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John 6:56 - The Abiding Relationship In Christ.

John 6:56 - The Abiding Relationship with Christ.

John 6:56 (NKJV) He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides 
in Me, and I in him.  

John 6:56 (MSG) By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you 
enter into me and I into you.  

CONTEXT

John 6:25-59: Jesus the Bread of Life. 

COMMENTARY APPLICATION 

The analogy of the necessity of food intake for life is carried 
over as a parallel to receiving Christ for spiritual life. Whoever 
partakes of Christ experiences now the sustaining life of the age to come 
(v. 54; cf. 3:16, 36). The statement was obviously shocking. The 
intent is to enable the disciples to comprehend fully the necessity of 
assimilating the life of Jesus into their own lives. [Believer's SB] 

Just as one eats and drinks in order to have physical life, so 
it is necessary to appropriate Christ in order to have eternal 
life. [Ryrie SB] 

To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him 
as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and 
that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling 
upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His 
nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food 
cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our 
being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a 
personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must 
feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes 
our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated.  {DA 389}   

   A union with Christ by living faith is enduring; every other 
union must perish. Christ first chose us, paying an infinite price for 
our redemption; and the true believer chooses Christ as first, and 
last, and best in everything. But this union costs us something. It is 
a relation of utter dependence to be entered into by a proud 
being. All who form this union must feel their need of the atoning 
blood of Christ. They must have a change of heart. They must submit 
their own will to the will of God. There will be a struggle with 
outward and internal obstacles. There must be a painful work of 
detachment, as well as a work of attachment. Pride, selfishness, vanity, 
worldliness--sin in all its forms--must be overcome, if we would enter into a 
union with Christ. The reason why many find the Christian life so 
deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is, they try to 
attach themselves to Christ without detaching themselves from these 
cherished idols. . . .  
   We must live by faith in the Son of God. That is the meaning 
of the injunction, "Abide in me."  
   Christ alone can help us and give us the victory. Christ must 
be all in all to us, He must dwell in the heart, His life must 
circulate through us as the blood circulates through the veins. 5BC1143,4 

Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether 
it be the wormwood of woe, or the cloying surfeit of earthly 
delight, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from 
the one, and satiety from the other. Live near to Jesus, Christian, 
and it is a matter of secondary importance whether thou livest on 
the mountain of honour or in the valley of humiliation. Living near 
to Jesus, thou art covered with the wings of God, and underneath 
thee are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep thee from that 
hallowed intercourse, which is the choice privilege of a soul wedded to 
The Well-Beloved. Be not content with an interview now and then, but 
seek always to retain his company, for only in his presence hast thou 
either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who 
calls upon us now and then, but one with whom we walk evermore. Thou 
hast a difficult road before thee: see, O traveller to heaven, that 
thou go not without thy guide. Thou hast to pass through the fiery 
furnace; enter it not unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thou 
hast the Son of God to be thy companion. Thou hast to storm the 
Jericho of thine own corruptions: attempt not the warfare until, like 
Joshua, thou hast seen the Captain of the Lord's host, with his sword 
drawn in his hand. Thou art to meet the Esau of thy many temptations: 
meet him not until at Jabbok's brook thou hast laid hold upon the 
angel, and prevailed. In every case, in every condition, thou wilt need 
Jesus; but most of all, when the iron gates of death shall open to 
thee. Keep thou close to thy soul's Husband, lean thy head upon his 
bosom, ask to be refreshed with the spiced wine of his pomegranate, and 
thou shalt be found of him at the last, without spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing. Seeing thou hast lived with him, and lived in him 
here, thou shalt abide with him for ever. [Morning and Evening by 
Charles H. Spurgeon] 

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT:

A Better Way to Live: http://www.itiswritten.com/betterway/

Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies: http://www.liftingupjesus.net/

Grace Notes: http://www.e-gracenotes.org/index.php

Excellent Spiritual Resource Site: 
http://www.christianlifemediacenter.com/   

More Spiritual Resources: http://www.aBible.com