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The Gospel of John, The Period of Controversy, The Claims of Jesus Christ, Jesus as the Bread of Life, Part XIV, John 6:51-56 - Lesson 44
Read Verses John 6:48-50
Verse 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.
The bread is available!
The bread is not the problem.
The bread that walked the roads of Galilee is still fresh and ready to be eaten.
Bread is not of value and does not give nourishment unless it is eaten.
Eating the bread is a necessary act on one's part to derive any benefit.
Bread must be received and personally eaten to be useful to the body.
And Jesus tells us this is likewise true with the spiritual bread.
It must be received into your heart and my heart in order to nourish our spirit.
As with physical bread, that which I take into my body becomes part of me, likewise spiritual bread when I eat it, also becomes part of me.
But until I eat bread, until I appropriate it for my very own, it is outside of me.
I personally must choose to eat the bread that is set before me.
Jesus shocks the faithless!
He says that this bread that gives eternal life is his flesh.
He gives his flesh for the life of the world.
He foretells his death.
He foretells his sacrifice for the sins of the world.
He presents himself as the one who had come to die.
We, at this point, have come to the heart of the gospel.
You see it is only in the slain Christ, the Christ that was broken, the Christ that shed his blood, it is only in this Christ that a poor sinner can partake of the flesh which is the bread of life.
As he said, "this is my body which is broken for you."
Without the breaking of the bread there would be no hope for the sinner.
His life on earth, although glorius, his garments shining on the Mount of Transfiguration, his face radiant showing his acceptance by the Father, though all wonderful, were not enough to satisfy the justice and the payment for my sin.
The bread must be broken!
But the listeners in Capernaum were far from him.
This statement was too much to grasp without a heart of faith.
Verse 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?
They certainly did not really think that he suggested cannibalism, did they?
He can not be talking in a literal sense, can he?
Jesus of course was using a figure of speech to teach a spiritual truth.
John called him a lamb.
Did they have trouble with that?
Did they literally believe John believed him to be a lamb? Of course not, but here they strove. They argued. They fought.
What does he mean?
How can he use such coarse offensive language like this?
Eating flesh is not a pleasant thought.
What is he trying to say?
If he is speaking figuratively why is he so offensive?
Their sensitivities were offended and I suppose some even suggested that he talked of cannibalism.
They strove over the meaning of such a thing.
Verse 6:53-54, 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.
These are the verses that the Roman Catholic Church uses to formulate its dogma of transubstantiation.
That dogma claims that eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Lord means to partake of his real body and blood in the holy communion.
What is clearly used as a figure of speech by the Lord and a matter of the heart they take as literal.
This is typical of false religion.
Substitution of a ritual for a matter of the heart.
Substitution of a work of the flesh for a work of the Spirit.
When we come to Christ and believe on him we receive into our hearts the benefit of his body and blood that he offered for us on the cross of Calvary.
To connect this statement by the Lord to the sacrament of communion is outrageous and a travesty of spiritual truth.
The idea that man made wafers and wine are transformed into the literal body and the literal blood of Christ is like believing black magic and leads one into darkness.
It excludes faith in the finished work of Christ, and the heart from salvation and exalts the works of man.
It appeals to the wickedness of the heart.
Jesus uses language here designed to describe a spiritual act.
To the Jews who were forbidden to drink blood whatsoever this language was especially offensive.
But those who will receive Christ as though he were bread to be eaten, will be raised up at the last day.
Christ is talking spiritually.
Those who eat his flesh and drink his blood are those same people that he mentions in verse 40; those who see him, those who believe on him, those whom he will raise up at the last day.
He uses this powerful and clearly described metaphor so that it is very clear to anyone who wants to know what it is to receive Christ.
In its fullest sense it means that we feed on him by faith, not only for salvation, but by reading and hearing his word in private or in fellowship with other believers and by meditation and prayer . Jesus is saying, Come and dine on my flesh and my blood!
Be part and parcel with me!
Be one with me.
I in you and you in me.
He describes a continuous eating and drinking. As believers our spiritual sustenance on a daily basis must be Jesus Christ.
There is no other manna for the Christian.
Like the children of Israel who killed the lamb, shed his blood and applied it to their home, they were then required to feed on the lamb who was slain for them.
Verse 6:55, For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Not any flesh or any blood but the flesh and blood of the Christ.
He moderates the emphasis on eating to what is eaten.
The important thing is what is being eaten not the eating.
As it is in the natural so it is in the spiritual.
It is not how we eat but what we eat that determines nourishment.
We must eat good foods to enhance our body and live physically.
So too the only food that will sustain eternal life is the flesh and blood of the Christ, the Son of God.
The menu of eternal life has only one food on it.
And that is the bread of life.
Sincerly believing that poison will nourish you will not change the poison into good food.
There is no mystical power in faith itself.
Simply believing will not bring eternal life.
There are millions who believe, but their belief is falsely aimed in powerless gods or philosophies, or self or man himself.
Belief must be in the One who has the power to save, the One who is the bread of Life; Jesus Christ.
It is Christ alone who can save: Christ as crucified but now alive for evermore.
Verse 6:56, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Here we see Jesus define what is meant by eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
He uses a word that we should understand because we all dwell somewhere in this life.
We know what it is to dwell.
It means to abide, to remain.
Don't you love to go home to your dwelling.
Isn't it the best place to be?
Everything that is yours is there.
Everything that fits you, and only you is there.
Wouldn't you like to be sitting in your favorite chair?
Isn't it nice to get into your bed for a night's rest after a long hard day?
Isn't it nice to lay your head on that pillow and be under warm covers at your own dwelling place?
You know what it means to dwell.
Eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood and you will have the same longing to be with him, to be in your spiritual dwelling, your spiritual abode.
This verse ends, "and I in him."
What a wonderful phrase the Lord uses here because he has as much and even more pleasure dwelling in you as you have dwelling in him.
It is a mutual indwelling maintained by him through faith.
When we get to Chapter 15 we will read the words, "Abide in me and I in you."
Here Jesus gives us another insight into this spiritual union between himself and those who eat the bread of life. |