22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
In my last message, we observed two miracles that were to give those present and we who read of the event a picture of who Jesus was in truth. By being there and by seeing the loaves and the fishes multiplied, as well as Jesus’ command over the natural world, we should be able to conclude that he was who He said He was, God in the very flesh. These signs also set up the discourse or sermon that Jesus will preach in the remainder of this chapter, all centered on the statement that “I AM the bread of life”
The very set-up for the discourse on the bread of life is the fact that Jesus had to escape a crowd that believed he was the Prophet, and not the very Son of God. They believed he was the deliverer- the prophet like Moses- that would help them get out from under Roman rule. Unfortunately, many Jews at the time of Jesus were waiting and seeking after a completely different Messiah than that what God intended and ultimately sent to them. The messianic kingdom for which the Jews waited was completely materialistic. Edersheim describes it this way:
"What they waited for, was a Kingdom of God—not in righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost, but in meat and drink—a kingdom with miraculous wilderness banquets to Israel, and of coarse miraculous triumphs over the Gentiles. Not to speak of the fabulous Messianic banquet which a sensuous realism expected, or of the achievements for which it looked, every figure in which prophets had clothed the brightness of those days was first literalized, and then exaggerated, till the most glorious poetic descriptions became the most repulsively incongruous caricatures of spiritual Messianic expectancy. The fruit trees were every day, or at least every week or two, to yield their riches, the fields their harvests; the grain was to stand like palm trees, and to be reaped and winnowed without labor. Similar blessings were to visit the vine; ordinary trees would bear little fruit trees, and every produce, of every clime, would be found in Palestine in such abundance and luxuriance as only the wildest imagination could conceive
The Jews, along with those who followed after Jesus, in large part were there because they believed that He would fulfill their imagined desire of what Messiah was supposed to be. They were filled with the expectation that not only would He take the foot of the Romans off of their neck, but Messiah would also provide them with unlimited food and drink and comforts in this life that they could only imagine. They, like many today, were concerned with the temporary comforts of this life. This even hearkens back to the woman at the well, who sought after physical comforts at no personal cost. Jesus had to change their perceptions and correct their misconceptions about who He was and why He came. Thus began this discourse on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, summarized by six points:*
(1) The issue is not one of physical bread, but spiritual.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Jesus cut to the quick with those who had come across the sea to seek him. He exposed their motives with these cutting words, again emphasizing that they followed him for the wrong reasons. They had not seen the signs- many of them did witness the signs, but they did not see. They did not see the signs for what they were for; to point to Jesus and reveal Him in truth as the Messiah. They were stuck on the physical, the temporal. They, like many of us, sought only to get their bellies full so to speak. They were focused on the things that were temporary and not eternal. Jesus confronted them in this behavior. Do not seek after food that perishes; do not just look to get your bellies full. Look to me and be satisfied unto eternal life! He is approved by God Himself, the proof is in the words that he speaks, the signs that he performs, and the shaded glory that those in His presence observed.
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
They (the Jews) were stuck on the physical works that they could do in order to to gain God’s favor. They still believed that by following the works of the Law that they could please God. We know this because of their response to Jesus’ answer to them:
(2) Christ's Kingdom was not one established by the good works of (as Israel supposed), but on the basis of faith (verse 29).
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Jesus repeats the idea that the only work that is acceptable to God is no work at all, but faith. Jesus has identified Himself as God repeatedly, and the signs he did proved again He was God. In John 3:14-18, He calls on all mankind to do the work of looking to Him, the One that the Father sent, to be saved. The wrong idea that the Jews had at this time is shared by many today; this idea that there is some sort of work that pleases God, that the more people we help, the more money we give, the more religious acts we do, the more that we please God. Jesus was correcting this error for them and for us. The only work that pleases God is the work that has been accomplished on the cross on our behalf, performed by the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ. What we must do is to look to Him by faith. We must believe God and demonstrate it by believing His Son.
(3) Christ came not as a spectacular wonder worker but as the wonder.
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Herein lied the problem; this was truly a wicked and perverse generation, always looking for a sign. We are guilty of the very same thing; we look to Jesus not so much for what he has done for us, rather, for what he can do for us on the physical and temporal level. Jesus Christ indeed did many incredible works and signs in front of people, but that was not his purpose in coming. The signs were to point to Him and prove who He was; He was the Son of God. He was the one that the signs pointed to. The signs just lent credibility as a source of proof that Jesus was who He said He was.
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus was superior to Moses, indeed Moses did not produce the bread that their forefathers had in the wilderness, God provided this manna from heaven. In the same way, Jesus is not the miracle worker; He is the miracle. He is the bread of God who comes into the world to give life to those in the world. This bread is superior, for those who ate the bread in the wilderness still died, yet the Bread God provided was to give eternal life to the world. Jesus Christ is that bread:
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
The fact that Jesus was the bread provided by God to give eternal life was made abundantly clear by the teachings and by the signs that He did. The people who eat this bread will have their spiritual longing for God (represented by hunger and thirst) satisfied in Christ. Jesus was superior to Moses as well, because he is the I AM (Exodus 3:14) that Moses stood before on the mountain who identified Himself thus. But not everyone will sit down and eat, for not all will believe. Not all will look to God to have their eternal life provided for them. They will look to their own goodness to be saved. Many hear the words of Jesus, many saw his signs, still many more have read eyewitness accounts of these signs, yet they will not believe. The reason is made clear in the following verses:
(4) Those who are to enter Christ's Kingdom do so by means of election and divine drawing.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 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.
The people could not believe, that is, come to a saving faith unless God gave them to Jesus. In other words, being Born Again is not a human decision. It is ultimately an act of God. Nobody comes to Christ, or ‘receives’ Christ because they one day were pushed or encouraged to pray a prayer. They are born again out of an act of God drawing them to Jesus and bringing them to repentance and saving faith. And the promise is that all that God will bring Christ will save and raise them up on the last day. Jesus Christ is 100 % efficient at saving and raising those who are drawn to Him by His Father’s act of drawing. Unfortunately, many of those who He was speaking to and many today are blinded by their own self-righteousness and pride and unable to hear the still small voice. They reject Christ, not because He is unattractive, but because they love their sin.
(5) The Kingdom of our Lord is not merely for the present, but also for eternity.
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.”
Many people today have a hard time grasping this simple truth, or they are simply changing the truth for a lie that they perceive in their own mind. Today, people with pride will say that they are more concerned with social justice issues to make the world a better place. They claim that this is the whole of what we are supposed to do as believers. But the truth is that we are saved and transformed for eternity. This is something that begins today, and the benefit of it can and should extend to others as we walk as salt and light to the world. When Jesus changes us, it is not for our temporary benefit. It is for eternity! And our role on this earth is not to make it a better place to got to hell from; our role is to proclaim the good news that others can be saved! The Jews held this same perception, and could not see eternity for the temporary trees 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’?”
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. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he 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. 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.
You see, they were focused on the temporal. They wanted their bellies to be filled, and they were not happy with the way that Jesus answered them, nor were they satisfied with the fact that He was not the prophet that they were expecting. So, like their fathers in the wilderness did before them, they grumbled and they complained against Him. They only recognized him as the Son of Joseph and Mary, a common man. But, he was not the prophet, nor was He a common man; He was God Himself and recognized their grumbling towards Him. The Father did not draw them, so they could not possibly recognize Him for who He was in truth. One-way of knowing that was the way that they responded to Him. They did not recognize Him from the signs he did, or the words He spoke. The reason? They had not been taught by God, nor had they recognized the teaching that God had given them through His Word. They had not seen God, as Christ had, for if they had seen God in His Word, they would have believed on the One He sent.
They all related to the manna in the wilderness, for this was one of the great stories of their faith. This is part of the exodus from Egypt, the salvation of the people of Israel by God through Moses. They thought that Jesus was the Prophet like Moses that would lead them out from under the rule of the Romans and restore their land to them. But it was not Moses who gave the Manna, nor was it Moses who rescued them; it was God. However, they were focused on Moses, and so Jesus had to correct their misconceptions. Yes, the manna came from heaven, but it was just physical bread that satisfied for a day. It had to be gathered daily, just enough for that day, or it would rot. Everybody that ate that bread eventually died, like any other human being. Jesus Christ is superior to that bread, for in consuming Him (so to speak) you will live for eternity.
Here is the proposition for you today; Who is Jesus to you? Are you satisfied with the bread of this world, and even the bread that we find in so many different churches and ministries today? Or are you in pursuit of the Bread of Life, the only bread that truly satisfies? This brings up our final point:
(6) The watchword of the Kingdom is not self-satisfaction, but self-sacrifice.
And this is the ultimate truth; that Jesus Christ gave Himself first by coming from heaven, condescending to us, becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us. Then, he gave Himself by striving with men to show Himself for who He was while He walked on this earth. Finally, he gave Himself willingly as a sacrifice for sin for all mankind. This is the meaning of the loaves: Jesus Christ, the One from God came to this earth and was broken once for all for the sin of all mankind. All who will believe and look to Him, as the One sent from God will have their hunger for God satisfied in Christ. The Bread of Life gave himself for the life of the world.
Jesus did not come to fill our bellies; He came to save our very soul.
(6) The watchword of the Kingdom is not self-satisfaction, but self-sacrifice.
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.”
And this is the ultimate truth; that Jesus Christ gave Himself first by coming from heaven, condescending to us, becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us. Then, he gave Himself by striving with men to show Himself for who He was while He walked on this earth. Finally, he gave Himself willingly as a sacrifice for sin for all mankind. This is the meaning of the loaves: Jesus Christ, the One from God came to this earth and was broken once for all for the sin of all mankind. All who will believe and look to Him, as the One sent from God will have their hunger for God satisfied in Christ. The Bread of Life gave himself for the life of the world.
Jesus did not come to fill our bellies; He came to save our very soul.
Look to Him and be saved.
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