December 17 – Unending Satisfaction

““For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”” – John 6:33-35 (ESV)

Unbelief is overcome only by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise it is a powerful evil influence as we see demonstrated in today’s passage. Those to whom Jesus was speaking had been a part of the large crowd that had been fed to their filling with miraculous created bread and fish. 5,000 was the number of men not including the women and children. Possibly as many as 20,000 had been fed. They continue to ask Jesus for a sign that they could hang their belief on⸺a meal of fish that never swam in the lake was not enough. The people don’t get it. All they could think of was their physical hunger. They wanted more. Jesus makes a better offer and declares “I AM the bread of life.” That is the promise, if we believe in Jesus, we will not have a gnawing hunger for spiritual peace with God. Jesus also promises that those who believe will never thirst. It’s a promise of unending bread and water for our spiritual lives. Because of their unbelief, Jesus repeats with “Truly, truly” in John 6:47-48,. Unbelievers fail to accept the miracle of eternal life Jesus promised to those who believe.

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October 27 – A Different Life-Giving Bread

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” – John 6:47-48 (NASB)

When the Apostle John wrote the Gospel bearing his name, it had been nearly 30 years since the last Gospel According to Luke had been written and circulated among the towns and cities through the established churches. “Twenty-three times in all we find our Lord’s meaningful “I AM” (ego eimi, Gr.) in the Greek text of this gospel*. He joins His “I AM” with seven tremendous metaphors which are expressive of His saving relationship toward the world.**” Let’s take notice of Christ’s use of this metaphor “I am the Bread of Life” follows immediately His statement that those who believe already have eternal life. Jesus says “I most solemnly assure you…” As the Bread of Life Jesus is telling those listening, and now reading, that this bread does what no other bread does. It is more than even the daily manna God sent from heaven when they were wandering in the wilderness. It imparts and sustains spiritual life; it banishes spiritual death. However, it even affects the body, raising it up in the last day so that it may be conformed to the glorious body of him who is the bread of life (cf. Phil. 3:21).

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*(4:26; 6:20, 35, 41, 48, 51; 8:12, 18, 24, 28, 58; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1, 5; 18:5, 6, 8)

**John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible., (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Jn 6:35.

March 25 – I AM The Bread of Life

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. - John 6:35 (NASB)

The Gospel of John records seven occasions of Jesus declaring His program and who He is with “I AM” statements. He selectively connects some of these claims to signs authenticating His claims. In today’s passage Christ announces, “I Am the Bread of Life.” It follows after the feeding of more than 5000 people from only five small loaves and two fish. They clamored for more signs. For them it was all about their physical needs but Jesus knows their need is spiritual. The miracle of manna provided in the wilderness, Jesus told them it came from His Father, not Moses. The bread Jesus offers is Himself and He too comes from The Father in heaven. The bread which he offers is eternal life to those who believe. The only way to get that bread was to believe what Jesus said and why He came to earth. “Lord, give us this bread” they asked. “I AM the bread of life,” Jesus replied. “My promise is to all who come to Me will receive God’s provision of life and won’t be spiritually hungry or thirsty again.” If you have not, believe Jesus now and receive an abundant and fulfilled spiritual life today.

 

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November 29 – Hunger and Thirst No More

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”  John 6:35 (NASB)

It was a practice of Jesus when He was on earth teaching the people about Himself to use common everyday experiences and ideas to underscore who He truly was.  Hunger and thirst are familiar to every person and who does not wish to never be hunger or thirsty again?  In these words, Jesus is not speaking about our physical hunger and thirst.  He is speaking about how He satisfies our spiritual needs.  He was answering people who had been so  impressed at the way He had fed thousands of people the day before.  He wanted them to recognize that they had spiritual needs and that He was able to meet such needs too.  This promise is for us also.  We need to constantly turn to our Lord Jesus for the needs of our hearts and souls.  It is not enough just to believe in Jesus as our Savior.  We need to always be looking to Him to satisfy our spiritual longings.  Jesus says if we constantly trust Him we will never be unsatisfied.

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October 14 – Available and Sufficient

“Jesus said to them, “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. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”” John 6:32-33 (NIV)

Jesus was making a reference to the manna which God provided as food for the children of Israel in their trek through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. Each day the people went out and gathered a day's portion. Jesus tells us that it was His Father in heaven that gave that bread to the people not any man, not even Moses. It is God our Father who is the source of our spiritual food each day. It is to Him we look and from Him we receive our daily portion of wisdom and strength and guidance. If today is a day when you need wisdom or strength, trust God to provide, He has promised to do that.  Just as the manna was provided, available and sufficient for each day, so too Jesus provides Himself and He is available and sufficient for us each day.