Enjoying Christ through Eating and Drinking Him

First Timothy 6:17 tells us to set our hope on God, who affords us all things richly for our enjoyment. We may thus say that in a positive way, God can be enjoyed by us, His children. The basic enjoyment in our life is just eating and drinking. In consequence, we may enjoy Him through eating and drinking Him.

The Israelites ate the spiritual food and drank the spiritual drink when they were in the wilderness (Exo.16:4, 14, 15; 17:6; 1Cor. 10:3, 4). Both the food and the drink typified Christ. The New Testament clearly illustrates to us how Christ is the food, the drink, and the every positive thing we need, and how we may enjoy Him.

In John chapter 6, the Lord Jesus told us that He is the bread of life (v. 35, 48), the living bread (v. 51). He also encouraged us to eat this bread which is His flesh (v. 51), the true food (v. 55). Thus, we may live (v. 57), and live forever (v. 58).

Even in Apostle Peter's testimony, he has tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:3). Furthermore, in John 1, He is the Word from the beginning (1:1), and the Word became flesh (1:14). Therefore, eating His flesh, the true food, is equivalent to eating the Word, even the spoken words of God, which are spirit and life (John 6:63) for man to live on (Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4).

Jeremiah 15:16 showed that when God's words came, "I ate them". Hebrews 6:5 also confirmed that they have tasted the good word of God. Of course, the normal way to come to the word is simply to read it. For instance, the Lord Jesus asked the chief priests, scribes, and elders, "Have you not even read this Scripture?" (Mark 12:10). Thus, to eat the words of God is just to read the words.

Moreover, we may pray with the words of God when we read them (Eph. 6:17, 18). Just as we chew or masticate our physical food, when we prayerfully read the words of God (we may term it as "pray-read"), we enjoy the words more.

We may now proceed further to the phrase of "drinking Christ". The Lord Jesus called us to drink the water that He gives (John 4:14). He even cried out and urged us to come to Him and drink the living water, which is the Spirit (7:37--39). This aspect can also be seen from Rev.21:6, 22:1, 17. In addition, 1 Cor.12:13 simply tells us to drink one Spirit. Moreover, Isaiah 12:2- 4 shows us that to draw the water from the well of salvation is through calling on His name, declaring and exalting His name. All these actions, no doubt, are just praying, asking, petitioning, shouting, announcing, proclaiming, etc. Finally, we may conclude that the most effective way of drinking Christ, i.e. drinking the Spirit, is through our prayer in general, and calling on His name in particular.

Let us enjoy Him always through reading and praying His word, calling on His name and exercising in prayer. In this way, our life will be totally satisfied, and filled with love, joy, and peace.