God’s full salvation includes the aspect of redemption through the precious blood and the aspect of salvation by the Spirit of life. The type of the Passover in the Old Testament best expresses this matter. Before God both the Israelites and the Egyptians were condemned criminals. On the night of the Passover, all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, of both men and beasts, were to be stricken by death. However, Jehovah charged the whole assembly of Israel to kill one lamb for each house and to put its blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they ate the lamb. When the destroying angel saw the blood on the door, he passed over that house so that all the firstborn in that house were not smitten. This was the redeeming aspect. After they had applied the blood to the house, they ate the lamb inside the house. Then the flesh of the lamb which they had eaten became the strength for them to go out of Egypt. This was the saving aspect.
In John 6 we are told that the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Based upon the type of the Passover in the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus told the people that He was edible. He referred to His blood, which, like the blood of the Passover lamb, was shed for us. He also referred to His flesh, which, like the flesh of the Passover lamb, can be eaten by us. Then He went on to say that He was the bread of life which came down out of heaven and that anyone who eats of this bread shall by no means hunger. Furthermore, He said that as the living Father had sent Him and He lived because of the Father, so he who eats Him, he also shall live because of Him (v. 57).
The Passover is a symbolic picture illustrating how the Israelites put the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel and ate the flesh of the lamb peacefully in the house that had been applied with blood, that is, in the protected place. As they ate, their loins were girded, they had their staffs in their hands, and they were prepared to go out of Egypt at midnight. The lamb which they had eaten became the strength for their journey. Suppose they applied the blood without eating the flesh of the lamb. They then would not have had the strength to go out of Egypt at midnight. The blood did not strengthen them; rather, it was their safeguard, their covering, so that God’s judgment would pass over them. This was the redemption by the blood. The flesh of the lamb, however, which was the lamb itself, was eaten by them to become their life supply. By the blood of the lamb they escaped God’s judgment and were redeemed. This was the outward aspect. By the flesh of the lamb they had the life power within for them to be saved. This was the inward aspect.
When we speak about eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord, the dissenting ones hold us in disdain and oppose us, saying that it is too barbarous for us to eat the Lord Jesus. Little do they know that long ago in the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus already said that He is eatable. His desire is that we take Him in as the bread of life. How else can we receive Him into us as our life except by eating Him? All those who receive and enjoy Christ by eating Him will definitely be full of the life supply and power within. If we daily eat, drink, and enjoy Christ, we will have the vitality in our daily life to overcome sin, the devil, the world, and our natural self.
The Lord Jesus was God who became a man and was put to death on the cross to bear our sins and suffer God’s righteous judgment. On the cross He said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). This was a declaration that the great work of redemption had been accomplished. As to the work of salvation in life, however, He needed to become the Spirit of life in resurrection. The incarnated Lord, the last Adam, passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit so that He could come into His believers to carry out salvation. He shed His blood on the cross to deal with our outward sinful position before God, but He still needed to become the Spirit, even the life-giving Spirit, so that He could come into us to be our life and everything in order to save us daily from our fallen nature and the power of sin within.
Our God first became a man to bear our sins on the cross and solve all our problems before God. Thus, He reconciled us to God and afforded us a lawful position before God to contact Him. Moreover, because of this lawful position, He can come into His believers to be their life. However, for Him to come into His believers, He must become the Spirit. The Greek word for spirit also denotes “breath” or “wind.” In John 3, when the Lord Jesus spoke to Nicodemus concerning regeneration, He said, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6); then He went on to say, “The wind blows where it wills” (v. 8). Here, the Greek word for spirit is the same as that for wind. This tells us that by becoming the life-giving Spirit, the Lord Jesus can enter into us as the wind and the breath. As those who have been redeemed by God, we have a standing before God under the law to let Him come into us. God also has a lawful standing to come into us to be our life.