Empty Cross Ministries
Bible Study
John Chapter 6
Jesus is the Bread of Life!
Part Three
First let me mention again verses 43 and 44 from the previous lesson.
John 6:43-44 “Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.” “No man can come to me, except the father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:45 “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”
Jesus paraphrased (Isaiah 54:13), to support the point that if someone comes to faith and repentance to God, it is because they have been taught, and hence drawn by God. The “drawing” and “learning” are just different aspects of God’s sovereign direction in the person’s life. Those taught by God to grasp the truth are also drawn by God the Father to embrace the Son.
It is written in (Isaiah 54):
Isaiah 54:13 “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Taught meaning disciples).
Jesus is saying in all of this “If you really know the Scriptures as you say you do, then you will accept me. The prophets of the Old Testament have predicted my coming.”
Notice that those who hear and those who learn from that hearing are separated here. Many hear, but few understand and learn. If they had heard the words of the Old Testament and understood what they heard, they would receive Jesus with open arms.
John 6:46 “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.”
Jesus is speaking of Himself here. Jesus has seen the Father. Even Moses saw His presence in the bush that was burning and did not burn up. He also met with God on the mount where he received the Ten Commandments, but he did not see God’s face.
John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
In Romans chapter ten we see this also:
Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Jesus is saying if you really believe on Him, you will be saved. All of the other things are like icing on the cake. Our belief is what saves us.
John 6:48 “I am that bread of life.”
Luke 4:4 “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”
The Word of God is really a Christian’s bread. The Passover bread is symbolic of Jesus’ body and the fruit of the vine is symbolic of His blood. In (verse 48 above), Jesus is saying that He alone can bring you eternal life.
In (verses 49 & 50), Jesus contrasted the earthly and heavenly bread. The manna that was given in the wilderness, although sent from heaven to help sustain the Israelites for their physical needs, could not impart eternal life nor meet their spiritual needs as could the “bread of life”, (verse 48), that came down from heaven in the person of Jesus the Messiah. The proof of this contrast centers in the irrefutable fact that all the fathers died who ate the wilderness manna.
John 6:49 “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.”
This manna in the wilderness sustained these Israelites’ needs for food for one day at a time and on Sabbath for two days. It did not bring eternal life to those who ate it. Jesus is Life, when you partake of Him, ye shall never die.
John 6:50 “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”
This manna, spoken of (in verse 49), was a symbol of the true Bread (Jesus Christ), which would come down from heaven and save the world.
In the same sense, the male lamb which was sacrificed each year at Passover was symbolic of the true Lamb which would be crucified for the sins of the world for all time.
Manna …… temporary food,
Jesus Christ …… eternal Bread,
Passover lamb ……… one year,
Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) …. eternal life.
John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
This pronouncement exactly reiterates (verses 33, 35, 47, and 48). “Bread … Is my flesh”: Jesus refers here prophetically to His impending sacrifice upon the cross where Jesus voluntarily laid down His life for evil, sinful mankind.
In 1 Timothy 3:16 we read “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
This just says that Jesus gave His flesh on the cross that we might live forever. The Spirit of God hovered over Mary and she conceived by the Spirit of God.
Jesus means Jehovah Savior. Jesus gave Himself that we might have life by just partaking of Him. When we receive Jesus into our lives, it is symbolic of partaking of His flesh.
John 6:52 “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Once again the perplexity of the Jews indicates that they failed to understand the spiritual truth behind Jesus’ illustration. Every time Jesus had given them a veiled saying or physical illustration, the Jews failed to see its spiritual significance. The Mosaic Law prohibited the drinking of blood or the eating of meat with blood still in it. The Jews, unable to go beyond the mere physical perspective, were perplexed and angered.
These Jews are not looking with spiritual eyes. First of all, they saw Jesus as a man, not as their Messiah.
Some of these Jews believed one thing and some others believed another. They are not ready to accept Him as the Lamb of God. They hear His words, but they do not understand.
In verses 53-58 we see “eat … drink”. Jesus’ point was an analogy that has spiritual rather than literal significance: just as eating and drinking are necessary for physical life, so also is belief in His sacrificial death on the cross necessary for eternal life.
The eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood metaphorically symbolize the need for accepting Jesus’ cross work. For the Jews however, a crucified Messiah was unthinkable. Once again, the Jews in their willful and judicial blindness, could not see the real spiritual significance and truth behind Jesus’ statements.
Moreover, Jesus’ reference here to eating and drinking was not referring to the ordinance of communion for two significant reasons:
(1) Communion had not been instituted yet, and
(2) If Jesus was referring to communion, then the passage would teach that anyone partaking of communion would receive eternal life.
John 6:53 “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.”
This is the very thing we are doing when we take communion. We eat the unleavened bread in memory of Jesus sacrificing His body on the cross for us; taking our sins upon His body, nailing the sins of the world to the cross.
Some people say Jesus spilled His blood for us, but that isn’t true. It was no accident that Jesus’ blood was shed for us. His blood washes us white as snow. When we take the fruit of the vine, we are remembering that He freely shed His blood to do away with our sins.
The only way we can inherit life eternal is to believe that the sacrifice of His body and His shed blood was for us. In believing this and acting upon it, we receive eternal life.
“Blood”: The Jews were forbidden to drink blood. This was a “hard saying”, (verse 60), because they missed His point. Jesus came to bring and sustain spiritual life, yet they were still thinking of physical life.
John 6:54-55 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” “For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”
We see from this again, that the only way to receive life everlasting is to partake of Jesus. If we receive His blood to cleanse our heart and accept His flesh as the perfect Lamb sacrifice, then and only then, will we be saved.
In Revelation, we read of those who have fully partaken of Jesus.
Rev. 7:9 “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”
Read (verses 10,11,12, and 13), then see the answer to who they are (in verse 14).
“And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Read (verses 15, 16 and 17), to see the wonderful things they have in store for them.
John 6:56 “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.”
When we receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, He takes up His abode with us. He lives in us. It explains it beautifully in Galatians.
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
In other words, if I belong to Jesus, my life is conducted in such a manner that others can see Jesus in me.
John 6:57 “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.”
Jesus Christ is the living Bread. Jesus Christ in His divine humanity gave His body so that we might receive the fullness of God. His power is the power of the Father; our power is in the name of Jesus the Christ.
The life within us was breathed in by God. Our new life is breathed of God, as well. We are nothing without Him. Our total being is because of Him.
John 6:58 “This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”
The manna which came down from heaven was a type and shadow of the true Bread (Jesus Christ our Lord). The shadow could not bring eternal life, only a temporary taking care of needs.
The shadow was done away, and the real Bread came down who was the Word of God (Jesus Christ), which gave eternal life to whosoever will.
John 6:59 “These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.”
We know that it was much harder for them to believe at Capernaum. He was too close to home.
John Chapter 6 Second Continued Questions
1. No man can come to me, Jesus said, except when who drew him?
2. Every man that had learned of _____________ _________ came to God the Son.
3. In Isaiah 54:13, who shall the children be taught of?
4. Who had predicted the coming of the Lord Jesus?
5. Who had seen the Father?
6. What had Moses seen of the Father?
7. Who hath everlasting life?
8. Romans 10:10 says what?
9. Who called Himself the Bread of life?
10. What is a Christian’s bread really?
11. In verse 49, Jesus reminds them that their fathers ate manna in the wilderness but are _____________.
12. What happens to those who partake of Jesus?
13. Compare manna to Jesus and Passover Lamb to Jesus?
14. What type of Bread is Jesus?
15. What does the communion bread symbolize?
16. What does the fruit of the vine symbolize in communion?
17. What must all Christians do to have life within?
18. Who will raise the Christian at the last day?
19. In Revelation 7:9, how were the multitude of all nations dressed?
20. Who was the multitude?
21. What do we learn from Galatians 2:20?
22. If I belong to Jesus, others should see what in me?
23. What did Jesus say He lived by?
24. Who shall we live by?
25. What does the power of the Christian lie in?
26. What was the manna a type and shadow of?
27. What synagogue was Jesus teaching this message in?
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