This means that the product of the vine did not turn into blood, and neither was it a representation of the blood. In speaking of the bread and the cup, the Lord’s emphasis was on the spiritual reality. In the eyes of the Lord, there are no representations, and there is no change of substance. Paul said the same thing. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). It was bread, yet Paul recognized it as the Body of Christ. It was a cup, yet he recognized it as the blood of Christ. This shows that in Paul’s mind, there was no such thing as a representation or a change in substance. These things were a spiritual reality to him. Following this, Paul said, “Seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body” (v. 17, ASV). He could not have said this if he had not touched the spiritual reality. When a man says a fact, it is stated as a fact. If it is a parable, it is stated as a parable. If it is a plain narration, it is presented as a plain narration, and if it is a figure of speech, it is explained as a figure of speech. But here Paul was different. The phrase “we, who are many” is a direct narration, while “are one bread” is a figure of speech. In one sentence, he put a direct narration together with a figure of speech. This is because with Paul, “we, who are many” is a fact, and “are one bread, one body” is also a fact. To him, the spiritual reality is so real that after he said, “we, who are many,” he followed with the words “are one bread, one body.” He was not thinking about the grammatical structure or the syntax. Here was a person who truly knew the Lord. When he took the bread, he was truly partaking of the Body of Christ. He forgot about the bread, and was touching the spiritual reality. When he took the cup, he was truly partaking of the blood of Christ. He forgot the vine product, and was touching the spiritual reality. Language was no longer a problem to him, and doctrine was no longer a problem to him because he touched the reality.
The church is an even more interesting subject. When some people mention the church, they try to differentiate between the true church and the false church. But the Lord said to Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens” (Matt. 16:18-19). This is what the church is in the Lord’s mind. In the Lord’s mind, the church is always real; there is no such thing as a false church. Not only is this true with the universal church, but this is even true with the local churches. He says, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you just like the Gentile and the tax collector. Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (18:15-18). In the Lord’s mind, when the church says that a brother is right, he is right, and when the church says that a brother is wrong, he is wrong. When we read this, it is easy for us to ask the question: What if the judgment of the church is wrong? But when the Lord spoke these words, He was talking about the reality of the church. If the judgment is wrong, it must not have come from reality, and it must not be of the Holy Spirit, but of man. In the Lord’s mind, the church is a reality. Anything outside this reality has no place in the Lord’s mind at all.
When Paul spoke of the church in his Epistles, he said that it is called, it is holy, and it is the house of God (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 2:22). The apostle John said the same thing as Paul concerning the church. The seven churches in Asia had many failures, but John still called them the churches. The Lord Jesus also said, “The seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Rev. 1:4, 20).
In the eyes of the apostles, the seven lampstands are the seven churches because the church is a reality. In the eyes of the apostles, the matter of a false church did not exist, because the church is a reality. This does not mean that there are no false churches in this world. But it does mean that if one does not see the reality of the church, his eyes surely will see something wrong. Those who look at the church outwardly will say that there is only the real church, and those who look at the church mentally will say that there are real churches and false churches. But in the eyes of those who have touched the spiritual reality, the church is spiritual, and all other questions have no ground at all.
I would like to mention one thing concerning the practice of the Body life. The Body life is not acting according to certain rules. When one touches the spiritual reality, he touches the church, and his actions will be the move of the Body and not independent moves. Suppose you have to do something. Practicing the Body life does not mean that you invite all the brothers and sisters to discuss it and that you go through the procedure in a very proper way. It is when you fellowship with other brothers and sisters (irrespective of the number) and touch the reality that there is the Body life. If you have not touched the spiritual reality, even when there is unanimous consent by the whole congregation, you only have opinions of the flesh and not the Body life. Only those who have touched the spiritual reality can live the Body life. The record in Acts 15 shows us what the Body life is. There was a gathering to discuss the question of circumcision for the Gentiles. Finally, James made a decision that was of the Holy Spirit. When they wrote the letter, they said, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (v. 28). The decision was of the Holy Spirit. It touched the spiritual reality. Although the words were by James, “the apostles and the elders with the whole church” (v. 22) could say amen to them and resolve to carry the matter out. This is the Body life. Only when one touches the reality in the Holy Spirit can he live out the Body life. The right procedure does not bring in the Body life. One must touch the reality before there can be the Body life.
We must realize that all spiritual living and all spiritual teachings have their realities before the Lord. If a man has not touched the reality, there is no spiritual value to expounding the doctrine clearly. If a man has not touched the reality of the church, even if he mentions the church in every other sentence, he is still in darkness and pride, and he is deceiving himself. If a man touches the spiritual reality, his living will be real and organic. It will not be superficial or in letters.
One amazing thing is that a person who touches reality knows if others have not touched or entered into it as soon as he comes in contact with them. Once he meets a person who acts according to his mind, the law, or outward regulations, he will know immediately that such a person has not touched the reality. There is one thing before the Lord, which the Bible calls reality. Once a person touches this reality, he will be delivered from doctrines, formalities, human thoughts, and human ways. Baptism, the breaking of bread, or the church are all realities to him; they are no longer rituals or doctrines.
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