Compassion for a Lost World
Compassion for a Lost World
Jesus is “full of grace and truth,” and “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:14, 17). In His grace, Jesus fed the hungry multitude on the hillside, and then in the Capernaum synagogue He shared the truth that the miracle conveyed. He offered them the bread of life, but many of the people refused the gift, walked away, and followed Him no more (6:66). This is the first of three crises recorded in John’s gospel, a subject we will discuss more fully in chapter 8.
The metaphor. In this message, Jesus called Himself “the bread from heaven” (see John 6:32, 41, 50, 58), “the bread of God” (v. 33), “the bread of life” (vv. 35, 48), and “the living bread” (v. 51). He was using bread, a familiar material object, to teach a spiritual truth: you receive bread into your body and it sustains life, but receiving Jesus into your heart by faith gives you eternal life. Later He included drinking blood (vv. 53–56), which obviously was not to be taken literally any more than eating His flesh was to be taken literally.
To “eat” something means to assimilate it and make it a part of your physical being. But language uses the metaphor of eating to describe the process of understanding and receiving statements expressed in words. We say things like “Well, I’ll have to digest what you just said” or “I can’t swallow that” or “That’s food for thought.” A pastor might say, “My congregation is so young in the faith, I have to spoon-feed them.” A businessman says to his staff, “Now, here’s a program you can sink your teeth into.” A student says, “I really devoured that book.” Nobody takes this literally.
Scripture uses similar metaphorical language in describing our relationship to God and His truth. “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8). “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (119:103). “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jer. 15:16). “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good ” (1 Pet. 2:2–3; see also Heb. 5:11–14). “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). The prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John were each commanded to eat a scroll of the Word of God so they could proclaim God’s truth (Ezek. 2:1–3:3; Rev. 10).
The misunderstanding. Instead of discerning the deeper spiritual meaning of the metaphor, the crowd took it literally and reacted negatively. “How can we eat his flesh and drink his blood?” they asked. You find this spiritual blindness throughout the gospel of John. When Jesus spoke about His death and resurrection, they thought He was referring to destroying and rebuilding the Jewish temple (John 2:13–22). When Jesus taught about sinners being “born again,” Nicodemus thought only of physical birth (3:1–4). And when He talked to the Samaritan woman about satisfying spiritual thirst, she thought He meant satisfying physical thirst by drinking water from the well (4:10–15).
Even our Lord’s own disciples didn’t always understand the spiritual truths Jesus tried to impart (John 4:31–38; 11:11–16; 13:6–11). In fact, there are sincere religious people today who interpret the “eating and drinking” metaphor literally and think that Jesus was referring to the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Communion), but this interpretation is certainly not what Jesus had in mind.
To begin with, why would Jesus discuss the Lord’s Supper, a “family” meal for believers, with a crowd of rebellious unbelieving Jews? He hadn’t even mentioned it to His own disciples! Until Jesus instituted the supper with His disciples in the upper room, nobody in the Old Testament or the four gospels had ever participated in it! Does this mean that nobody during that long period of time was saved? We know that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rahab, David, the prophets, Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary and Joseph, and the woman at the well were saved, yet they had never participated in the Lord’s Supper. The thief on the cross never partook of the bread and cup, yet Jesus assured him that he was going to heaven (Luke 23:39–43). Does Jesus reject the soldier who trusts Christ during his last minutes on the battlefield, or the patient dying in the hospital bed, because they can’t share in the Lord’s Supper? I think not. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47). It is faith in Jesus Christ and faith alone that saves sinners (Eph. 2:8–9).
Paul’s instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:23–32) make it clear that the meal is only for believers. We don’t partake in order to have our sins forgiven. Believers are to confess their sins before they partake lest they invite discipline from the Lord. Unbelievers don’t come to the table to be saved; they shouldn’t come at all! And true believers confess their sins first and then come to the table, because the eating and drinking will not cleanse them. The way to cleansing is obedience to the direction in 1 John 1:9.
How, then, do we “eat” His flesh and “drink” His blood? By believing in Jesus Christ and receiving His Word into our hearts. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63 NASB). “The Word became flesh” at the incarnation (1:14), and believers “feed on” Jesus, the living Word, as they meditate on the written Word. Peter got the message, for when Jesus asked the Twelve if they would also go away with the crowd, He received the answer He expected. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (6:68–69). Believe in Jesus and receive the Word!
When I trusted Christ as my Lord and Savior, the Spirit gave me an insatiable appetite for the Word of God, and the Bible has been my “spiritual diet” since 1945. I “feed on” the Lord Jesus Christ daily through His Word, and I can say with Job, “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” (Job 23:12). That Jesus would compare Himself to such a common article as a loaf of bread shows the depth of His humiliation. It also shows us that we cannot have life without Him. Bread is called “the staff of life” because for centuries it has been the primary food of most people. Jesus Christ is “the bread of life,” and we cannot have spiritual life—eternal life—without Him.
The miracles. Instead of accepting their Messiah, the crowd began to debate with Jesus. They contrasted Christ’s miracle of feeding the five thousand with the miracle of the manna in Moses’s day, when God provided “bread from heaven” (Exod. 16; see also Ps. 78:24). Jesus provided bread for the Jews only once, but Moses fed them six days a week for thirty-eight years. Furthermore, Moses fed an entire nation, but Jesus fed only several thousand people. Jesus borrowed a child’s lunch to provide the bread, but Moses brought down the bread from heaven.
But Jesus pointed out that their perspective was totally backward! His miracle was far greater than anything Moses did, for the manna was but a picture of the Son of God, who would come down from heaven to be the bread of life. In His synagogue sermon, Jesus contrasted Moses and the Old Testament manna with Himself as the bread of life. The phrase “bread of life” can mean “living bread” or “bread that gives life.” This summary shows how great Jesus is and how imperative it is for sinners to trust Him and receive eternal life.
The Old Testament manna
Jesus, the bread of life
Met a physical need temporarily
Meets a spiritual need eternally
Only sustained physical life
Imparts eternal life
For only one nation, Israel
For the whole world (John 6:51)
For only thirty-eight years
From Adam to the end of time
At no cost to the Lord
At great cost: Jesus had to die
Only delayed physical death
Conquered spiritual death
God sent a gift
God sent the Giver of all gifts
Five times in His sermon Jesus affirmed that He had “come down from heaven” (John 6:33, 38, 50, 51, 58), and twice the crowd quoted Him (vv. 41, 42); and five times He said that the Father had sent Him (vv. 29, 38, 39, 44, 57). These ten affirmations from Jesus point to one tremendous truth: He is the Son of God, who came down from heaven and was sent by the Father. The Old Testament manna came down from heaven because the Father sent it, and it became a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To begin with, the manna was a mysterious substance that could not be explained. In fact, the very word manna is a form of the Hebrew question man hu, which means “What is it?” (see Exod. 16:15). Paul called Jesus “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16 NKJV). Since Jesus had existed in eternity long before Mary was even born, He could not be born of natural generation. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s virgin womb (Luke 1:26–38) and therefore was both human and divine, the eternal sinless Son of God. We can’t explain the mystery of godliness, but we thank God for it and share in the blessing!
Exodus 16:14 describes the manna as “thin flakes like frost on the ground,” and verse 31 informs us it was like a small white seed and tasted like honey. “White” speaks of purity and the small size of the seed speaks of humility, both of which describe Jesus. God sent the manna just where His people were camping, and it wasn’t necessary to search for it. In His incarnation, Jesus came where we are and became what we are, except that He was sinless. The manna came down at night, even as Jesus came into a world dark with sin (Matt. 4:15–16). The manna was not defiled because it came on the dew, just as Jesus was in this world but not of this world because the Holy Spirit filled Him, guided Him, and empowered Him (John 17:13–18; Num. 11:9).
For thirty-eight years, the manna was sufficient to satisfy the physical needs of the Israelites. All they had to do was get up early (“Seek the LORD while he may be found,” Isa. 55:6), stoop (“Humble yourselves, therefore,” 1 Pet. 5:6), gather the heavenly bread, and eat it (“Taste and see that the LORD is good,” Ps. 34:8). If they did not gather the manna, they walked on it (Heb. 10:29)! The crowd listening to Jesus walked away from the bread of life. What a tragedy! They rejected Jesus and went back to laboring and spending money for bread that could not satisfy. People are still doing that today. Even though Jesus gave His life for the salvation of the world (John 6:51), the world has rejected Him. But the Father is still using the Word of God to draw sinners to His Son (vv. 44–45). Those who come by faith (vv. 35, 37, 44–45, 65) will not be rejected (v. 37). God our Savior wants “all people to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4) and does not want “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
The masquerade. The remarkable events recorded in John 6 do not end with Jesus commending Peter but with Jesus warning Judas (vv. 66–71). In the original Greek text, Judas Iscariot is mentioned eight times in the gospel of John (6:71; 12:4; 13:2, 26, 29; 18:2, 3, 5), and this is the first instance. Peter thought he was speaking for himself and the other apostles when he affirmed his loyalty to Jesus, but he and the other ten apostles had no idea that Judas was a deceiver and would betray Jesus to His enemies. Of course, Jesus knew and called Judas a devil (accuser, slanderer). During the time Judas was with Jesus, he had ample opportunity to study the Master carefully, listen to His messages, and see His miracles; and yet, in the end, he rejected Christ and betrayed Him!
Judas carried on his religious masquerade so effectively that none of his fellow apostles knew he was an unbeliever and a deceiver.
When it comes to making a decision about Jesus Christ, we have three choices: (1) believe in Him and be saved, as did eleven of the apostles; (2) reject Him but pretend to be saved, as did Judas; or (3) reject Him openly and walk away, as did the multitude. In His parable about the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43), Jesus made it clear that there are counterfeit Christians like Judas mixed in with the authentic children of God, but at the end of the age they will be exposed and condemned. Satan is a counterfeiter who can pass for an angel of light and so can his servants (2 Cor. 11:13–15). Judas did not lose his salvation (if such a thing were possible) because he was never saved to begin with. No wonder Jesus warned about false believers (Matt. 7:21–23) and Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5).
We live in a world filled with hungry people who are searching for reality and cannot find it. They are spending their money on that which is not bread and their labor on that which does not satisfy (Isa. 55:2). Why? Because we who are enjoying the feast have not told them about Jesus, the bread of life, or have not helped to make it possible for others to tell them. One day they will say to us, “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat,” and our Lord will say, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matt. 25:42, 45).
And what will we say?