6:32
“It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven”. There are a couple of points to note from this. First, while the Israelites did indeed receive manna from heaven in the time of Moses, it was not Moses who actually gave it to them, it was God. Moses was the steward of the gift. A proper respect for Moses is called for, not attributing things to him which go beyond his ministry. Likewise, people can start thinking the message comes from a gifted preacher or evangelist. The preacher is important and is to be respected, the preacher is a steward of the word of God. The life comes from God. Earlier we read that Jesus has life in Himself and is able to give that life (John 5:21,26). The second point is that the manna was a shadow of the true bread from heaven. As Hebrews is at pains to point out, the Old Testament is shadow of the true kingdom. The Old Testament is very important, but it is not it. We find its true value when we see it as pointing forward to Jesus.
6:33,34
“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus is the true bread of life. The true bread is personal, it is not an inanimate gift like manna. Indeed with the manna the people should not have focused on the manna for itself, but for the one who sent the manna. “Comes down from heaven”, God was going to send someone from His dwelling place to earth, and that person is Jesus Christ. Finally, Christ came to give life to the world.
On its own it would seem that the people have grasped at least something of what Jesus said, and they claim to want this bread of life. In reality they haven’t grasped much at all, as the succeeding discourse and events will demonstrate.
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