Series: Christ, the Bread of Life
- Christ, the Bread of Life – Part 1: The parallel of the bread from heaven
- Christ, the Bread of Life – Part 2: The promise of satisfaction
- Christ, the Bread of Life – Part 3: The problem of unbelief
- Christ, the Bread of Life – Part 4: The proclamation of faith
In John 6:35 Christ gave a promise: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” This was a promise of spiritual satisfaction. The fact that Christ was fully capable of fulfilling this promise was beautifully pictured in the abundance of the previous day’s miracle when He fed the five thousand. This was a lesson to His followers. If He could take five loaves and two fish and transform them into a filling meal for thousands, He could certainly meet their every spiritual need.[i] The miracle proved that He was sufficient.
The analogy of bread, which Christ chose to illustrate His offer of complete satisfaction, was clear. Bread met three major needs in the human body. It satisfied, it nourished, and it sustained.
To illustrate the satisfactory nature of bread picture a fresh, hot, homemade loaf of bread. The steam rises as you cut off a slice, and as you spread the butter it quickly melts into the fibers. As soon as you take your first bite, you know that your hunger will be fully satisfied. Bread has an amazing ability to fill a hungry stomach.
Not only does bread satisfy, it also nourishes. There are many health benefits contained in bread, for the fiber alone aids in the digestive process. Bread sustains life. It provides energy for the one who consumes it.
The analogy that Christ used was that for those who received Him into their lives, He would fully satisfy all spiritual longings, He would entirely nourish every spirit through His own word, and He would completely sustain each life by providing energy to live for Him.
The spiritual sufficiency of Christ is two-fold. First, Christ is sufficient for salvation. Throughout this entire passage the Lord attempted to bring the Jews to the realization of their spiritual need. He appealed to their inner spiritual hunger, which they did not even know they had, and He promised that He could fully satisfy this hunger. Christ made it clear that He was referring to His provision for salvation when, speaking of Himself, He said, “the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.”[ii] Later He added, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the whole world.”[iii] In this passage, and the verses following, Christ prophesied of what His work upon the cross would accomplish. He was the only one who could satisfy man’s need for personal salvation.
At His last supper with His disciples, Christ referred symbolically to this eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood. As Jesus took the Passover bread and broke it, He said to His disciples, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” He then took the cup of wine and passed it among them saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”[iv] Christ was speaking of believing on Him for salvation and receiving Him as Savior.
The apostle Paul had some further insight with regard to the observance of the Lord’s Supper. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and reprimanded them for taking communion unworthily. He first explained that all those in Christ have been made of the same bread and body spiritually. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”[v]
Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that the purpose of communion was to remember the selfless sacrifice which Christ made in their behalf. These believers had begun to abuse the communion and to use it as a time to gratify their own physical needs. Observance of the Lord’s Supper was intended to be a reminder that man’s spiritual need was met in Christ’s physical payment for sin. It was to be a testimony of Christ’s complete sufficiency in atoning for all sins.
Christ’s promise of satisfaction did not end with salvation. He promised abundant life.[vi] However, this abundant, victorious life only comes to fruition when the believer seeks to be nourished and sustained through Him. When we look to other sources for satisfaction, be it pleasure, prosperity, or even other people, we will always walk away empty. Christ, and He alone, is able to meet and satisfy the God-given spiritual hunger within us. He desires that we who are His followers come to Him daily to partake of His life and to find satisfaction for our hungering hearts.
[i] John 6:27
[ii] John 6:33
[iii] John 6:51
[iv] 1 Corinthians 11:24-25
[v] 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
[vi] John 10:10