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Bread
of Life
41. BREAD OF LIFE.
Bread is
expressive of the Atonement of Christ
in the process it undergoes. From its
birth
till it is consumed
the corn of wheat preaches to us.
Ⅰ. The corn of wheat has to
die
before it can bring forth more wheat. Christ uses this very fact as an
illustration of the necessity of His death for us (John 12:24). He would have been for ever alone in His holiness
and blessedness
if He had not died
for us; and we should have been for ever alone in our sinfulness and misery.
Ⅱ. When the corn is ripe it
has to be cut down;
even so
when the fullness of time was come
Christ was cut off out of the land
of the living (Isaiah 53:8); cut off by the justice
of God in dying for our sins (Zech.13:7); and cut off by death
that He might conquer the king of terrors
and overthrow him who had the power
of death
which is the devil(Heb.2:14).
Ⅲ. Then the wheat has to be threshed. How intensely Christ was
maltreated. He gave His back to the smiters
and His cheek to them that plucked
off the hair (Isaiah 1:6). “ The chastisement of
our peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5). How much Christ
suffered at the hands of wicked men! We have only to go over the scenes that
immediately precede His death for illustration on this point.
Ⅳ. The corn has to be
ground. Whether
we think of the corn being bruised between the mill-stones as used in the East
( Isaiah 28:28)
or think of the corn
as it is ground in the modern machinery of to-day
we are reminded of the
bruising of Christ. “ He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Who can analyze such expressions as “ He was made sin
for us” (2 Cor.5:21). “ He was made a curse” (Gal.3:13)?
Who can weigh that soul agonizing cry of Christ
“ My God
my God
why hast
Thou forsaken Me?” Well might Luther sit for hours pondering that mysterious
exclamation
and at last burst forth in the following words
“ God
forsaken by
God!”
Ⅴ. When the flour has been
made into loaves
it has to be baked. The fire makes it into bread
so that we can eat it with
pleasure. This reminds us of Christ
who has undergone the fire of God’s
judgment for our sins. He passed through the fiery baptism of God’s wrath
(Matt.20:22). when He was condemned
in our stead (Rom. 8:3
margin). It is because
the fire has fed upon the God appointed sacrifice that the coals from off the
altar have a cleansing virtue
as is illustrated in the case of Isaiah
when
the seraph applied the live coal to the unclean lips of the prophet
and said
“ Thine iniquity is taken away
and thy sin is purged” (Isaiah 6:7).
Ⅵ. When the bread is eaten
then the nutriment of the
bread becomes part of the one who eats; and when Christ is received by faith
then we possess Him
and He becomes the life of our being (John 6:54).
──
F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》