Jesus’ flesh became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection (John 6:53-63) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Jesus’ flesh became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection (John 6:53-63)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce 

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical Precepts & Gospel music  

 In the book of John 6:35 Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” And “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”(John 6: 31). After that He continues to unveil of his ascension, and resurrection. After he resurrected his flesh becomes the Spirit, as life giving Spirit who gives life to those who believe in Him and receive Him.

 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you (v.53).  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. (v.54). For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink (v.55). Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (v.56). Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever. (John6:57-59). On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching, who can accept it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.” (John 6:60-63)

 In verse 54, flesh and blood are mentioned separately. The separation of blood and flesh indicates death. Here the Lord clearly indicated His death, that is, His being slain. He gave His body and shed His blood for us that we may have eternal life. To eat His flesh is to receive by faith all that He did in giving His body for us; and to drink His blood is to receive by faith all that He accomplished in shedding His blood for us. To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to receive Him, in His redemption, as life and the life supply by believing in what He did for us on the cross. By comparing the verse with v.47, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”  We see that to eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is to believe in Him, because to believe or to believe into is to receive. As John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

Verse 56 indicates that the Lord had to be resurrected so that He could abide in us as our life and life supply. In the verse 57, to eat is to take food into us that it may be assimilated organically into our body. Therefore, to eat the Lord Jesus is to receive Him into us that He may be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life. Then we live by Him whom we have received. It is by this that He, the resurrected One, lives in us. As John 14:19-20 says, “…because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”  

Verse 62 in verse 56 the Lord’s resurrection is implied. In this verse His ascension, which followed His resurrection, is clearly mentioned. The Lord’s ascension was the proof that His redemptive work had been completed. As Heb.1:3b says, “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

Verse 63 Jesus pointed out the Spirit who gives life, the flesh count nothing. The Spirit who gives life is brought in. After resurrection and through resurrection, the Lord Jesus, who had become flesh (1:14), became the Spirit who gives life, as is clearly mentioned in 1 Cor.15:45, “the first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam a life-giving Spirit”.  It is as the life –giving Spirit that He can be life and the life supply to us. When we receive Him as the crucified and resurrected savior, the Spirit who gives life comes into us to impart eternal life into us. We receive the Lord Jesus, but we get the Spirit who gives life.

Flesh in verse 63 refers to the meat of the physical body. When the Lord said, “The bread which I will give is My flesh” (v.51), the Jews though that He would give them the meat of His physical body to eat (v.52). They did not understand that Lord’s word rightly. To them it was a hard word (v.60). Therefore, in this verse the Lord explained that what He would give them to eat was not the meat of His physical body; the meat, which is the flesh, profits nothing. What He would give, eventually, was the Spirit who gives life, who is the Lord Himself in resurrection.

 The Greek work for words in verse 63 and in verse 68 is rhema, which devotes the instant and present spoken word. It differs from logos (used for Word in John1:1), which denotes the constant word. Here in verse 63 the words follow the Spirit. The Spirit is living and real, yet He is very mysterious, intangible, and difficult for people to apprehend, the words, however, are substantial. First, the Lord indicated that for giving life He would become the Spirit. Then He said that the words He speaks are Spirit and life. This shows that His spoken words are the embodiment of the Spirit of life. He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we get the Spirit, who is life.