Anchor My Faith

Requirements for Eternal Life

Scripture: John 6:53

We ended the previous lesson with the Jews disputing among themselves as how Jesus could give them his flesh to eat. ^{Jn 6:53} “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”’ This response from Jesus will not help but will confuse them even more. To make maters worse, Jesus stresses the importance of what he said using the expression “truly, truly.”

“Unless” indicates a condition to be met for something to happen. The requirement that is to be met is that one must “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood.” If that condition is not met, then it is impossible to have eternal life. It is thus of great importance that we learn how to meet this condition.

We mentioned in the previous lesson that we can not eat of his flesh before he goes to the cross. That is not physically reasonable. We also mentioned that his death on the cross removed the crust from the loaf in that he left his dead body behind in the tomb for three days, but that the living bread still existed because it was eternal. Also changing sides of the cross brings in view a new dimension in that the body is raised up as a spiritual body.

In previous lessons, we have heard Jesus speak of physical items in this world to teach about spiritual realities. The two physical items mentioned here are his flesh and his blood. As our Passover lamb, Jesus was sacrificed on the cross. His body, which was holy as it never sinned, was nailed to the cross. Because of his wounds he shed his blood. As our perfect sacrifice he had to shed his blood because “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV).

Jesus mentioned his flesh and his blood in Luke 22:14 – 20. Jesus and his disciples were together for the Passover meal. Jesus takes a cup of wine and gives thanks and passes it to his disciples to take some. He took bread and broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.” After they had drunk from the cup, he said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” We take these elements today in remembrance of his sacrifice for us.

How do we eat of this living bread? Let us take another look at John 6:35 to see if we can find the answer. Jn 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”’ Eating the bread of life requires two mandatory steps: “whoever comes” and “whoever believes”. We must humbly submit ourselves before him and believe that he died in our place on the cross to provide forgiveness of our sin. Just once we come to him in faith and partake of the living bread and obtain eternal life. That is the eating process that takes from his living bread and places it in us, giving us eternal life.

Conclusion

Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well that she need to drink his living water. Here Jesus tells us to eat his flesh. All three are physical examples to illustrate spiritual aspects of our salvation.