I Am The Bread of Life
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John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
What did Jesus claim about Himself? Who did Jesus say that He was? Do we really know Him personally? In what way does our Lord wants us to know Him and experience Him today?
Over this season of Lent, for the next 7 Sundays, let’s explore together Who our Lord Jesus Christ is more biblically and more personally in the new series that we have entitled “The Jesus You Ought to Know,” which is really based on the Seven “I AM” statements of Jesus from the gospel of John. So, are you ready to embark on this journey? Let’s begin.
So what’s so significant about these “I am” statements of Jesus? In the gospel of John, every time Jesus declares something to the people, he always started it with “I AM…”, which, in the original Greek, is “Ego Eimi.” What is that? That’s exactly the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name of God given to Moses in Exodus 3:14.
Moses asked God “what’s Your name, Lord?" How am I going to tell people about your name?” And then God told Moses to tell His people that “I AM THAT I AM (Heb. YHWH) has sent you.” That name of God describes His self-existence, His eternality. He doesn’t need anything or anyone to exist. God is truly the self-existing One. That name or title is exclusively for God alone. It’s a title of deity.
Whenever Jesus made an “I AM” statement in which He claimed attributes of deity, He was identifying Himself as God. It speaks to the fact that He is the ever-present One. When He asks people who they think He is, He provides them the answer through this gospel of John. Jesus is the Great “I AM.” He assumed this name for himself.
The gospel of John was written to prove that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and therefore, God. And these seven "I Am" statements kind of go along with the seven sign miracles that John tells, and these statements are given to us to help us understand about the Jesus we ought to know.
John 20:31
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Each of these I AM’s is a tremendous metaphor or an everyday-life object lesson which represents a particular description of Jesus Christ as what He wants us to know Him being God and His relationship to the spiritual NEEDS of men and women. And each time He uttered His “I AM’s” He deepens our understanding of Himself for us.
So let’s begin with the first “I AM” statement of Jesus as John wrote in
John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never go hungry,
and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
It’s no coincidence that the most basic need of the physical man is the foremost metaphor that Jesus used to describe Himself for all humanity.
I. The Introduction (The Context of John 6)
A. Jesus Feeds the 5,000 (John 6:1-13)
The day before Jesus said these words he had spoken to a huge crowd which ended with the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men who had come to hear him. In a truly miraculous way Jesus had provided for their physical need for food that day and not to mention 12 baskets of leftover bread.
John 6
(14) After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” (15) Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
B. Jesus Walks on Water (vv.14-21)
That night the disciples waited around for Jesus at the shore but since He didn’t come they took off across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, and in the middle of the night Jesus walked on the water and joined them.
C. Jesus the Bread of Life
The next morning, the crowd went searching for Jesus but they couldn’t find him, and so they set sail to Capernaum to find Jesus, and so the crowd once again mobbed around Jesus.
You would think Jesus would be happy to see these people crowding around him, don’t you? But listen again to what Jesus said to the crowd,
John 6:
(26) “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
They were looking for Jesus for the wrong reason.
Jesus wasn’t impressed with their pursuit of him because the crowd had followed him for the wrong reason (food), and now they were looking for more. Their pursuit of Jesus had nothing to do with him, with his being the Messiah, or even his teachings. They followed Jesus because of what he can give to their stomach. Maybe the old saying was true to them, ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
They had full stomachs but empty souls.
They were still dumb and blind as to who Jesus Christ is and His purpose and His plan for coming to earth. And that's just exactly why Jesus gives this long discourse using His miracle of multiplying the bread, to show them Who He is and that His purpose is not political, nor physical, but spiritual.
Jesus discerned something very wrong about their enthusiasm. So Jesus corrected their mindset (vv. 32-33) by pointing out errors.
Three Errors of the Crowd
They were looking for instant Satisfaction
They work for food that Spoils
They were searching for visible Signs
John 6:27
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
He says you're looking for the wrong stuff, people, you're working for a food that can spoil. What you ought to be doing is looking for that food that fills you with everlasting life. Jesus rebuked the crowd for purely materialistic notions of the messianic kingdom (cf. v. 26; 4:15). Although Messiah’s kingdom would be literal and physical someday, the people failed to see the overriding spiritual character and blessing of “everlasting life” given immediately to those who believe the witness of God to His Son
John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”
For them, salvation is a matter of work, for Jesus is a matter of faith!
God isn’t looking for hard workers.
He’s looking for hungry believers!
Now in verses 30 to 40 we see that these snacks-seeking crowd turned into sign-seeking mod. They’re demanding for another miraculous feast.
John 6:
(30) So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?
The question demonstrated the perfidy, the spiritual blindness of the crowd, and their shallow, selfish curiosity. The feeding of 5,000 was a sufficient enough sign to demonstrate Christ’s deity (cf. Luke 16:31). But they were perfidious.
(31) Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
The crowd’s logic appeared to be that Jesus’ miraculous feeding was a small miracle compared to what Moses did. In order for them to believe in Him, they would need to see Him feed the nation of Israel on the same scale that God did when He sent manna and fed the entire nation of Israel during their wilderness wanderings for forty years (Ex. 16:11–36). They were demanding that Jesus outdo Moses, if they were to believe in Him. They quoted from Psalm 78:24.
“Jesus, if you want us to see and believe, keep on working. Keep on doing your signs.” For them, “to see is to believe! And to eat more is to believe even more!”
Jesus Corrected Them at Two Points:
1. The Father was the true Source of the bread, not Moses.
It was the Father who gave the bread, not Moses
John 6: 32
“Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
2. The Manna was only a Shadow of the true bread from heaven.
The bread God gave through Moses was not the main point of the miracle. It pointed to something bigger. The manna God gave was temporary and perished and was only a meager shadow of what God offered them in the true bread, Jesus Christ, who gives spiritual and eternal life to mankind (“world”).
John 6:33
For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Notice three things about this bread:
This bread is Supernatural - it is from God, from “heaven,”
This bread is Vital - “gives life”
This bread is Global - it is offered not just to a few (Jews), but now explicitly, “to the world.”
This bread is Personal - “is He”
Hearing these, their appetite is now even heightened.
John 6:34
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
“Be like Moses — just keep on giving us the bread of God from now on, the manna that fills our stomachs.” Now finally, for the first time, Jesus says explicitly in verse 35 that he’s talking about himself:
John 6:35
“I Am the Bread of Life! He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Unfortunately, many fail to pause here long enough to really savor what Jesus is declaring and understand the life-transforming power contained in this truth. So what should we know about Jesus when He said that He is the Bread of Life?
II. The Interpretation (The Meaning)
“I am the bread of life… (John 6:35)
It is no coincidence that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means “the house of bread!”
1. Jesus is the Source of Eternal Life
By equating Himself with bread, Jesus is saying He is essential for life. 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 does not perish but can bring eternal life to people who eat Him.
John 10:10
I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
He is claiming to be that which one needs in order to have life and continue to live.
John 6:
(47) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (48) I am the bread of life.
(50) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6:53
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
This was a shocking message—to eat flesh and drink blood sounded cannibalistic. The idea of drinking any blood, let alone human blood, was repugnant to the religious leaders because the law forbade it (Leviticus 17:10, 11). Jesus was not talking about literal flesh or blood, of course. He was saying that his life had to become their own. This strong metaphor means taking in Christ into our lives. That is, making Him part of our system. It’s feeding on Him spiritually.
Without Him there is only existence, but not life! Christ gives life to our used-to-death spirits. He not only has life in Himself, but He gives life to all those who will come to Him! Amen?
2. Jesus is the Sustainer of Life
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
When Jesus spoke of Himself as being the bread He was using an image that everyone understood. Bread was a common part of their daily diet to sustain life. And that is what He wants to teach us about Him.
John 6:55
For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
"What bread is for hunger, Jesus claims to be for the soul. When Jesus called himself the Bread of Life, He is saying that He is the core sustenance for our spiritual being.
John 6:57
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.
Are you on a spiritual diet lately? You know, a spiritual diet without the † (the cross) diet becomes die. If you’re not regularly feeding on Christ, you will not be sustained – you will die spiritually.
3. Jesus is the Satisfier of Life
John 6:35
“I Am the Bread of Life! He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Jesus is the spiritual bread that satisfies the deepest hunger of our souls.
He's not talking about physical hunger. He's talking about the soul. He is saying, "I satisfy the soul." The saddest disease is when the soul stops thirsting and the soul stops hungering for God.
Those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ are eternally satisfied. They no longer have to drink from the broken cisterns of this world, but find themselves tapped into a source of life and blessing that never runs dry. There is abundant satisfaction in the Person of Jesus. Amen?
4. Jesus is Sufficient for Life
John 6:35
“I Am the Bread of Life! He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
This reminds us that Jesus is our all-sufficient Savior. He meets the need of man's soul forever.
In the original, a double negative is used to emphasize just how emphatic this statement is, “Whoever comes to me shall never ever hunger again.” In fact, in addition to the double negative, there is an added adverb so that it would literally be Whoever comes to me will never ever at any time (because of the Aorist tense) be hungry.”
II. The Implication (How it affects us today)
“…will never go hungry, …will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
Because Jesus is the Bread of Life…
1. I will have a Saved Life - I am saved forever!
John 6:47
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
2. I will have a Sustained Life
3. I will have a Satisfied Life
Oh, when you meet Jesus Christ, isn't there satisfaction? There's no more hunger in the soul when you've met Jesus Christ. He becomes food and nourishment. He is the soul food that gives satisfaction.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
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.
Jesus promises us that He alone can fill our real hunger forever, because He is the bread of life. He fills that longing we cannot seem to satisfy on our own.
4. I will have a Sufficient Life
IV. The Invitation (The Command)
Having known who Jesus Christ is, and what He can offer to us, what must we do now? Take note of the verbs, the commands in this passage.
“…whoever comes to Me… and whoever believes in Me” (John 6:35)
““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.” (John 6:53)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” (John 6:47)
What do these verbs mean?
For Jesus, they all mean the same thing.
Coming to Jesus is believing Him;
eating his flesh means believing Him;
drinking His blood means believing Him.
He promises eternal life to those who believe in him.
One of the most provocative observations about the gospel of John is that he never uses the noun “faith” or “belief” (pistis), but uses the verb “believe” (pisteuō) 98 times. I don’t claim to have the whole answer as to why John wrote this way. But I think it has something to do with the nature of what it means to be saved, that it is a life of believing (verb). John wants to communicate to his readers, and to us, that faith in Jesus is not passive life but an active life. Salvation is active believing in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Over and over John says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” — that’s saving faith, saving believing (John 3:36; 3:15–16; 5:24; 6:40, 47; 11:25; 20:31). The issue in John’s Gospel is how to have eternal life, and not remain under the wrath of God (John 3:36), and the answer is: believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
Brethren, have you been trying to fill the hunger in your life with the things of this world, even the good things like food, clothing, possessions, or even relationships? Perhaps you are spiritually hungry or thirsty, feeling unsatisfied with your life. Let this be an opportunity to feed your soul with the bread from heaven.
Jesus is the Bread of Life.
Jesus is the all-saving, all-sustaining, all-satisfying, our all-sufficient Savior! And He is here with us. Come to Him…eat Him… drink Him… receive Him… and be saved, satisfied, sustained forever. We’ve been invited to His table, to feed upon Heaven’s Bread, that we may never be hungry or thirsty again.
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