Gospel of John - I am the Bread that Came Down From Heaven - Part 2

 

        I am the Bread that Came Down From Heaven - Part 2

John 6:36-59

Jesus used this phrase four times in trying to convince the Jewish people that he came from the Father in heaven. They found it was hard to conceive Jesus came from heaven, and that this was the will of God. It still seems that people are struggling with Jesus and God’s plan, purpose, and will, especially in these last days of the church age. Let’s look at the text as we study his Word.

“But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

The people in Israel were perplexed, doubting, and unbelieving, even having Jesus standing in their midst. They saw the miracles, and heard the words of the Father through the Son, but Jesus didn’t give up trying to reach them. First, Jesus tried to explain clearly, everything comes from the Father, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…” (James 1:17) They had mentioned to Jesus about the manna provided by Moses, that Jesus corrected them in that it came from the Father in heaven,not from Moses, and this manna was a symbol of the true bread from heaven. “It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (vv.32-33) They had asked Jesus to “always give us this bread.” (v.34)“ Now Jesus gets to the heart of God’s provision, the true gift from heaven.

Jesus “begins to speak to them about God’s plan of salvation, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

The Jews needed to understand God’s plan goes beyond the nation of Israel, to all who will believe. It began with the Jewish people, but was not confined to them. God the Father gives life, this they understood in part, but Jesus wanted them to comprehend the greater scope of God’s will, All those the Father gives me will come to me. This included the Samaritans and gentile world, which Jesus had already proved by reaching out to the lost, the lady at the well, and the fields ripe for the harvest (gentile world) as mentioned in the holy writings, “since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?” (Gen. 18:18) “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations.” (Ps.22:27-28) But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them…I will also make You a light of the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isa. 9:1-2; 49:6b) 

Jesus was revealing God’s plan and purpose for sending his Son, the life-giving bread. Jesus told them he had come to receive all that the Father gives to him, all who would truly believe in him would receive eternal life. Not only receive him, but that he would never drive anyone away, and would not lose a single person who truly believes in him that the Father gave to him (All those the Father gives me will come to me), and he would raise them all up, rapture the church up to heaven in the last day of the church age. 

Application - In these days, we have heard the Word of God, seen the glory of God in His creation, and we have experienced the power of God through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is still drawing people to God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, “...he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…” Titus 3:5, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Ephesians 2:5 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses…” Colossians 2:13

Just as the people who ate the bread and fish along the knolls of the sea of Galilee, Jesus is still feeding the masses God’s Word through the Holy Spirit’s anointing of men and women. Many hear the Word and they are drawn to the Father through the Son. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the Bread of Life, and God gave him all who would believe in Him as Savior and Lord, and the Father gave him this promise according to His will and purpose, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

The blessed hope for every believer is the certainty and promise of the Father and the Son that all who have received Jesus would be raised up, raptured, at the last day of the church age. “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thes. 4:14-18

Second, The Jews began to grumble because they couldn’t see past their finite concept of God. They didn’t really believe what they had experienced, heard, and seen in Jesus, and they hadn’t understood the scriptures that foretold his coming. All they could see was the natural, the physical. Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary, a local boy, born to earthly parents; they had not believed the scripture or the testimonies of those whom Jesus had revealed himself too. Let’s look at the text, “At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’(Isa. 54:13) Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”

Jesus is laying it all out for them through the scripture from the prophet Isaiah, “All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.” Jesus reprimands them for not believing the very word from God that they had been taught as children. God will draw to the Son all who would believe “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them…” The drawing of a people to God shouldn’t have been a foreign thought. From Israel's history, God had drawn the Israelites out from among the world, beginning with Abraham, through Issac and Jacob, from bondage in Egypt and to the promised land. Only those who believed the word from God and the servant he sent, lived by faith in the One who could save them, these were those who God drew even to the last day. 

Jesus used the lessons and history of Israel that refer to his coming from the Father in heaven. He stated, “Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” All those in the synagogue that day, should have  had their hearts and eyes opened to the very words from God, yet they were still closed up to the eternal One whom God had sent, the Messiah. Jesus said it as honestly and plainly as he could, “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” Jesus was from heaven, he has seen God the Father, and he is from God the Father. He came to be the bread that would give life, and that eternal.

Application - How many times have we heard something in the media, and didn't fact check it. We just believed it as truth because it was something we wanted to hear to appease our own thinking or bias. There is plenty of misinformation floating around the world, yet God’s Word is still the only truth that is absolute. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the god of this age had blinded people to the truth of the gospel, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

God is still very much in charge of the universe and all that is happening. He is drawing people through Jesus around the world. Yet, the polls in America say that the church is declining, people are closing their minds, eyes, and ears to the truth to believe a lie, or the words from men or women who can only see through finite minds. Just as in Jesus’ days of earth, Satan has blinded the minds, eyes, and ears of people to seek the truth, to weigh what they hear with God’s Word. Many people remember the stories and verses from scripture as children, only to shelf their faith in God and pursue the teachings of men and the lies of the god of this age. Many grumble because they don’t understand or they don’t get what they want, to be satisfied for the present. Satan’s lies have kept people grumbling against God and over their lack of satisfaction in this world, even when God is near and knows their needs. 

Yet the Holy Spirit is still reaching out to all who will listen and yield to His voice. He comes with a message that will bring peace, and peace that only God can give through faith in His Son. Will you listen to the Holy Spirit as he seeks to draw you? Listen again to Jesus’ words, “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” Jn.16:8-15 

Last, Jesus begins where they understand about bread from heaven, the manna from God and ends by alluding to the passover bread, to illuminate the eternal bread, that all who will believe will eat of and have eternal life. Let’s look to the text, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 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. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

The Jews knew the story of Israelites and the manna, it was a story every child heard at passover Seder. The people of Israel grumbled against Moses and ultimately God about not having food to eat to satisfy their hunger in the desert. Jesus again alluded to stories from their past to illuminate the present and future. The Israelites ran out of bread without yeast, after crossing the red sea. They were approaching the Desert of Sin, and grumbled because their food was subpar to the food they ate in bondage in Egypt. God heard their grumbling and provided bread from heaven, manna (meaning ‘what is it?’). God did this to test them, see if they would listen to his instructions and follow his directions. Each day they were to eat all they wanted of the manna, but not keep any till the next day, for God would give fresh manna every day, except on the sixth day, they were to collect a double portion for the following day. All of this so that they would know that God was with them, knew their needs, and heard their grumbling.

Grumbling seems to be a staple response to God by man, for Jesus used this story to illuminate the fact of grumbling and death. All their forefathers who grumbled and ate manna died in the wilderness, except Joshua and Caleb and their families. “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.” Jesus then brings an old concept in new revelation, “But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 

The people were grumbling over Jesus’ words and who he claimed to be. Knowing this, Jesus again tried to open their eyes to the eternal bread of God from heaven. God is the provider of life, he provides mankind with everything he needs to live. Man has been eating since the beginning, and God has provided this food for him in abundance. Jesus wants them to see from God’s point of view, God is now providing (food) that will allow them to live for eternity.

They would have understood the making of bread without yeast for the passover, the lamb roasted upon the fire, and the blood applied to the doorposts and jams as a covering of providing and protecting life. Jesus now moves into an obnoxious view of bread and blood. “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.” 

Again, Jesus uses flesh as a metaphor for bread, and blood as the source of life in the body. The Jewish people would know the elements of the passover, the unleavened bread, a type of sinlessness/partaking of sinlessness, and the blood as a type of sacrifice/salvation from sin/death. They would remember the words from Exodus 12:7-8, “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.”

Jesus draws the references to himself, “I am the Bread of Life, alluding to the sinlessness of the bread, the sacrifice of lamb and the blood of the lamb for the protection of life. The Israelites knew that it was required of them to partake of these elements in order to keep the command given by God through Moses. Jesus told them that they must partake of, eat the flesh, referencing back to the eating of sinlessness and of innocence. They must partake of His sinlessness and innocence, for he was the Bread of Life. It was in partaking of the sacrifice that death passed over because of his sacrifice and eating of the flesh, life was given by God as a sacrifice. Jesus laid it out so that those whom God had given him would believe and partake of the bread and blood that gave life. 

Application - Jesus is not talking about cannibalism, nor is he instituting a new teaching. He wants us to understand from the scripture, he is the Bread of Life, and it is his shed blood upon the cross that atoned for our sins.

We as humans like to grumble and argue about things that we don’t fully understand. We apply the concepts of the life and work of Jesus on the cross through our human filters, finite thinking and reasoning. Jesus never intended people to eat a person, but he did intend for us to understand the concept of taking something in. We eat food, some fresh and some cooked. We know that the food that we partake of will give us energy and the nutrition needed to live in our mortal bodies. In the spiritual world, God has given us food that gives eternal life. We partake of the truth of His Word, in the sacrificial death of His Son by believing in Him for salvation because he was the only sinless man to ever live on this world, thus the only one worthy to be the acceptable sacrifice for sin (the Lamb of God). It was through his shed blood covering that we are considered expiated and righteous to God, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God…Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Heb. 9:14,22; For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” Lev. 17:11

There is only one God, one Lord, one Savior, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” 1 Cor. 8:6

So today if you are still struggling with Jesus being the Bread of Life, the only one who has seen God, and was sent to mankind to give eternal life by partaking of him. Jesus is God’s plan, purpose, and will, especially in these last days. He is coming back for all that is His in the last day of the church age.

 I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please, Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I am developing a new webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. I’m adding answers each week to questions that pertain to our time today.  Thank you

http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com