Last week we talked about the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men (plus women and children) and Jesus walking on water. We talked about some of the immediate meaning and impact of those miracles in terms of a new Exodus. Tonight we learn more as Jesus explains more of the significance of who He is. Along the way, Jesus will shock and alienate most of his listeners, who head for the exits.

Encounter Jesus – John Week 8

I AM …the Bread of Life

John 6: 22-71

AUDIO

Lecture Handout

John Week 8 – I AM… The Bread of Life Handout

Lesson Notes

Jesus – the Bread of Life (John 6: 22-71)

  • Verses 22-24 – the crowd realizes Jesus gave them the slip, and they cross over to Capernaum
  • Verses 25-26 – Jesus says they’re just following Him to get free food
    • They should have seen the miracles for what they showed about who Jesus is
    • Instead, they just want more free bread
  • Verse 27 – Don’t work for perishable food
    • Word for food that endures to eternal life
    • John 4: 34 – the food of Jesus is to do the Father’s will
    • Jesus gives that kind of food, because Christ was sealed (authenticated) by God
    • Verse 28 – how do they do these works of God? Are works necessary???
    • Verse 29 – THIS is the work of God – BELIEVE in Him whom He has sent
      • Eternal life (bread of life) doesn’t come from hard work or good deeds!
      • But from belief in Jesus as the Christ, sent by God
    • Verse 30 – they want a sign (a miracle) in order to believe Him – they just had one the day before and it wasn’t enough!!!
    • Verse 31 – “Our fathers ate manna”, reference to Psalm 78 (“He gave them bread from heaven to eat”)
      • We’re clearly supposed to get the irony here after feeding the 5,000!
    • Verse 32 – Moses didn’t actually give the bread, God did and does, Jesus did and does
      • True bread from heaven = Jesus, God sent Jesus, as He’s been saying throughout
      • Proverbs 9: 5 – Wisdom cries out offering bread and wine
      • Jesus fulfills all that as He gives Himself, giving symbolized in the Lord’s Supper with the bread and wine
    • Verse 33 – the bread of God is a person – He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the WORLD (not just Israel)
      • Verse 34 – “Give us this bread always” – reminiscent of the woman at the well wanting literal water always, misunderstanding what Jesus was saying
      • Verse 35 – “I AM the Bread of Life” – the first of the great “I AM” statements
        • Jesus is the endless, eternal provision through faith in Christ alone
        • Jesus satisfies the deepest longings of the soul
      • Verse 36 – but they (like the majority of the crowd) don’t really believe Jesus
      • Verse 37 – whoever comes to me, I will NEVER cast out
        • Our assurance in Christ is total – if we have genuinely trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior, He will not cast us out
        • We don’t earn our salvation, we can’t unearn it
    • Verses 38-39 – Jesus is here to do God’s will, not His own
      • God’s will – to not lose any God has given Him
      • And raise them up on the last day – bodily resurrection of the saints!
    • Verse 40 – God’s will – eternal life for all who look on Jesus the Son of God and believe in Him – Jesus will raise them
    • Verses 41-42 – Jews “grumble” about this claim -> because they know Jesus personally as the son of Joseph and Mary
      • So how could Jesus have come down from heaven?
      • They don’t know what we know about the miracle of Christmas
      • The birth of Jesus, the miraculous incarnation of God the Son
  • Verse 43 – Grumbling, similar language to Old Testament in the wilderness when the people kept rebelling against God’s gracious provision
  • Verses 44 – No one can come unless God draws them
  • Tremendous stress relief when it comes to sharing the gospel – we simply do our job, it’s God who leads people to embrace the gospel
  • Verse 45 – They will all be taught by God – a clear claim of divinity by Jesus
  • Verses 47-51 – Whoever believes has eternal life, because Jesus is the bread of life – simple!
    • Jesus is the ultimate life-sustaining and nourishing provision of God for eternity
    • What their ancestors experienced in the wilderness was nice but temporar
    • It pointed toward God’s permanent provision in Christ (verse 50)!
    • Live forever as we eat of the bread of life
    • Verse 51 – the bread He will give for the world is His flesh
    • Jesus’ body broken fo rus
    • The deep truths Jesus teaches here are what we celebrate in the Lord’s Supper
  • Verse 52 – the Jews are completely grossed out!
    • They’re totally opposed to cannibalism, as we are
    • Jesus is speaking symbolically here, introducing the symbols of the Lord’s Supper
    • He’s not advocating cannibalism, because in verse 63, He says the flesh doesn’t matter, only the spirit
    • Verse 53 – we must participate in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – by believing in His sacrificial death, His body broken and His blood poured out
      • Finding our nourishment through faith in Christ
    • Verses 54-59 elaborate on all that
  • Verse 60 – People don’t like what Jesus said – it was very hard for them
    • Jesus is challenging! If you’re really comfortable with everything Jesus said, you need to read His words again and again
    • Jesus is not straight ticket politics or agendas. He challenges everyone who lives who is not living fully dependent on Him
    • He isn’t simple, clean, and tidy
  • Verse 61 – Are you offended?
    • Verse 62 – what will you do when you see Jesus ascend to heaven?
  • Verse 63 – It was symbolic – the spirit gives life, not the flesh!
    • The words of Jesus are spirit and life
    • This is why we Encounter Jesus – because the power isn’t knowing stuff about Jesus, it’s in knowing Jesus, including hearing and studying His words
    • Why we each need to be in personal study! Get a reading plan!
  • Verses 64-65 – Some simply refuse to believe
  • Verse 66 – Many left! Jesus would have been fired from a Baptist church!
    • These weren’t true disciples, they just liked the miracle show
  • Verses 67-71 – What about you 12?
    • To whom shall we go? You have the words of life!
    • You are the Holy One of God
    • They believe! They really have saving faith based on this context!
    • This is the question each of us must wrestle with when faced with difficult teachings of Jesus – will we stick with Him, even when we don’t like what He has to say to us?

Prayer – Thankfulness for God’s provision of the bread of life, for faithfulness in sharing that bread with others, for willingness to stick with Jesus when He challenges us.

Next Week: Jesus & the Feast of Booths (John 7: 1-52)d