"If Anyone Has an Ear, Let Him Hear" # 9

"And When the Day of Pentecost Was Fully Come"

Furthermore, Christ is saying, "I AM the Living Bread," I AM the Bread that endureth, which means: I, the Christ, will sustain your Lives before the Lord forevermore. Notice that John 6:47 tells us, "He that believeth hath everlasting Life"; and John 6:51 states that, "If anyone shall eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever." So in these two Scriptures, we find that we not only have Everlasting [Eternal] Life, but if we eat (partake) of Him Who is the Bread of Life we shall live forever, we shall have age-abiding Life. The Emphasized Bible puts it this way: "If one eat of this Bread, he shall live unto times age-abiding." Beloved, Jesus Christ is the Living Bread, and as we partake of Him, He alone will sustain our lives before the Lord God both now, and forevermore - through Christ, we shall live breath by breath, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, year after year, age after age - for in Him we have age-abiding, everlasting Eternal Life.

Now, what was the reaction of the people to these Words of Life spoken by our Lord? First of all, we are told that the Jews murmured at Him, complained discontentedly among themselves, because He said, "I AM the Bread Which came down from Heaven." In the Gospel of John, the phrase, "the Jews" is usually used of those who were in active opposition against the Lord, and who rejected Him as the Messiah; usually, they were the religious and political leaders, or someone who represented them (John 1:19-24). So among the people who sought Jesus, because He fed the 5,000, were a group of "the Jews". And when Jesus said, I AM the Bread Which came down from Heaven, "the Jews" knew He was saying that He was the Son of God, they knew He was saying that He was the I AM, the One Who had spoken t Moses, they knew He was saying that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And they thought that He, Who was only the son of Joseph in their eyes, was surely a blasphemer.

But the Lord Jesus Christ was saying much more than their limited idea of God and His Christ; Jesus was saying that He Was, and Is, and Ever-Shall-Be the I AM spoken of in Exodus 3:14 when God told Moses His Eternal Name: "And God said unto Moses, 'I AM that I AM.' ". The I AM is the Name that describes the Eternal-Self-Existence of God. It is the Name that speaks of the uninterrupted, boundless, Endurance and Everlastingness of the Eternal God. It is the name that reveals that in God there is no limitation of Himself in Fullness. Thus, in speaking of Himself as the I AM, the Lord Jesus Christ is revealing that He is the Fullness of God, and that there is no Limitation and no Ending of His Fullness (Col. 1:19; 2:9). And John tells all of us who are believers: "of His fullness we have all received" (John 1:16).

So when Christ proclaimed: "I AM the Bread of Life," He was saying that He Was, and Is, and Ever-Shall-Be the ALL, and in ALL to those who believe in Him. In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ, THE I AM, says of Himself:

I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51);

I AM the Light of the world (John 8:12);

I AM the Door of the sheep (John 10:7);

I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11);

I AM the Resurrection, and the Life (John 11:25);

I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6);

I AM the True Vine (John 15:1).

So the Jews began to complain when Jesus said, "I AM the Bread Which came down from heaven" (v. 41), because they knew that He was saying He was THE I AM. Then they really got upset, and began to contend with one another when Jesus said: "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." Then Jesus spoke the Words that would divide asunder this company that had sought Him out. He spoke the Words that could only be laid hold of by faith by those who are willing to follow Him "Whithersoever He goest.." He spoke the Words that can only be comprehended by those that "hath an ear to hear what the Spirit saith."

"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. 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. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me and I in Him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. 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.' "

And, so again, Jesus was announcing that He was the Feast of the Lord. He was saying that old things had passed away, and the only way the people of God could please the Lord is to partake of Him, which meant they were to take Him as their ALL.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 10)