Christ Our Eternal Bread

The Manna That Doesn’t Last

Exodus 16:33–34 “And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.”

Now, let’s pause for a moment and remember exactly what this manna is.

Its name meant exactly that: what is it.

Numbers 11:7–9 (“Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.”) gives a description of it.

It was a test of faith. Israel was a grumbling lot and first complained that God had led them into the wilderness to starve to death (Exodus 16:2–3 “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.””) Later, they would complain that God hadn’t given them the meat they wanted and remembered (Numbers 11:4–6 “Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.””)

It is a sort of pre-cursor to Mt.6:33 and The Lord’s Prayer (daily bread) because God provided it every single day except for the Sabbath. Ultimately, the test was whether or not the Israelites trusted God to lead them into the Promised Land.

This last point is a big one, because the Promised Land very much mirrors our salvation.

We are people in bondage to sin.

We need someone to lead us out of our bondage.

We need to be nourished along the way, because salvation and faith is a life-long marathon, not a momentary sprint.

Matthew 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Luke 9:23 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

So, we must turn to…

The Bread That Feeds Forever

John 6:35 “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.”

So, let’s turn to John 6 and work our way through this passage.

It actually starts back in 6:22, and the people are coming to Jesus because He just fed the 5,000. They’re seeking food and sign, not Jesus Himself…He’s just a means to an end.

Side note…how often do we come to Jesus for His benefits and blessings and not because He is worthy?

So, in classic Jesus fashion, He turns the conversation. John 6:26–27 “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. Do not work 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.””

Like good, law-fearing Jews, the people respond, “Alright, then. What works do we need to be doing?” Classic misconception, right? That we can do something to commend ourselves to God. Jesus again corrects the course — BELIEVE. That is the work of God, to believe, to have faith…same basic Greek word: pistos or pisteuo in this case. From the beginning of God’s dealings with His people, you could say that the core of that relationship was “trust and obey.” I remember sitting in Dr. Lee’s OT class, maybe the first one, of my first semester at BCF, and Dr. Lee singing Trust and Obey.

But the people, ever hard-hearted as we can be, they ask John 6:30–31 “So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”” In essence…give us a little something so that we know it’s for real. You know, because the miracle with the 5,000 wasn’t enough yesterday.

Well, the conversation continues, and notice what Jesus points out:

It wasn’t actually Moses who gave you bread, because the bread came down out of heaven.

And, my Father gives true bread that comes from heaven.

And, BTW, that bread is “He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

This is what leads us ultimately to verse 35. The people are like, “Oh yeah, give us that bread…that’s what we want. Matter o’ fact, ‘give us this bread always.’”

So Jesus says that line in verse 35: “I am the bread of life.” It’s actually the first “I am” statement that John records…which is a big deal, because bound up in “I am” alone is Jesus referring to His deity. As the bread of life, here’s what Jesus is offering:

Those who come will not hunger.

Those who believe will not thirst (in these first two, it’s hard not to hear the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes).

He came to claim for the Father people who will believe (remember, this is what set the chain into motion),

And those whom the Father gives, He will save indeed…He’ll never cast them out, He’ll lose nothing of what the Father’s given Him, He’ll raise them up, etc.

Well, this is NOT what the people were looking for. They began to grumble. Why is it that we so often grumble because God gives us what we need, not what we want?!

So Jesus tells them, “Hey, stop complaining under your breath, as if I can’t hear you or perceive your thoughts.” Maybe I embellished a little. But, the point still stands. You want bread that’s going to satisfy you for a moment, but I’m telling you, I’m offering something so much greater to those who will eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, because His flesh is true food and His blood true drink.

Wait, wait, wait…now this whole thing is getting a little weird, and most of the people do respond that way, but there’s something we need to keep in mind. When Jesus taught, did He often speak plainly, or rather did He teach in such a way that only people who have faith could hear His message? Well, it’s the latter. He used parables. He answered questions with questions. It even seemed as if He side-stepped questions on occassion…Luke 9:57–58 (“As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.””) comes to mind.

So, He’s not saying we have to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood, and He’s not telling us that the Lord’s Supper is a necessary act of obedience to get us into heaven. It’s simply a figure of speech where Jesus is telling the people, “Your hunger is greater than you know, and no amount of picking up manna in the wilderness is ever going to satisfy you. I’m what you need, and unless you partake…or have a part with me…you will only continue to come up empty.”

This whole interaction is a flashing neon beacon pointing us to the reality that we live by grace alone. From the Israelites picking up their daily bread in the wilderness…bread that God had rained down from the heavens…to the eternal life we have in Christ, it’s not about our works. It’s about what God has provided.

Jesus is the source of eternal life.

He redirects the people’s attention, just as He is seeking to do for us, from the things of this world…things like self-effort and personal desire…and graciously proclaiming that He’s what we need. Jesus is what we’re looking for.

We have such a tendency to seek out the gifts, forgetting that Jesus Himself is THE GIFT.

Only He can satisfy our hunger.

Only He can quench our thirst.

And only He sustains our spiritual life.

Jesus is the sustainer of eternal life.

Isaiah prayed that God would rend the heavens and come down, similar to what happened on Mt. Sinai (see Isaiah 64:1 “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—”).

The truth of the matter is that Isaiah’s deep desire is first met in the bread of life coming out of heaven, not merely to feed our bodies, but to save our souls.

This Christmas season, when we…when I…can be consumed with the greeds of the season, remember that Christ has provided every single one of us with what we truly need: the grace of God…the Bread of Life…that saves and sustains our souls. There is no greater gift than this. Let us pray.