The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
The Jews murmured at Jesus because He declared Himself the bread come down from heaven, objecting that they knew Him as the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew and questioning how He could claim heavenly origin. This was spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding of the loaves and fishes and His walking on the water, when He set forth Himself as the bread of life. The bread from heaven is Christ Himself, given by God to give life, clothing His divinity with humanity to be the Way, the Truth and the Life and the source of true spiritual vigor. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is spoken in figure for true earnest belief in Him, receiving His character and life and assimilating His words until they become part of the self, for His words are spirit and life. All who come to Him never hunger and all who believe in Him never thirst, having everlasting life now with the promise that He will raise them at the last day, drawn and taught by the Father to come to Christ.
Setting After Feeding Miracle
The saying belongs to the sermon on the bread from heaven given in the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding of the loaves and fishes and the walking on the water, when He declared Himself the bread of life. That sermon, together with the feeding of the multitude, set forth the work of His representatives to seek spiritual food from God so they could give the bread of life to others and not leave hungry souls unfed. He spoke this truth about His work before the worshipers to bring His followers to a closer test.
The crowd had followed and sought Him not because they saw the miracles but because they ate of the loaves and were filled, hoping for material benefit and for Him to be made an earthly king and establish an earthly kingdom. Their minds and desires were fixed on earthly benefits and temporal favors and miracles for their own advantage, wanting health, strength, wealth, riches, freedom from oppression and the Roman yoke, exaltation to power and honor under a conquering king. They wanted the meat which perishes rather than that which endures to everlasting life, appealing to manna and physical provision while He directed them to believe in Him and receive the living bread given by God to give life.
The miracle of the loaves had not taught them its spiritual meaning, and the further revelation of a spiritual kingdom and not a temporal reign tested their worldly hopes. His pure and exalted teaching had no attraction for worldly hearts and cooled their enthusiasm, and when the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom were set forth many hearers were offended. It became a turning point where many, including some who professed to be His disciples, turned away and went back and walked no more with Him, while the twelve stayed through Peter's declaration of loyalty.
The teaching was a deliberate test that forced hearers, including priests, rulers, and disciples, to decide for or against Him and revealed their real convictions. Those who were not wholly with Him would take a position against Him at His trial. Professed disciples had to be proved before He left them, so their apostasy would not come as a surprise to the true disciples and make the trial too severe for them, and so His future work would not be swayed into wrong paths.
Jews' Murmuring Explained
The murmuring arose directly because He declared Himself to be the bread which came down from heaven. Those who murmured stumbled over His claim of heavenly origin because they knew Him only as Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother they knew. Their familiar knowledge of His human family became the ground of their objection, so that they asked how one so known could say He had come down from heaven. Even with evidence of His Messiahship before them they judged Him by those familiar origins and refused His words.
Though they had seen mighty works, they saw Him and believed not, and their unbelief kept them from understanding what He said. They had not grasped the spiritual meaning of the bread from heaven nor truly believed in Him, and this divided mere followers from those genuinely united with Him by receiving Christ. His plain testimony offended many, who called the saying hard, rejected truth and reproof, and preferred human praise to God's admonition. In that wider rejection many disciples went back and walked no more with Him.
Satan had gained access to their minds and with subtle, deceiving power strove to keep them from yielding to the evidence set before them. Their murmuring thus reflects the darkness of the unconverted heart. It stands as a warning against refusing Christ's words through unbelief.
Their minds and desires were fixed on earthly benefits, and they followed Him hoping for temporal favors, health, wealth, freedom from oppression, riches, power and honor. They appealed to the manna in the wilderness and to physical provision, while He directed them to believe in Him and receive the living bread that gives life. Their pride, jealousy and prejudice fastened attention on His humble family and earthly background and turned them from evidence of His divine origin. With gross minds and carnal hearts bound by unbelief and discontent they could not comprehend His pure and exalted doctrine and life offered as heavenly food for spiritual vigor and everlasting life. Because they wanted the food that perishes rather than that which endures to everlasting life, His teaching had no attraction for them and cooled their enthusiasm.
Christ the Heavenly Bread
The bread which came down from heaven is Christ Himself, given by God to give life to the world. He is the divine Teacher clothing His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the source and substance of true life. His pure doctrine and His life are heavenly food that gives spiritual vigor, and coming to Him and believing in Him satisfies spiritual hunger and thirst. Receiving His words gives life, comfort, sobriety, and joy, while hunger for Him brings fullness. That claim provoked opposition, for the people were intent on physical provision and appealed to the manna in the wilderness while He directed them to believe in Him and receive the living bread that matters more than food that perishes. Feeding the mind on worldly entertainments can leave no desire for this bread of heaven. Believing comes first and then working the works of God, making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books and being doers of God's Word, which is what eating His flesh and drinking His blood represents, and faith in God's only begotten Son is the price of heaven and the way to heaven to be taught to students in schools, for without understanding and doing it heaven will be missed.
That heavenly bread is contained in the Bible, the Word of God. The living oracles are His flesh and blood, representing His body and blood even though He had not yet been crucified. His work as the substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel, and the New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament rather than replacing it. The sixth chapter presents God's Word as a living, undying element through the image of the bread from heaven. Spiritually men and women are built up from the food they give the mind, so reading the Bible gives spiritual growth and understanding of privileges, while spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray hinders spiritual growth. The Word sustains spiritual life as food sustains physical life, and each person must receive it for himself rather than only through another, receiving and digesting it and making it part of actions and character, which gives strength from God, immortal vigor, a perfected experience, and lasting joy. It does not address the understanding alone as mathematics addresses the intellect alone, for men are not creatures devoid of moral nature. Its aim is the heart; it addresses the moral nature and takes possession of the will, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, because it is the wayward heart that has dragged down the faculties of the soul. All who would learn the science of salvation must be submissive students in Christ's school, with the soul emptied of all proud possessions that Christ may imprint His image on the soul and the soul-temple may be the abiding place of the Most High. The important statements about this heavenly bread need prayer and God-given clearness of understanding to comprehend.
The chapter sets out in plain terms the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom and the way to obtain it. Those who come to Him and believe receive everlasting life now, and He will raise them at the last day. To receive and take in His words is to be spiritually quickened and to live by Him, for His words are spirit and they are life. Its wonderful truths hold the most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools, showing the education that endures through time and eternity when brought into practical life, though it is only faintly understood. They teach what Jesus is to each person individually and the advantage of eating His words, with Jesus Himself as the great center of life. They are to be studied and understood in their plain sense, with the Holy Spirit's guidance and hearts ready to receive them, rather than obscured by human interpretations, and believers are to cling to that truth. That way is heeding the light, reading and practicing the truths of God's Word as stronghold and defense against Satan's deceptions and spiritual darkness in the last days, and receiving the principles of the Word into the daily life so as to come into connection with Christ who knew no sin and in whom no guile was found. Thoroughly understanding and living by those lessons leads to a life that measures with the life of God.
Eating Bread by Faith
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is spoken in figure for true, earnest belief in Him, not for eating His body literally. It means receiving His character and life, dwelling in Him, and receiving and believing His words. The Spirit gives life while the flesh profits nothing, for His words are spirit and life.
To feed on Him is to receive and assimilate His words until they become part of the self. It is keeping God's Word and truth continually before us, studying and understanding it, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and believing every word. It is bringing its principles home to the soul, keeping its precepts, bringing its truths into daily life and practice, living by every word God has revealed, and clinging to that truth. The bread from heaven represents spiritual truth in God's Word, which is to be taken into the mind, studied and understood, then practiced so that it exercises the whole life, and comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by bringing truth into daily experience is necessary for continual growth in grace. The living oracles are His flesh and blood, and receiving and living by His words is eating the bread of life, which nourishes the soul and calls to practical holiness and obedience.
Believing comes first and then working the works of God. Eating means making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books and being doers of the Word. It means cherishing in the heart the truth that works by love and purifies the soul, by which eternal life is gained. It means obeying His words and doing His works by advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness, on which happiness and salvation depend, and appropriating that Word to the soul for practical life with its requirements brought into daily obedience.
This eating is a personal spiritual experience of tasting that the Lord is gracious. It is true conversion and the new birth, without which no one can see or discern the spiritual kingdom. As newborn babes those who eat desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby, opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it so that light and understanding come. It is having vital union with Him and having Christ abide within, nourished by His teachings, revealing His character in words and actions and becoming channels through which living water flows. Through the Holy Spirit those who receive Him are renewed, purified, and enabled to live and work as He did, taught daily in His school and growing continually in grace.
Promise of Eternal Life
All who come to Him never hunger, and all who believe in Him never thirst for higher or more satisfying food, for He is Himself the bread of life come down from heaven, and the bread He gives for the life of the world is His flesh. Those who truly receive Him have everlasting life now, and He will raise them at the last day. No one can receive this truth alone, for God must teach and draw, and those who hear and learn from the Father come to Christ. The murmuring arose because He said He had come down from heaven while they knew Him only as Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew, and they stumbled at His claim of heavenly origin and could not understand how He could make it.
Receiving and taking in His words spiritually quickens and gives life, bringing comfort, sobriety, joy, and strength and power from God. When digested and made part of actions and character, that Word gives immortal vigor, a perfected experience, and lasting joy, with His joy remaining in the soul. When Christ is received by faith He becomes sanctification and righteousness and exceeding great reward, giving full assurance of hope. Those who receive Christ and His Word have eternal life and become observers of the Word who bear much fruit, continue in His love, and are no longer condemned. Heeding the light and receiving the principles of the Word into daily life brings into connection with Him who knew no sin and in whom no guile was found, as stronghold and defense against Satan's deceptions and spiritual darkness in the last days.
Those who partake must receive Christ, represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, in order to have life, and thereby become Christlike, filled with His Spirit and love for God and others. Feeding on this bread means receiving His words and the spirit and life they impart until their truth becomes part of one's nature, giving power to grow in Christ and become one with Him in character so that life matches profession. Eating the bread of life means having Christ abide within, and those who do so reveal His character in words and actions and become channels through which living water flows. That spiritual nourishment gives opportunity to grow and form a firm, Christlike character.
Christ Himself come from heaven is the righteousness that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment, the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest and enter the marriage of humanity with divinity. Measuring character by human ideas and presuming in matters of eternal interest while continuing in sin hinders the fulfillment of God's promise and results in loss of the soul, so a firm stand for Christ and surrender to God of what is already His own is required.
From Him flow the streams of salvation, for His inexpressible love furnished the costly gospel banquet and provided unsearchable, inexhaustible resources, and the provision is nothing less than Christ Himself. To be invited to that supper is the greatest honor that can be conferred, and refusing it reveals failure to appreciate Christ and to feel need for prayer, the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, and sanctification of soul and spirit. Eating this Bread means receiving Christ and His saving gift of Himself through faith, not physical eating, bringing vital union with Him in which believers are nourished by His words and teachings and through the Holy Spirit are renewed, purified, and enabled to live and work as He did. Failing to receive this Bread leaves people without Christ formed within, even if they appear to be saints.
Living Out the Teaching
The sixth chapter is to be read and studied with prayer for understanding and God-given clearness to comprehend its important statements about the heavenly bread. Reading it nourishes spiritual life, and feeding on Christ as the bread that came down from heaven answers the soul's hunger for God. Walking in the light of that chapter gives strength in the Lord, while neglect brings spiritual weakness. Thoroughly understanding and living by its lessons, which set out the conditions of eternal life, leads to a life that measures with the life of God. Its teaching shows what Jesus is to each person individually, with Jesus Himself as the great center of life, and the advantage of eating His words, for taking in His words gives understanding of privileges since His words are spirit and life.
That bread sent down from heaven is contained in the Bible, and spiritually men and women are built up from the food they give the mind, so reading the Bible gives spiritual growth. Feeding on Christ means taking in His Word, and as food shapes the body so what the mind feeds on shapes a person's experience, with those who receive Christ and His Word having eternal life and becoming observers of the Word. When Christ is received by faith He becomes sanctification and righteousness and exceeding great reward.
Its truths call people to depend on Christ rather than human beings and to receive Him by faith. The source of strength and power is Jesus Christ and not any human being, and dependence must be on God who owns men by creation and by redemption, with the Word of the living God as guide. It means looking to Jesus Christ, the true Light, instead of looking to human beings for wisdom, guidance, and assurance, refusing bondage to man and refusing to follow human devising or one's own way. Mere outward connection with any church will not save a man, but personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ.
Believers are to turn from corrupting reading and images and nourish the mind with Scripture. Spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray hinders spiritual growth. Hunger for Him brings fullness, while feeding the mind on worldly entertainments can leave no desire for the bread of heaven. When the mind is opened to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, light and understanding come. Then the frivolous life is forsaken, character is transformed, and feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder, with step by step heavenward Christ revealed in spirit, words, and actions.
Those who feed most on Christ are those ready to do service, for feeding on Christ means reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace not to hoard but to give to others. Together with the feeding of the multitude, His sermon on the bread from heaven showed the disciples their work as His representatives: they were to give the people the bread of life, seeking spiritual food from God so they could feed others and not leave hungry souls unfed. He who feeds the flock of God must himself first eat of that bread and first commune with God before daring to come before the people. When ministers eat His flesh and drink His blood the element of eternal life enters their ministry, giving a new perception of truth on every side instead of a fund of stale, oft-repeated ideas. Then he is led to work as Christ worked, respecting varied minds and speaking a word that touches the case of all without worldly, confusing ideas. Teachers must first be learners of Christ, joining busy religious activity like Martha's with Mary's part of learning at the feet of Jesus, which even the most zealous workers need.
His instruction to His people teaches how they should live, and this instruction is a remedy for dissension and a guide to unity with one another and with Christ. This feeding upon His words, which is feeding upon His very flesh and blood, is the education children, youth, men and women need to become workers together with God. That education includes learning the law of Jehovah and the penalty of transgression, and understanding that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each person who is obedient to the law of Jehovah. Faith in God's only begotten Son is the price of heaven and the way to heaven, to be taught to students in schools, for without understanding and doing it heaven will be missed, with the Bible made the great educating Book above all other books and believing coming first and then working the works of God. The sixth chapter holds the most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools, showing the education that endures through time and eternity when its wonderful truths are brought into practical life, though only faintly understood. Believers are taught daily in the school of Christ, bringing truth into daily experience and comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which is necessary for continual growth in grace, for which as well as for all other blessings prayer must ascend to God.
False teachings and human maxims may be offered in His place, but they cannot give the life found in Him as the bread of life rejected by the murmuring hearers. To eat Him is to eat the Word of God by bringing the principles revealed in Scripture home to the soul, not departing from its precepts, bringing its truths into daily life, grasping the mysteries of godliness, praying and communing with God, proving the mind of God and getting a knowledge of His will as those striving for eternal life, receiving and assimilating the words of Christ until they become part of the self, and living by every word God has revealed, which is all that is necessary for salvation. His word is not to be left for the suppositions of men.
The Jews murmured at Jesus because He declared Himself the bread come down from heaven, objecting that they knew Him as the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew and questioning how He could claim heavenly origin. This was spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding of the loaves and fishes and His walking on the water, when He set forth Himself as the bread of life. The bread from heaven is Christ Himself, given by God to give life, clothing His divinity with humanity to be the Way, the Truth and the Life and the source of true spiritual vigor. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is spoken in figure for true earnest belief in Him, receiving His character and life and assimilating His words until they become part of the self, for His words are spirit and life. All who come to Him never hunger and all who believe in Him never thirst, having everlasting life now with the promise that He will raise them at the last day, drawn and taught by the Father to come to Christ.
Setting After Feeding Miracle
The saying belongs to the sermon on the bread from heaven given in the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding of the loaves and fishes and the walking on the water, when He declared Himself the bread of life. That sermon, together with the feeding of the multitude, set forth the work of His representatives to seek spiritual food from God so they could give the bread of life to others and not leave hungry souls unfed. He spoke this truth about His work before the worshipers to bring His followers to a closer test.
The crowd had followed and sought Him not because they saw the miracles but because they ate of the loaves and were filled, hoping for material benefit and for Him to be made an earthly king and establish an earthly kingdom. Their minds and desires were fixed on earthly benefits and temporal favors and miracles for their own advantage, wanting health, strength, wealth, riches, freedom from oppression and the Roman yoke, exaltation to power and honor under a conquering king. They wanted the meat which perishes rather than that which endures to everlasting life, appealing to manna and physical provision while He directed them to believe in Him and receive the living bread given by God to give life.
The miracle of the loaves had not taught them its spiritual meaning, and the further revelation of a spiritual kingdom and not a temporal reign tested their worldly hopes. His pure and exalted teaching had no attraction for worldly hearts and cooled their enthusiasm, and when the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom were set forth many hearers were offended. It became a turning point where many, including some who professed to be His disciples, turned away and went back and walked no more with Him, while the twelve stayed through Peter's declaration of loyalty.
The teaching was a deliberate test that forced hearers, including priests, rulers, and disciples, to decide for or against Him and revealed their real convictions. Those who were not wholly with Him would take a position against Him at His trial. Professed disciples had to be proved before He left them, so their apostasy would not come as a surprise to the true disciples and make the trial too severe for them, and so His future work would not be swayed into wrong paths.
Jews' Murmuring Explained
The murmuring arose directly because He declared Himself to be the bread which came down from heaven. Those who murmured stumbled over His claim of heavenly origin because they knew Him only as Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother they knew. Their familiar knowledge of His human family became the ground of their objection, so that they asked how one so known could say He had come down from heaven. Even with evidence of His Messiahship before them they judged Him by those familiar origins and refused His words.
Though they had seen mighty works, they saw Him and believed not, and their unbelief kept them from understanding what He said. They had not grasped the spiritual meaning of the bread from heaven nor truly believed in Him, and this divided mere followers from those genuinely united with Him by receiving Christ. His plain testimony offended many, who called the saying hard, rejected truth and reproof, and preferred human praise to God's admonition. In that wider rejection many disciples went back and walked no more with Him.
Satan had gained access to their minds and with subtle, deceiving power strove to keep them from yielding to the evidence set before them. Their murmuring thus reflects the darkness of the unconverted heart. It stands as a warning against refusing Christ's words through unbelief.
Their minds and desires were fixed on earthly benefits, and they followed Him hoping for temporal favors, health, wealth, freedom from oppression, riches, power and honor. They appealed to the manna in the wilderness and to physical provision, while He directed them to believe in Him and receive the living bread that gives life. Their pride, jealousy and prejudice fastened attention on His humble family and earthly background and turned them from evidence of His divine origin. With gross minds and carnal hearts bound by unbelief and discontent they could not comprehend His pure and exalted doctrine and life offered as heavenly food for spiritual vigor and everlasting life. Because they wanted the food that perishes rather than that which endures to everlasting life, His teaching had no attraction for them and cooled their enthusiasm.
Christ the Heavenly Bread
The bread which came down from heaven is Christ Himself, given by God to give life to the world. He is the divine Teacher clothing His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the source and substance of true life. His pure doctrine and His life are heavenly food that gives spiritual vigor, and coming to Him and believing in Him satisfies spiritual hunger and thirst. Receiving His words gives life, comfort, sobriety, and joy, while hunger for Him brings fullness. That claim provoked opposition, for the people were intent on physical provision and appealed to the manna in the wilderness while He directed them to believe in Him and receive the living bread that matters more than food that perishes. Feeding the mind on worldly entertainments can leave no desire for this bread of heaven. Believing comes first and then working the works of God, making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books and being doers of God's Word, which is what eating His flesh and drinking His blood represents, and faith in God's only begotten Son is the price of heaven and the way to heaven to be taught to students in schools, for without understanding and doing it heaven will be missed.
That heavenly bread is contained in the Bible, the Word of God. The living oracles are His flesh and blood, representing His body and blood even though He had not yet been crucified. His work as the substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel, and the New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament rather than replacing it. The sixth chapter presents God's Word as a living, undying element through the image of the bread from heaven. Spiritually men and women are built up from the food they give the mind, so reading the Bible gives spiritual growth and understanding of privileges, while spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray hinders spiritual growth. The Word sustains spiritual life as food sustains physical life, and each person must receive it for himself rather than only through another, receiving and digesting it and making it part of actions and character, which gives strength from God, immortal vigor, a perfected experience, and lasting joy. It does not address the understanding alone as mathematics addresses the intellect alone, for men are not creatures devoid of moral nature. Its aim is the heart; it addresses the moral nature and takes possession of the will, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, because it is the wayward heart that has dragged down the faculties of the soul. All who would learn the science of salvation must be submissive students in Christ's school, with the soul emptied of all proud possessions that Christ may imprint His image on the soul and the soul-temple may be the abiding place of the Most High. The important statements about this heavenly bread need prayer and God-given clearness of understanding to comprehend.
The chapter sets out in plain terms the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom and the way to obtain it. Those who come to Him and believe receive everlasting life now, and He will raise them at the last day. To receive and take in His words is to be spiritually quickened and to live by Him, for His words are spirit and they are life. Its wonderful truths hold the most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools, showing the education that endures through time and eternity when brought into practical life, though it is only faintly understood. They teach what Jesus is to each person individually and the advantage of eating His words, with Jesus Himself as the great center of life. They are to be studied and understood in their plain sense, with the Holy Spirit's guidance and hearts ready to receive them, rather than obscured by human interpretations, and believers are to cling to that truth. That way is heeding the light, reading and practicing the truths of God's Word as stronghold and defense against Satan's deceptions and spiritual darkness in the last days, and receiving the principles of the Word into the daily life so as to come into connection with Christ who knew no sin and in whom no guile was found. Thoroughly understanding and living by those lessons leads to a life that measures with the life of God.
Eating Bread by Faith
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is spoken in figure for true, earnest belief in Him, not for eating His body literally. It means receiving His character and life, dwelling in Him, and receiving and believing His words. The Spirit gives life while the flesh profits nothing, for His words are spirit and life.
To feed on Him is to receive and assimilate His words until they become part of the self. It is keeping God's Word and truth continually before us, studying and understanding it, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and believing every word. It is bringing its principles home to the soul, keeping its precepts, bringing its truths into daily life and practice, living by every word God has revealed, and clinging to that truth. The bread from heaven represents spiritual truth in God's Word, which is to be taken into the mind, studied and understood, then practiced so that it exercises the whole life, and comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by bringing truth into daily experience is necessary for continual growth in grace. The living oracles are His flesh and blood, and receiving and living by His words is eating the bread of life, which nourishes the soul and calls to practical holiness and obedience.
Believing comes first and then working the works of God. Eating means making the Bible the great educating Book above all other books and being doers of the Word. It means cherishing in the heart the truth that works by love and purifies the soul, by which eternal life is gained. It means obeying His words and doing His works by advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness, on which happiness and salvation depend, and appropriating that Word to the soul for practical life with its requirements brought into daily obedience.
This eating is a personal spiritual experience of tasting that the Lord is gracious. It is true conversion and the new birth, without which no one can see or discern the spiritual kingdom. As newborn babes those who eat desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby, opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it so that light and understanding come. It is having vital union with Him and having Christ abide within, nourished by His teachings, revealing His character in words and actions and becoming channels through which living water flows. Through the Holy Spirit those who receive Him are renewed, purified, and enabled to live and work as He did, taught daily in His school and growing continually in grace.
Promise of Eternal Life
All who come to Him never hunger, and all who believe in Him never thirst for higher or more satisfying food, for He is Himself the bread of life come down from heaven, and the bread He gives for the life of the world is His flesh. Those who truly receive Him have everlasting life now, and He will raise them at the last day. No one can receive this truth alone, for God must teach and draw, and those who hear and learn from the Father come to Christ. The murmuring arose because He said He had come down from heaven while they knew Him only as Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew, and they stumbled at His claim of heavenly origin and could not understand how He could make it.
Receiving and taking in His words spiritually quickens and gives life, bringing comfort, sobriety, joy, and strength and power from God. When digested and made part of actions and character, that Word gives immortal vigor, a perfected experience, and lasting joy, with His joy remaining in the soul. When Christ is received by faith He becomes sanctification and righteousness and exceeding great reward, giving full assurance of hope. Those who receive Christ and His Word have eternal life and become observers of the Word who bear much fruit, continue in His love, and are no longer condemned. Heeding the light and receiving the principles of the Word into daily life brings into connection with Him who knew no sin and in whom no guile was found, as stronghold and defense against Satan's deceptions and spiritual darkness in the last days.
Those who partake must receive Christ, represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, in order to have life, and thereby become Christlike, filled with His Spirit and love for God and others. Feeding on this bread means receiving His words and the spirit and life they impart until their truth becomes part of one's nature, giving power to grow in Christ and become one with Him in character so that life matches profession. Eating the bread of life means having Christ abide within, and those who do so reveal His character in words and actions and become channels through which living water flows. That spiritual nourishment gives opportunity to grow and form a firm, Christlike character.
Christ Himself come from heaven is the righteousness that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment, the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest and enter the marriage of humanity with divinity. Measuring character by human ideas and presuming in matters of eternal interest while continuing in sin hinders the fulfillment of God's promise and results in loss of the soul, so a firm stand for Christ and surrender to God of what is already His own is required.
From Him flow the streams of salvation, for His inexpressible love furnished the costly gospel banquet and provided unsearchable, inexhaustible resources, and the provision is nothing less than Christ Himself. To be invited to that supper is the greatest honor that can be conferred, and refusing it reveals failure to appreciate Christ and to feel need for prayer, the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, and sanctification of soul and spirit. Eating this Bread means receiving Christ and His saving gift of Himself through faith, not physical eating, bringing vital union with Him in which believers are nourished by His words and teachings and through the Holy Spirit are renewed, purified, and enabled to live and work as He did. Failing to receive this Bread leaves people without Christ formed within, even if they appear to be saints.
Living Out the Teaching
The sixth chapter is to be read and studied with prayer for understanding and God-given clearness to comprehend its important statements about the heavenly bread. Reading it nourishes spiritual life, and feeding on Christ as the bread that came down from heaven answers the soul's hunger for God. Walking in the light of that chapter gives strength in the Lord, while neglect brings spiritual weakness. Thoroughly understanding and living by its lessons, which set out the conditions of eternal life, leads to a life that measures with the life of God. Its teaching shows what Jesus is to each person individually, with Jesus Himself as the great center of life, and the advantage of eating His words, for taking in His words gives understanding of privileges since His words are spirit and life.
That bread sent down from heaven is contained in the Bible, and spiritually men and women are built up from the food they give the mind, so reading the Bible gives spiritual growth. Feeding on Christ means taking in His Word, and as food shapes the body so what the mind feeds on shapes a person's experience, with those who receive Christ and His Word having eternal life and becoming observers of the Word. When Christ is received by faith He becomes sanctification and righteousness and exceeding great reward.
Its truths call people to depend on Christ rather than human beings and to receive Him by faith. The source of strength and power is Jesus Christ and not any human being, and dependence must be on God who owns men by creation and by redemption, with the Word of the living God as guide. It means looking to Jesus Christ, the true Light, instead of looking to human beings for wisdom, guidance, and assurance, refusing bondage to man and refusing to follow human devising or one's own way. Mere outward connection with any church will not save a man, but personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ.
Believers are to turn from corrupting reading and images and nourish the mind with Scripture. Spending time on books and magazines that lead the mind astray hinders spiritual growth. Hunger for Him brings fullness, while feeding the mind on worldly entertainments can leave no desire for the bread of heaven. When the mind is opened to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, light and understanding come. Then the frivolous life is forsaken, character is transformed, and feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder, with step by step heavenward Christ revealed in spirit, words, and actions.
Those who feed most on Christ are those ready to do service, for feeding on Christ means reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace not to hoard but to give to others. Together with the feeding of the multitude, His sermon on the bread from heaven showed the disciples their work as His representatives: they were to give the people the bread of life, seeking spiritual food from God so they could feed others and not leave hungry souls unfed. He who feeds the flock of God must himself first eat of that bread and first commune with God before daring to come before the people. When ministers eat His flesh and drink His blood the element of eternal life enters their ministry, giving a new perception of truth on every side instead of a fund of stale, oft-repeated ideas. Then he is led to work as Christ worked, respecting varied minds and speaking a word that touches the case of all without worldly, confusing ideas. Teachers must first be learners of Christ, joining busy religious activity like Martha's with Mary's part of learning at the feet of Jesus, which even the most zealous workers need.
His instruction to His people teaches how they should live, and this instruction is a remedy for dissension and a guide to unity with one another and with Christ. This feeding upon His words, which is feeding upon His very flesh and blood, is the education children, youth, men and women need to become workers together with God. That education includes learning the law of Jehovah and the penalty of transgression, and understanding that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each person who is obedient to the law of Jehovah. Faith in God's only begotten Son is the price of heaven and the way to heaven, to be taught to students in schools, for without understanding and doing it heaven will be missed, with the Bible made the great educating Book above all other books and believing coming first and then working the works of God. The sixth chapter holds the most precious and important lessons for all being educated in schools, showing the education that endures through time and eternity when its wonderful truths are brought into practical life, though only faintly understood. Believers are taught daily in the school of Christ, bringing truth into daily experience and comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which is necessary for continual growth in grace, for which as well as for all other blessings prayer must ascend to God.
False teachings and human maxims may be offered in His place, but they cannot give the life found in Him as the bread of life rejected by the murmuring hearers. To eat Him is to eat the Word of God by bringing the principles revealed in Scripture home to the soul, not departing from its precepts, bringing its truths into daily life, grasping the mysteries of godliness, praying and communing with God, proving the mind of God and getting a knowledge of His will as those striving for eternal life, receiving and assimilating the words of Christ until they become part of the self, and living by every word God has revealed, which is all that is necessary for salvation. His word is not to be left for the suppositions of men.