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CHAPTER
2
CHAPTER
TWO
THE
BREAD
Much,
if not all, of what we see of Jesus, regarding His names,
titles and attributes, in the New Testament, we have
already had shown to us in representations, types and
shadows in the Old Testament. There are obvious connections
with the ‘manna’, the bread which came from God, to
feed the Israelites in the desert, and Jesus claiming
to be the true Bread of God. While wandering in the
desert for 40 years, the children of Israel were in
no position to feed themselves. Most of the time they
were in a barren wilderness, and they were very often
on the move; but God had chosen them, and God would
provide for them. He sent them a bread substitute, a
mysterious substance which they named ‘manna’, meaning
‘what is it?’ They were totally unable to help produce
or to grow this particular food, all they could do was
to gather it up, to gratefully accept God’s abundant
provision. It is the same with Jesus, the real Bread
of heaven---He is God’s gift to His people. Nothing
that we could ever do could produce for us the perfect
Bread that is Jesus. It is all of God, and our part
is to gratefully accept His more than abundant provision,
which is in His Son. And to be spiritually healthy,
we need to feed daily on the Son who is the true Bread
from God.
Then
the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from
heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and
gather enough for that day.”--------The Israelites ate
manna for forty years, until they came to a land that
was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border
of Canaan.
(Exodus
chapter 16, verses 4, 35).
THE
BREAD OF LIFE
We
all need to eat in order to keep our physical bodies
alive. Children need to eat not just to stay alive but
also to grow. And, important as our natural bodies may
be, there is a more vital part in our make up---our
spirit. Our physical selves age and die and disintegrate;
spirit goes on forever. The Bible tells us that God
is Spirit and that He made man in His image and that
mans’ sin of disobedience to, and rebellion against,
his Maker has spoiled that image; sin cuts us off from
a perfect, holy God. Every human being since Adam and
Eve, with the singular exception of the man Jesus Christ,
has sinned:
for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(Romans
chapter 3, verse 23).
This
cutting off from God is known as spiritual death, and
if we come to the end of our natural life in this state,
hell awaits us. We remain out of God’s presence, blessing
and goodness; yet we remain consciously aware.
He
said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied,
Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said
to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go
and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
(Luke
chapter 9, verses 59-60).
Is
it possible, then, to reverse this state of spiritual
death and if so how? With God all things are possible,
and the answer is found only in Jesus Christ:
“I
tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes
him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned;
he has crossed over from death to life.”
(John
chapter 5, verse 24).
The
perfect justice and righteousness of God can allow no
compromise on sin; wrongdoing cannot go unpunished;
He will not pat unrepentant sinners gently on the head
and allow them in to pollute His heaven; they will be
kept separate from the righteous---there is a heaven
and a hell. Jesus took our punishment; the just died
for the unjust; the sinless died for the sinner, so
that we who believe in Him and recognise our sinful
state and mourn over it may go free when the time comes
to stand before the Judge. God has already judged the
sins of those who, through faith, turn to and trust
in Jesus Christ. He judged them in His Son---in giving
His Son over to death. How deadly our sins must be!
“For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life.”
(John
chapter 3, verse 16).
Many
times Jesus declares spiritual realities by comparing
or relating them somehow with physical, earthly realities.
Just as in large parts of the earth bread has been,
and still is, a major and basic part of our diet, and
bread and water will keep a man alive physically, Jesus
came that a man may be made alive and kept alive spiritually---and
that forever.
“For
the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and
gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “from now
on give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the
bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry,
and he who believes in me will never be thirsty-----I
am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna
in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread
that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and
not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever.
This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world.”
(John
chapter 6, verses 33-35, 48-51 ).
Jesus
is speaking of feeding on Him spiritually.
Then
the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
(verse
52).
But
many of His listeners can only understand Him on a physical,
fleshly level.
“I
tell you the truth, unless you can eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life
in you.”
(verse
53).
Jesus
is stressing the point, ‘I tell you the truth’, there
can be no spiritual life without feeding on Him. He
tells them, ‘you have no life in you’, and yet they
are obviously alive in a physical sense, but the life
of God, eternal life, is not in them. The same applies
to all of mankind today. We can only have spiritual
life by feeding on Christ:
“Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh
is real food and my blood is real drink.”
(verse54).
We
must be nourished on His word:
“The
Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The
words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”
(verse
63).
Could
these really be the words of someone who was just a
good man or a wise teacher, or of some clever storyteller
making things up?
An
obvious choice of hymn at this point would be that great
Welsh classic Cwm Rhonda (Bread of Heaven). Instead,
I would like to tell of a card my dear grand-daughter,
Rebekah, (then about ten years old) made for us. She
designed it herself; she painted a glass of red wine
and a loaf of bread on the front cover and the words:
‘If Jesus is the Bread of life’---then on the inside
‘have a sandwich every day!’
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