I AM the Living Bread from Heaven - John 6:51-59

 

“I AM the Living Bread from Heaven”

John 6:51-59

Introduction:  The miracles that Jesus did showed His power. He did things that only God could do. They were also glimpses of the Kingdom, pulling back the veil so that for those moments in the lives of those impacted they could get a little peek at the future God has planned for His children, a day when there would be no hunger or pain or sickness or death. But John wants us to understand that the miracles were “signs,” revealing the glory of Jesus to those who had eyes to see and a heart to understand. Augustine said: “You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” The emphasis in John has been that Jesus is the Son of God, and He came to provide the Way to Life through faith in Him. He certainly did miracles which revealed His power and which were acts of compassion in meeting the needs of the people. But, as John Piper said, “Jesus did not come primarily to give bread, He came to be Bread.” He came as the Living Bread who is the Bread of Life. Paul would later write: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1-2).  Believers have intimate fellowship with Jesus by faith. We believe who He is, we take Him at His Word, we trust that He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. So, He is the source of our spiritual life and peace with God.

The Big idea: Only those who come to Jesus in faith have eternal life. We’ll see that 1) His Pronouncement declares the way to life (51); 2) Their Perplexity exposes the need for Grace (52); and 3) His Promises reveal our living Hope (53-59).

I. The Pronouncement of the Way to Life (6:51). The emphasis in the context has been on coming to Jesus in faith as a means to experiencing life. For example He said in 6:29, “This is the work of God: to believe in the One that He has sent.” In that key verse, John 6:35, He said, “I AM the Bread of Life, He who comes to me will never go hungry, he who believes in me will never thirst.” He uses the metaphor of “bread” and eating his flesh to illustrate aspects of what he means by saving faith. (I have to confess that I basically wrote a whole sermon on this verse before moving on!). This verse summarizes this discourse and really affirms the big idea of the entire Gospel…

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." 

       Who is Jesus? First, Jesus says, “I AM the living bread that came down from Heaven…” Jesus repeats the truth that His physical birth was not his beginning—he came down from Heaven. The fact of the incarnation is an important truth that we rightly celebrate, it marks a key moment in God’s redemptive plan. This is how God showed us His love, He sent His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. God the Son entered human history by taking upon himself a human nature. Deity and humanity came together in Jesus. In this context Jesus has been saying that He came, and He has been saying why He came.

       Why did He come? John emphasizes that Jesus came with a purpose, on a mission, and as God in the flesh he was in control. He was not a victim caught up in a wave of events. He was the author of this story, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep.  He is the Bread of Life, He is also the Living Bread. The phrase are as similar in Greek as they are in English. He has Life, and He is the source of Life.

       What does it mean to believe in Him? Eating the Bread He is offering results in Eternal Life. Remember what John told us in 1:12,13…

¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.  ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Here He talks about “receiving and believing” in metaphorical language: “If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever.” It is clear that he is not talking about the Lord’s Table. First of all, that Passover and the Last Supper in the Upper Room was still future. More importantly, there is no way to derive from Scripture the idea that sharing in the ordinance of the Lord’s Table is the means to eternal life. The New Testament is clear: salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. In the Gospel of John, it is by receiving Him and believing in Him, that we have life.

          “…This bread is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…” This is a direct statement of why Jesus came.  He came to give his life so that we could have life. Two important things: First, It is voluntary: “I will give my flesh…” Back in Jn 1:14 we have the background: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The eternal Son, the Word who was with God and was God, took on a human nature. He “became flesh” and now He says “I will give my flesh.” For the reader of the Gospel there is no doubt that He is talking about His death, the Cross, giving His flesh and blood human life, for the world. His life, for ours. No one takes His life, He lays it down of his own accord. Later He’ll say, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…” (10:18). And then, even at the moment of His death, He is still in control as He pronounces, “It is finished,” and bowed his head and gave up his spirit (19:30). Jesus, is the King who is also the Lamb.  He gave His flesh, that is, His life.

       Secondly, it is vicarious, substitutionary: “…for the life of the world.” He gave His life, so we could have life. He died for us, so that we could be reconciled to Holy God. Why this language of “bread/food” and “eating and drinking” then? Remember that all this interaction began across the lake, with a hungry crowd. Jesus compassionately fed them. He multiplied the loaves and fishes, and suddenly for the crowd being fed physically took precedence in their minds over their spiritual need. Jesus used their carnal desire as a segue to point them to their deeper need. They needed to learn that man does not live by bread alone… It is an intriguing metaphor. In his commentary on John, MacArthur  points out 5 parallels with “food” that may help us to see the picture:

     1. It must be internalized – Most of us don’t have to be told that for food to do us any good, we need to eat it. Just knowing about Jesus, even knowing what God has said in his Word, won’t do us any good unless we internalize it. For a while, when I served as a missionary Seminary professor, I was a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and attended some scholarly Bible Conferences. I was amazed at how well many of those people knew what the Bible said, but didn’t believe it. They studied it as a collection of old writings that said something about what people believed “then and there” but it had no relevance to their “here and now” or for that matter, their future. It is sad to be so close, yet so far from life (cf. Heb 4:2)!

     2. It is prompted by hunger—Lost humans try to satiate the emptiness within them in different ways, rather than coming to God on his terms. When God opens the eyes of our heart we see the truth about our hunger, only Jesus can fill that emptiness and lead us into life with meaning, the abundant life God intends us to have. Like the Unicorn said in the Last Battle, the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia, “This is what I have been looking for all my life and I never knew it till now!”

     3. It becomes part of the one who appropriates it. The nutrients in the food we eat are absorbed into our body and maintain our health. When we believe in Jesus, taking Him at his word, we feast on the Bread of Life. He lives in us. In Jn 17:20-21 Jesus said,

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

     4. It implies trust- Whenever you eat food, that act implies trust, that it is good for you, that it will nourish you and strengthen you and not harm you. To feed on the Bread of Life, we are trusting Jesus, believing him, trusting that he can save us, believing that He is faithful.

     5. It is personal- You have to eat for yourself — someone else can’t do it for you! It’s the same spiritually. We need to know Jesus personally, spend time with Him in worship, in the Word, and in prayer. Only in Jesus, by faith, will we find life and peace. The Big Idea is that *Only those who come to Jesus in faith have eternal life.

II. Their Perplexity Reveals the Need for Grace (6:52). It had to be obvious to Jesus’ hearers that he was in no way advocating cannibalism, but the literal way they ask the question shows they really had no clue as to what He meant. How can this man give us his flesh to eat?  They were perplexed. What in the world was he talking about?

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

       “Then the Jews began to argue with one another…” The language here indicates a fierce contention. It’s the same word the Septuagint uses to express the contention between the herdsmen of Isaac and the herdsmen of Gerar in Genesis 26. “Striving,” with legal connotations. It seems stronger, more intense, than the “grumbling” we saw last week in 6:41-42. That sounded like discontent, this wreaks of anger about the language Jesus is using. We will see that anger growing as the Gospel goes on, and the climax leads to the Passion and the Cross… Ironically, giving His flesh for the life of the world points to the Cross… Giving His life for the world… this why He came!

       “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  The question is reminiscent of Nicodemus’ question in John 3 in response to Jesus saying he needed to be “born again.” In John 3:4   Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Here in John 6 it is equally obvious that Jesus was speaking figuratively. He was not talking about cannibalism, and the people understood that, but they were apparently so conflicted about what this might mean, they could only repeat what Jesus said and admit they didn’t get it. They didn’t have eyes to see or ears to hear. By the end of the chapter, we’ll see that many leave, taking offense at what Jesus is saying… The Big Idea is that *Only those who come to Jesus in faith have eternal life.

III. His Promises reveal our Living Hope (6:53-59).

⁵³ 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 you.  ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

       Jesus doesn’t back off and try to win friends with an easier word. Instead of explaining literally what he meant, Jesus makes things even more difficult for his Jewish audience by adding the phrase “drink His blood” in v. 53. Drinking blood was contrary to the Law and the idea would have been repulsive to his listeners.

       Some look at v.54 and think this passage is teaching about the Lord’s Supper. That doesn’t make sense, for one thing that meal in the Upper Room hadn’t happened yet!  It is also clear that the Bible never teaches that participating in “Communion,” the Bread and the Cup, saves anyone. But don’t forget the broader context of John 6, the Passover of the Jews was near (6:4); after the miraculous feeding, they wanted to make him king by force (6:15). Just as the Lord’s Table is an ordinance that now, for us, looks back at Jesus’ purposeful intervention in human history for our good and for His glory, in this discourse we have several clear clues that he is correcting the people’s wrong view of his kingship, inviting them to consider Passover, the Lamb, and what they needed most. He was not a king “like the nations around them…” in the simplistic view of humans. He is God, who was made flesh, the “Ancient of Days” who is Lord over Creation, and also the Lamb, who would be slain. Sovereign, and Sacrifice. The invitation is to come to Him in faith, and live…

⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."  ⁵⁹ Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

       This passage does not directly teach about the Lord’s Table, it is a call to believe in Jesus. The eating and drinking that He calls for is an invitation to believe, to come to Him, to receive Him. Commenting on this passage Augustine said, “Believe, and you have eaten.” Though this chapter is not directly referring to the Lord’s Table, in a sense, both the teaching here, and the ordinance, are pointing to Jesus, and to what He came to do. As Jesus’ teaching here is a call to faith in Him, our celebration of the Table is also a reflection on our faith. It is a visual, palpable, reminder of the Gospel. It is a symbol, inviting us to recall his work on our behalf, his willing self-sacrifice for our sins. Ironically, some in the professing church have historically had confused views of Communion (The Lord’s Table) but that is a sermon for another day.

What is God saying to me in this passage? We have to receive Him. We need to believe in Him. We need to come to Him on His terms. The Big Idea is that *Only those who come to Jesus in faith have eternal life.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?

1) Personal Faith: Have you received Jesus, The Living Bread that came down from Heaven? Have you believed in Him, trusting him as the Savior and Lord of your life? If so, you can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20).

I like the Message paraphrase of Hebrews 4:2, “We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises did not do them a bit of good, because they didn’t receive the promises with faith.” Believing who Jesus is, trusting in what he says, is eating the Bread of Life. As Augustine said, “Believe, and you have eaten!”

2) Feed on God’s Word: This is a good lesson on how to read the Bible. We can’t take a verse out of context and try to make it say what we want it to say. God gave us the Bible, it is His Word, 66 books, but one story. It all points to Jesus, and calls on us to believe, to trust in Him as the Son of God, and to trust in His work, as He bore our sins in His body on the Cross. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There are some passages, like this chapter, that contain difficult teaching. We need to let the Bible speak for itself, Scripture interpreting Scripture. His Word is Truth!

3) Embrace the Mission: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.  We are God’s plan for getting the Gospel out. Will you embrace your part in God’s mission?    AMEN.