Seeking God's Purpose in Our Life
I recently completed Lysa TerKeurst's Bible study, Finding I Am, How Jesus Fully Satisfies the Cry ofYour Heart. It was a great study of the seven "I AM" statements of Jesus. You can also read my next posts about Jesus being the Light of the World, that He is the Gate and Good Shepherd and The Ressurection and Life and the Way the Truth and the Life. I thought it would be fun to review the seven statements with you over the next few weeks. This week I am starting with the Bread of Life statement. One thing that cannot be denied if you read about Jesus and what He said during His life here on earth. He was very clear about who He is. So, you can't really say He was a prophet or just a really good person. He said some things that would be considered outright nuts. Most importantly, He said He was God! Over and over He claimed to be God. In today's world, we would call that nuts, no matter how much good a person was doing. I just thought I would get that out there. These "I Am" statements are serious stuff. Jesus is not someone you can half-heartedly follow. I hope after reading this post and those that follow, that you will have a better understanding of Jesus and our relationship with Him. He is God. The Great I Am! Jesus was, is and always will be.
I Am the Bread of Life
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35
God's use of bread throughout the Bible
God has used bread throughout history to demonstrate His love for us and also uses it as a consequence. From the time of Adam and Eve, He has used bread. If you haven't heard of Adam and Eve, you should read the first 4 chapters of Genesis, the first book of the bible. Basically, they were the first humans God created. He gave them a lot, but also for their own good, held back some things. Adam and Eve didn't like this. Sound familiar? I know I always seem to want what I can't have. God said they could do anything but eat from one tree. They were tempted by Satan and ended up eating from the tree. When they ate from the tree, God chose to have consequences.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust
you shall return.
Genesis 3:19
God wasn't kidding around. They went from a time of comfort and ease, eating from the garden whenever they pleased to toil and hard work. Growing and tending their own crops from the soil. God used bread as a punishment. Before they were probably just walking around eating what they wanted when they wanted. Now they had to work for it. Bread takes time and hard work. It takes planning and patience. So, when Jesus says He is the Bread of Life, He is not just a quick fix. He is something we need to take seriously and take our time with. He will tell us so much if we just take the time to listen.
Another time that God used bread to teach was also at the beginning of the Bible. In the 16th chapter of Exodus God provides manna to the Israelites. This was both a provision and a consequence. It was a lesson in patience, greed and among other things. The Israelites didn't trust God to take care of them when he sent them to the promised land. Read Exodus to see all that transpired. But to sum up, they wanted to have everything, and not have to work for it. They would rather go back to Egypt as slaves where they felt they could get what they wanted rather than proceed into the unknown. They became scared and unwilling to go forward. So God decided they needed to wander the desert until all those who had not trusted Him to protect them in the promised land were gone. This took 40 years.
To provide for His people, he sent manna each day for them to eat.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law of not.
Exodus 16:4
Each day they went out and gathered. If they kept more than they needed, the bread went horribly bad by the next morning. God wanted to teach them that He was enough and that they needed to trust Him each and every day. We too need to look to God each and every day to provide what we need to get through the day. He will provide what we need. But sometimes we need to trust Him even when it doesn't look the way we want it to. Remember God provides what we need, not what we want. Until our hearts and desires line up with God's will, it will continue to feel like we aren't getting what we want. Just like our kids want what they can't have, we want what we can't have. God wants what is best for us. Just like we want what is best for our kids. They just don't always see that when they are younger.
God uses bread in sacrifice and worship
Throughout the book of Leviticus, God commands the Israelites to worship Him with several festivals and sacrifices. They have some common factors. Often they have to deal with food and many times they talk about bread. The Festival of Unleavened Bread is pretty important. He commands them to only eat bread that has no yeast. Bread is an important tool that God uses throughout the Bible.
Jesus uses bread to perform miracles
When Jesus was on earth, He used bread during His ministry. He fed the crowds that were there listening to Him with miraculous bread. One such occurrence happens in the 6th chapter of John. His disciples, who have seen Jesus perform miracles already, ask Him how they will feed everyone. He has healed the sick, turned water into wine, and yet they have no idea how He might feed these people who have come to listen to Him. Jesus takes fish and bread and has the disciples distribute it among the crowd. There ended up being enough for everyone. There were leftovers! I bet the disciples felt a bit sheepish after that. Pun intended.
Just after this miracle, Jesus tells His disciples that He is the Bread of Life.
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35
Jesus uses bread to represent His body
Probably the most famous use of bread in the Bible is in Matthew 26:17-30. This is when Jesus is at the last supper. The last supper is essentially a dinner with His disciples during Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. He tells His disciples....
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Matthew 26:26
Jesus wants us to remember that He is the Bread of Life when we take communion. He is the eternal satisfier of our hunger.
Jesus is the food that will fill our spiritual hunger. He will fill the void that we try to fill with things, people, and actions. When we cling to a person too much on this earth, eventually they will let us down. When we rely on food or wine, or drugs, we will never be filled the way Jesus can fill us. Jesus is the ultimate source of fulfillment for us. We were made to worship God and for God to show us His love. When we fill up on other things, we are filling up on something that will never fulfill our deepest needs. We crowd out God when we put these other things before Him. Jesus is the only thing that can quench our souls. Eat His Bread and never go hungry again.
I'd love for you to read my next posts about The Light of the World, Gate and Good Shepherd, and The Ressurection and Life and the Way the Truth and the Life as well.