October 31
October 31
Jesus is manna, the bread of God sent from heaven and the only bread that can satisfy your heart.
Your Bible is not simply a collection of stories, but rather one grand story. The diversity of historical situations, locations, and personalities should not deter you from seeing the complete unity of the biblical narrative. This story has one theme: redeeming and reconciling grace. It has one central character: the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture’s story has one mission: by the power of the person, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God will renew everything sin has broken. The entire biblical narrative is God-glorifying, sin-revealing, Jesus-exalting, grace-announcing, and hope-giving. It is the story of stories, the only one worth building your life upon.
We see the wonderful unity of the biblical story in John 6. In this familiar story, Jesus feeds a large multitude with a small lunch of two fish and five loaves. Everyone seems to know this story, but I wonder how many people know what this story is actually about.
The crowd is amazed at this miracle and seeks Jesus out to make him their king. You may think that this is the moment of moments. This is the King of kings; the crowd has it right. But, rather than celebrating their recognition, Jesus hides from the crowd. Why? Perhaps the crowd has gotten something wrong. Here is Jesus’s response to the crowd when they catch up with him:
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (John 6:25–26)
The crowd was excited about Jesus not because they understood what the miracle of the bread revealed about him, but because they had had their bellies filled. But Jesus didn’t come to be their buffet king. Now, hear what Jesus says:
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:32–35)
Jesus is intentionally connecting who he is to the provision of manna in the wilderness (see Num. 11). The entire biblical narrative is about God’s providing for his people. Jesus is the manna of God, the bread that takes us from spiritual death to spiritual life. He is the manna that will end your hunger forever. The bread for the crowd is a sign to point them—and us—to how their deeper hunger can be satisfied.
The story of the of the Bible is about hunger and bread. Only Jesus satisfies.