BREAD FROM HEAVEN - A Spiritual Diet of the Sayings of Jesus Christ

So often we think of Jesus as being "separate" from us, sort of like He is "way off in heaven. Food, as stated, becomes part of us. But it also sustains us, invading with nourishment every cell of our body. There is no area of our physical body which is not affected by what we eat and drink. We've all heard the expression, "You are what you eat.

Such is the oneness and the continual co-existance we are to have with the Living Bread. In fact, Paul says, "As often as you eat this Bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until He comes. Paul is actually showing us what eating and drinking the flesh and Blood of Jesus means in a practical sense. He is showing us that it means more than just an outward proclamation of the fact Jesus died. And not merely in doctrinal or ritualistic form. The actual taking of the bread and wine is merely symbolic of that fact. So often we think of the death of Christ as a doctrine we must believe in.

But even though doctrine is important, and certainly vital with regard to the death of Christ, doctrine can't save us. Such is the case with the death of Christ. I can proclaim by written or spoken doctrine the death of Christ. I can even proclaim it by participating in a communion service. But until His death actually begins to invade ME, and bury my old man in Adam -- experientially -- I am not really proclaiming anything.

No matter how loud I shout the words. The Bible tells us that we are buried with Christ by baptism into death. It says that we are planted into His death, that is, "engrafted" into His death. Therefore, should we not expect that the death which Jesus experienced would impact us in a very REAL way? Should we not expect that His death would be more than a doctrine to believe in, but instead, a death we must also partake of by experience? In fact, the death of Jesus Christ is to invade every part of us, just as eating bread invades every cell of our body.

But now this death is to invade our members, indeed, our entire being, so that it might be worked out in practical experience. Only then His resurrection be likewise made manifest in us. Doesn't it seem odd that Jesus, on the one hand, proclaims Himself the Bread of Life which gives life to the world, yet on the other hand, says that eating the Bread with represents His Body is a proclamation of His death? Not if we understand that the only path to life which God offers us is through death.

If we "eat" Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, it will result in the death of everything we are in Adam. But it will also result in the resurrection of the new man in Christ Jesus. We see a complete identification and integration of the fundament of our being with that of our Saviour.

Notice the way in which the Bible speaks of our oneness with Jesus Christ: Not just in a poetic way or a doctrinal way. Our spiritual life processes are one with Him. Indeed, we derive ours from His. This was made possible when God planted all of humankind into Jesus Christ on the Cross. At that point, the perfect Son of Man, the last Adam, became one with all of us -- the collective first Adam.

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And if we "eat and drink" of Christ, continually partake of Him as the Living Bread, then everything He is, and which He accomplished, likewise impacts us. Not just in theory. At work in us is a "death and resurrection" process which is geared to conforming us to the death and resurrection of Christ, and as a result, will conform us to His image. Thus we see the reality of Christianity.

Christianity is not a list of doctrines to believe in. It is a relationship with a Living Saviour. It is not a "joining a church. I AM the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the. This is the Bread which comes down. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, "How can. Then Jesus said unto them,. My flesh, and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him.

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells.

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This is that bread which. Not as your fathers did eat manna,. Seven times in the gospel of John, Jesus makes an "I am". His way of working with us. They are reminescent of the time. He said His name was, "I. In the sixth chapter of John, Jesus says, "I am the Bread of. What is Jesus saying. The Living Bread From Heaven. In the time of Jesus, bread was the staff of life. So when Jesus said, "I am the Bread of. Life," the people understood the importance He was accruing to. To the average Jew, this didn't make much sense. Didn't their calling as such.

You'll notice in John 6 that the Jews keep referring to Moses. They had a strong tradition. They had perpetuated this tradition into the idea that it. So when Jesus said, "Moses. God gave it to them," it didn't. And when He told them the wilderness. Above all, when He stood there and said, "I AM. He was not only directly.

Jesus once said, "You search the scriptures because you. The Truth here is similar to the one Jesus is presenting in John. All of our forms of religion and worship, no matter how Bible. He is, in fact, so real and. It can be a difficult realization for some people, but it is the. It is not a list of doctrines to. It is not even a religion which grew out of the inspired. Himself one with man. Jesus wasn't condemning religious things. But the danger in. God wants us to push past everything which speaks of Christ,. If it were possible to trace the history of the Christian church.

• John NKJV - The Bread from Heaven - On the - Bible Gateway.
• The Secret of Spanish Bay;
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• ABCs With Rocky.
• Exodus Bread from Heaven.
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• Rise Above.

This always results in. The only solution is to return to Christ. I alone can feed. As Jesus began to reveal to the crowds that He was the Bread. They took everything He said. Despite the fact that Jesus told them, "The words which I. Even His own disciples. He was the Bread of Life. They had no clue as to what He meant. For us to understand what Jesus meant, we need only extract. Jesus' own explaination from the passage: He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood,.

Him would become part of me.

12 Bible verses about Spiritual Food

Thus, when Jesus talks of eating. He is describing a complete intergration. Jesus Christ is the bread of life. Among the vital signs of physical life are the pulse, blood pressure, and respiration. Breathing may be absent, shallow, convulsive, or it may be deep, regular and life sustaining. To sustain life we need a balanced diet.

Bread is called the staple of life. Men die without it. What are the essentials in your life? What do you really need in order to exist? What do you think you need to be a happy, healthy, meaningful person? Jesus made an interesting observation: The food that Jesus gives remains forever and has the effect of producing life forever. Is Jesus Christ as real to you spiritually as something you can taste?

Is He as much a part of you as that which you eat? He is able to satisfy, and will always satisfy the deepest longings of the soul. Moreover, He has demonstrated His faithfulness in the history of Israel. God miraculously delivered the Israelite slaves in Egypt. They hadn't finished singing praises to God for His sovereign deliverance before they started grumbling at Moses. They came upon bitter water and the Lord showed Moses a tree which he was instructed to throw it into the waters and the waters became sweet.

They wandered around in the wilderness of Sin and after about fifteen days they started whining, "Remember the good old days? The LORD rained down "bread from heaven. At evening God provided quail and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp, and "When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground" v. For the next forty years God fed them as much as they could eat v. Moses said it "was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey" v.

It may have been like corn flakes, or sugar frosted flakes. They could have said the same thing the apostle Paul said, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" Phil. Jesus said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" Matt.

Bread from Heaven; A Spiritual Diet of the Sayings of Jesus Christ

Hanna Amada says, "When the Lord has His hand in your mouth you are fed generously. A great multitude of people kept on following Jesus because they were continually seeking the signs He was continually performing on the sick John 6: A "great multitude" was coming to Jesus, and He said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?

Philip said we have two days wages on hand to buy food, but that is not sufficient for such a number of people. Andrew said, "There is a lad here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many people? Jesus gave thanks for the little mess of fish and bread and began distributing it to those who were seated. They didn't just get a taste of fish; John tells us they ate "as much as they wanted. These were not scraps on the ground, but pieces, broken by Jesus in the baskets. He always provides more than enough. I wonder who ate the leftovers. He who created the universe surely has power to go on creating what He wills to do.

After feeding the people Jesus withdrew to the mountain away from the people because they were ready to seize Him and make Him king v. The next day Jesus used this miracle to teach a great spiritual truth about Himself. We all know that bread is necessary for life. In the time of Christ bread was the only staple in most people's diets. Without bread, men died. Jesus now sets forth clearly that He is the One whom men and women could not do without. You cannot do without Him. You remain spiritually dead without Him. He is the life, and He in truth is all you need.

Jesus is the bread that satisfies John 6: The next day when the people found Jesus they wanted another free meal on wheels. If He did it once, can He do it twice? Go ahead and show us! The rabbis had taught that when the Messiah came He would duplicate the miracle of giving the manna. The Midrash Rabba taught, "What did the first redeemer do? He brought down the manna. The last redeemer will also bring down manna. Jesus knew they were out to manipulate Him, so He offered them "food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal" v.

They then insisted on another "sign" to prove His credentials. Jesus spoke of the fact that He was God's gift to men and that God desired men to believe in Him. They said they would believe in Him if He could do what Moses did and feed them again. Who gave the manna? Moreover, the manna was not true bread from the true heaven. It was earthly bread from a visible sky that God provided.

Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world" vv.

Their immediate response was to ask Him to give them more of this bread. Jesus then clarifies the kind of bread He is offering which is true bread that alone satisfies the genuine hunger of the human soul. 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.

But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day" vv.

That was one piece of bread that was hard for the crowd to swallow. They wanted fish now, not eternal life. He was claiming that He alone could meet the essential needs of our lives. This is the first of the seven "I-am" sayings in the gospel of John. In seven passages Jesus provides a clear predicate noun to describe Himself in these solemn pronouncements. The great multitude of people desired heavenly bread as the rabbis had interpreted.

Jesus is the precious gift of eternal life. Just as the water Jesus offers quenches all thirst, so the bread He offers banishes all hunger. Since God is truly the source of true heavenly bread, and since God has sent Jesus, therefore the bread of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who comes down from heaven. The Jewish people understood that Christ was saying He was of divine origin. Jesus took the name of God at the burning bush and linked it with the symbol of perfect sustenance for human life.

No one but Jesus Christ can make that claim. He is demonstrating absolute deity. He is saying, "I am what every sinner needs, and without what I provide he will perish eternally. I am alone that which can satisfy the soul and bring eternal life. He alone is what is necessary for our spiritual life.

Jesus' words are strong and emphatic. Weymouth translates the double negative, "shall never, never thirst. As we sense fresh new spiritual needs in our lives the Holy Spirit satisfies those needs as we feast on the living bread. Jesus is the bread of life and we are invited to come to Him, and to believe on Him.

Eternal life is the life of God. It is without end because He is without end. It is His kind of life. Nothing will ever separate the believer from God once we receive it by faith in Christ. When we are saved we enter into a life-transforming, vital union with Christ. This new life Christ gives us is His life and we go on receiving it in increased abundance from the moment we are regenerated throughout eternity. We are filled with "all the fullness of God. Our daily life is to be lived in Christ's power after we receive Him as our Savior.

Jesus said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out" v. Jesus keeps the believers whom the Father has given into His care. Jesus adds, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" v. Jesus will never lose a single one of those who have come to Him cf. The emphasis Jesus is making is that all those who have come into Jesus and believed will never be lost. God the Father gives divine bread, and whoever eats of it will live forever.

Jesus will not lose a single one the Father gives Him. Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins we cannot come to Him unless the Father draws us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and bring about spiritual birth so we can come to Him.

The Father draws us to the Son in order to be saved. When man fell every part of his being was affected. No one can influence God in any manner, or merit a right relationship with Him. We are all slaves to sin, estranged from God. Our only hope is in God. We need His help. Unless He takes the initiative we can never be saved. The unregenerate sinner is so depraved that unless the Holy Spirit changes the heart and mind he will never come to Christ.

It is absolutely essential that this change comes about and only God can produce it. It is, therefore, by divine "drawing" that anyone comes to Christ. It is the power of the Holy Spirit awakening within him a sense of need, overcoming the arrogant pride of the natural man so that he will humble himself and believe on Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who creates within the lost person a hunger for the bread of life. No individual can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him.

God takes the initiative in salvation. This is one of the great essential doctrines of the Gospel of John. The natural man likes to feel independent. They think they have the ability to come to Jesus on their own volition, but Jesus assures us that this is an absolutely impossible. No man can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. This impossibility is explicitly clear here. The approach of the soul to God or Christ is not initiated by man himself, but by a movement of God's grace. God brings men to Himself. The work of the Holy Spirit is triumphant. Calvin speaks of "an effectual movement of the Holy Spirit, turning men from being unwilling and reluctant into willing.

The two divine works, external and internal, answer to and complete each other. The happy moment when they meet in the heart, and in which the will is thus gained, is that of the gift on God's part, of faith on man's part. Since Jesus is the true bread—the individual who is spiritually hungry must consume this bread. This living bread has to be eaten. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh" vv. Jesus emphasizes in verse fifty that this "eating" is a singular event, a decision to believe and appropriate the gift of eternal life.

Jesus is the living bread that came down through His incarnation, and the sinner must eat this bread which is the decisive moment he believes. It is a once for all decision. It is believing on Him as your Savior. Any person who takes this decisive action will live forever. So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever" vv. Referring to His incarnation, Jesus said He is the living bread that came down from heaven, and it is His blood that we drink. He is referring to His death. He offers Himself up as a sacrifice His "gift" is a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice that will atone for the sins of the world. Earlier Jesus was described as the "Lamb of God" that takes away the sin of the world.

Our salvation depends on the sacrificial death of Jesus.