Jesus, The Bread Of Life

Scripture Reading: John 6:23-40

“I am the Bread of Life” (Vs.35) is one of the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. Jesus used the phrase “I AM” in seven declarations about Himself. In all seven, He combines I AM with powerful metaphors that express His saving grace toward the world, all appear in the book of John. Tonight we are going to look at what Jesus meant by “I am the Bread of Life”.

The Bread:

Bread is considered a staple food. A person can survive a long time on only bread and water. We use the phrase “breaking bread” to indicate the sharing of a meal with others. Bread plays an important part of the Jewish Passover meal. The Jews were to eat unleavened bread during the Passover meal and then for seven days following as a celebration of the exodus from Egypt. When the Jews were wandering in the desert, God rained down “bread from heaven” to sustain them.

Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

Bread sustains Life. In John 6, Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds. He crossed the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd followed Him. After some time, Jesus asks Philip how they’re going to feed the crowd. Philip show’s his “little faith” when he says “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite” (Vs. 7). Andrew brings boy who had five small loaves of bread and two fish. With that small amount, Jesus fed the masses with much to spare.

Jesus Crosses The River:

Jesus and His disciples cross back to the other side of Galilee. When the crowd sees that Jesus has left, they follow Him again. Jesus accuses the crowd of ignoring his miraculous signs and only following Him for the “free meal.” (Vs. 26)

Jesus tells them in (Vs. 27) “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

They were so excited with the food, they were missing out on the fact that the Messiah had come. They asked Jesus for a sign that He was sent from God (Vs. 30). Jesus responds by telling them that they need to ask for the true bread from heaven that gives life (Vs. 33). They ask Jesus for this bread (Vs. 34). Jesus astonishes them by saying, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (Vs. 35)

What does “I am The Bread Of Life” Mean?:

There are five important aspects to this amazing statement:

1.) By comparing himself with bread, Jesus is saying he is essential for life.

2.) The life Jesus is referring to is not physical it’s eternal. Jesus was trying to get them in the spiritual realm. He is spiritual bread that brings eternal life unlike the physical bread He gave them the day before.

3.) Jesus is making another claim to deity, “I AM” is the covenant name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.”. The phrase speaks of self-sufficient existence, “aseity”, an attribute only God possesses. Those Jesus was speaking to would have automatically understood His claim to deity.

4.) The words “come” and “believe” are an invitation for those listening to place their faith in Him as the Son of God. Coming to Jesus involves making a choice, we must leave the world’s way’s and follow Him. Believing in Jesus means placing our faith in Him. He is who He says He is, He will do what He says He will do, and that He is the only one who can.

5.) The words “hunger and thirst” need to be noted. Jesus isn’t talking about physical hunger and thirst. The key is found in Matthew 5:6 “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 thirst, He is saying He will satisfy our hunger and thirst to be made righteous in the sight of God.

People seek to earn their way to heaven. It’s a basic human desire, God created us with eternity in mind: Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Scripture tells us that there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven because we’ve all sinned: Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

There is no one who is righteous in themselves: Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;

Because we have eternity set in our hearts, our dilemma is, we have a desire we cannot fulfill. Jesus and Jesus alone can fulfill the desire of our hearts for righteousness: 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”

When Christ died on the cross, He took the sins of the world and made atonement for them. When we place our faith in Him, our sins are imputed to Jesus and His righteousness is imputed to us. Jesus satisfies our hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is our Bread of Life, when we break bread this evening remember that Jesus died for us so we may have eternal life with Him.