John 6:47-51 - I am the bread of life

6:47-50

Another “truly, truly”. Believing in Jesus is the key, if we do this we have eternal life. Jesus is the bread of life.So we see that the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert was not the final manna, it was pointing to what was to come. Now the manna was miraculous, it came straight from heaven. Indeed some of it was kept in the ark of the covenant (Heb 9:4). In Hebrews the overriding theme of the letter is that the new covenant has superseded the old, the old was but a shadow of what was to come. But all those who ate it died. So we see a very down to earth interpretation of the facts. But God has something much better in mind, His goal was that His people will have eternal life. So if we eat of the bread of life we will not die. And this bread is Jesus Himself, and we “consume” Him by believing in Him. And we should remember that God’s goal for our lives is eternal life. Whatever is going on in your life right now God’s destiny for you has not changed, and that destiny is eternal life, life in His presence. If things are going well then enjoy it and be thankful, but do not make an idol out of it, do not think that it is the destination. If life is really difficult, or even absolutely horrible, do not despair. God’s destiny for your life has not changed, the present circumstances are a passing phase. This is not to minimise the awfulness of the present, but you need to keep it in perspective. We need to have an eternal outlook on life.

6:51

Jesus again refers to Himself as the living bread that came from heaven. So He is better than the original manna in two ways. First, if eat of the true bread then we receive eternal life, we will not die forever. Secondly, the real manna is living bread, not dead bread.

So we need to believe in Jesus, ie to eat of His bread. The outcome will be eternal life. Then Jesus says that the bread that He gives is His flesh for the life of the world. Without Jesus there is no life. Notice that Jesus says He gives this bread. Jesus went to the cross of His own free will.