In John 6:35 Jesus says: "I AM the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst; for the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
This is a truly phenomenal statement, hence why we will break down the verse to understand in depth the significance of Jesus calling Himself the "BREAD OF LIFE"!
1.) First, by equating Himself with bread and a fountain of water, Jesus is declaring that He is ESSENTIAL for life (spiritual & eternal life); just as it is essential for a person to consume bread and water in order to survive physically, a long time. So it is no suprise that Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life because bread must be eaten to sustain life!
Evermore so, we must have Jesus Christ in our life as He is our daily "Bread", our ONLY living source that sustains our SPIRITUAL life which leads to ETERNAL life! We MUST feed ourselves DAILY with the Word of God, which contains the words of eternal life (John 6:68) which satisfies our spiritual hunger and thirst! We then must live in the Word through faith and obedience by living faithfully according to His will until we fulfill God's purpose.
Bread also plays an integral part of the Jewish Passover meal. The Jews were to eat unleavened bread during the Passover feast and then for seven days following as a celebration of the exodus from Egypt. Finally, when the Jews were wandering in the desert for 40 years, God rained down "bread from heaven" ( manna) to sustain the nation (Exodus 16:4). Jesus is the "Bread" which came down from heaven. This miracle denotes the Divinity of Christ's person and His authority; also, the Divine origin of all the good which flows to us through Him. God not only gave His chosen people food from heaven to support their natural lives, but also gave the Jews and Gentiles the true Bread for the salvation of their souls, Jesus Christ.
2.) Second, the life Jesus is referring to is not physical life, but spiritual life which leads to eternal life with Christ. Jesus Christ is the Bread of life, the main source of food thay sustains spiritual life; He is to the soul what bread is to the body, nourishes and supports the spiritual life. He is the Bread of life, given by God, Bread which the Father gives, which He has made to be the food of our souls. Bread nourishes only by the powers of a living body; but Christ is Himself living Bread, and nourishes by His own power.
Our spiritual life determines the type of relationship we have with Jesus. Are we geniune faithful believers who are geniunely and whole heartedly seeking Jesus and the spiritual & heavenly things? Are we seeking Him through His Word and sincer prayers? Are we striving to become more like Christ and follow Him in His footsteps? Have we surrended entirely to Christ that we are more in love with Him than the world and sin? Are we doing everything we can to walk away from sin or do we let ourselves fall into temptation? Do we desire His approval more than those around us? Are we fully committed to obey His Word and live according to His will? Are we prepared to suffer and die for Christ?
Wordly people eat bread to simply satisfy physical hunger and to sustain physical life, but as God's adopted children we strive to fully satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst by sustaining a authentic spiritual life which can be ONLY obtained through Jesus Christ, through the Word of God and daily repentance! Without this essential Bread, who is Jesus Christ, His Word, we are simply satisfying our physical hunger and thirst!
3.) Third, and very important, Jesus is making another claim to deity. This statement is the first of the seven 'I AM" declarations Jesus makes about Himself. In all seven, He combines I AM with tremendous metaphors which express His saving relationship toward the world. The phrase "I AM" is the covenant name of God (Yahweh, or YHWH), revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). The phrase speaks of self-sufficient existence which is an attribute only God possesses.
How amazing is that in every chapter of Book of John, Jesus' deity is revealed. And Jesus' true identity is underscored through the titles He is given: I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35,1, 48,1); I AM the Light of the World (John 8:12); I AM the Door of the Sheep (John 10:7,9); I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,4); I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25); I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6); and I AM the True Vine (John 15:1,5).
4.) Fourth, notice the words "come" and "believe"? We must understand that coming to Jesus (repentance), and believing on Him (faith) signify the same! The invitation Jesus is making to those listening, is to come to Him, which involves making a choice to forsake the world and follow Him according to His will. This is also an invitation for those listening, to place their faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. It is obligatory we do both: REPENT & have FAITH in Jesus! So believing in Jesus means placing our faith in Him that He is who He says He is, that He will do what He says He will do, and that He is the only one who can.
Beloved Church of Christ, our constant exercise of faith in Christ, is the most important and difficult part of the obedience required from us, as sinners seeking salvation. But by His grace we are enabled to live a life of faith in the Son of God. All glory to God!
5.) Fifth, the words "hunger and thirst" does not refer to alleviating physical hunger and thirst. The key is found in another statement Jesus made, back in His Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." When Jesus says those who come to Him will never hunger and those who believe in Him will never thirst, He is saying He will satisfy our hunger and thirst to be made righteous in the sight of God.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God has placed the desire for eternity in our hearts and that there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven because we've all sinned (Romans 3:23) and the only thing our sin earns us is death (Romans 6:23). There is no one who is righteous in himself (Romans 3:10). Our dilemma is we have a desire we cannot fulfill, no matter what we do. That is where Jesus comes in. He, and He alone, can fulfill that desire in our hearts for righteousness through the Divine Transaction: "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ died on the cross, He took the sins of mankind upon Himself and made atonement for them. When we place our faith in Him, our sins are imputed to Jesus, and His righteousness is imputed to us therefore Jesus satisfies our hunger and thirst for righteousness, therefore He is our Bread of Life!
May we with understanding and earnestness say, Lord, evermore give us this daily Bread~&,"&~. in Jesus name Amin!
May the God's grace, mercy and peace pour over us, in the name of Jesus, in truth and love~&,"&~. God bless you all Church of Christ!
