JESUS ABIDES IN HIS FOLLOWERS, THROUGH THE WORD. Jesus told His disciples to abide in Him. “If ye abide in Me,” He says, “and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”(John 15:7). It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers. This is the same vital union that is represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The words of Christ are spirit and life. Receiving them, you receive the life of the Vine. You live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. He is the true-bread. He said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:and the bread that I will give is My flesh." Then He added, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man...ye have no life in you" (John 6:51-53). Even the disciples could not comprehend Christ's words, and they murmured. Jesus read their thoughts, and said unto them, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). His Word is the true bread, of which we are to eat. As the bread in the presence of God was taken out from the sanctuary and eaten, so Jesus said, "The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me" (John 14:24). The Bible came direct from God. God gave it to Christ, Christ signified it by His angel unto the prophets, and the prophets gave it to the people (Revelation 1:1). We often read the Bible 📖 as a mere form of godliness, or to get something to give to others; but if we would receive its life-giving power into our own souls, we must have it "hot," warm from heaven. There is no more appropriate time to let God speak to our own souls through His word than on the Sabbath day, when we lay aside our worldly cares and business, and take time to study the Holy Word and let it come into our inmost heart until we hear God speak to us, not to another. The priests were not only to set the hot bread upon the table on the Sabbath day, but later that same bread was to be eaten and become a part of their very being. God designed that His people should each Sabbath day gain a fresh experience in divine things, which would make them better fitted to meet the temptations of the week. The soul that never gains a deeper experience on the Sabbath than on any other day, fails to keep the Sabbath as God would have him (Ezekiel 20:12). We may have a few minutes of quiet study of the Word on the Sabbath day, when we hear the Lord speaking to us individually; but if the words are not incorporated into our lives, they give us no abiding strength. As the priests ate the bread prepared the Sabbath before, they assimilated it, and thus received strength for daily duties. Peter evidently understood this truth when he admonished the Church to desire the sincere milk of the Word that they might grow thereby, and he said if they did this they would be "a holy priesthood" (1 Peter 2:2-5). Here is the secret of true Christian living. Eternal life does not come to the soul through forms and ceremonies. They are all right in their place; but eternal life results from feeding upon the true bread which comes from the presence of God—God's Holy Word, the blessed Bible. The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the similitude of Christ. DA 677.1 At sundown today the blessed Sabbath of our Lord begins. HAPPY SABBATH to all.