“I AM the Bread of Life (Part 3)”
John 6:41-51
Introduction: This week we had our VBS. As an
observer, I could see the gifted teachers and faithful workers connecting with
the children. It was a tiring week for those who served, but I know that for
them, and especially for the children, it was a rewarding week, blessed by God.
I know of at least three children during the week who put their trust in Jesus.
Whatever the age, something supernatural is happening when someone comes to
faith, it’s like a lightbulb goes on, suddenly it makes sense, they understand
the truth, and they believe, they put their faith in Jesus. In a different
context Jesus said, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to
such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). In our passage from last
Sunday Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me…”
Praise God for His amazing grace!
In our context in John 6 at
least some of the crowd that had been miraculously fed across the lake traveled
to Capernaum in search of Jesus. It is not certain if some of His teaching in
this discourse was directed to a larger crowd in the open air, but we know that
at some point Jesus transitions to the synagogue in Capernaum, likely with at
least some who had been fed across the lake sticking with Him on the way (later,
in 6:58 John says, “Jesus said these things as He taught at the synagogue in
Capernaum”). The foundations of a first century synagogue there have been
excavated in part, and it was large enough to hold 300-400 people. As He
teaches, Jesus clearly states that He came from Heaven, and that He came
to give life. As the Bread of Life he sustains us and in Him our future is
secure. Today, in Part 3 of this message, we focus on…
The Big Idea:
Jesus came from Heaven to give His life so that those who trust Him could have
Eternal Life. We’ll see 1) The Predicament of fallen humans (41-44); 2)
The Promise of our Gracious God (45-48); and 3) The Provision
that Brings Life (48-51).
I. The Predicament of fallen
humans: The need is
exposed and explained (6:41-44). Spiritual dullness is something that is
clearly revealed in John’s Gospel in the response of people to Jesus. He is the
Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us, and yet so many did not see the Truth, even
when He stood in front of them!
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread
that came down from heaven." 42
They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
The question
of the birth of Jesus is at the heart of these verses, and the people are
confused about what Jesus is claiming. As the Jews in the wilderness grumbled
against Moses, these people did the same against Jesus. “How can he say he came
down from heaven? What is that supposed
to mean? Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” Look back at what Jesus said in 6:38-40,
38 For I have
come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent
me. 39 And this is the will
of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but
raise it up on the last day. 40
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and
believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
day."
Jesus claims
to have come from Heaven, sent by the Father, to do His will. This crowd of
Galileans was confounded by this. Jesus was from Galilee as far as they knew, and
He was understood to be the son of Mary and Joseph. Obviously, the story of the
virgin birth in Bethlehem was not known to many people after more than thirty
years, and it isn’t even specifically mentioned in John. It is another example
of people hearing Jesus, being intrigued by Him at some level, and yet in their
spiritual blindness unable to understand what He is saying, and unable
to believe His claims. Essentially, they are judging what Jesus says by
their own reason. John emphasizes more than any gospel the “evidence” that God
provided to prove who Jesus is. The witnesses given by God, the signs that were
done, the authority with which Jesus
taught, all spoke to His identity as the Son of God, the Word made
flesh. Even so, the people, for the most part, didn’t believe. This is another
example of John 1:11 being played out in the Life of Christ, “He came unto
His own, and His own people did not receive Him.” They thought they knew
Jesus, His parents, His history, but they had no idea. They reasoned, “We know
this man, and his family! He didn’t come from heaven He came from Nazareth!”
(Actually He was born of Mary in Bethlehem, but John doesn’t tell us about
that!).
Jesus often spoke in metaphors and other
figures of speech that were sometimes hard to understand. When he starts talking about eating his flesh
and drinking his blood later in this discourse the people are completely confused,
and who can blame them! But the statement here that he “…came from heaven…”
is unambiguous. At the very least he was affirming his preexistence, if not his
eternity. And that is the initial point of controversy here…
41 So the Jews
grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down
from heaven." 42 They
said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
First, notice that John identifies those
who are complaining as “the Jews.” Almost everyone in the Gospel is Jewish,
including Jesus and His disciples. In most cases, John uses that language for
the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, so it is surprising to see it here. Up until
now it was the people or the crowd that spoke, but now “the Jews
grumbled…” John may be speaking of leaders from the local Synagogue, but we
can’t be sure. They grumbled because of what He said, “I am the bread come
down from heaven.” That they were Galileans is clear, since they felt like
they knew where Jesus was from, and knew His family. Capernaum, which was about
twenty miles as the crow flies from Nazareth (see map), and it quickly became a
base of operations for Jesus and His disciples. This Galilean crowd knew His
parents, or at least thought they did. How could this fellow Galilean now be
claiming to have come from heaven?
For those with a naturalistic or secular
mindset, the idea of God is religious speculation, and the idea of God
intervening in the world is unbelievable.
Even in the nominal church, at Christmas we celebrate the baby in the
manger, but most think little of the fact that He was God, incarnate. Think of
it, a tiny, feeble, helpless newborn, the Lord of all creation, Emmanuel, God
with us! God, a baby, born in a stable?
In this context as Jesus speaks of
coming from heaven into the world, the emphasis is on God’s initiative in sending
the Son and drawing people to Him in a New Covenant relationship predicted in
the Scriptures, appropriated by faith, paid for by the blood.
43 Jesus
answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
In John 6:44 Jesus affirms unambiguously
a truth that may be hard to understand, but that means what it says, the total
spiritual inability of fallen humans. Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws him…”
That is quite parallel with what Paul said in I Cor 2:14,
“But the natural man does not receive the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned.”
Jesus stated
the same idea positively in v.37, “All that the Father gives me will come to
me…” This is a clear statement of human incapacity. People are unable,
apart from God’s gracious, merciful intervention, to come. But when He
intervenes, when the Father draws them, they come. Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Jesus didn’t come into this broken world hoping that some “might”
believe and receive Him. He came to save a people for Himself, a people given to
Him by the Father.
“…and
I will raise him up at the last day.”
NB. This is the third time time that Jesus referred to a future, end
time resurrection (cf. 6:39,40). The connection here is solid, those drawn
by the Father, come to Jesus, and ultimately will be partakers of the future
resurrection. Why does he repeat this idea?
Remember Jesus knows hearts, He knows where they are at, focused almost
exclusively on the here and now. But *Jesus came from
Heaven to give His life so that those who trust Him could have Eternal
Life.
II. The Promise of our Gracious God: Jesus, the True Bread, is the only Way to Life (45-48; cf. Isa 54:3). He
is the promised Rescuer!
45 "It is written in the
prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has
heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” 46 …not that
anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the
Father. 47 Truly, truly, I
say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
The prophets predicted a time
of restoration, and also a New Covenant relationship between God and his
people. An aspect of that would be a new understanding of the Truth, a
spiritual insight and understanding that come from God, a New Life that is
wrought by God from the inside out. Just a few examples,
Isaiah 54:13, 13 All your children
shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children.
Jeremiah 31:33-34,
I will put My law in their minds, and write it
on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "No more shall every man
teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for
they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says
the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no
more."
Ezekiel 36:26-27,
26 "I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of
your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to
walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
The prophets predicted a time when God himself would speak to the hearts of
his people and teach them. It’s been some months since we were in John 4, but
do you remember what the Samaritan Woman at the well said to Jesus about their
expectation of the Messiah in John 4:25?
25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is
called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things."
That time had come! Hebrews 1:1-2a says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”
That idea of being taught by God was fulfilled in the Son. The doctrine of
Grace implies that idea of God working in us – Jesus did it all – his death was
a perfect sacrifice able to accomplish the salvation of all who would trust in
him. Only He can give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to
understand.”
Is seeing believing? “Doubting Thomas”
thought so (John 20:28-29). But v.46
makes it clear, no one has seen the Father, but the One who came from his side.
So, as this Gospel will make clear, faith can’t be based simply upon “seeing.”
Later John will explain the spiritual dullness of the people to the works and
words of Jesus:
John 12:37-42, 37 But although He had
done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our
report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" 39 Therefore they could not
believe, because Isaiah said again: 40
"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see
with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So
that I should heal them." 41
These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. 42 Nevertheless even among
the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not
confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue…”
That’s good news—despite our hard, sinful hearts, by grace, some will
hear and believe. All those that the Father has given to the Son will come.
Jesus says in 6:47, “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever
believes has eternal life…” Again we see this emphatic language drawing
attention to a critical truth: Listen,
trust my words, believe what I am saying. He who believes has, as a present
possession, as a sure hope, eternal life. That is the Big Idea: *Jesus came from Heaven to give His life
so that those who trust Him could have Eternal Life.
III. The Provision that Brings Life: God provided
the Way to life in sending the Son, who gave His life for the life of the world (6:48-51).
48 I am the
bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,
and they died. 50 This is the
bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 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."
6:48-50, The manna in the desert was
temporary, provisional, earthly, merely physical. Jesus says the Bread He is
offering, that which comes down from heaven, is eternal. It means life, strength for today while we
are in this world. Strength that promises to be enough, strength that will
never fail. The one who believes can really say with Paul, I can do all
things, whatever situation I might face in life, through Christ who
strengthens me—not my strength, but his empowering presence.
6:51 is kind of a summary statement of
what He is saying in three parts:
1. I AM the living bread that came down
from Heaven…
2. If anyone eats of this bread he will
live forever.
3. “…This bread is my flesh, which I
shall give for the life of the world…” This final part is a clear
statement of the purpose of the incarnation. Jesus came to give his life so
that we could have life. He died so that we could live. He gave His flesh
(see 1:14) for the life of the world. He is the Lamb, the sacrifice, our
substitute.
John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for
his friends.”
John 11:49-52,
“And one of them,
Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at
all, 50 nor do you consider
that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and
not that the whole nation should perish.’
51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being
high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only,
but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were
scattered abroad…”
What is God
saying to me in this passage?
Jesus came from Heaven
to give His life so that those who trust Him could have Eternal Life.
What would
God have me to do in response to this passage?
1) God showed
us His love, by sending the Son. The Bread from Heaven, the Word made Flesh,
God the Son entered human history, that the world through Him might be saved.
Paul said in Galatians 4:4-5,
4 But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law,
that we might receive the adoption as sons (cf. I Jn 3:1!).
2) The price has been paid and the gift is offered,
will you receive the Gift of Life by turning in faith to the Giver, Jesus? Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
3) The teaching of this passage is difficult (and
there is more to come!) but it is truth, this is God’s Word, not my ideas. Can
you take Him at His Word? I hope it encourages you all the more to embrace the
mission, our calling, to hold forth the Word of life. Some will believe, and
find life! We are beggars, telling other beggars, about the Bread of Life! AMEN.
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