He Fed Me

 

“Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. Then He said to Me, Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving to you. Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.” Ezekiel 2:8b – 3:3.

 

There isn’t much that can stand alongside the words, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a) (certainly there are also, “It is finished,” and “He is risen,” among the Himalayan peaks of Scripture). John makes the statement of the Word becoming flesh and then proceeds to show us what the Word becoming flesh, tabernacling among us, looks like, both in Jesus Christ and within His People.

 

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” (John 6:53). As Ezekiel was to feed his stomach and fill his body with the scroll which God gave him, we are to fill ourselves with the Living Bread which comes down out of heaven – our Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:51). Christ is to be our life; we are to live by Him and in Him and through Him and unto Him – and we do this as we partake of Him.

 

Peter tells us that God gives us promises in His Word so that we may “become partakers of the Divine Nature” (2 Peter 1:4). (Why, O why, do we deny our Nature in Christ?!) But, of course, unless we eat the scroll, unless we eat the heavenly manna, unless we eat the flesh and drink the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the food remains outside us and we might as well be looking at photos in a food magazine – the photos cannot feed us, knowing the Bible as data and information cannot feed us.

 

The scroll that Ezekiel ate was palpable – when the Bible is transformed by the Holy Spirit it is palpable, it is more than ink and paper – the Word becomes alive to us and we become alive to the Word, the Word becomes multi-dimensional, and we learn to live in those dimensions in our Lord Jesus Christ and with one another.

 

In describing the Law of Yahweh, the Word of God, David writes that it is “sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10b). In Psalm 119:103 we read, “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

 

Are we tasting that the LORD is good?  (Psalm 34:8) Is the Word of God palpable to us?

 

Consider John’s description of the Incarnate Word, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life – and the life was manifested and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us…” (1 John 1:1 – 2).

 

Is this our experience with Jesus Christ? Is this our experience with the Word of God?

 

Let us not forget that we “have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Let us not forget that we are called to “receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Let us not forget that, “…the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

 

The Bible, the Word of God, should not be inert to us – it must not be simply information, it must not be something as trite as Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth – that may sound cute but it is not enough! It must be our very life in Christ, for Christ is always and ever coming to us in and through His Word, Himself – sacrament of sacraments.

 

Ezekiel looked, “and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it.” Can we see the Hand of God extended to us? Can we see our Lord Jesus Christ? Can we see the scroll? Shall we eat the scroll?

 

Ezekiel tells us that it was “sweet as honey in my mouth.”

 

O dear friends, we know what ice cream tastes like, we know that pizza tastes like, we know what peanut butter tastes like – do we know what the Word of God tastes like?

 

What does the Scroll taste like to you?