@Philip James I completely understand the need to believe what we cannot see with our eyes. And yet, there is a troubling aspect to believing that Jesus was speaking literally (about His body and blood), and not metaphorically in John 6 (quoted below). I have some questions for you.
Do you believe that when the disciples ate the bread and drank the wine with Jesus during the Passover meal that they were eternally saved at that point in light of the fact that Jesus said, "If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever"? In other words, were they born again of the Spirit at that point? They ate the bread and drank the wine. So do you believe that this gave them eternal life prior to Jesus dying on the cross and being raised from the dead?
Also, notice that Jesus said, "
The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." He's obviously talking about giving His life, being crucified "for the life of the world." I'm reminded that Jesus prophesied His crucifixion in John 3:14-16--"
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."
John 6:47-58-- “
I assure you: Anyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
So Jesus said to them, “
I assure you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your fathers ate — and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”