Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:34-35)

I Am The Bread

The human body is an incredible creation. It is designed in a perfect way to accomplish remarkable tasks that no human wisdom can recreate. The psalmist David declared the body a wonderfully complex testimony of the marvelous workmanship of its Creator. Adam was formed from the dust of the ground and woman was created from the rib of Adam. Made in the image of the Divine, Adam and Eve possessed a physical body that was dependent upon nourishment to survive. Even in the garden, man was a mortal being. The placement of the Tree of Life was to allow man to live forever but sin destroyed that promise. Satan deceived Eve to believe she would not die when in fact the sentence of physical death was already upon her. God had told them if they ate of the forbidden fruit they would die but He was speaking about spiritual death. As a penalty for their rebellion, Adam and Eve were cast from the garden and away from the Tree of Life.

Adam lived for 930 years and died. His long life is attributed to a basic part of the human anatomy that required a man to nourish his body with bread and water. These are the basic elements of life necessary for the body to function. Bread is often used as a common name of food. God designed the body in such a manner requiring a constant diet of nutrients that must be maintained daily. If a man does not take bread into his body he will die. He can go for long periods without food but with each day he grows weaker and weaker leading to death. One of the constants of life that is necessary for all men is the need for food and water. Man cannot live without bread (food). That is the way God designed the body and there is nothing men can do to change that. Bread is the source of life.

The children of Israel numbered nearly two million souls when they left Egypt. In the forty years of wandering their main complaint was the lack of food. God provided everything the Hebrews needed to survive. He gave them manna from heaven, water from the rock on more than one occasion, and brought in quail to satisfy the hunger of the people. They still complained. No one died from hunger because the Lord gave them everything they needed to survive the harsh conditions of the wilderness. What they murmured and complained about was they were not satisfied with the bread given to them by God. He gave them enough food and water to sustain them but this was not enough. They did not bring the manna or find the water to quench their thirst. The manna, water, and quail came as a gift of God through His grace and love for the people. God showed His power in bringing the Israelites the bread of life to satisfy their needs. As Creator, He knew the body needed to be sustained with bread and He provided everything they needed to survive. The people turned away and rejected the gift of God. If they would have accepted the gift of God they would live.

Jesus showed the power of the Father when He fed more than five thousand people from five barley loaves and two small fish. When the immense crowd of hungry souls was filled there were twelve baskets left over with the fragments of the five barley loaves. It was one of the most incredible miracles Jesus performed to show the power of God. He understood the physical needs of the people. Looking upon the thousands of people following Him to hear His teaching, He knew they needed to be fed. Through the power of the Finger of God, Jesus gave them what they needed. Leaving the multitudes, Jesus went up into the mountain by Himself and later went to Capernaum. The people followed Him the next day because they were hungry again. They forgot the miracle of the day before and could only see the need to fill their bodies. Jesus warned the people the physical body would perish and the greater need was to fill the soul. When the people hungered in the wilderness, food came by the gift of God. What the multitude should have seen the day before was the testimony that Jesus was the Son of God, the long-promised Christ. As the bread of God came down from heaven to feed the people, Jesus was the bread of life from the Father to give the world spiritual nourishment.

The body cannot live without bread and water. Without proper nourishment, the body will die. A greater need for man is not the sustaining of the physical body because even if a man lives to be 930 years old, he will die. Jesus is the bread of life because those who come to Him will never hunger and never die. The Hebrews learned the dependence of God’s grace in the wilderness that without the gift of God, they would die. Jesus uses the same story to show His life will be given for all men to live. He becomes the Bread of Life because through Jesus man will never die. Everlasting life is offered to those who take the Bread of Life and allow the spiritual nutrients of God’s grace to feed their souls and sustain their lives. Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life.” Come to the table of God and partake of eternal life.