“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, which I will
give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)
One of the timely miracles
that Jesus did after preaching to the people is to feed them. In John 6, Jesus
fed 5,000 people with only 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread after which even a
lot was gathered as waste. When you provide people with food, they can even
make you King. No wonder today, even Christians are signing agreements with the
devil because of physical needs.
On two occasions, Jesus
miraculously fed thousands of people in the wilderness, similar to when God
provided manna from heaven for His people in the desert. The day after Jesus
first fed the people, many returned, hoping for more food (John 6:26). Instead
of performing another sign, Jesus claimed that He Himself was the Bread – the Manna that had come down from heaven.
He had come from heaven into the wilderness of the world, where people are
spiritually strangling themselves with man-made doctrines and understanding
(John 6:41-42,52). He said that whoever would come to Him would never hunger nor
thirst again.
In the early Jewish culture,
having bread was essential for survival. There was constant supply of bread in
varieties available at the local market. In fact bread, is a very important
basic diet in every nation. Simply put:
without bread, there was no life. Just as bread is the essential element in the
human diet, Jesus says that He Himself is the foundation for spiritual life. “I
am the Bread of Life” is another way of Jesus saying: “Without Him, you cannot
live. Those who come to Him will never again be hungry. Those who believe in
Him will never again thirst. Through His death, we live. Without the manna, the
Israelites would have perished in the wilderness- they survived on bread (and quail). Similarly, without Christ – the bread in your life, you cannot
survive this wretched earth. You will be a living dead.
Today
John
describes many people turning away and rejecting Jesus after the “Bread” speech (Jn. 6:41-43). Many today
also find it too hard to accept that Jesus is more than just one of the religious
teachers amongst the many beliefs. Yet, Jesus’ words remain true. Whoever eats the bread that He gives will live
eternally. Some of us claim to have eaten this bread (accepted Jesus) yet we
are starving to death because of unbelief. We have options to Jesus because all
our relationship with Him is about our physical needs that do not last.
‘Jesus the bread of
life’- the meaning
In
John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; he that comes to me shall never hunger,
and he that believes in me shall never thirst.” What does this statement mean?
1) by equating Himself with bread, Jesus is
saying he is essential for life.
2) the life Jesus is referring to is not physical
life, but eternal life. Jesus is trying to get the Jews’ to think in the
spiritual realm. He is contrasting what He brings as their Messiah with the
bread He miraculously created the day before. That was physical bread that
perishes. He is spiritual bread that brings eternal life.
3) Jesus is making another claim to
deity. This phrase “I AM” is the covenant name of God (Yahweh, or YHWH), revealed
to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). The phrase speaks of
self-sufficient existence, which is an attribute only God possesses. It is also
a phrase the Jews who were listening would have automatically understood as a
claim to deity. Without him, we can do nothing. Whatever we ask in his name,
the father will do it for us and no other name.
4)
notice
the words “come” and “believe.” This is an invitation for those listening to
place their faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. Coming to Jesus involves
making a choice to forsake the world and follow Him. Believing in Jesus means
placing our faith in Him that He is who He says He is, that He will do what He
says He will do, and that He is the only one who can. He is the source of our
survival in this faithless and wretched earth- Where good has become evil and evil has become good! A lot
of us believe Jesus with our lips but our hearts are far away. We hear the word
but live contrary. We are only church-goers still full of filth and darkness
instead of light. Unbelievers even judge us rather than seek counsel from us.
5)
there are the words “hunger and thirst.”
Again, it must be noted that Jesus isn’t talking about alleviating physical
hunger and thirst. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled.” When Jesus says those who come to Him will never
hunger and those who believe in Him will never thirst, He is saying He will
satisfy our hunger and thirst to be made righteous in the sight of God. Matt.
6:33 says “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other
things shall be added unto you. What are you seeking from the Lord all these
while? Is it money, wife, husband, Job, etc.? Whatever it is, seek righteousness
first and you will receive more than you want.
The Bible also tells us that
there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven because we’ve all sinned
(Romans 3:23) and the only thing our sin earns us is death (Romans 6:23). There
is no one who is righteous in himself (Romans 3:10). Our dilemma is we have a
desire we cannot fulfill, no matter what we do. That is where Jesus comes in.
He, and He alone, can fulfill that desire in our hearts for righteousness
through the Divine Transaction: “For our
sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ died on the cross,
He took the sins of mankind upon Himself and made atonement for them. When we
place our faith in Him, our sins are charged to Jesus, and His righteousness is
charged to us. Jesus satisfies our hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is
our “Bread of Life”.
If Jesus is your bread
of life, what next?
We
cannot live that sinful life anymore. We cannot pretend anymore. We cannot live
for our selfish gain anymore but a life full of holiness and righteousness
(2corin. 5:17). Even in our physical hunger and thirst, He will provide for us
as was done for Elijah (1kings 19:4-8). Our lives should be in transformation
as Eph. 4:25-5:3.
Jesus
is coming again (Acts 1:11). This time not to do another miracle to feed 5,000
people with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread, but to judge (2corin. 5:10, Rev.
20:11-15). In Matt. 24, all the signs to characterize His second coming is
happening. Are you ready?
Take
the ‘bread of life’- Let holiness and righteousness be your life and you will
have eternal life. Amen!
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