Being in Christ

Carl Mickens

At Colossians 2:3, we read, "Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Now if we are "In Christ," one could reason that we could have wisdom and knowledge. How then can one become "In Christ"?

The sixth chapter of John gives us a lot of insight into "How." We learn there of the miracle where Jesus fed the multitude, and after which Jesus said that he had food for them that would give them eternal life. At John 6:35, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." The fortieth verse says, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Verses 53 and 54 continues the same thought, but adds another responsibility: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Could Jesus be saying that if you do not partake of the bread and wine you will not have life? Now Jesus had not yet had the last supper with them, but when he did sometime later, his disciples knew what he was referring to, because of what our Lord was explaining here.

I was an active Jehovah's Witness for 24 years when I realized the implications of these verses. I became disturbed at the thought that I did not partake of the communion (or memorial); that I could miss out on life no matter how active I was. For the two years prior to my resignation from the Watch tower Society, I would come home from the memorial meeting and secretly go to my car, and there offer prayer over the wine and bread, and then partake. I did not, at the time, fully understand what it all meant, but my Lord said to do it if I wanted life.

I publicly partook for the first time at a "Witnesses Now for Jesus" conventions, for ex-JW's in Pennsylvania. What a glorious time that was!

What is Jesus really offering to us here? What does it mean to "eat his flesh and drink his blood?" John records that some disciples didn't understand what he meant and stopped following him. They didn't have the spiritual understanding, nor did they stick around to find out the true meaning of Jesus' words. The key to this understanding is back at John 6:35, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." So eating of him is coming to him so you will not hunger and drinking of him is believing in him so you will never thirst!

Ask a Jehovah's Witness if he wants to be resurrected. His answer will certainly be yes! Then he must take of Jesus, his body and blood (the bread and wine). You must come to him, believe in him, or you will not have life. It's as simple as that! In other words, Jesus is "Eternal Life!" In short, partaking of Christ's blood (the wine) and eating his flesh (the bread), you are making known to the world that you have "come to Jesus". To reject the bread and cup, is to reject our Lord's invitation, "Come to me." To say, "That's not for me, that's for another class, and I'm not part of it," is a result of pure scriptural ignorance. Maybe, I could add spiritual suicide. Without this covenant with Christ, you have no Christianity!