A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

GG. Christ’s Discourse As The Bread Of Life

1. Christ’s Claim To Be The Bread Of Life From Heaven

(John 6:22-40)

I. Introduction

A. The crowd that Jesus fed in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand finally learned that He had crossed the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 236).

B. When they found Him, looking for more physical food, Jesus began a discourse on the spiritual Bread of life.

C. The first part of that discourse comprised Christ’s claim to be the Bread of life that came down from heaven, and we study this message in John 6:22-40 for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. Christ’s Claim To Be The Bread Of Life From Heaven, John 6:22-40.

A. When the crowd that Jesus had miraculously fed with the loaves and fishes finally caught up with Him near Capernaum (John 6:22-25a), they asked Him when He had arrived there, John 6:25b.

B. Jesus replied that they sought Him not because they understood the spiritual significance of His miracles so as to trust in Him as Messiah and Son of God, but because they ate of the loaves (and fishes) that He had multiplied and were filled, John 6:26. Jesus taught that they should not work for temporal food like loaves and fishes that perish, but for the food that endures unto eternal life that the Son of man gave to them since the Father had set His seal of approval on Him, John 6:27 NIV.

C. The crowd then wanted to know what work they should do to work the works of God to have that eternal life, and Jesus answered that that figurative “work” involved believing in Him Whom God sent, John 6:28-29.

D. The people replied that they needed to see Jesus produce a “miraculous sign” (semeion) so that they might believe in Him, John 6:30. They thought that Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fishes was not as great a miraculous sign as Moses had performed in causing manna to come down from heaven, so they asked for a miraculous sign that was as great as Moses’ sign, John 6:31; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 295.

E. Jesus answered that His sign was greater, for Moses did not give the bread that produces eternal life, but God was giving the true Bread, the One Who had come from heaven to give eternal life to the world, John 6:32-33.

F. The people then asked Jesus forevermore to give them that true Bread, John 6:34.

G. Jesus then emphatically asserted that “I Myself am” (ego eimi, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 346) the Bread of life, that he who came unto Him would never hunger, and He added the truth He had told the Samaritan woman that he who believed in Him would never thirst, John 6:35 with 4:13-14. However, Jesus added that the crowd had also seen Him and had not believed, explaining why they did not yet have eternal life, Jn. 6:36.

H. Christ added that all whom God the Father gave Him would come to Him, and he who came to Jesus in faith He would not cast out, John 6:37. [Calvinists claim Jesus here taught that God gives people an immediate gift of faith to believe in Christ to be saved. However, Jesus was claiming that the crowd was not believing in Him because they had not first believed in the Father, but were unsaved, explaining why the Father was not drawing them to Christ! Jesus later clarified this very point in John 6:45, stating that every man who had heard and learned from the Father would trust in Him as they had been discipled by the Father! This was a unique era where people who had believed in the Father under the Law were also coming to believe in Christ.]

I. Jesus added that He had come down from heaven not to do His own will, but to do the will of the Father Who had sent him, John 6:38. The will of God the Father Who had sent Jesus was that all of those believers in the Father that the Father had given to Jesus He would keep saved and raise them up at the last day, John 6:39. In addition, the will of the Father was that all who saw the Son of God and believed in Him might have everlasting life, that Jesus might raise them up at the last day, John 6:40.

Lesson: Jesus taught the crowd that had been miraculously fed by His multiplication of the loaves and fishes that they had failed to understand the significance of that miracle, that they were supposed to believe in Him for eternal life beyond just sustaining their physical life for a period of time by eating of the loaves and fishes. Jesus added that the crowd to whom He spoke were not even believers in the Father, that had they been discipled by the Father, they would have believed in Jesus in fulfillment of the will of God the Father.

Application: (1) May we go beyond merely looking to God for His provisions that sustain our earthly lives to understand the Biblical calling God has for us in life that has led Him to give us such provisions! (2) When we understand God’s calling for us in this life, may we devote ourselves to that calling to be truly pleasing to Him!