They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
The crowd that had just been fed with loaves and fishes followed Jesus to Capernaum and asked Him what sign He would show so they might see and believe, and what work He did, pointing to the fathers eating manna in the desert as bread from heaven. Their demand was made despite abundant evidence already seen, especially the feeding just witnessed and innumerable signs of divine power through His ministry. It did not come from sincere desire to believe and learn how to please God, but from unbelief and fixation on temporal food, wanting Him to keep providing and to repeat material benefits. By holding up the manna as the standard He must meet, they blindly challenged the very One who had led Israel and fed them in the wilderness, while Jesus answered that Moses did not give the bread from heaven but the Father gives the true bread from heaven. That true bread is Christ Himself, the Bread of Life who gives life to the world so that he who comes to Him never hungers and he who believes on Him never thirsts, and eating Him means receiving, assimilating and obeying His Word until it becomes part of life.
Setting and Occasion
The demand was made immediately after the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two small fishes and the walking on the sea, when the crowd that had been fed followed Him to Capernaum to the synagogue teaching and asked for a sign. They had just been fed with the loaves and fishes and had just been told that the work of God is to believe on Him whom God sent, yet they still asked what sign He would show so they might see and believe and what work He would do. They sought Him because they ate of the loaves and were filled, seeking temporal food rather than the meaning of the miracle, and Christ understood they asked because they wanted Him to provide what would sustain physical life. By joining the demand to the fathers eating manna in the desert, they pointed to the standing wilderness miracle and pressed whether Jesus would continue to provide His followers with plenty of palatable food as God provided for Israel in the wilderness. This teaching that He is the Bread of Life caused some of His disciples to turn away from Him.
The question came just after Jesus told them the work of God is to believe on Him whom God sent, and its demand contrasts with that teaching that belief in Him is what God requires and that He is the Bread of Life. It belongs to the discussion that followed the feeding of the five thousand, when after refusing the people's attempt to make Him king Jesus taught that He was the Bread of Life and that His words were spirit and life, so the verse is part of this lesson rather than an endorsement of an earthly kingdom. He did not seek a royal position but made clear that His kingdom was spiritual, not a temporal reign, and when this teaching challenged their hopes worldly-minded people, including some who had followed Him, turned away. The lesson answers what to do to work the works of God with the requirement to believe on Him whom God sent, showing the price of heaven is the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven is faith in Jesus, with belief first and then working the works of God.
In its wording the crowd asks what sign Jesus will show so they may see and believe Him, and what work He does, pointing at once to the manna their fathers ate in the desert as bread given from heaven to eat. They sought Jesus not because they saw the miracle but because they ate of the loaves and were filled, demanding what sign He shows that they may see and believe even though they had just witnessed the feeding of the five thousand and had already seen His works. Their request for a sign like the manna given to their fathers in the wilderness shows they expected a comparable miracle, although they had already seen His works and had already been given light and testimony. Their question did not arise from a genuine lack of evidence, for more signs could not do for them what the evidence already given had failed to do, and their demand followed a miracle but did not lead them to believe that He was the Son of God. Jesus answers that Moses did not give that bread from heaven but His Father gives the true bread from heaven, which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, and that He Himself is the Bread of Life so that he who comes to Him will never hunger and he who believes on Him will never thirst.
Demand in Unbelief
The demand for a sign was made despite works already seen, especially the feeding just witnessed with five loaves and two small fishes for five thousand people. Those who asked had already received abundant and compelling evidence of divine power and Messiahship through the ministry, with innumerable signs given. Their asking what work would be performed followed a miracle yet did not lead them to believe He was the Son of God.
The demand did not come from a sincere desire to believe, to learn how to please God in daily life, or from conviction of His divinity as the Teacher sent from God. It came from idle curiosity, caviling unbelief, and blindness that failed to grasp the deep spiritual meaning and teaching of the loaves. On the very day He had fed five thousand the blindness asked for proof while ignoring evidence upon evidence of what He had done and was doing.
They sought Him because they ate of the loaves and were filled and thought it profitable to unite with Him if He would satisfy temporal wants. With focus on temporal food they wanted Him to continue providing plenty of palatable food as God provided for Israel in the wilderness, to repeat before them the miraculous feeding given on the other side of the sea. They wanted to see how He multiplied the food, as though it were a technique they could learn and benefit from, rather than accept Him as the Son of God and the Bread of life, and they pressed for greater material benefits.
With eyes fixed on Moses instead of Christ, sitting in Moses' seat as supposed givers of light and truth, they pointed to the manna eaten in the desert as proof of Moses' work. In a half-mocking challenge they compared Jesus with Moses through whom ancestors received manna for forty years, holding up that standing miracle as the standard He must meet. They expected the Messiah to free Israel from oppression and give power and honor, and did not recognize that His work fulfilled prophecy.
They had closed their eyes and hardened their hearts to avoid conviction and to shut out light, not from lack of proof. Their understanding was convinced but pride, prejudice, self-righteousness and stubborn unbelief kept them from acknowledging Him. Even the raising of Lazarus and the Father's audible voice from heaven, the crowning testimony that He was Messiah and Son of God, did not soften their hearts or persuade them when no further sign could reasonably be demanded.
No work or sign He could present would increase their faith beyond the evidence already given, and piled-up evidence and more marvelous works could do no more for them. Witnessing signs does not guarantee faith, since even the conversion of the heart, the greatest miracle, can leave hard hearts unmoved. He would not compromise His dignity to satisfy the demand.
The demand was not want of evidence but an excuse to avoid the cross, self-denial, separation from the world, and unpopularity involved in accepting the Gospel and believing on Him whom God sent. In Him all heaven with its inexhaustible treasure was at their command, yet they refused the separation accepting Him required.
Manna and True Bread
By appealing to the manna their fathers ate in the wilderness they held up that standing miracle as the standard Jesus must meet and pressed whether He would do a comparable work to make them see and believe. Christ Himself had conducted the Hebrews through the wilderness and daily fed them manna from heaven, yet they blindly used that miracle to challenge Him and failed to recognize Him. Jesus answered that Moses did not give the bread from heaven, but the Father gives the true bread from heaven. The manna preserved physical life, while God's gift of His Son is the true bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Christ Himself is the Bread of Life, so that he who comes to Him will never hunger and he who believes on Him will never thirst, and through Him people eat the bread of life, receive spiritual life, and become immortal. The manna supplied by Christ to Israel was a type of the true bread from heaven, but their mistaken view of Moses as the giver obscured Christ. That true bread is the same beneficent friend who cared for Israel through its wanderings and cares for believers today, whose love is beyond knowledge and will take all eternity to fully reveal.
Eating Christ's Words
The chapter holds the plain expression of God's will for His people and the divine remedy for the sin of the whole world. It defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted in order to have the wedding garment, to reach the standard of character required to be counted a fit guest, and to enter the marriage of humanity with divinity. Accepting that righteousness calls for a firm stand for Christ and surrender to God of what is already His, rather than presuming upon eternal interests, measuring character by human ideas, or continuing in sin. Joined to the promise that eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, and that He came to give life more abundantly, the chapter sets forth the great process by which believers are made one with Christ in this present life to be one with Him through all eternity, so that even in death the Saviour's life is in the believer and his life is hid with Christ in God.
To eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood is to receive, assimilate, and believe His Word, taking its teachings and divine principles into the soul as food until they become part of the life. It is to obey its precepts, to live by what God has revealed, and to take the truths of God's Word into the mind to be understood and practiced so that the whole life is exercised thereby. Believing the Word means making it one's own and living by it, not merely hearing it. Scripture supplies what is necessary for salvation, so human suppositions are not to take its place. In this chapter the eating of the Word of God is represented as taking its divine principles into the life.
Feeding on Christ is keeping His Word and truth continually before the soul, studying and practicing its teachings, and living by faith, for His words are spirit and life while the flesh by itself profits nothing. It means being doers of the Word of God and making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books. The lesson answers the question what to do to work the works of God with the requirement to believe on Him whom God sent, showing the price of heaven to be the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven to be faith in Jesus, with belief first and then the working of the works of God. The truths taken into the soul are to be obeyed in daily life and made part of oneself.
Knowing this Scripture by experience is far more essential than perplexity over temporal food, because it is spiritual nourishment. Eating and drinking Him is how truth as it is in Jesus is comprehended and appreciated, bringing truth into daily experience and giving continual growth in grace, learned daily in Christ's school with prayer for this and for all other blessings. Receiving and assimilating His words brings spiritual life and deep piety, for His words are spirit and life. The Bible is the bread sent down from heaven, the spiritual food from which men and women are built up in spiritual growth. Its lessons call for receiving and obeying Christ's words, and doing so leads to eternal life. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is not temporal eating and drinking but must be understood spiritually and done, because spiritual and eternal life depend on understanding His words and doing them, a lesson He repeated over and over even when hearers were offended.
The teaching is not for the intellect alone but addresses the heart and will, bringing thoughts into obedience to Christ. It is true conversion and being born again, having tasted that the Lord is gracious as a real part of personal experience. As newborn babes believers learn to desire the sincere milk of the word that growth may follow, by opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, which brings light because the word gives understanding to the simple. When obtained, the frivolous life is changed, character is transformed, feet are placed on Christ as the first round heavenward, Christ is revealed in spirit and words and actions, and believers are built up as living stones into a spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
The words have special reference to the spiritual meaning of God's Word: the living oracles are the flesh and blood of the Son of God, and His work as substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel even before His death. Receiving His words is spiritual nourishment, and God's words are living bread to be received and made part of life. The New Testament does not replace the Old but sheds light back on earlier ages and gives significance to the Jewish system. The Old Testament Scriptures are fully sufficient, so that believing them would lead to believing the New. The practical directions for holiness and obedience given to ancient Israel remain conditions Christians are to fulfill.
Its truths are to be studied for dependence on God rather than human beings, as guidance for receiving wisdom and strength from Christ and not from human sources. Believing means personal faith in a personal Saviour that brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ, which mere outward connection with any church will not give. The important statements are to be read with prayer for clearness of understanding, and those ministering in word and doctrine are not to be dull of understanding. God's people are not to spend time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder spiritual growth.
The whole chapter is very instructive yet only faintly understood, containing most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools. Its wonderful truths brought into practical life give an education that endures through time and through eternity. Taking in Christ's words gives understanding of privileges, teaching what Christ is to each person and what individual advantage comes from eating His words, realizing He Himself is the great center of life because His words are spirit and life. Children and youth and men and women must learn to feed upon His words as His very flesh and blood in order to become workers together with God. That education includes teaching youth about the law of Jehovah and the penalty of transgression, and that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each one obedient to the law of Jehovah.
Testing and Decision
Christ's plain testimony about His own work was a test to those who claimed to be His disciples, meant to lead His hearers to reveal their real convictions and decide for or against Him. It rebuked their lives and their hope of a worldly kingdom, and many rejected it because they preferred human praise to God's admonition. When that teaching made clear that His kingdom was spiritual and not a temporal reign, and that He Himself was the Bread of Life, worldly-minded followers who had followed Him for the loaves, including some who had been counted as disciples, turned away from Him.
That synagogue teaching still speaks impressively to every heart and calls for special attention. It calls for comparatively little anxiety about temporal food to satisfy temporal hunger, and for seeking above all the food that comes down from heaven. That Bread of Life satisfies the highest demands of the spirit and the hunger of the soul. It calls hearers to take His life and study it as the Bread of Life, to ponder His matchless love in laying off His royal robes and kingly crown to labor among those seared and marred by the curse and in becoming poor that through His poverty they might be made rich, and to believe on Him, receive His grace, and improve their opportunities.
That Bread is God's truth confronting the devil's lie. It requires true wholehearted service with spiritual things as the aim and object of life, not looking for a temporal kingdom and not striving after the world for temporal advancement and pre-eminence. It calls to deny self, lift the cross, and follow wherever Christ leads. Accepting Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life satisfies all hungering of soul.
In that discourse He opened to the disciples their work as His representatives to give the Bread of Life to the people. He who appointed their work saw how often their faith would be tried and how often they would be thrown into unexpected positions and realize their human insufficiency. When souls hungering for the Bread of Life come to them they feel destitute and helpless. They must themselves receive spiritual food or they will have nothing to impart, and they are to turn no soul away unfed but look to the source of supply, for God who sent His servants to feed the hungry will supply their need for His own work.
The crowd that had just been fed with loaves and fishes followed Jesus to Capernaum and asked Him what sign He would show so they might see and believe, and what work He did, pointing to the fathers eating manna in the desert as bread from heaven. Their demand was made despite abundant evidence already seen, especially the feeding just witnessed and innumerable signs of divine power through His ministry. It did not come from sincere desire to believe and learn how to please God, but from unbelief and fixation on temporal food, wanting Him to keep providing and to repeat material benefits. By holding up the manna as the standard He must meet, they blindly challenged the very One who had led Israel and fed them in the wilderness, while Jesus answered that Moses did not give the bread from heaven but the Father gives the true bread from heaven. That true bread is Christ Himself, the Bread of Life who gives life to the world so that he who comes to Him never hungers and he who believes on Him never thirsts, and eating Him means receiving, assimilating and obeying His Word until it becomes part of life.
Setting and Occasion
The demand was made immediately after the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two small fishes and the walking on the sea, when the crowd that had been fed followed Him to Capernaum to the synagogue teaching and asked for a sign. They had just been fed with the loaves and fishes and had just been told that the work of God is to believe on Him whom God sent, yet they still asked what sign He would show so they might see and believe and what work He would do. They sought Him because they ate of the loaves and were filled, seeking temporal food rather than the meaning of the miracle, and Christ understood they asked because they wanted Him to provide what would sustain physical life. By joining the demand to the fathers eating manna in the desert, they pointed to the standing wilderness miracle and pressed whether Jesus would continue to provide His followers with plenty of palatable food as God provided for Israel in the wilderness. This teaching that He is the Bread of Life caused some of His disciples to turn away from Him.
The question came just after Jesus told them the work of God is to believe on Him whom God sent, and its demand contrasts with that teaching that belief in Him is what God requires and that He is the Bread of Life. It belongs to the discussion that followed the feeding of the five thousand, when after refusing the people's attempt to make Him king Jesus taught that He was the Bread of Life and that His words were spirit and life, so the verse is part of this lesson rather than an endorsement of an earthly kingdom. He did not seek a royal position but made clear that His kingdom was spiritual, not a temporal reign, and when this teaching challenged their hopes worldly-minded people, including some who had followed Him, turned away. The lesson answers what to do to work the works of God with the requirement to believe on Him whom God sent, showing the price of heaven is the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven is faith in Jesus, with belief first and then working the works of God.
In its wording the crowd asks what sign Jesus will show so they may see and believe Him, and what work He does, pointing at once to the manna their fathers ate in the desert as bread given from heaven to eat. They sought Jesus not because they saw the miracle but because they ate of the loaves and were filled, demanding what sign He shows that they may see and believe even though they had just witnessed the feeding of the five thousand and had already seen His works. Their request for a sign like the manna given to their fathers in the wilderness shows they expected a comparable miracle, although they had already seen His works and had already been given light and testimony. Their question did not arise from a genuine lack of evidence, for more signs could not do for them what the evidence already given had failed to do, and their demand followed a miracle but did not lead them to believe that He was the Son of God. Jesus answers that Moses did not give that bread from heaven but His Father gives the true bread from heaven, which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, and that He Himself is the Bread of Life so that he who comes to Him will never hunger and he who believes on Him will never thirst.
Demand in Unbelief
The demand for a sign was made despite works already seen, especially the feeding just witnessed with five loaves and two small fishes for five thousand people. Those who asked had already received abundant and compelling evidence of divine power and Messiahship through the ministry, with innumerable signs given. Their asking what work would be performed followed a miracle yet did not lead them to believe He was the Son of God.
The demand did not come from a sincere desire to believe, to learn how to please God in daily life, or from conviction of His divinity as the Teacher sent from God. It came from idle curiosity, caviling unbelief, and blindness that failed to grasp the deep spiritual meaning and teaching of the loaves. On the very day He had fed five thousand the blindness asked for proof while ignoring evidence upon evidence of what He had done and was doing.
They sought Him because they ate of the loaves and were filled and thought it profitable to unite with Him if He would satisfy temporal wants. With focus on temporal food they wanted Him to continue providing plenty of palatable food as God provided for Israel in the wilderness, to repeat before them the miraculous feeding given on the other side of the sea. They wanted to see how He multiplied the food, as though it were a technique they could learn and benefit from, rather than accept Him as the Son of God and the Bread of life, and they pressed for greater material benefits.
With eyes fixed on Moses instead of Christ, sitting in Moses' seat as supposed givers of light and truth, they pointed to the manna eaten in the desert as proof of Moses' work. In a half-mocking challenge they compared Jesus with Moses through whom ancestors received manna for forty years, holding up that standing miracle as the standard He must meet. They expected the Messiah to free Israel from oppression and give power and honor, and did not recognize that His work fulfilled prophecy.
They had closed their eyes and hardened their hearts to avoid conviction and to shut out light, not from lack of proof. Their understanding was convinced but pride, prejudice, self-righteousness and stubborn unbelief kept them from acknowledging Him. Even the raising of Lazarus and the Father's audible voice from heaven, the crowning testimony that He was Messiah and Son of God, did not soften their hearts or persuade them when no further sign could reasonably be demanded.
No work or sign He could present would increase their faith beyond the evidence already given, and piled-up evidence and more marvelous works could do no more for them. Witnessing signs does not guarantee faith, since even the conversion of the heart, the greatest miracle, can leave hard hearts unmoved. He would not compromise His dignity to satisfy the demand.
The demand was not want of evidence but an excuse to avoid the cross, self-denial, separation from the world, and unpopularity involved in accepting the Gospel and believing on Him whom God sent. In Him all heaven with its inexhaustible treasure was at their command, yet they refused the separation accepting Him required.
Manna and True Bread
By appealing to the manna their fathers ate in the wilderness they held up that standing miracle as the standard Jesus must meet and pressed whether He would do a comparable work to make them see and believe.
Christ Himself had conducted the Hebrews through the wilderness and daily fed them manna from heaven, yet they blindly used that miracle to challenge Him and failed to recognize Him.
Jesus answered that Moses did not give the bread from heaven, but the Father gives the true bread from heaven.
The manna preserved physical life, while God's gift of His Son is the true bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Christ Himself is the Bread of Life, so that he who comes to Him will never hunger and he who believes on Him will never thirst, and through Him people eat the bread of life, receive spiritual life, and become immortal.
The manna supplied by Christ to Israel was a type of the true bread from heaven, but their mistaken view of Moses as the giver obscured Christ.
That true bread is the same beneficent friend who cared for Israel through its wanderings and cares for believers today, whose love is beyond knowledge and will take all eternity to fully reveal.
Eating Christ's Words
The chapter holds the plain expression of God's will for His people and the divine remedy for the sin of the whole world. It defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted in order to have the wedding garment, to reach the standard of character required to be counted a fit guest, and to enter the marriage of humanity with divinity. Accepting that righteousness calls for a firm stand for Christ and surrender to God of what is already His, rather than presuming upon eternal interests, measuring character by human ideas, or continuing in sin. Joined to the promise that eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, and that He came to give life more abundantly, the chapter sets forth the great process by which believers are made one with Christ in this present life to be one with Him through all eternity, so that even in death the Saviour's life is in the believer and his life is hid with Christ in God.
To eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood is to receive, assimilate, and believe His Word, taking its teachings and divine principles into the soul as food until they become part of the life. It is to obey its precepts, to live by what God has revealed, and to take the truths of God's Word into the mind to be understood and practiced so that the whole life is exercised thereby. Believing the Word means making it one's own and living by it, not merely hearing it. Scripture supplies what is necessary for salvation, so human suppositions are not to take its place. In this chapter the eating of the Word of God is represented as taking its divine principles into the life.
Feeding on Christ is keeping His Word and truth continually before the soul, studying and practicing its teachings, and living by faith, for His words are spirit and life while the flesh by itself profits nothing. It means being doers of the Word of God and making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books. The lesson answers the question what to do to work the works of God with the requirement to believe on Him whom God sent, showing the price of heaven to be the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven to be faith in Jesus, with belief first and then the working of the works of God. The truths taken into the soul are to be obeyed in daily life and made part of oneself.
Knowing this Scripture by experience is far more essential than perplexity over temporal food, because it is spiritual nourishment. Eating and drinking Him is how truth as it is in Jesus is comprehended and appreciated, bringing truth into daily experience and giving continual growth in grace, learned daily in Christ's school with prayer for this and for all other blessings. Receiving and assimilating His words brings spiritual life and deep piety, for His words are spirit and life. The Bible is the bread sent down from heaven, the spiritual food from which men and women are built up in spiritual growth. Its lessons call for receiving and obeying Christ's words, and doing so leads to eternal life. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is not temporal eating and drinking but must be understood spiritually and done, because spiritual and eternal life depend on understanding His words and doing them, a lesson He repeated over and over even when hearers were offended.
The teaching is not for the intellect alone but addresses the heart and will, bringing thoughts into obedience to Christ. It is true conversion and being born again, having tasted that the Lord is gracious as a real part of personal experience. As newborn babes believers learn to desire the sincere milk of the word that growth may follow, by opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, which brings light because the word gives understanding to the simple. When obtained, the frivolous life is changed, character is transformed, feet are placed on Christ as the first round heavenward, Christ is revealed in spirit and words and actions, and believers are built up as living stones into a spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
The words have special reference to the spiritual meaning of God's Word: the living oracles are the flesh and blood of the Son of God, and His work as substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel even before His death. Receiving His words is spiritual nourishment, and God's words are living bread to be received and made part of life. The New Testament does not replace the Old but sheds light back on earlier ages and gives significance to the Jewish system. The Old Testament Scriptures are fully sufficient, so that believing them would lead to believing the New. The practical directions for holiness and obedience given to ancient Israel remain conditions Christians are to fulfill.
Its truths are to be studied for dependence on God rather than human beings, as guidance for receiving wisdom and strength from Christ and not from human sources. Believing means personal faith in a personal Saviour that brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ, which mere outward connection with any church will not give. The important statements are to be read with prayer for clearness of understanding, and those ministering in word and doctrine are not to be dull of understanding. God's people are not to spend time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder spiritual growth.
The whole chapter is very instructive yet only faintly understood, containing most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools. Its wonderful truths brought into practical life give an education that endures through time and through eternity. Taking in Christ's words gives understanding of privileges, teaching what Christ is to each person and what individual advantage comes from eating His words, realizing He Himself is the great center of life because His words are spirit and life. Children and youth and men and women must learn to feed upon His words as His very flesh and blood in order to become workers together with God. That education includes teaching youth about the law of Jehovah and the penalty of transgression, and that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each one obedient to the law of Jehovah.
Testing and Decision
Christ's plain testimony about His own work was a test to those who claimed to be His disciples, meant to lead His hearers to reveal their real convictions and decide for or against Him. It rebuked their lives and their hope of a worldly kingdom, and many rejected it because they preferred human praise to God's admonition. When that teaching made clear that His kingdom was spiritual and not a temporal reign, and that He Himself was the Bread of Life, worldly-minded followers who had followed Him for the loaves, including some who had been counted as disciples, turned away from Him.
That synagogue teaching still speaks impressively to every heart and calls for special attention. It calls for comparatively little anxiety about temporal food to satisfy temporal hunger, and for seeking above all the food that comes down from heaven. That Bread of Life satisfies the highest demands of the spirit and the hunger of the soul. It calls hearers to take His life and study it as the Bread of Life, to ponder His matchless love in laying off His royal robes and kingly crown to labor among those seared and marred by the curse and in becoming poor that through His poverty they might be made rich, and to believe on Him, receive His grace, and improve their opportunities.
That Bread is God's truth confronting the devil's lie. It requires true wholehearted service with spiritual things as the aim and object of life, not looking for a temporal kingdom and not striving after the world for temporal advancement and pre-eminence. It calls to deny self, lift the cross, and follow wherever Christ leads. Accepting Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life satisfies all hungering of soul.
In that discourse He opened to the disciples their work as His representatives to give the Bread of Life to the people. He who appointed their work saw how often their faith would be tried and how often they would be thrown into unexpected positions and realize their human insufficiency. When souls hungering for the Bread of Life come to them they feel destitute and helpless. They must themselves receive spiritual food or they will have nothing to impart, and they are to turn no soul away unfed but look to the source of supply, for God who sent His servants to feed the hungry will supply their need for His own work.