by Thomas Eskine

Man expects life in having his flesh unhurt in any of its feelings, and in having the current of his blood unchecked. And the will of God breaks the flesh and shreds the blood, and seems to destroy life instead of giving it, and thus appears as if it were not meat be which man could live.

Yet Jesus came to give this meat to men; that is, he came to show men that the will of God, although it crucified the flesh, was meat indeed, yet the only meat that nourisheth unto eternal life. He showed them this by showing them the will of God fulfilled in himself,- in his own person. He, in their sight, ate this meat which seemed so deadly; he did not his own will in anything, but the will of the Father. He lived by the will of the Father. And they saw that this will of God did indeed break his flesh and shed his blood; but after it had brought him to the dust of death, they saw it raise him from the dead, freed forever from all touch of mortality and corruption, to partake in the glorious and blessed life of the Father for ever and ever. Thus he showed them that it might be safely taken, that he who had provided this meat for man might be trusted by man; for he says, “I have trusted him and I am delivered”. He showed them that love in the heart of God towards them, which had sent forth the only begotten Son from his bossom to taste death for every man, to be the Head of every man, and the channel of sonship to every man, so that every man might through him look up to God as a present Father, forgiving him and loving him even as he loved Christ. He thus showed them that as God was his Father, whom he could trust, so he was their Father, whom they might trust; and that his will concerning them was nothing else than the outcoming of a Father’s love, who had made them and redeemed them, and who afflicted them not willingly, but that they might be partakers of his holiness.

He thus showed them that there was a purpose in the heart of God towards them, of love and of righteous blessedness, which could not have its fulfillment except through the crucifixion of the flesh.