THE BREAD OF LIFE

John 6:25-31; Exodus 16:4-35

Jesus made at least seven big “I AM” pronouncements. Jn 6:35 The Bread of Life;  Jn 8:12 the Light of the World ; Jn 10:7 the Gate for the Sheep ; Jn 10:11 the Good Shepherd ; Jn 11:25 the Resurrection and the Life ; Jn 14:6 the Way and the Truth and the Life ; Jn 15:1 the True Vine. To crown it all He makes these pronouncements using the secret name I AM! I call these the Seven Greatest Metaphors. Anyone seeking a deeper knowledge of Jesus should carefully and closely study these I AM metaphors. We can only study the first one today – Jesus the Bread of Life.

Bread: A Basic Component of Diet

Our Daily Bread  (Mat.6:11)

Joseph Sent Bread Gifts To His Father (Gen.45:23)

Jesus Multiplied Bread To Feed The Multitude (Mat.14: 13-21)

Bread is a product of wheat or barley flour. It is a component of daily food. There is hardly any part of the world where bread is unknown. It is eaten by every race, every culture and every religion. Germans are said to consume more bread than any other nation in the world, followed only by Chile.

In (Mat.6:11) Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer, “ Give us this day our daily bread”. Daily bread implies our daily necessities or daily needs. Jesus use of bread here amplifies the importance of the substance, bread.

In the process of trying to reintroduce himself to his family, Joseph sent his father quantities of Egyptian bread (Gen.45:23).

The only components of food that Jesus multiplied during His ministry were bread and fish. Multitudes were fed bread and fish (Mat.14:13-21). There is no doubt that Jesus understood the importance of bread as necessary food. Secondly the miracle of bread multiplication is very significant given the fact that a similar miracle took place during Israel’s wonderings in the wilderness. When Israel murmured in the wilderness for food while journeying to the Promised Land, God send them special bread called manna.

Bread: The Manna From Heaven

Manna, What Is It?(Exo.16:4-8;14-16)

Manna, the Gift From God (John 6:32-33; Neh.9:15)

Manna given To Teach Israel Dependence on God (Deut.8:3, 16)

Manna Given in Omer Full Measure (Exo.16-19)

Manna, A Symbol Of Christ’s Provision (John 6:31-35)

There are many lessons we can learn about God’s provision of manna for His people Israel.

Manna was the food Israel ate for 40 years in the wilderness. It was a divine provision, a product of heaven, not earth. It was rained down from heaven. Though they did not farm or have any store of food, God made sure they were adequately provided for and should have been satisfied. It literally “rain from heaven” as God promised. The Manna came with the dew of the morning and God commanded Israel to go out and gather. Manna was kneaded and baked into bread and eaten. This plus the meat of quail was the food the children of Israel ate manna for 40 years in the wilderness.
Manna ceased to fall for them after they entered the Promised Land and ate the produce of Canaan (Joshua 5:12). It was a stopgap provision for Israel while they journeyed to the Promised Land. It wasn’t a permanent solution. God’s ultimate goal for them was settlement in the Promised Land, where they must practically till the land and produce their own food grow their families and serve the Lord. Manna was given to teach Israel total dependendence on God for their needs (Deut.8:3, 16; Exo.16:31-35).

How did manna teach Israel that man does not live by bread alone… (Deut.8:3)? First, manna fell daily and was not allowed to be stored. It lasted only for one day after collection. No one could accumulate and horde it. Those who tried to store it found that it decayed, grew bred worms and stank. This taught Israel to depend on God daily for the provision of manna.
Manna was allowed to fall consistently for forty years, illustrating the power of God to sustain His people for as long as it was necessary.
Manna fell even though they were journeying through the wilderness a dry place, having no farms nor any businesses. That was a great lesson to them and to us today to depend on God and not on our ability to accumulate things. The world in which we live today is a world full of greed, of corruption and cheating. In the world today we have a lot of people who are hailed as billionaires, having access to billions of pounds – money they could not spend just on themselves if they lived their lives three times over. In the same world we have billions of people who are trapped in poverty and cannot take care of themselves, they suffer all forms of deprivation, are controlled and used by the rich. The world did not learn the lesson, “man shall not live by bread alone…”

We can link this to Christ’s teaching that the life of a man does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15), and His teaching on depending on God for our daily bread (Mat.6:11). This teaching of Christ goes against business practice or even daily life activities of people. But it is a lesson yearning to be learned by humans today.

God specified how much manna each man should gather – an Omer for every man. Approximately 2 litres, the Omer was a grain measure which was used only for measuring manna. It does not appear to be a regular, day to day grain measure in Israel. Every Israelite was allowed one Omer a day. It is worth noting that after gathering, some had gathered more probably because they are faster and stronger. Others gathered less. But when they measure what they gathered, he that gathered much had no excess and he that gathered little had no lack (Exo.16-19)! This is the miracle of the Omer - the miracle of the provision of God.

Jesus declared Himself to be the True Bread from Heaven – the Bread of Life.

Bread: Jesus The Bread Of Life

Jesus is That True Manna From Heaven (Exo.16:4; John 6:31-35)

The Omer Represents The Truth Christ Brings To Us (Exo. 16:14-16; Deut.12:32; Prov.30:5-6; John 6:48-51

Christ Is Sufficient For Old And Young (Exo.16:16-18; John 6:35, 51-58)

The Manna Is Christ’s Word That Feeds the Soul (John 4:34)

The manna in Hebrew meant "What is this", as well as who? The WHO in the manna is Jesus Christ! The WHAT in the manna is His life-giving power. Christ supplies the who and the what of manna. Jesus is the True Manna from heaven. As manna came down from heaven, even so Christ came as the true life giving Bread. Just as manna was free, the Bread of Life is free. His blood cleanses us for  free. His word feeds our souls for free (John 3:16; 2Cor.9:15).

The Omer as we have seen represents the truth Christ brings to us. An Omer was allowed for every person. An Omer was enough for every person. No one could have more or less. The Truth Jesus brought to us, is sufficient for every man’s salvation. Eternal life is given out in the same measure. You cannot have more eternal life than another believer. Remember the story of the hired labourers who what for different times and were paid the same day wage (Matthew 20:1-16).

Jesus compared Himself to the manna from Heaven (John 6:32-35)
Manna was gathered everyday (Exo.6:4) - our fellowship and feeding on Jesus must be daily. Our nourishment from Him must be a daily activity (Exo.16:19-20). Manna lasted for only one day
As they gathered manna in the morning (Exo.16:21), we must seek Christ early for our nourishment
Manna provided sufficient nourishment. It does not matter what our personal deficiency may be, God's word is sufficient for us all. Christ is sufficient for us all!