Salvation Pictures in John
Chapters 5 & 6
This entire chapter is the account of Jesus healing a blind man and subsequent discourse to the Jews.
1-9 Jesus heals a man which had an infirmity thirty and eight years
10-15 The Jews question the man, because the healing took place on the sabbath
16-47 Discourse to the Jews; no visuals, he plainly refers to himself as the Son of the Father
-The Son can do nothing of himself, whatever the Father does, the Son does.
-The Father raises the dead, and quickeneth them; the Son quickeneth whom he will.
-The Father has committed all judgment unto the Son
-The Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself
28-29 He moves from spiritual life to the resurrection.
30-47 John, his miracles, and the Father bear witness to Jesus, as do the Scriptures
This chapter is exceedingly powerful! Jesus speaks plainly.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
This is a long chapter, but another powerful one.
1-15 Jesus feeds 5,000 with 5 loaves of barley bread and two fish
16-21 Jesus and his disciples cross to the other side of the sea
22-58 The Bread of Life
22-25 The multitude follow Jesus across the sea
26-29 Jesus’ response to those seeking him – You just want your bellies filled
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.
Beautiful picture! They were focused on physical food and the work required to obtain it, so Jesus takes that and says, “Don’t work for the food that spoils, work for the food I give, which endures unto everlasting life.”
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Like the woman at the well they are now interested, “What is the work of God, so we can have plenty of food?” Jesus says, "The work of God is believe on him whom he sent – me."
30-31 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
These people are unbelievable. They had sought him because of the miracle of the loaves and fishes and now they ask, “What work do you have to support your claim? You talk about food, God gave our fathers bread from heaven.”
32-33 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
“No, Moses did not give them bread from heaven. My Father gives the true bread from heaven.” He subtly refers to himself as the bread of God.
34-40 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
41-51 The Jews murmur at him and he again declares he is the bread of life
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Only now he really pushes them, “The bread that I will give is my flesh.”
52-58 The Jews become more agitated and Jesus presses them even more!
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
Jesus is not content with simply calling himself the bread of life, he now focuses on eating this bread, which he said was his flesh. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Then in v 54 he makes this picture even more graphic. In vs 31, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 the word for eat is φάγω (phago), it means to eat or consume, and is the regular word for eating food. Then in v 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, he uses a different word, τρώγω (trogo), which means to gnaw, crunch, chew !!!
59-71 He loses many disciples because of this.
When the twelve are questioned, Peter answers, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Wow! What a vivid, powerful, beautiful picture – I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. We need to eat food to live and bread was considered the stuff of life. Jesus takes this and applies it to himself, I am the bread of life. He satisfies and fulfills (never hunger, never thirst); even better, he gives eternal life to those who eat this bread and will raise them up at the last day!
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood. How do we eat and drink? Augustine said, “For to believe in Him is to eat the living bread. He that believes eats; he is sated invisibly, because invisibly is he born again.” I think he was on to something! As Jesus said, he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Now, another question remains: Does this say anything about Communion? I believe it does.
“For what you see is simply bread and a cup - this is the information your eyes report. But your faith demands far subtler insight: the bread is Christ's body, the cup is Christ's blood. As the prophet says, "Unless you believe, you will not understand." (Is. 7.9 LXX) So how can bread be his body? And what about the cup? How can it (or what it contains) be his blood? My friends, these realities are called sacraments because in them one thing is seen, while another is grasped. What is seen is a mere physical likeness; what is grasped bears spiritual fruit.” ~Augustine
New birth, serpent in the wilderness, living water, and now bread from heaven. Jesus' teaching truly was rich in imagery!
I am the living bread which came down from heaven
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever
and the bread that I will give is my flesh
which I will give for the life of the world
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