I AM the Bread of Life

“I AM the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35).

This powerful statement by Jesus is the first of the 7 famous ‘I AM’ statements found in John’s gospel.. In this article we will delve deeper and break down John 6:35.

Firstly, we discover that Jesus ‘I AM’ statements were His claims to be God (John 8:58). Jesus wasn’t claiming to be just a great teacher or a great prophet, but God Himself, the God of Israel. This verse found in John 6:35 is the first I AM statement Jesus makes and the Jewish people of the time knew or should have understood Jesus as making His claim as God in the flesh.

Secondly, Jesus adds a metaphor ‘Bread of Life’ to His ‘I AM’ statement. He compares Himself to bread as this was a staple diet for people. Whether you were rich or poor, everybody needed bread. In scripture, we come across 2 types of bread, leaven and unleavened bread. Leaven (or yeast) in the bible consistently represented sin (Mat 13:33, Mat 16:11-12, 1 Cor 5:6-8). Leaven is represented as the idea of being ‘puffed up’ (1 Cor 5:6). Unleavened bread is seen as humble, simple and pure (1 Cor 5:7-8). It’s interesting that the unleavened bread used in Passover meals are striped and pierced. The unleavened bread was made this way so it would help stop the bread from rising. Jesus is this unleavened bread, which is humble, pure and without sin. As Isaiah 53 writes ‘He was pierced for our transgressions… and by His stripes we are healed.’ When Jesus speaks to the hungry crowd, this is the bread He offers them. And what He tells them is that they should not seek after what satisfies their belly, but to seek after what satisfies the spirit. He offers them spiritual bread to satisfy the hunger of their spirit.

Isaiah 55:2-3a

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;

In this passage found in the book of Isaiah, you can hear God’s plea to people to come to Him and feed of Him for He can satisfy the soul.

We also want to make note of Jesus birthplace, Bethlehem. (Bethlehem meaning ‘House of Bread’).

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 

though you are little among the thousands of Judah, 

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be Ruler in Israel,

Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” (Micah 5:2).

Out of Bethlehem (House of Bread) would come ‘the bread of life’. Jesus the ‘bread of Life’ would come out of the ‘house of bread’ and He alone can satisfy the spiritual hunger of their soul.

‘whoever comes to Me shall not hunger’

‘Whoever comes to Me’ this is an open invite for anyone to come to Jesus. When Jesus talks to the crowd following Him, He gives an open invite for all the people to come to Him. These people had seen His miracles, heard Him teach, heard His ‘I AM’ claims, yet they did not believe in Him.

‘Whoever believes in Me shall not thirst.’

I bring us back to verse 28 – 29 where the people following Jesus asks the question ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’

The only work that is required from us from God, is to believe in Jesus in whom He sent.

The Bible is clear that we must put our faith in Jesus as God’s provision for our salvation. There is no other way to be saved apart from believing in Jesus. There is a deep longing in everyone’s souls and Jesus says he alone can fulfil that longing of the soul. He is the only way to God, and the only way to be made in right relationship with Him. Like the crowd in this passage, we may have heard about Jesus claims as the great I AM of scripture, we may have sat in church and heard his teachings and His miracles and yet we still haven’t decided to believe in Him to be this ‘bread of life’ that will satisfy our soul. We encourage you that by believing in His death, burial and resurrection we have an opportunity to be in right relationship with God. Turn to Jesus, repent of your sins, and trust in Him for your eternal salvation if you haven’t done so already.

FreshTruth Ministries

The Holy Bible

Blue Letter Bible.com