God prohibited the Israelites from eating blood: "it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood" (Leviticus 3:17; 17:10-14; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-16, 22-25).

However, on one occasion, when the Israelites were defeating the Philistines in a battle, they captured "sheep and cattle and calves," and "the people rushed greedily upon the spoil," slaughtered and ate then "with the blood" (1 Samuel 14:30-33). When the blood-eating was reported to the king, he rebuked the eaters, "You have acted treacherously" (1 Samuel 14:33).

On another occasion, King David condemned those who poured out "their drink-offerings of blood" (Psalm 16:4).

Furthermore, God through the Holy Spirit brought his prohibition of blood eating over into the New Testament, saying it is "necessary" for Christians to abstain "from blood" (Acts 15:20, 29). There is no record of Christians eating human flesh and blood, but, while Christianity during the first three centuries was an illegal religion (religio illicita), Christians "were accused of eating the bodies and drinking the blood of the offspring of their sexual orgies" (Albert Henry Newman, A MANUAL OF CHURCH HISTORY).

But there is one exception to God’s prohibition of drinking blood, say the theologians of the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Eastern and the Lutheran Churches. They teach that Christ’s flesh and blood miraculously appear in the Lord’s Supper. However, the New Testament shows that such is false doctrine: "though we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer" (2 Corinthians 5:16).

Moreover, the doctrine of real flesh and real blood in the Lord’s Supper ("transubstantiation" with the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Eastern Churches), along with real bread and real wine ("consubstantiation" with the Lutheran Church) was affirmed by Martin Luther in a public debate with Ulrich Zwingli at Marburg, Germany, about 1517.

After Jesus had passed out real bread and real fruit of the vine to the 12 apostles, and after the bread and fruit of the vine were in their stomachs, all of Jesus’ flesh and blood were still in his body as he sat at the table (Matthew 26:26-29).

But what did Jesus mean by saying about the bread, "this is my body," and of the fruit of the vine, "this is my blood" (Matthew 26:26, 28)? Since it was impossible for him to be speaking literally, because all of his body and blood were still intact, he had to be speaking figuratively, meaning that the bread represented his body, and that the fruit of the vine represented hi s blood.

Jesus was no more speaking literally about his body and blood than when he said, on another occasion, "I am the door" and "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:9, 11).

On another occasion, Jesus said:

Again, a literal meaning is impossible because he would be commanding his disciples to be cannibals! Webster says that a cannibal is "a human being that eats human flesh." Since it was impossible for Jesus to be speaking literally, commanding cannibalism, he must have been speaking figuratively.

What he had said is a parallel to the mother speaking about her high school son, "He eats and drinks basketball." Just as basketball had become the all consuming passion of the lady’s son, so when a sinner has tasted that the Lord is "precious" (1 Peter 2:7, NRSV), then Jesus becomes the all consuming passion of a Christian. To use another figurative expression, the Christian has put "all of his eggs in one basket." He is happy to "forsake all" else just to be one of Jesus’ disciples (Luke 14:33). To him Christ is "all in all" (Colossians 3:11).

Paul, educated "at the feet of Gamaliel" (Acts 22:3), in line to be a respected rabbi, when he had seen Jesus, for the rest of his live he ate the flesh of Christ and drank his blood, honoring and magnifying Christ in his body, "whether by life of by death" (Philippians 1:20):

In Smyrna an elder of the congregation, Polycarp, was put on trial before the Roman consul. It was Saturday, February 23, A.D. (Barclay). The consul gave Polycarp a choice: "Swear, and I will release you: reproach Christ." He could have saved his life by renouncing the name of Jesus. The Jews joined with the non-Jews renouncing the name of Jesus. The Jews joined with the non-Jews demanding Polycarp’s death by throwing him into a den of lions (Fausett). When the consul ordered the execution be on a fiery stake, the Jews brought logs for the fire. Polycarp, given a final chance to deny Jesus, even as the flames were approaching, was heard to exclaim, "Eighty and six years I have served him, and he has never done me wrong. How can I deny him now?" Likely Polycarp did not have Jesus’ words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood in mind, but the meaning of those words was in his heart. Truly he believed that for him "to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

On a cold and wet night in October of 1968, in a tent in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the late and beloved Fred Walker was preaching, a young boy (perhaps nine or ten) spoke words that have touched the hearts of thousands of people.

Sitting next to the lad was Bill Tyner, who put his arm around the boy, and asked, "What does Jesus mean to you?" Surprised, he looked up at Bill with piercing eyes, and said, "Why he’s my everything -- what does he mean to you?"

The words of the boy touched Bill’s heart, and inspired him to write an unforgettable song, "He is my Everything":

Likely Bill Tyner, in composing his song, did not have Jesus’ words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood in mind, but it is clear that the meaning of Jesus’ words, receiving all of Jesus into one’s heart, was on his mind.