QUESTION: What does the Lord mean when He says, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:53,54)? Does this refer to receiving the bread and the wine at the Lord's Supper?

ANSWER: The Lord here is speaking in figurative language. By speaking of His flesh and His blood He is referring to His death upon the cross. His body would be nailed to the cross and His precious blood poured out. The one who eats Christ's flesh and drinks Christ's blood is the one who by faith sees Christ dying for his sins upon the cross. This person not only knows the historical fact that Christ died on the cross for sinners, but can say, "My sins deserved eternal death, but Jesus Christ died in my place upon the cross and His precious blood has atoned for my sins." This person appropriates to himself the death of the Lord Jesus and thus Christ's death becomes the food of the soul, ministering life to the soul and meeting every spiritual need. When we recognize that upon the cross His body was given up for us and His precious blood shed for us, then we are "eating" His flesh and "drinking" His blood. This is true of everyone who has received Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. And each one receives the gift of eternal life according to our Lord's words here and elsewhere. See John 3:16; John 5:24.

When we consider the following facts we will see that this verse does not and could not apply to the Lord's Supper.

1. If eternal life were dependent upon eating the bread and drinking the wine at the Lord's Supper, our Lord's words in John 5:24 and elsewhere would be contradicted. Also, the repentant thief who died upon the cross along with all others who never had the opportunity to partake of the Lord's Supper would be excluded from heaven.

2. The context demands the spiritual meaning. In the chapter in which this verse appears we find the Lord Jesus feeding the five thousand with five barley loaves and two small fishes. It was a great miracle which pointed to Him as the Messiah. Later, as many seek Him, He has to rebuke them because they only wanted more food and did not see their spiritual need. It is then that the Lord presents Himself as the Bread of Life saying, "I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; ad he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:26-35). The Lord Jesus alone can meet and satisfy the needs of the soul. The spiritual need is what the Lord has before Him in this chapter.

Regarding the Lord's Supper, we find that according to 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 this Supper is observed as a remembrance of our Lord in His death for us. The bread and the wine are symbols of His body and His blood. "This do in remembrance of me" are the Lord's words regarding this Supper. Nowhere in Scripture is the partaking of the bread and the wine associated with the gift of eternal life. How sad to think that millions of people have partaken of what is known as the sacrament of the Lord's Supper or the Holy Eucharist, etc., who have never known what it is to have their sins forgiven and to receive the gift of eternal life. No sacrament can give life. But no one ever by faith ate and drank of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ without receiving eternal life!

—John McNeil