True Food, True Drink, and Union with Christ – John 6:53–59

In this episode, we stay in John 6 and walk through Jesus’ shocking words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Far from softening His message to keep the crowd, Jesus intensifies it—pressing hard on their unbelief, their fixation on physical needs, and their confidence in external religion.

We look at the four promises Jesus makes to those who “feed” on Him, clarify why this passage is not teaching Roman Catholic views of the Eucharist, and see how manna in the wilderness points to Christ as the true bread from heaven. From there, we move into the rich doctrine of union with Christ—Christ in us and we in Him—and think through how that reality should affect our view of sin, suffering, the future, and the chaos of our current world.

Key Topics Covered

• Recap of John 6 and the escalating confrontation with the crowd

• Jesus’ hard saying: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you”

• Why Jesus doesn’t dilute His message to keep people comfortable

• James Montgomery Boice on doctrine that leads to true peace vs. peace at the expense of doctrine

• Four promises tied to eating His flesh and drinking His blood:

  1. Without Christ, there is no life

  2. With Christ, there is eternal life and a promise of resurrection

  3. His flesh is true food and His blood true drink

  4. Those who feed on Him abide in Him and He in them (union with Christ)

• Why John 6 is not about the Lord’s Supper granting salvation

• Manna vs. Christ: temporary provision that ends in death vs. true bread that gives eternal life

• “You are what you eat” spiritually – absorbing, not just skimming, the Word and the gospel

• Union with Christ in John and Paul:

  • Christ in us, we in Christ, and Christ in the Father

  • New creation, Christ as our life, the hope of glory

• Examining ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5): what does union with Christ look like in real life?

• How this doctrine shapes:

  • Our view of the future and end times

  • Our response to political upheaval, cultural decay, and rising anxiety

  • Our grief over sin and our joy in Christ’s finished work

Scripture References

Primary Text

• John 6:53–59

Supporting Texts

• John 5:24

• John 10:10

• John 14:20

• John 15:5

• 2 Corinthians 5:17; 13:5

• Galatians 2:20

• Colossians 1:27

Key Ideas / Phrases to Highlight

• “Doctrine leading to genuine peace versus peace at the expense of doctrine.”

• Our flesh is never satisfied; Christ alone is true food and true drink.

• “You can read the Bible all day, but if you don’t absorb it, you won’t be changed.”

• Union with Christ means Christ in us, we in Him, and our lives re-centered around Him.

• We should be broken over our sin and yet deeply comforted that Christ’s blood truly covers it.

• We mourn the state of the world but do not live in panic—God wins, and Christ holds His people fast.

Big Takeaways

1. No Neutrality with Christ Jesus doesn’t leave room for half-hearted, external religion: if we do not truly partake of Him—trusting, feeding on, and embracing Him by faith—we have no life.

2. Union With Christ Changes Everything Being in Christ and Christ in us reshapes how we see our sin, our trials, the future, politics, and the decay of culture. We test ourselves not by feelings, but by what our lives revolve around.

3. Peace Flows From Sound Doctrine, Not From Softened Edges Real, lasting peace comes from the hard but glorious truths of the gospel—God’s sovereignty, Christ’s sufficiency, and the believer’s secure union with Him.