We continue our study of the Gospel of John. Picking up at verse 41 of Chapter 6, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle wrote:
“At this the Jews there began to grumble about Him because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ” I came down from heaven.” John 6: 41-42
“The Jews”, John is referring to here are the Jewish Leaders that were following Jesus around to try to find some way to discredit Him. John himself was a Jew, and so was Jesus. So he was not speaking of everyone there. In fact, part of the group gathered around Jesus in this conversation was from the group of people Jesus had fed the night before with five small barley loaves and two small fish.
Jesus had given them bread for the body, but He is now trying to give them bread for their souls. He had told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35) He had told them, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40)
He told them, “I came down from heaven. God is my Father. Eternal life is in Me.” Here stood the Son of God right before them. The Messiah they had waited hundreds of years for. He had just fed thousands of people from one small basket of bread and fish- performing a miracle that was beyond anything since the parting of the Red Sea, and the Manna from heaven that came every day. They had heard that He had restored the lame, healed the sick, turned water into wine, and even walked on water, but all the Jewish Leaders could say was, “Don’t we know this Guy, and his Mom and Dad? So how could he be someone who came down from Heaven.?”
This begs these questions: What would we have said? Would we have believed that this man that we recognized, and knew the family where He came from, was the Son of God that came down from heaven? That eternal life was through faith in Him? That He was the bread of life who would sustain us? What would we have said?
What do we say now? Do we say, Lord Jesus, I believe your Words. I put my faith in You. I believe that You are the Son of God who came down from heaven to provide eternal life for me. I believe that You are the bread of life that came down from heaven to give sustenance to my soul, and my spirit, and life everlasting. That You are the God of miracles, and that in You all of the promises of God are Yes. If we can believe and say Yes to these things, eternal life is ours, and our soul and spirit will never hunger or thirst; for we shall be fed daily by the true Bread of Life, Christ Jesus who is in us. Amen, and Amen.
Have a wonderful day, blessed in every way, my Brothers and Sisters in the Lord. Rejoice in this Truth: You are unconditionally loved, and divinely favored in Christ Jesus.
Poppa B.