Many Christians wrongly think that they will receive the Holy Spirit by merely believing in Jesus which even demons do (as in the language of James). We already discussed what does ‘eating His flesh’ and ‘drinking His blood’ represent in an earlier post. In this post, we will explore a bit deeper on what His ‘Flesh’ and ‘Blood’ represent and what it teaches us on receiving the Holy Spirit.

John 6:54 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:35 … I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Eating His flesh represents coming to Jesus and drinking His blood represents believing in Him. But, what does it actually mean?

Coming to Jesus

Coming to Jesus does not mean calling Him “Lord, Lord”.

Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

If anyone desires to come after Jesus, it means, they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow Him.

Believing in Jesus

Believing in Jesus is not about how demons believe as James mentioned.

John 5:38 “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.

Jesus Himself mentioned what it means to believe in Him. It means to have His Word abiding in them. In others words, it is not about merely believing who He is, but believing His words and obeying them.

Hence, John 6:54 can be paraphrased as follows: Whoever denies themselves, take up their cross daily and follow Jesus, and have His Word abiding them has eternal life and He will rise them up at the last day.

Flesh of Jesus

Eating the flesh of Jesus means, coming to Jesus. But what does the flesh of Jesus represents?

Matt 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Flesh of Jesus is the Word of God Himself. This is why, we must feed on His Word so that we can abide in Him and live.

Blood of Jesus

Drinking the blood of Jesus means believing in Him with His Word abiding in us.

John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 6:55 “For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

The blood of Jesus is synonymous to living waters which Jesus gives us to drink. It refers to the Holy Spirit. However, no one can drink without coming to Jesus first. As Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Him and drink. As we saw earlier, coming to Jesus means, denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily and following Him. Only then, we can drink of this living water which is the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

The Flesh of Jesus is the Word of God as the Word became Flesh. This is why, we must feed on His Word so that we can abide in Him and He in us, and we can live. The blood of Jesus which is the true drink is synonymous to living waters which He will give us to drink, that is the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Him and drink of this living water. If we desire to come after Him, we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. Only then we can drink of this living water which is receiving the Holy Spirit.