Anchor My Faith

My Flesh is the Bread of Life

Scripture: John 6:47-52

We have covered some deep sayings of Jesus which may have challenged some things you believe. In this lesson is another deep concept. Jesus claims to be the bread that came down from heaven and then he will claim that we must eat this bread, which he refers to as his flesh. How is this possible?

^{Jn 6:47} “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” It is by faith not works that we obtain eternal life. Paul spoke of this in Ephesians 2:8 – 9 (ESV): “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” We are given as a gift to Jesus from the Father and as we are given, Jesus gives us eternal life as a gift at the moment the Father causes us to be born spiritually.

Jesus then says, ^{Jn 6:48} “I am the bread of life.” God provided manna for 40 years as nourishment while those Moses led out of Egypt transitioned to the promise land. Jesus picks up on that bread theme by feeding the 5000 men plus woman and children. Soon afterwards he points out that he has bread to give them that will endure to eternal life. Now Jesus claims to be that bread of life.

Jesus then points out a difference between manna and the bread of life: ^{Jn 6:49} “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.” Manna was a physical substance that when eaten provided nourishment for their bodies. It had to be eaten day after day. The bread Jesus gives is eaten only once because it provides eternal life. Like with Nicodemus and the problem of being born again, these people hearing Jesus are thinking about physical bread and are not understanding what living bread is.

Jesus taught over and over that he came down from heaven from the Father and now he claims to be that bread that came down from heaven that when eaten provides eternal life. Jesus then states this very clearly: ^{Jn 6:51} “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

This bread that Jesus gives is his flesh that was sacrificed on the cross for us. Manna was physical bread. The bread Jesus provided for the 5000+ was physical bread, but the bread described here is “living bread”. Bread provides temporary nourishment. Living bread provides eternal nourishment. As the Son of God, Jesus was eternal, but stood before them in a physical body. The living bread stood before them, seen as a body of flesh. That flesh contains the living bread, which was required as a living sacrifice on the cross. Without that sacrifice, the bread would not be available for us to eat.

A loaf of bread has a crust that covers the soft inner part. The flesh of Jesus was like the crust of the living bread. When Jesus died on the cross, the living bread shed the crust making the living bread available to be eaten. How we are born again and how we eat this living bread require spiritual life to clearly understand, otherwise it is seen as foolishness. That is precisely the state of the Jews, for ^{Jn 6:52} “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”’ They are looking at his flesh on this side of the cross, not the living bread on the resurrected side of the cross.

Conclusion

As believers, each of us is like a living loaf of bread. Our flesh is the crust. That crust is removed through physical death, leaving the eternal living part to be covered with an eternal spiritual body. Jesus gives us his flesh to eat through his death on the cross. That which we eat is available only by faith. If we don’t eat of this living bread, we will end up in hell.