I Am The Bread Of Life

 SpringGrove 3.4.11

 [Audio of I Am The Bread Of Life]

A question for linguists amongst us; what does Tetragrammaton mean?

Four letters. Which in Biblical circles specifically refers to YHWH the four letters representing the name of God.

We get these four letters from where?

^{Exodus 3:14(New American Standard Bible)}God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

The correct pronunciation of the name of God has long been lost because the Hebrews would not speak, or even write it down. Instead the just wrote the consonants YHWH. When they were reading the scriptures they would substitute YHWH with Adonai, or would just refer to it as "the name."

Our tradition to pronounce the tetragrammaton as Yahweh or Jehovah come from combining it with the vowels of Adonai. And there is much debate as to likelihood of this being an authentic pronunciation. Some of the evidence supporting this choice are in words like Hallelujah (praise Yah) or Isaiah (Yah is salvation).

The true name of God was only spoken by the high priest during his prayer on The Day Of Atonement. The rest of the time it was revered too much to be used. The 10 commandments prohibit misusing the name of God. There was considered much power in the name as we read all through the Old Testament where people are exhorted to keep the name of God holy. Battles are won in the name of the Lord. Prophets speak in the name of the Lord, blessing and curses are given in the name of the Lord, and oaths given in God's name are to be binding. God put his name on the people of Israel, and it is for His names sake that God delivers them time and again.

The name of God was so revered it could not be spoken or even written, and any abuse of this would be to invoke divine judgment.

Keep these thoughts of the revered name of God in mind as we continue our journey through the scriptures this morning.

C.S. Lewis said that Jesus could not be regarded as a great prophet, or good teacher, or a good man with good morals, because he did not leave that option open to us. Jesus claimed to be God leaving us with option of believing that he was who said he was or believing that he was deluded. We cannot herald him as another prophet or teacher based on this claim.

And it is for this outlandish claim that Jesus was crucified – he blasphemed the name of God according to his accusers.

The Gospel of John contains 7 instances where Jesus made I AM statements such as I AM the bread of life, I AM the light of the world, I AM the good shepherd etc. And today I would like to look at the first of these.

Remember, the Jews were very aware of the claim that Jesus was making when he used “ego ami” I AM.

We pick up the story in John Chapter 6 and verse 26 which is just after the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus had slipped away from the crowd. They sailed across the lake to find him again and when they found him they asked “Rabbi, when did You get here?”

(Reading from the New American Standard Bible today)

^John6:26Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

²⁷"Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."

²⁸Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?"

²⁹Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."

³⁰So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so 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 OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'"

³²Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

³³"For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."

³⁴Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread."

³⁵Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

³⁶"But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

³⁷"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not 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"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

⁴⁰"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

Words to the Jews

⁴¹Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."

⁴²They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?"

⁴³Jesus answered and said to 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 SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

⁴⁶"Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

⁴⁷"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who 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 which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

⁵¹"I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

⁵³So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.

⁵⁴"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

⁵⁵"For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

⁵⁶"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

⁵⁷"As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

⁵⁸"This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."

Words to the Disciples

⁵⁹These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?" ^NASB

The disciples in this sense is used broadly of those who were following Jesus around. He had fed 5000 of them with a few loaves and fish and yet they came seeking more signs. When he said he was the bread of life, they wanted continual feeding as their forefathers received with the mana in the wilderness. Or like the woman at the well who asked for more of the living water.

When Jesus told them he was bread from heaven they questioned how this could be so since they had known him from birth, and when he said they must eat of his flesh and drink his blood they found that to be a stumbling block and many walked away at that point.

Before you are too hard on the fickle followers of Jesus remember the claims he is making. Here is the son of Joseph and Mary claiming to be of God from heaven. He claims to be the bread of eternal life. Remember the Jews are not unaccustomed to this kind of language, they are used to symbolic prophesies and reading between the lines for spiritual significance.

All the way back to the Garden of Eden there were two trees in the middle of the Garden. One tree was the knowledge of good and evil from which they were not to eat (the one that started this sorry story), and the other was the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden so that they could no longer eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.

The ministry of Jesus as the Messiah is one of restoration. He came to restore our relationship with God. He restored life to the lifeless, health to the sick, and understanding to the confused. And in a sense he also came to restore the Tree of Life.

The mana of the desert was symbolic of the ministry of Jesus in that it was life giving sustenance to those in need and it came from heaven focusing the attention of the people heavenward each morning. Just as the image of the snake that Moses lifted up would bring healing to the afflicted if they looked up.

The Israelites were accustomed this kind of imagery. But not only was Jesus claiming to be God, he was telling them that they had to eat of his flesh and drink his blood if they were receive eternal life. This went beyond just bread, it was breaking more of the commandments of Moses, that they were not eat raw flesh, or flesh with blood in it. This was repulsive in every way to the ears of the Israelites.

Eat my flesh is interesting though. If we look at the way John starts both his Gospel and the first of letters we can get some insight into what Jesus was saying.

John 1

The Deity of Jesus Christ

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²He was in the beginning with God.

³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. . .

¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ^NASB

1 John 1

Introduction, The Incarnate Word

¹What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--

²and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--

³what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. ^NASB

The Word was manifested here with us, given flesh.

Just as Ezekiel was instructed to eat the scroll we are instructed to eat the flesh, the physical manifestation of the Word of God.

Ezekiel 3

¹ And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

³ Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.^NIV

Jesus is the Word in flesh and we are to eat of his flesh which is in one sense to eat the Word. We are also to drink his blood, the cup of sacrifice.

Remember the mother of James and John the sons of Zebedee coming to Jesus with a request. She wanted her sons to sit one on the right and one on the left of Jesus.

Matthew20:²²But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able."

²³He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." ^NASB

So in one sense we are to eat of the Word of God and drink from the cup of sacrifice. We are to lay down our lives at the alter of God and to live in his service, prepared by his Word to do his will.

As unpopular as this message was to the ears of those in Jesus day, it is no more popular today. Then his message was hard to understand and repulsive, today his message is politically incorrect and bigoted. The thought of only one way to God is something that only the conservative Christian's believe (like being conservative is somehow a bad thing).

This conversation recorded in John's Gospel took place before Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples – the meal that we call The Lord's Supper, and that we commemorate around the communion table each Lord's Day.

Can anyone tell me where the first instance of the communion meal is recorded in the Scriptures?

After Abram went to rescue his nephew lot, defeating the allied kings army, he came back and tithed to a priest by the name of Melchizedek.

^Gen14:18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) ¹⁹And he blessed him and said,

"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
²⁰and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!"

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. ^NASB

The priest Melchizedek is a mysterious figure that appears without background, has no recorded lineage, giving the appearance of having neither beginning of days nor end of life. He is paid great homage by Abram the father of the Israelite nation. His name as the author of Hebrews tells us means king of righteousness and his title is king of Salem (which means peace) – King of righteousness and King of peace.

Melchizedek is a type or pattern of the one who is to come. This the first supper was a forerunner to the Lord's Supper.

^{Matthew 26:26}While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

²⁷And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you;

²⁸for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

²⁹"But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." ^NASB

So the Lord's Supper is not really the Last Supper as popular theology indicates, for it also is just a foretaste of things yet to come.

But once again we are back to Jesus statement - I AM the bread of life. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no place in the kingdom of God.

In one sense we are to eat the Word and drink from the cup of sacrifice.

In another sense we are to eat, to put on the flesh of Christ, and to drink the blood of his sacrifice that purifies us from all unrighteousness. And that we may stand before YHWH creator of the Universe knowing that we are forgiven and that our name is in the Lamb's book of life.

When you come around the communion table do not make apologies, or try and explain away what we are doing. Jesus said this IS my body, this IS my blood poured out for you.

He might have said “What more could I do? I give you everything I have to give”

He did say [ego ami] ^{John 6:35} "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”^NASB

~Dean McNamara