Chapter 52
JESUS IS THE BREAD OF LIFE
Matthew 14:13-21
Before we begin our study, let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, Almighty God,
We come before You in the Name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Father God, we ask You to please bless this study. Father God, please grant us the spiritual wisdom to better understand and accept the things You are teaching us through Your Word. Father God, cause us to see and hear beyond the physical realm and discover the spiritual realities that You, through Your Son and the Holy Spirit, are teaching us.
Amen
INTRODUCTION
We begin our study by reading the account when Jesus, with just five loaves of bread and two fish, fed the five thousand men along with the women and children. To do this let us go and read from,
[13] When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. [14] And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. [15] When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” [16] But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. ”[17] And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” [18] He said, “Bring them here to Me.” [19] Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. [20] So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. [21] Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Let us notice the following verses,
15 … Jesus could have taken the advice of His disciples, which was to send the people to buy themselves something to eat.
16 …Instead of sending the people to buy themselves food to eat, Jesus told His disciples to give them something to eat.
17 … After hearing Jesus’ command the disciples wondered how, with only five loaves of bread and two fish, they were going to feed the multitude.
18 … After blessing the food Jesus gave the loaves of bread to His disciples. The disciples gave the food to the multitude. This is also a physical example to teach us that each and every disciple of Jesus Christ has been given spiritual food, which is the good news of Jesus Christ, to be shared with the hungry. To see this consider the following Scripture,
1 Peter 3:15
[15] But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
As one reflects upon this account, the following questions may arise; “Why did Jesus not send the people away to purchase food?” “Was He just trying to demonstrate His authority over the physical elements of this world?” OR “Was Jesus revealing to them and now us a more significant attribute of His being?” As we study the Scriptures we discover Jesus was teaching the people then and now us the following truth.
As God miraculously gave the manna (a type of bread wafer) to sustain the physical needs of the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, Jesus Christ is now the true Bread of Life who came to sustain our spiritual needs during our journey to the promised land of Heaven. To see this we will,
1. Explore what initially occurred the day after Jesus had miraculously fed the five thousand men along with the women and children.
2. Review the origin and significance of the manna.
3. See that when Jesus told the people He is the Bread of life and that we are to eat His flesh and drink His blood, He was not speaking in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense.
4. Find that when we daily read God’s Word and periodically partake in the Lord’s Supper we are spiritually nourished and sustained during our journey to the promised land of Heaven.
We begin by examining what initially happened on,
THE DAY AFTER JESUS FED THE 5,000 MEN
After Jesus fed the five thousand men He departed from the people to be alone on a mountain. That evening His disciples took a boat and started to cross the Sea of Galilee towards Capernaum. Later, Jesus left the mountain and walked on top of the water to meet up with His disciples. To read what happened let us go to,
John 6:15-21
[15] Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. [16] Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, [17] got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. [18] Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. [19] So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. [20] But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” [21] Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
Let us notice the following verses,
15 … Because of the miracle Jesus performed in feeding the multitude, the people wanted to force Him to be their king. Since Jesus did not want this to occur, He left them and went to be alone on a mountain.
16-17 … In the evening His disciples went into a boat and started to row across the Sea of Galilee towards Capernaum.
19 … Seeing Jesus walking towards them on top of the water, the disciples became afraid.
20 … Jesus comforted His disciples.
21 … Jesus’ disciples received Him into the boat and immediately the boat landed on the shore where they were going.
We now resume our reading from,
John 6:22-27
[22] On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone— [23] however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks— [24] when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. [25] And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” [26] Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. [27] Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him
Let us notice the following verses,
22-25 … After realizing there was only one boat used to cross over the Sea of Galilee and that Jesus did not initially go with His disciples, they asked Jesus; “When did He arrive?” Even though they just previously saw Jesus perform a miracle with the bread and fish, they still did not perceive who He is. They were still evaluating Jesus and His activities from a physical and not from a spiritual viewpoint.
26-27 … Jesus responded to their question by pointing out that the reason they followed Him was not because of who He is but only because He gave them food to eat. He then pointed out they should be more concerned about their spiritual needs, that is the everlasting life that only Jesus, can give.
As a side note, it is pointed out that we see much of this same attitude today. Specifically, many people come to Jesus, not so much for the hope of eternal life, but primarily in expectation for Him to fulfill their physical needs and wants. As the following Scripture points out those who only seek after Jesus for the comforts of this world are in a very sad state.
1 Corinthians 15:19
[19] If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
We return to chapter 6 and read from,
John 6:28-31
.” [28] Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” [29] Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” [30] Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Let us notice the following verses,
28-29 … Here is the “heart” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The people asked Jesus what work they must perform to earn the food for eternal life. Jesus responded by stating that the only way you receive eternal life is through faith and belief in Him. In other words, it is not by good works. It is by faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross that we receive eternal life.
30 … The people responded to Jesus’ statement by asking Him to perform a sign so they can believe in Him.
31 … They did not perceive that the miracles of the bread and fish and His miraculous crossing of the Sea of Galilee bore witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Instead the people brought up the miracle of the manna. As a side note, Manna was a bread-like wafer that tasted like the wafer was made with honey.
For us to better understand the significance of what the people were saying and the response Jesus gave them, we go back to the Old Testament and read about the,
THE ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MANNA
To do this, let us begin by reading what happened approximately one and one half months after Israel was released from their bondage to the Egyptians.
Exodus 16:1-3
[1] And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. [2] Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. [3] And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
After traveling for approximately one and one half months through the desert and its associated hardships, Israel’s faith in God was shattered. They were now convinced God’s deliverance was artificial and they were going to starve to death in the desert. Consequently, they longed for the provisions they had while enslaved by the Egyptians.
In reflecting upon this situation one could understand why the people of Israel felt the way they did. It was now one and one half months after Pharaoh set them free. The excitement of the miracles is now just a memory and they are now walking in a desert with no visible supply of food or water. Now was the time for them to walk, not by sight, but by faith in God’s promise to bring them to a land of milk and honey. However, the pressures of the wilderness journey were too much. The people were convinced they would starve. Their faith was so low that they even regretted listening to God in the first place. They forgot the horrors of the tyranny in Egypt and could only think about the food they had. In spite of their lack of faith, God, out of His love and compassion, miraculously provided bread to sustain the Israelites during their journey to the promised land of Canaan.
To see this, let us return to the Old Testament and read how God responded to Israel’s lack of faith and belief in His Word.
Exodus 16:4-5
[4] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. [5] And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Let us notice the following verses,
4a … God told Moses that He would give them bread for their journey.
4b … However, each day they were to go out on the desert floor and gather in their allotment. Also, note that this was a test to see if the people would follow God’s instructions. If they did, they would be nourished. If they did not, then because of a lack of food, they would be physically weakened.
As we will see later on, we too must daily partake of the spiritual food that God has given us. As with the physical food, so it is with the spiritual. If we daily partake of the spiritual food then we will spiritually grow and be strengthened. If on the other hand we do not partake, then we will become spiritually weak and anemic.
5 … Since the seventh day of the week was the Sabbath, which is the day of rest, on the sixth day the people were to gather twice as much. Thus, on the sixth day they were to gather manna for the sixth and seven days.
Let us now read the fulfillment of God’s promise to provide the necessary nourishment for His children of Israel.
Exodus 16:13-18
[13] So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. [14] And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. [15] So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. [16] This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’” [17] Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. [18] So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.
As God gave the Israelites physical bread, which was manna, to nourish and sustain them during their journey to the promised land of Canaan, God has provided us spiritual food to nourish us on our spiritual journey to the promised land of Heaven. As we will see, not only did Jesus come to offer His body and blood as a sacrifice to save us from our sins, but He also came to be our spiritual food. In other words,
JESUS IS THE BREAD OF LIFE
To see this we will read the teaching Jesus gave after the people asked Him to perform a miracle similar to that of the manna. It is interesting to note that the people asked this of Jesus on that day after He miraculously fed five thousand men along with the women and children with just five loaves of bread and two fish. We begin by reading from,
John 6:32-37
[32] Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” [35] And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. [36] But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. [37] All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
Let us notice the following verses,
32 … Jesus told the people it was not Moses who gave their forefathers the manna. It was God the Father who miraculously fed them in the wilderness.
33-35 … Jesus also explained to the people then and now us that He is the True Bread of Life. It is He, Jesus, who came down from Heaven to give eternal life to all who would believe in Him.
36 … In spite of all what they heard Jesus say and seen Him do, they still really do not believe in Him.
37 … Jesus pointed out another principle of the Gospel and that is, “It is God the Father who brings us to Jesus.” Remember in Chapter 51 we saw that when Peter recognized who Jesus was, Jesus told him that it was God the Father who revealed Him to Peter. To refresh our memory we go to,
Matthew 16:13-17
[13] When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” [14] So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” [15] He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” [16] Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[17] Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Thus, in our quest for eternal life for ourselves and others we should always ask God the Father for His Grace and Mercy to lead us and others to His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
We now return to chapter 6 of John and read the following,
John 6:38-42
[38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. [39] This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. [40] And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” [41] The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” [42] And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Let us notice the following verses,
38 … Jesus came down from Heaven to do the will of God the Father.
39-40 … Since it is God the Father’s will that none who He gives to Jesus will be lost, Jesus promises us that He will not lose any that are His and on the last day He will raise us up to eternal life.
41-42 … Still believing that Jesus was a mere mortal and just one of the children of Mary and Joseph, they started to question how Jesus could say that He came down from Heaven.
To read Jesus’ response to their question we go to,
John 6:43-52
[43] Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. [44] No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. [45] It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. [46] Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. [47] Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. [50] This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” [52] The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
Let us notice the following verses,
43-45 … Jesus responded by again telling them and now us that it is God the Father Who draws us to Jesus.
48-51 … Jesus explained to them and now to us that He is the Bread of Life and not like the manna which was temporal. No, instead He is the One who gives everlasting life. He pointed out that even though the Israelites ate the manna in the desert, they died. However, whoever partakes of Jesus will live forever, which is eternal life.
52 … The people are confused. They questioned and wondered, “How can Jesus give His flesh for them and us to eat?”
To read Jesus’ response, we go to,
John 6:53-59
[53] Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. [54] Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. [55] For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. [56] He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. [58] This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” [59] These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Let us notice the following verses
53-58 … Because of its extreme importance, Jesus again reaffirms the truth that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood we will not be raised up to eternal life.
The people still did not understand what Jesus was saying. They still thought Jesus meant they were to literally eat His physical flesh and drink His physical blood. They truly thought Jesus was professing a type of cannibalism. The people, being non-believers, considered the spiritual things that Jesus was teaching them and us to be nonsense. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit teaches us will happen when an unbeliever hears spiritual truths.
1 Corinthians 2:14
[14] But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
To see that Jesus did not mean they were to literally eat His physical flesh and drink His physical blood, We return to the Gospel according to John and read from,
John 6:60-63
[60] Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” [61] When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? [62] What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? [63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Let us notice the following verse,
63 … For this study, this is the key verse. It is the Holy Spirit who gives life not the flesh. In other words, as Jesus said, the words He was speaking are spirit and life not earthy or physical. Thus, they must be spiritually understood or discerned.
With the above background in mind, we come to the question of,
HOW DO WE SPIRITUALLY PARTAKE OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS?
The answer to this question is twofold. First of all,
WE ARE TO DAILY READ HIS WORD
To see this, let us remember that in verse 63 above Jesus told us that the words He spoke (and now written in the Bible) are spirit and life. In addition, let us also recall that the Bible reveals to us the unity of Jesus and His Word. To refresh our memories, let us read the following,
John 1:1
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Thus, as we reverently and prayerfully read or digest the Bible, that is the Word, we are spiritually partaking of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the Bible is sometimes referred to as spiritual food. For example, let us read how when the Apostle Paul chastised the Hebrews for not maturing in their faith he referred to God’s Word as milk and solid food. To do this let us go to,
Hebrews 5:12-14
[12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. [13] For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. [14] But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The second way we become spiritually nourished and strengthened by Jesus’ body and blood is to,
PERODICALLY PARTAKE IN THE LORD’S SUPPER
To see this, let us first read what Jesus said to His disciples after they ate their last Passover Supper. This was the time when He instituted what we now know as the Lord’s Supper. To read what He said let us go to,
Luke 22:19-20
[19] And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” [20] Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
Let us notice the following verse,
19 … We are to do these things in remembrance of Jesus. This means that when we partake of the Lord’s Supper we are to remember who He is, that is the Son of God, and what He did to save us from our sins.
CONCLUSION
Before we close this study, there are two points to be made. First,
JESUS CHRIST IS THE BREAD OF LIFE
To refresh our memories let us reread an excerpt from what Jesus said to a multitude of Jewish people the day after, with only five loaves of bread and two fish, He fed five thousand men along with the women and children.
John 6:48-51
[48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. [50] This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
The second point to be made is that,
JESUS’ WORDS ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE
As we read earlier, Jesus said that what He was speaking was spirit and life. Specifically, His words are not earthly or carnal. Consequently, Jesus’ words must be spiritually understood. To refresh our memories let us reread,
John 6:63
[63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Let us now silently ask our Lord to help us understand and accept the importance, as it was for the Israelites, for us to daily spend time with Jesus Christ and His Word.
Shall we pray?