JESUS—THE ‘FOOD THAT ENDURES’ – John 6:22-40

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 10, 2012 under PM Bible Study |

PM Home Bible Study Group; October 10, 2012

John 6:22-40

Theme: Jesus challenges those who seek Him to believe on Him as ‘the Bread of Life’.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

In our last study from the Gospel of John, we saw the fifth “sign” that John gives us in his Gospel that identifies Jesus Christ to us. We saw the majesty of Jesus on display as King of kings and Lord of lords as He walking across the water of the Sea of Galilee to His disciples’ boat in the midst of the stormy winds and waves (John 6:16-21)

But the roots of what happened after that sign are found in the sign that was given immediately before it. Before our Lord had strode across the sea, He had performed the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes (vv. 1-14). Our Lord had sent His disciples away to the other side of the sea because—after the miracle of the feeding—the multitudes were prepared to come and take Him by force and make Him their king. Like many people even today, they desired the Lord Jesus—but for the wrong reasons. They wanted Him for the material comforts of an earthly kingdom that they believed He could provide to them. They wanted non-stop free food. Jesus knew what was in their hearts; and He refused to be what mere men demanded Him to be. Instead, He came to this earth to be what they truly needed Him to be—the Bread of Life.

The passage, then, concentrates on what happened after the feeding of the 5,000; and tells us of a series of conflicts between the people’s expectations and the Savior’s true purpose. You can divide this portion of chapter 6 into four stages of conflict with the people at Capernaum: (1) the questioning (vv. 25-40), (2) the murmuring (vv. 41-51), (3) the striving (vv. 52-59), and finally (4) the departing (vv. 60-66). When it was all over, only the twelve disciples remained with Him (vv. 67-71)—and one of them was the betrayer.

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Tonight, we’ll just concentrate on the first stage of that conflict—the way that the people who He had just feed questioned Him. Note how John sets the scene for their questions. In verses 22-24, he writes;

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone—however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus (vv. 22-24).

Apparently, even though Jesus had sent the multitudes away (see Mark 6:45), some persistent individuals either lingered or returned in the morning to where He had fed them the day before. The place where they were was called Tiberias; and John lets us know in verse 23 that some boats had come from there to the other side of the lake. That’s how he explains that these people crossed over. But at the time the previous evening when the disciples left, there was only one boat that crossed; and Jesus had not entered it—only His disciples had done so. When they saw that Jesus was no longer where He had been the night before—and where He had remained until the third watch of the night—they crossed over to Capernaum at the other side to look for Him.

John tells this to us, in part, to show that they were earnestly seeking Him. He was clearly the focus of their attention—the singular object of their interest. But they sought Him for the wrong reasons—that is, for mere temporal provision. They eventually found Him; but the more they questioned Him, the more He disappointed their misplaced expectations.

Notice how, in this story, a true encounter with Jesus forces us to focus on the right things and to seek Him as the true “Bread of Life”. In responding to the questions they set before Him, He called them to . . .

1. LABOR FOR THE FOOD THAT ENDURES (vv 25-27).

A. The people sought Him, and eventually found Him. But they were somewhat mystified by it all. John says, “And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, ‘Rabbi, when did You come here?’” (v. 25). They were glad to have found Him, and clearly gave Him respect by calling Him by a name which means “honored Teacher”. But they were bewildered by how He managed to get there. They didn’t see Him get into the boat with His disciples. And He couldn’t have walked along the shore by foot—a journey of nearly twenty miles—in that amount of time. It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t say to them how He did it. He doesn’t tell them that He had demonstrated His identity as the Son of God by walking across the sea. You’d perhaps think that it would have been very beneficial for Him to do so—because people would have then been even more drawn to Him if He had. But He doesn’t do that, because He knows what’s truly in men’s hearts. They were drawn to Him already—but not in the way that they should have been.

B. Notice instead that, “Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled’” (v. 26). They only wanted material provision, and not spiritual salvation. It was not wrong for them to want material provision; but that’s all they wanted. They were concerned with the meeting the needs of their bellies and not of their souls. He goes on to tell them, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him” (v. 27). The “seal” that the Father had set upon Him was the signs that He had been performing that demonstrated His identity as the Savior. They were ignoring the significance of the miracle of the feeding—that it shows Him to be the true Bread of Life who was there to satisfy far more than just their temporal hunger.

C. There’s a sense in which the disciples misunderstood this too a little later on (see Mark 8:13-21). They had their focus on earthly bread—not realizing that earthly, perishable bread is not a problem for Him who is the true Bread of Life. If we ‘have’ Him as we should, we will—along with Him—have everything else we need. But we must first make sure that we actually ‘have’ Him as we should! We should make sure, then, that we truly labor for the right things—not for the food that perishes almost as soon as we lay hands on it and use it; but rather for the spiritual “food” which “endures to everlasting life”. Only Jesus—the Son of Man—can give such eternal satisfaction to us.

2. DO THE TRUE WORK OF GOD (vv. 28-29).

A. Because Jesus spoke in verse 27 of “laboring”, the people went on to question Him further about it. “Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’” (v. 28). It was as if they were saying, “Fine then. You speak of laboring for the Bread of Life; and it sounds wonderful to have bread that lasts forever. But if we have to ‘labor’ for it, then tell us—what is the work that we must do to obtain this ‘Bread of Life’ You speak of? What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” How sad that they still didn’t understand what it was that He was offering them—nor how it was that they needed to obtain it from Him.

B. It’s interesting to notice the questions that Jesus answers as opposed to the questions He doesn’t answer. He didn’t answer the previous question of how He got where He was. But this question—what they must do to work the works of God—is a question that He does answer. And what a surprising answer it was! “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (v. 29). What a remarkable thing! The “work” that they must do to obtain the Bread of Life—the food that endures to eternal life—is, of course, the “work of God”; that is, the work that God Himself gives them to do and accepts from them. They must not seek—like Cain of old— to do their own work and demand that God accept it. Rather, they must—like Cain’s brother Abel—do the work that God gives them to do; for God will approve and accept no other. And what is that work? It is to simply believe in Him that God sent. Jesus was telling them that the work that God wants man to do is to believe on Him.

C. This is true for us today also. The only work that God requires from us for our salvation is that we believe in Him whom God has sent to be our Savior. We must believe that He is the Son of God who came in human flesh to this world, who lived sinless life, who died on the cross in our place, and who was bodily raised from death three days later. God requires no other work from us than that; but God will accept no other work from us but that. As Paul wrote in Romans 10:6-11;

But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:6-11; see also Isaiah 28:16).

3. LOOK TO THE DIVINE PROVIDER (vv. 30-34).

A. Now; that may seem plain enough. “Simply believe in Him whom God has sent.” but the fallen human heart is remarkably hard. Jesus’ invitation to do the work of God— which was to believe on Him—caused them to go on to demand a sign from Him that they could believe. “Therefore they said to Him, ‘What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?’” (v. 30). This is a remarkable request; because He had just performed a great sign to them in the fact that He had miraculously fed them. But it’s clear that their focus was still on the provision of material things. They said, “‘Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”‘” (v. 31). They may, here, be quoting from Psalm 78:23-25; which says, “Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.” If was as if they were saying, “Why don’t You do provide bread for us like that—just as Moses provided manna for our people in His day when they were in the desert. We’d believe You then. That way, You definitely would have proven Yourself to us to be the Prophet that Moses promised!”

B. But once again, they were demanding from Him what He Himself knew they really did not need. And in doing so, they were also failing to look to the right place. They had their eyes on Moses, and not on God; and thus were missing out on what God was truly providing to them in the Person of Jesus Himself. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven’” (v. 32). Do you notice those words “Most assuredly”—or “Verily, verily”? He uses a very solemn declaration of the truth that He was about to say to them; and then tells them that it was God—not Moses—who was their Provider. It is not for man to decide who his Provider is; nor is it for man to decide what the provision should be. And what God the true Provider is giving to them is “the true bread from heaven”—that is, the real manna. Jesus declares Himself to be that real manna: “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (v. 33).

C. And notice a couple of very important things. First, notice that Jesus says that the one who provided the manna to the people of Israel in the wilderness was “My Father”. He had just made the declaration to them that He Himself was the Son of God. And notice further that, as God’s Son, He identifies Himself as the true bread from heaven. He didn’t speak of “that which comes down from heaven”, but of “He who comes down from heaven.” God Himself is the true Provider; Jesus His Son is the true Bread that He provides; and it for man but to humbly and freely take the provision that God makes for our salvation. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

4. COME TO THE BREAD OF LIFE (vv. 34-40).

A. Sadly, they still did not understand what Jesus was offering them. “Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always’” (v. 34). They thought that Jesus was going to give them the new manna from heaven. But it was not even ‘heavenly’ temporal bread He was offering them, but rather Himself. So; we read, “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’” (v. 35). He Himself is the great Provision from God for our soul.

B. After all this, why did they still not understand? Jesus went on to say, “But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe” (v. 36). He had proven Himself to be the one that God had sent the the fact that the Father had set His seal upon Him; and yet they still did not believe on Him. Why? It’s then that He explains that even the act of coming to Him and believing on Him is itself the result of a work of God; “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (vv. 37-38). There is clearly a human side to the story—that is, that all who willingly come to Jesus as the Bread of Life sent from God are welcomed by Him and given life. But there’s also a divine side to the story—that it is the Father first gives to Jesus those who will then come to Him. On Jesus’ part, He is very protective of those that the Father gives Him. “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day” (v. 39). But no one needs to worry themselves about whether or not they are among those that the Father gives to Him. They only need to come—doing the work that the Father gives them to do—and believe in Him. If they do that, then clearly they are among those that the Father has given to the Son. “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (v. 40).

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This is a remarkable passage that shows us how, when Jesus reveals His true identity to people, it puts them on the crossroads of a decision. They must forsake their mistaken ideas and expectations about Him and accept Him for who He is—the true Bread from Heaven that gives life to all men—or they must reject Him. They must “eat” of Him, or turn from Him. He truly is—as one famous Bible teacher used to say—Christ the Controversialist.

May God help us to put aside all our man-centered expectations of what Jesus should be to us; and come to Him for what He truly is—”the bread of God” who “gives life to the world”.