A banquet for the children of God

“But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” (John 4:32).

 

How would you like to have what Jesus had? He had no perverted appetite. He had no appetite at all because He was always feasting. “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34).

 

“Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, …a body hast Thou prepared Me.… Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do Thy will, O God.” (Heb. 10:5,7). “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” (Ps. 40:8).

 

Can we have that experience or is it only relegated to the divine Ones? We can! This is for anyone who desires God with all his heart. This is what the sealing is.

 

“And he [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.” (Ex. 34:28).

“And he [Elijah] arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” (1Ki. 19:8).

 

“It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4). These godly men were heavenly minded; yet, they weren’t wistful, lazy, indolents. They were men of action. Let’s not think that love for God and communion with Him turns people into mendicant friars. But, it does say that they will have a guidance to get through difficult situations that no one else has.

 

Moses wasn’t exactly a world-class general and strategist. He didn’t have to be; all he had to do was walk with Jesus. He led the people right to a dead end. But, he walked by faith “as seeing Him who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27), and the Lord got him out of it.

 

Elijah was blindly jealous for the Lord and His honor. “For he [was] great in the sight of the Lord, and [drank] neither wine nor strong drink; and he [was] filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel [did] he turn to the Lord their God. And he [went] before Him in the spirit and power….to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:15-17). Though he failed to do his mission perfectly, the Lord still made it turn out good for Elijah.

 

“Eat…for strength.” (Ecc. 10:17). In order to have strength, we must eat. Anyone who attempts to work without eating will soon find himself flat empty and at the point of death.

 

“The ocean, itself the source of all our springs and fountains, receives the streams from every land, but takes to give. The mists ascending from its bosom fall in showers to water the earth, that it may bring forth and bud.” The Desire of Ages, p. 20. But, it must be remembered that in order for the oceans to remain full, they must receive from the springs and streams and rivers. Not even an ocean can remain full forever without being refreshed.

 

Jesus had to receive in order to give. He received from His Father a continuous stream of life and joy; and thus He had wherewith to give without measure to others. “O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” (John 17:5). He had to take from His infinite Father not only because He was human, but receiving from His beloved Father is all that He had ever done from ages upon ages past. Thus, incarnated into human flesh, His Father’s virtue was spread abroad, sowing seeds of victory over sin and delivering a multitude from the kingdom of darkness.
 

“But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matt. 15:26-28).

 

“Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto Him, Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou that living water?... The woman saith unto Hm, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things….

Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He.

And upon this came His disciples, and marvelled that He talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest Thou? or, Why talkest Thou with her?

The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

Then they went out of the city, and came unto Him.

In the mean while His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat.

But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of….

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.

So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them: and He abode there two days.

And many more believed because of His own word;

And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” (John 4:9-11,26-32,3-42).

 

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19).

 

Jesus exemplified the principle, “By beholding we become changed.” As Paul articulated, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Cor. 3:18).

 

Without the renewing from Jesus, anyone who attempts to help others, or preach the gospel, or be a good person, or uplift a soul, will find that he quickly spends all of his strength with which he naturally is endowed. For some that can take some time, but for others, it takes no time at all. Patience may endure for however long a person owns it because of inheritance by genetics or upbringing. But, no one has an eternal supply. Only Jesus inherited an infinite supply of patience and every other form of grace because He was divine—but, throughout His life He never used His own divinity or inherited supply of grace. For our sake, who naturally have no grace, for His grace He exemplified the work of dependence on His infinite Father to provide.

 

Jesus could have depended on Himself for grace, but He never did—except one time. And that time was the exception—from Gethsemane to Golgotha. But, the only reason He relied on His own divinity was because He could no longer receive His Father’s. Only because His Father had forsaken Him did Jesus depend on Himself. Yet, He strove to regain His Father’s eternal life, though His striving be in vain. And it killed Him. It drained Him. It made Him a shameful, nervous wreck.

 

“I am poured out like water…My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.” (Ps. 22:14,15). “Because He hath poured out His soul unto death.” (Isa. 53:12).

 

“This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:11,12).

 

We have a wonderful opportunity to receive of the life of Jesus. His life ever flows. But, we must get with Him, as the disciples got with Him. Then, we will have full access to the beauty of holy love that streamed from Him. Day by day, moment by moment, we can walk in His shadow, seeing Him and keeping alive.

 

“And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?

Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:2-6).

 

The grace ever so gently made its way down into the cups that fed the lamp’s seven flames. Little by little, over time, a full supply met the needs of the lamp to perpetuate its light. Jesus wants us to feed off of Him; He wants to nurse our hearts and consciences and intellects. By beholding Him we become changed into His image through His Spirit. Through His Spirit we receive His fruits and then His gifts to evangelize. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Rom. 8:9).

 

“And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” (Rev. 11:3,4).

 

Do you desire to be a witness for God? Then, you must get with Jesus and feed from His constant flow of beauty and grace. You must witness His grace to others in the Bible; then you will have not only something to witness about, but you will have His help to witness. You will be enabled by His Spirit to be a constant supply of life and love to everyone around you. You will find sins disappearing, even without you noticing them lose their hold in your heart and flushing away, “with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph. 5:26).

 

This lesson necessarily requires time to learn. The disciples needed years to learn it—and they were in the physical presence of the Lord of heaven, Messiah the Prince. We can also dwell in His presence, although His presence must be by His long-distance Spirit. We can see our Master from the pages of Old and New Testaments, nature, experiences in life. We don’t have the same advantage that the disciples had. But, their advantage wasn’t as great as might be thought; their eyes were dull of seeing much of the time.

 

Let us seek the Son of God with our whole heart through His scriptures. Let’s envision the peaceful meditation and mind that was in Christ Jesus. While we wait for His return in powerful deliverance and glory, let us learn to walk with Him as Enoch walked with Him, until “he was not; for God took him.” (Gen. 5:24).