第七週 · 週四

w07d04-ch

📖晨興餧養

約六55~57 『我的肉是真正的食物，我的血是真正的飲料。喫我肉喝我血的人，就住在我裏面，我也住在他裏面。活的父怎樣差我來，我又因父活着，照樣，那喫我的人，也要因我活着。』

約翰六章五十七節是整本聖經中最強烈、最奇特的一句話。…那是全能神，創造宇宙者的主，勸我們喫祂。…主若未曾說過這話，我信我們沒有人會有足彀的膽量說，我們必須喫主。當然，我們能說，我們必須敬拜主，敬畏主，信靠主，順從主，向主禱告，為主作工。我們可以用好些動詞解釋我們必須為主作甚麼，但是我們會害怕想到我們該喫祂。我們一天必須喫三餐，好叫我們能以活着。換句話說，我們是憑喫活着。照樣，我們必須喫主，好叫我們能憑主活着（約翰福音生命讀經，二二八頁）。

📖信息選讀

約翰六章對於主耶穌是生命的糧說了許多細節。我們已經看見主作生命之糧的五個特徵。祂是屬天的糧（41、50~51、58）、神的糧（33）、生命的糧（35、48）、活糧（51）、真糧（32）。

在基督徒的生活裏，我們天天都需要有實際接觸那靈的經歷。我們不該僅僅滿意於每天讀幾章聖經，或者在晨更中接受一段話。每當我們來到主的話面前，我們需要運用我們的全人，尤其要運用我們的靈，來接觸基督；祂如今是賜生命的靈。我們的確需要讀聖經，但要緊的是我們要運用全人來接觸話中的靈。我們若這麼作，就會吸取基督作為食物的供應，我們會接受那靈作屬天的嗎哪。

基督是生命的糧、神的糧、屬天的糧、活糧、真糧。今天這糧不僅僅是成為肉體、釘十字架、復活、升天的基督，更是成了賜生命之靈的基督。

約翰三章有宗教道德人的事例，四章有不道德的撒瑪利亞婦人的事例。到了五章我們看見，離了基督，沒有基督，凡事都是虛空。六章的要點是說，我們是饑餓的，需要基督作我們的食物。今天這位基督不僅僅是成為肉體、釘十字架的一位，也不僅僅是復活、升天的一位，祂現今乃是賜生命的靈。倘若我們不曉得自己的需要，不曉得今天基督的所是，我們就是虛空的。我們需要基督作生命的供應，而今天基督乃是賜生命的靈。一天過一天，我們應當運用我們的靈來接觸祂。正如我們每天喫三餐，照樣，我們也需要在一天中一再地來喫基督這生命的糧，甚至需要時時刻刻來喫這賜人生命的靈。這一位是我們的創造主、救贖主、救主、主、主人，祂乃是賜生命的靈，給我們時時來接觸。…即使你作基督徒多年了，你每天還是饑餓的。基督不僅是你的生命，祂也是你生命的供應，是你每天的食物。

我們都需要六章所啟示的基督。不錯，我們經歷了三章、四章、五章。但現今到了六章，我們乃是環繞加利利海的饑餓之人，我們需要基督作生命的供應，需要祂作大麥餅和魚，需要祂作生產的生命和救贖的生命。基督成為那靈，對我們就是這樣的生命。賜人生命的靈乃是生產的生命、救贖的生命、得勝的生命。我們需要這靈作我們的生命和生命的供應，作我們的食物，成為每天的營養。…盼望我們都得着説明，領悟我們需要基督作生命的供應，然後天天接觸祂這具體化於話裏的賜生命之靈（李常受文集一九八二年第二冊，二七○、二七七至二七八頁）。

參讀：約翰著作中帳幕和祭物的應驗，第十八篇。

WEEK 7 — DAY 4

Morning Nourishment

John 6:55-57 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

The strongest and strangest sentence in the entire Bible is John 6:57…The Lord who is the almighty God and the Creator of the universe exhorts us to eat Him…If this word had not been spoken by the Lord, I believe that none of us would possess enough courage to say that we must eat the Lord. Of course, we can say that we must worship and fear the Lord, trust and obey the Lord, pray and work for the Lord. We may use many other verbs to explain what we must do for the Lord, but we would be afraid to think that we should eat Him. We all must eat three meals a day in order to live. In other words, we live by eating. Likewise, we must eat the Lord so that we can live by the Lord. (Life-study of John, 2nd ed., p. 194)

Today’s Reading

Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John gives many details concerning the Lord Jesus as the bread of life. We have seen five characteristics of the Lord as the bread of life. He is the heavenly bread (vv. 41, 50, 51, 58), the bread of God (v. 33), the bread of life (vv. 35, 48), the living bread (v. 51), and the true bread (v. 32).

In our Christian life we daily need the experience of contacting the Spirit in a practical way. We should not be satisfied merely to read a few chapters of the Bible each day or take a portion of the Word in morning watch. Whenever we come to the Word, we need to exercise our entire being, especially our spirit, to contact Christ, who is now the life-giving Spirit. We definitely need to read the Bible. But it is crucial that we contact the Spirit in the Word by exercising our whole being. If we do this, we will take in Christ as our food supply. We will receive the Spirit as the heavenly manna.

Christ is the bread of life, the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the living bread, and the true bread. Today this bread is not merely the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ but the Christ who has become the life-giving Spirit.

In chapter 3 of John we have the case of a religious gentleman, and in chapter 4, the case of an immoral Samaritan woman. Then in chapter 5 we see that apart from Christ and without Christ everything is empty. The crucial point in chapter 6 is that we are hungry and need Christ as our food. Today this Christ is not merely the incarnated and crucified One, nor merely the resurrected and ascended One. He is now the lifegiving Spirit…We need Christ as our life supply…Day by day we should exercise our spirit to contact Him. Just as we have three meals every day, so we need to eat Christ as the bread of life again and again during the day. Even every moment we need to eat the One who is the Spirit who gives life. The One who is our Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Lord, and Master is the life-giving Spirit for us to contact all the time. Even though you may have been a Christian for many years, every day you are still hungry. Christ is not only your life; He is also your life supply, your daily food.

We all need Christ as He is revealed in chapter 6 of John. Yes, we have passed through chapters 3, 4, and 5. But now in chapter 6 we are hungry ones around the sea in Galilee, and we need Christ as our life supply. We need Him to be our barley loaves and fish. We need Him as the generating life and the redeeming life. It is as the Spirit that Christ is this life to us. The Spirit who gives life is the generating life, the redeeming life, and the overcoming life. We need this Spirit as our life and life supply, as our food for daily nourishment…I hope that we all will be helped to realize our need for Christ as our life supply and then daily contact Him as the life-giving Spirit embodied in the Word. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” pp. 211, 216-217)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” ch. 18