John 6:45-51 - The Bread of Christ's Flesh

 John 6:45-51

45 It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46 Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God, He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh." 

Message: The Bread of Christ's Flesh

Time:  John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."

What the Lord is Saying: And so the bread of life discourse continues. Jesus is the bread of life from the Father go give us eternal life, to those who believe. By believing, we will have our most significant need met in Him. We will have no need to hunger and thirst for God's acceptance of us as we will have what we need for all time. The Father provides the Son the people that will believe in Him, drawing them to himself. Jesus will never lose them. Jesus has seen the Father. He is the only one. He is exclusive. 

We are told here that we can eat of the bread, thus we can eat of Jesus. This is interesting as we even observe the Lord's Supper. His body is broken for us and we eat it. We are to take the Lord and He is to be a part of us. He is not simply a trophy in our lives but we are to make Him life, in our life. In contrast to the manna of the wilderness, eating of this bread will bring about eternal life. 

I do not see in these verses any instance of "easy believism" or the idea that just believe and a person is all good and accepted into the kingdom of God. What I see is verses that confirm that the Father is the one that draws the person to an understanding and desire to believe and the person responds in faith. I don't think this is automatic, but the convert has a response of faith. In these verses, the willing person eats of the bread. Again, something is required of the person. 

Throughout this book thus far, the message is simple: believe and receive eternal life. Our response is simple, Answer the Call. 

Summary: We must eat the bread of heaven in order to have eternal life, and this eating consists in believing in Christ. 

Promise: God chooses His elect for salvation, but we cannot know we are saved until we believe. Believe in Him alone this day for salvation. 

Prayer: Lord, the message is clear to me. Believe. I am to answer your call and believe and you will grant me eternal life. I believe God this is the way to be saved. I know some believe this is a way to be saved, only for a certain time, this time, and later on more is required of a person, but these words seem to communicate to me that this is not simply for a time period, but for all time for this is the message throughout this gospel. Continue to enlighten me though Lord. And continue to draw people to an understanding of You. 

Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.