William Huntington

XVIII - The Passover Feast and the Proper Guests

"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day," John, vi. 54.

AT this speech the Jews take very great offence; yea, and numbers of the Lord's nominal disciples kick at it, depart from him, and walk no more with him; nor doth it seem that the Lord's true disciples were altogether pleased, but rather disgusted; hence the Lord's inquiry, "Will ye also go away?" The words that the Lord spoke "were spirit, and they were life;" but the carnal Jews put carnal constructions upon all that he said, and took it for granted that all who thus fed upon Christ must be cannibals.

Bringing divine mysteries down to carnal reason, which can never reach their divine sublimity, is the sole cause of making Christ Jesus "a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence;" for by carnal reason they cannot comprehend them, therefore they take offence at, and reject them, and so "stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." The poor woman of Samaria put her constructions upon Christ's "living water" as these do upon his "flesh and blood;" for she could not raise one thought above "Jacob's well," nor can these raise one thought above eating real flesh, and drinking real blood.

That "depth of Satan," called "transubstantiation," took its rise from such scriptures as these, by which foolish notion the Saviour, who is the eternal banquet of poor perishing souls, is turned into a morsel for the bowels, which (with all other meats that perish) is cast out into the draught.

But one might think it strange that the Jews, who had been so long under the ceremonial law, and so long accustomed to offer sacrifices, should see no farther than the victim and the altar, when their law was so full of accounts about sin offerings, peace offerings, burnt offerings, and atonements; and, above all, the passover offerings, by which, and under the blood of which, Israel escaped the judgments of God in Egypt.

Moreover, under the law some of their sacrifices were variously distributed: one part was for God, which pointed out satisfaction for sins; another part went to the priests, another to the offerer, and another to those who were invited; and thus it is now, Christ our priest delighted in the redemption of our souls; "his meat was to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work." The "royal priesthood," as Peter calls us, and all who are invited and effectually called to the heavenly feast, find nourishment and satisfaction in Christ for their souls.

Why should mystical food seem such a strange thing, when there is scarce a person living who doth not feed mystically upon something? The covetous are said to "swallow down riches, and to vomit them up again. God shall cast them out of his belly," Job, xx. 15; as Judas did when he cast the thirty pieces of silver down in the temple, that is, when the wrath of God had made him sick. "The whore of Babylon" is said "to thirst for the blood of the saints, and to be made drunk with it." The destruction of God's people is a sweet entertainment to their revengeful souls. "The mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness," Prov. xv. 15. "The prodigal would fain have filled his belly with husks," that is, with a form of godliness without the power. The heretic "feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, so that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah, xliv. 20. Of Ephraim it is said, when he went to idolatry, that he "feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind," Hosea, xii. 1. Those that hate knowledge, and despise reproof, "eat the fruit of their own ways, and are filled with their own devices," Prov. i. 31. "And the souls of transgressors eat violence." Now all these feed in a mystical way, and all of this is said to be "spending money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not;" which food is only to gratify the carnal mind, or the evil desires of the flesh, for it can never satisfy the desires of a soul conscious of guilt, and sensible of his lost estate. Nothing but heavenly food will do for such a distressed sinner, who is searching the scriptures earnestly, "in which he hopes to find eternal life; and they are they (saith the Saviour), that testify of me." He finds himself, like the Ethiopian eunuch, too ignorant to come to their spiritual sense, except some one guides him. Now, as there are some, "who perish for lack of knowledge," it follows that knowledge must be food for those who perish not. "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good, and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul when thou hast found it; then there shall be a reward, and thine expectation shall not be cut off," Prov. xxiv. 13, 14.

"Ezekiel eats the roll," and "John the little book;" and, when they came "to learn, mark, and inwardly digest," the things that were contained in them, they found them as "sweet as honey." A knowledge of Christ crucified is heavenly food; and God hath promised "to send pastors after his own heart, that shall feed his people with knowledge and understanding."

Again, the self-condemned soul, who knows that he hath broken every precept of God's law, and stands condemned by it, being under a sense of God's wrath, he hungers for righteousness, and Christ crucified is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes; and it is in this, and this only, that he can find peace in his conscience, or acceptance with God.

One who labours under the intolerable weight of sin, and hath nothing before his eyes but his own transgressions, with nothing but bitter reflections within, and expecting nothing but torment in the world to come; it is no wonder that such a soul, hearing that "the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin," and that the dear Redeemer made peace and reconciliation by the blood of his cross, I say it is no wonder that such a poor soul thirsts for the atonement. "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." And so it is to those who feel their real need of them; for such a soul by the eye of faith sees Christ under all the sins of his people, bearing the weight of them in his own body on the tree, enduring the wrath of God and the curse of the law, which are due to such transgressors; and as their surety paying the dreadful debt, and delivering them from going down to the pit by laying down his own life, the price of their ransom.

"The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and they are life." They are not to be carnally or literally understood. I lay down my life a ransom for many, and I shall take it again, and ascend into heaven in that human nature, which I shall offer up a sacririce for sin, and "the heavens will receive me till the restitution of all things," and yet (as the omnipresent God) I am with you always to the end of the world; "and, though the world sees me no more, yet ye see me," and I will manifest myself to them that the Father hath given me, "and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him," and I will come with all the benefits of my cross, "and will sup with him and he with me;" and such shall know "that my word is spirit, and my word is life," for I shall bring my reward with me. I will remove the vail of ignorance, and feed him with the knowledge of myself, and his interest in me; his guilty conscience shall be satisfied with a joyful sense of the remission of all sins; his dead soul shall have the abundance of life; his hard heart shall melt under my dying love to him; and he shall abound in hope toward me. I will satisfy his self-condemned soul with my everlasting righteousness; I will renew his mind and make it heavenly, and keep it in perfect peace stayed upon me, and I will fill him with love, and joy, and consolation: he shall see me as his all-sufficient Saviour, and shall trust in me as the faithful and true witness; and shall know his election, redemption, and reconciliation; justification, sanctification, and renovation; and have an assurance of his eternal glorification. I will live in him, and he shall live by the faith of me; for I will come to him, and will dwell in him, and he shall be replenished, filled, and infinitely satisfied with my fullness, and with my goodness; and shall see that all those things are procured to him by my sacrifice, and assured to him by the satisfaction I have made, and by the manifestation of myself to him; then shall he know that "my flesh is meat indeed," when he sees me to be a sin-offering, and that I was made a curse to save him from eternal death. And he shall know that my blood is drink indeed, when it purges him from all his sins, redeems him from the wrath to come, and opens a way for him to eternal bliss; to such an one my word is spirit in the application of it to him, and by the experience, power, and accomplishment, of it in him; and my word is life where I thus quicken a soul, and save it from legal, spiritual, and eternal death. And I will raise him up at the last day.