Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life

Well, thank you again, gentlemen, and thank you, Mr. Waterhouse and Mr. Graham. We're very blessed to have such talented musicians as a part of our congregation to give us music of that beauty and that quality in order to give glory to God. So thank you, gentlemen, very much for providing that today. Also, for the beautiful flowers that have been assembled on the stage, that's much appreciated as well. Well, today we've arrived at the seventh day of Unleavened Bread this year. I'd like to remind all of us as to the importance of bread, just physical bread, as a staple of the human diet around this world. This festival, understanding just something simple like human cereal grains and physical bread, this festival is so rich in symbols, rich in metaphors, to help us to understand our need for God and to help us understand our need to seek our daily bread by going to the bread of life for our sustenance. Throughout history, consuming grains has been the key to survival for most of humanity. No matter where you go in the world, if you were to search the Americas, it's corn. If you were to go to Asia, it would be rice. If you would go to other areas of the world, it might be grain, it might be barley. Whatever the climate allows people, individuals, to grow from the ground. Humanity has a tendency to harvest that, beat it with a rock, or make a slurry out of it, or make cakes out of it and cook it, or do something in order to ensure their survival. Let's go to John chapter 6 and verse 48. Jesus, of course, knew that. And this is one reason that he said here in John chapter 6 verse 48 that he was the bread of life, and he wasn't talking about the physical bread that's provided in our culture today and has been provided for thousands and thousands of years. He was talking about himself. John chapter 6 and verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. The manna was just physical bread, and yes, it sustained them for a certain period of time, but eventually they grew old, they died. It was physical sustenance for a physical lifetime. Verse 50, he says, this, speaking of himself, is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. Jesus said, what I am offering you, those who are listening to me, is bread that comes down from heaven, and if you partake of that, you will have eternal life. Verse 51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world for generation after generation after generation of those who are called and those who accept that calling and repent of their sins and are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit and therefore attain the opportunity for salvation.

For the last seven days, we have embodied this symbolic phrase, bread of life, in our observance of this festival. As we read during the first day of the feast, it is encouraged in Exodus chapter 23, we have eaten unleavened bread for these seven days as a demonstration of our faith, our belief, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that he is the spiritual bread of life whose righteousness we desired. We reflected that every day for seven days as we would take some bit of unleavened bread, reflecting our desire to have Jesus Christ living in us. Verse 55.

For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Well, with two things, it would become, a few years later, the New Covenant Passover symbols. Verse 56, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him, literally reflected on the Passover that we participate in annually. Verse 57, as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me, be lived because of what Jesus Christ did, paying the price for our sins, being resurrected from the dead, the first of the first fruits, giving us the hope of a resurrection, being changed from the physical being that he was when he walked on earth, known as Jesus, into an immortal being when he came out of that tomb and went up and met with the Father. And that same day, literally walked through walls as the disciples were in fear, gathered together in a room, and he literally walked through the door and appeared to them and began communicating with them. That's the future. That's the promise that we have because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Let's continue here. Verse 58, this is the bread which came down from heaven, his life and sacrifice. He's talking about here, not as your fathers ate the manna and are all dead. Again, that was physical food for physical people, and indeed it gave them sustenance, but they all grew old and died. It didn't offer them eternal life. He who eats this bread will live forever. These things, he said in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. So again, for the last week, we have symbolically been feeding on Jesus Christ as we consumed some unleavened bread each day, a metaphor. We're told here that he who feeds on me will live because of me. Jesus lived a perfect life. He died. He shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins, for our atonement, and he was resurrected as our Savior. That's how he is our bread of life. He lived a perfect life, and then he shed his blood so all sin could be forgiven. And then he was, of course, resurrected. And he gives us his Holy Spirit so that he literally can dwell within us. So let me get back to my opening comments. That's the spiritual fulfillment of living bread, but that's all connected in a very profound way to just the standard human need and our inclination throughout civilizations and cultures anywhere on earth to desire physical bread and to use it as a way to sustain us. Let's go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19, because if you look in the world and you see individual nations and races and peoples using corn on one side of the world or using rice on the other side of the world, of course, and here in the 20th and 21st century, we're so interconnected. We eat these grains that are from different parts of the world, but at one time, depending on where you lived in the world, you would eat your own particular type of grain. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19, after Adam and Eve sinned, God made a clear statement regarding their punishment for sin. And here's what he said, in the sweat of your face. Now, until the last hundred years or so, human life was hard. It was short, and it was violent. We have a lot of luxuries today, and we kind of take them for granted, but for most people who have ever lived, life has been very, very hard to eke out a subsistence living in some way was a challenge.

They didn't have the kind of securities that we have in our world today. In the sweat of your face through hard work, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and dust you shall return. Now, this particular word for bread, translated bread in English, is the Hebrew word lekem, and it's the Hebrew word for bread. It can also, depending on its context, mean food. But here in Genesis, we're told that as a result of sin, humanity would rely on grains. Primarily, a cultural thing would happen, and we would rely on grains to survive. Grains are almost a universal staple of human life. They include barley, and corn, oats, kiwi, rice, rye, and wheat. Many different types of grains in this world. And again, depending on where people lived, they would find some way to harvest those grains and make them into something that was edible, and something that you could store and take with you if you traveled. So that's an early example of prophecy, actually, of how humanity would survive. But God always had more intended than just physical survival. Let's go now and take a look at Genesis chapter 14 as we survey a few scriptures here from the Old Testament. Abraham's nephew Lot, and his family, and Lot's possessions, are captured by this point of time, and they were actually enslaved. This happened at a time when Sodom was attacked by an alliance of four kings.

Lot was dwelling in Sodom, and he's captured. His family is captured. Everything he owns is captured, and they're destined to be in slavery for the rest of their lives, to be in submission to other peoples. Let's pick it up now in Genesis chapter 14 and verse 14.

Interesting scripture. Now, when Abraham heard that his brother—it's the Hebrew word, actually, for relative. We know Lot was his nephew, not his brother. That his brother was taken captive. He armed his 318 trained servants who were born in his own house and went in to pursue as far as Dan.

It's a city that later would be called Dan. It's not called Dan yet at this point. He divided his forces against them by night, and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. So that's quite a distance. Verse 16. So he brought back all the goods and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.

So something saved the day. Verse 17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Sheva—that is, the king's valley—after his return from the defeat of Cleador Lomar and the kings who were with him. And then just an interesting statement that almost doesn't seem like it fits.

Verse 18 just jumps into view. What just happened? Well, Lot and his family were just saved.

They were destined for slavery for a temporary period of time. They were slaves to the four kings that had attacked Sodom and taken all of this booty, all of this wealth. They had just been saved. Verse 18. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High, and he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him a tithe of all. So who really delivered the enemies? It wasn't Abraham.

It really was the God of Abraham who made this possible. It's interesting that after Abraham's relatives were saved from kidnapping and slavery, Melchizedek, the pre-incarnate Christ, the one who later will come to earth as Jesus Christ, shows up with the future symbols of the New Covenant Passover, including bread. Abraham's family had just been physically saved, and the future Savior suddenly appears and presents the symbols of the body and blood of the future Savior of the world as a metaphor for Abraham to appreciate who he was talking to, and that Jesus Christ himself would later come and be the bread of life for everyone. Let's take a look at another example from Abraham's life at this point. Let's go to Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse 1.

We'll see bread mentioned again here. Genesis chapter 18 in verse 1. Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre. This is Abraham. As he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day, that's about two, three o'clock. That's usually the heat of the day. That's when the temperatures have been getting warmer and warmer throughout the day, and that's about when they peak. He did the day, so he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold three men were standing by him. He immediately knows this is miraculous. He didn't see them in a distance slowly coming towards him. Boop! They're there! Pop! There are three men, and he responds as you and I would respond. It says, and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground. He knows this is a kind of a special event, that these are very special messengers.

And said, my lord, if I found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, symbol of humility, another connection with the Passover service, I might add, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts, and that you may pass by in as much as you have come to your servant. They said, do as you have said. So they're only going to be there for a few hours, a very short period of time. So what kind of bread do you think this is going to be? Verse 6, So Abraham hurried into the tent of Sarah, said, quickly, make ready for three measures of fine meal needed, and make cakes. And Abraham ran to the herd. He's running, he's hustling, they're not going to stay here very long. They're in a hurry. Abraham, therefore, is in a hurry.

He ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to the young man, and he hastened, speedily, he's preparing the meat for the meal. So he took butter and milk and the calf, which he had prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

Again, you'll notice here that it said, in the heat of the day, that's mid-afternoon.

We're going to see in a couple of verses in just a minute or so, that two of those angels arrive at Sodom by evening. And that's quite a journey, that's quite a distance to go. So again, it just confirms they are not here for a very long period of time. I want you to notice the bread is made in a hurry without having time to rise up, without having time to become leavened. It's served quickly.

It obviously has to be unleavened bread. In the next chapter, the two angels arrive in Sodom and they lodge with Lot, and he also serves them unleavened bread. We're going to read that again in just about a minute. Is it possible that this event literally occurred during the days of unleavened bread? Or that in these episodes, the usage of unleavened bread occurred because of God's righteousness, because of his righteousness he was going to deal with the sin that was existing in Sodom and Gomorrah? Two of the angels who dined with Abraham journeyed to Sodom. And let's pick that up here. Chapter 19 verse 1. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. They were with Abraham late afternoon. Here it is evening before it's dark, and they show up. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face towards the ground. And he said, Here now, my lords, please turn into your servants' house and spend the night and wash your feet, another symbol of the Passover, that you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we'll spend the night in the open square. Which, of course, Lot knows is not a very healthy thing to do in a city with the level of debauchery that Sodom has. But he insisted strongly. So they turned into him and entered his house, and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread. And they ate. Why unleavened bread? Well, for the same reason that Abraham did in chapter 18. This is short notice. It's just you bring these visitors in your home. It's evening, it's time to eat. So you have to rush the process of having something to eat for your guests. And that means that you only have time to make unleavened bread, just like in the case of Abraham, when the three angels showed up to his tent. And once again, they baked unleavened bread and they ate. So again, there's a strong connection between unleavened bread being consumed in these verses, and the righteousness of God, the presence of God, his righteousness, preparing to reject human sin.

Well, as we continue to look at some scriptures in the Old Testament, let's now go to the original historical story where the Israelites were given manna from heaven and see what we can learn from this biblical event, Exodus chapter 16. In context, we're going to see people that are not very Christian, because they're not. We're going to see that they're very carnal. They are ungrateful.

They are selfish people. Hopefully we're not like that. They still have a slave mentality. They still have a sense of dependency because of what they experienced for so many years in slavery in Egypt. But we're also going to see the incredible grace and patience of God in spite of their human dysfunctions. Exodus chapter 16 verse 1. And they journeyed from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the fifteenth day, the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. It's interesting, this term, wilderness of sin, because there's a great parallel to that. You and I, throughout our lives, live in the wilderness of sin. Not that geographic location called the wilderness of sin, but we have to deal with this world. I was reading a website recently, and a person who was down on observing the days of unleavened bread, he said, well, that doesn't even make sense, that metaphor. So basically what you're saying is that you remove leaven from your homes for seven days, which pictures sin, and then when it's over, you let sin back in your life.

And I think the individual missed the point. Sin is always there. For seven days in obedience to God, we make a special effort to reconnect with God, to renew our relationship with Him, and to remove leaven from our homes. But we also realize that we are carnal, that as Paul would say, we are sold under sin. We live in a world in which sin is everywhere all around us. It's in our politics. It's in every aspect of our human culture. We are surrounded by sin. So the fact that those seven days end, and once again, leaven returns to your home, is a perfect fit for the metaphor. It doesn't contradict the metaphor. Verse 3, And the children of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, and when we ate bread to the full. Wow, that bread was good, and we ate all that we wanted. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And I'm even going to see how obedient they are to my Sabbath, because I'm going to give them a double portion before the Sabbath, and tell them the Sabbath is a day of rest. You don't go out looking for manna on the seventh day, and we're going to see the stuff that these people are made of. That I may test them whether they walk in my law or not. So this is only a month after they witnessed a number of incredible miracles, as Mr. Housen mentioned in the sermonette, that resulted in their freedom from Egypt. Aside from their constant grumbling, constant whining, complaining, a patient and a gracious God is willing to honor their request. And I want to show you just how selfish they were. Just a couple of examples regarding their lack of meat. I'm saying we need meat. Well, in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 38, just a few chapters before this, it states that they left Egypt with very much cattle. But what happened to all that very much cattle?

It's still there. They just don't want to give up any of their very much cattle. They expect God to provide everything for them. In the next chapter, and we're not going to go to Exodus 17, but in the next chapter, Exodus 17 and verse 3, they complain that their cattle are thirsty. They don't have anything to drink. Well, if they want meat so bad, all they have to do is kill some of their own cattle. So that's just a small foretaste of how self-absorbed they are, that they don't want to give up anything. They expect God to provide everything for them. They also complain they didn't have bread, and God in His grace and mercy would provide a certain amount of bread every day, because we know that bread is the staff of life. We know from that prophecy, in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19, that in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. That's exactly what these people are going to do. They're going to eat bread until their corpses drop in the wilderness.

Exodus chapter 16 and verse 10. Let's pick it up here in verse 10. Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of God appeared in the cloud, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying here in verse 12, I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel speak to them, saying, at twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. You said longingly, you remembered a time of Egypt, when you ate bread to the fill, full, you had fullness, guess what? I'm going to give you bread and fill you with it, just like you said you had in Egypt, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So you performed an absolute miracle. Verse 13. So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp in the morning. The dew lay all around the camp, and when the layer of dew lifted there on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance, like a wafer, very thin, like frost, fine frost. You know how thin fine frost is when you wake up in a cold morning, on the ground. Verse 15. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was, because they had never seen it before. It was a miracle. It was something created by God. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gathered according to each one's need, one omer for each person according to the number of persons. Let every man take for those who are in his tent. Indeed, in verse 17, then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack every man had gathered according to each one's need. They're full. All the bread they could possibly eat, and it's provided for them every day. They had complained earlier that in Egypt, they said, We ate bread to the full. And that's exactly what God provides for them with this manna. It fell from heaven as a miracle. But you know, they had to make continual effort to go out and gather it so they could benefit from it. Now to transcend from this physical manna, God has offered us the bread of life. But we too have to make an effort to go out and gather the bread of life each and every day. And we can do that through prayer.

We can do that by Bible study. We can do that by reflection and meditation on something spiritual.

We can do that through occasional fasting. But it's very important that somehow each and every day we make that spiritual connection with God in some way so that we too receive our daily bread.

It takes effort. The manna didn't fall into their cooking utensils. It fell on the ground to be gathered. If they lacked the motivation to gather it before it was melted by the sun, they'd go hungry for that day. And you know what? If we go a day without prayer or Bible study or reflecting on God's way of life or listening to a religious message or doing something to make that connection, if we're not doing that on any given day, it's our loss. We're going spiritually hungry that day.

And we certainly don't want that to happen. The same is true for us as occurred for them. They had to make the effort. We have to make the effort. We must go to the source of eternal life each day. We must make the effort to desire the bread of life in some way each and every day, or we'll be spiritually starving that day. In this miracle of the manna, it states that he who gathered much had nothing left over and he who garnered little had no lack. But every one gathered according to each one's need. In a similar way, brethren, each one of us in our lives, we have different situations. Some are married, some are not married. Some of us have financial challenges, some don't. Some have relationship challenges, some don't. Some have personality, emotional challenges, some don't. We all have unique, different needs. Yet God promises to supply all of our unique individual needs with the bread of life. Some of us need more because we're going through some difficult times in our life, and some of us may not need as much as others. But no matter what our need is, God promises to give us and fill that need to the full. But again, He can only do that if we make that effort to go out and seek, pick up, and gather the bread of life through having a relationship and making that connection each and every day. In its basic form, this white-colored flaky little wafer that resembled a heavy frost and tasted like honey must have been unleavened. I can't see how you could any other way define it as an unleavened type of bread. It's very thin, it's flaky, it falls directly from God as a supernatural gift intended to protect them from malnourishment. It is truly a miracle.

Over the years, I've laughed to see how many scholars look for natural ways that manna could have been provided. Some say, oh, it was tree resins. Some say, oh, it was plant lice.

Others have said, oh, it was a fungus.

Daily? For 40 years? Come on! I'm not that stupid. The Word of God says it was an absolute miracle for about two and a half million people. It was an act, an action by the Almighty God because of His grace and His mercy even for a people who didn't appreciate all that He had done for them.

As I mentioned earlier, they were also given a double portion to prepare for the Sabbath. Drop down to verse 32. If you would go down there with me.

It's so impressive they're going to preserve some of it for future generations. Verse 32, then Moses said, this is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness. Otherwise, they won't believe it. They'll think this is just some kind of myth that started, and then it didn't really happen. But if we take some of it and put it in a pot and ultimately put it in the very holy of holies area where God resides, then they can't deny it. Future generations can't deny that this happened and was provided.

That they may see the bread which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, take a pot and put an omer of manna in it and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for generations. That was in the tent. Later on, it would be also put in the temple. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept in the children of Israel eight manna, 40 years until they came into an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Of course, we know that first generation, the complainers, all died out and it was the next generation who actually entered the promised land and they were sustained by that manna which was given to them by God for 40 years.

The manna with which God fed the Israelites while they journeyed through the wilderness was symbolic of Jesus Christ, the bread of life. God gave it. It was a gift from him, just like the spiritual bread of life is a gift for us. We don't deserve it.

It was provided, available every day. They had to go out and get it and it was there.

It's provided for us every day. That relationship with God, we have to make that effort. We have to have that motivation to make that connection with God in some way each and every day to receive our daily bread. The account of the giving of manna here in Exodus 16 shows that the Israelites had their individual part to play in receiving nourishment from that bread. The same is true of us, brethren. We have an individual part to play each and every day to be able to have the bread of life, access to Jesus Christ. Anciently, the manna bread came down from heaven and provided physical sustenance to the Israelites. It provided continued physical life. It was a complete food in itself. Everything they needed to be sustained. As he shows again what a miracle was, it wasn't just pure carbohydrates. Obviously, it included the vitamins and minerals and the things that we normally have to get from other foods was included in that manna. It was absolutely complete food in and of itself, giving them everything their bodies needed for growth.

In a similar way, the true bread of life, Jesus Christ, came down from heaven to offer his called-out ones, his disciples, his followers, the children of God, spiritual, sustenance. And Jesus provides us continued spiritual life every day. He is everything that we need spiritually. Everything is provided by God just like that physical manna. To be complete, to be whole spiritually, everything is provided by Jesus Christ. Let's go into the New Testament now. Take a look at a few scriptures. Matthew 6 and verse 9. A scripture that I think many people misinterpret. I hope that doesn't surprise you, but I think many people do because they don't look at what else Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray for, and I think they miss the point.

Matthew 6 and verse 9. Jesus is asked to teach us to pray, so he gives them an outline of a prayer.

And here's what he says, in this manner, therefore pray.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. In other words, forgive us to the same degree as we forgive others who have offended us and hurt us. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Now, one might think at first glance here that the bread appears to be a material request.

Like we've been talking about, God said in Genesis, physical bread. Provide our physical needs today. Provide us with food that we need to eat today, Dad, please.

But this is the only, if that's true, this would be the only material request in this entire prayer. All the other requests in this prayer are for spiritual needs, like hope, forgiveness, seeking God's will, asking for protection, asking for guidance. Not material things, a spiritual influence, a spiritual connection. What's this in mind? Is Jesus really telling us to ask for physical food every day? I don't think so. I think this entire prayer is about our spiritual needs. And he was teaching his disciples, perhaps even before they fully grasped that he was the bread of life, what he was meaning by this. What he was saying is, give us today the bread of life, which will give us eternal life. We'll maintain our relationship with you, Father.

Please give us this day.

Renewing our minds with the truth and the presence of God on a daily basis is really essential to our Christian growth. We need to do that today, and tomorrow we need to do it all over again. We need to ask, give us this day our daily bread. We need to seek the bread of life and that relationship and make that connection that I spoke about earlier in some way. Bible study, prayer, reflection, meditation, fasting. In some way, we need to make that connection each and every day.

We started out this sermon today by going to John chapter 6 and verse 48. That's how we started out, where Jesus said, I am the bread of life. And he said, I am the living bread. Do you remember that?

Well, let's go and take a look at what happened before he said that in John, John chapter 6 and verse 4. And let's see what happened before we made that statement and see what we can learn from that event. So we're going to tie together a few things as we begin to conclude the sermon today.

John chapter 6 and verse 4.

John was inspired to write, Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. This isn't the same year in which he's crucified. This is a few years earlier. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread in that these may eat? You see, Christ is compassionate. He's a great host. And he's teaching, he's providing the gospel, the good news of God's kingdom in its entirety, all that that means. And there's a multitude there, and they're hungry. They need to be fed. And being a great host, he wants to take care of their need, begin because of his deep compassion and love for the people. Verse 6, But he said this to test them, for he himself knew what he would do. He knew he would perform a miracle. But like God sometimes does with us, he wants to see how we'll react. He tests us to see what we're made of. The tests are metal. So it says, he said this to test them for himself. He knew himself what he would do. Verse 7, Philip answered him, 200 denari worth of bread is not sufficient for them. For every one of them may have a little that much money, which was a whole lot of money. I forget the exact statistic, but it might have been like a half year's wages.

In order. That's what 200 denari was. And they said, even if we had that by bread for these people, there's 5000 of them. Oh, they still wouldn't be enough for everyone to eat. One of his disciples, Andrews, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are they among so many? That's all there is. 5000 hungry people. And what do we have here? We have five barley loaves. That's the bread of the common man. It was less expensive than wheat. Five loaves of barley bread, two small fish. What are they among so many? Now, it's interesting, this lad may have been an entrepreneurial little lad. Big crowd. Jesus is there. And he may have been trying to sell this stuff to somebody in the crowd as people got hungry. So he may have been entrepreneurial, and they may have purchased it. The disciples may have purchased it from him. So again, barley was considered the food for the common people. Verse 10. Then Jesus said, make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in number about 5000. And Jesus took the loaves. And when he had given thanks, he thanked his father for the blessing of having food, being able to eat something. When he had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples and disciples to those sitting down and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, remember Exodus 16? God said, I'm going to provide you this manna, and you're going to be filled. You challenged me, and you said in Egypt, you ate bread until you were full. And God gave them in Exodus 16, he gave them bread until they were full. Jesus Christ gives them bread until they're full. He said to his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost. Therefore, they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten. So let's take a look at some spiritual lessons, connect some of the dots, and some spiritual lessons of some of the things we've been talking about on the seventh day of Unleavened Bread in the year 2021. Jesus repeated the miracle of when he gave manna to Israel in the wilderness in Exodus chapter 16. It's a much smaller way. It's a type of what he had done in Exodus 16 for all of Israel, but Christ provided bread for a large number of people, miraculously. He made it happen. Everyone ate until they were full. Every day, brethren, the bread of life is willing and able to feed us spiritually until we are full.

But in order for that to happen, the people had to stop what they were doing and to sit down to be fed. That literally says that in these scriptures. They were told to sit down, stop, sit down, and then the distribution began. We need to do the same thing. If we're just living our lives and rushing around in like a pinball bouncing from here, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, and never stopping, never taking the time to say, this is my meditation time, this is my prayer time, this is the time when I spend some time reading the scriptures. If we don't stop and take that time out and make that investment in our lives, it's just not going to happen.

There was a great metaphor in this scripture about what the people were told to do. They had to stop what they were doing. They had to sit down and then the feeding could begin.

Another point. I want you to notice there were seven items of food. There were five loaves of bread and there were two fishes. Seven is the number of perfection. This isn't by accident.

Jesus Christ is perfect. His word is perfect and they lack in nothing.

And the principle here is whatever we start out with in life, God will make it perfect. Whatever our shortcomings, one we're called, no matter what we're struggling with, our background, our attitudes, whatever it is we're working with, it's not perfect, but God can make it perfect. Whatever those pieces of our life that they are, no matter what they add up to, if we make that daily connection with the bread of life, He will help us to become perfect. His presence in us is all we need. The Savior takes what little we have to start out with and it may not be much and He expands it to meet our personal needs, just like He took those seven items, bread and fish, and He multiplied them to feed 5,000.

He takes whatever we start out with in our calling and He multiplies it to be enough to direct us towards the road to perfection that's only possible by His presence residing in us.

So again, similar to Jesus taking five loaves of bread and multiplying to feed it for 5,000 people, He had 12 baskets left over. Perhaps you notice that. He offers not simply to add His righteousness to our life, but to multiply what we have. To multiply His presence in our life. He's willing to multiply our spiritual fruits, to multiply whatever raw talents we have, to grant us a full measure of His Spirit, to multiply that, to give us a spiritual family, to have new and additional brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

He gives us many other blessings all into our lives if we're willing to feed on His presence consistently and daily go to the living bread, Jesus Christ, the bread of life. Another point here, after gathering up all the fragments so that nothing was lost, there were 10 baskets of bread that were left over. Number 12 is significant in a number of ways. The number 12 represents unity. There were 12 disciples, for example, completeness. Jesus intended these 12 disciples, who were just mere fishermen, most of them fishermen, to become fishers of men.

Nothing God intended was to be lost. Now, I have to say that when God calls us, He never rejects us. God never isolates Himself from His children. He doesn't forget us. Other people, we, may choose to reject God like Judas did, but that was His choice. That's our free, moral agency. But God intends that everyone that He calls be gathered together, that all the fragments are gathered together, and there's nothing left behind.

Nothing was lost, in this example that we read, and all the fragments were gathered. And when God calls someone, they are never rejected, never isolated, never forgotten by God, though, sadly, some may choose to do this themselves, as one of the twelve apostles himself, Judas Iscariot, chose to do. But that's never God's doing. It's never His intent. Everyone who was fed was completely filled and satisfied with the bread.

Just like back in Exodus, God gave them the manna until they were filled and satisfied. Here in this smaller example, Jesus Christ, the bread of life, gave them bread until they were filled and satisfied. Jesus is the author of salvation. He provides us with all of our spiritual needs. Nothing needs to be lacking. When we live in harmony as a child of God and go to that bread of life, we lack nothing. He's all we ever need. In Deuteronomy chapter 8, verses 1 through 3, it says that He might make you to know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

So physical bread isn't enough. Yes, it'll sustain our physical lives for a while, but if we want eternal life, if we want to be part of the family of God, we need to go directly to the bread of life. God provided the manna continuously for 40 years until they reached the promised land. He was faithful. Yes, the first generation, the whiners, the complainers, the belly acres, they all died in the wilderness, but the next generation, their children got to enter the promised land and were given manna until the day they arrived. The same is true of us, brethren.

We can go every day to that bread of life, Jesus Christ, and He's always there for us until we enter the promised land. That's the kingdom of God, providing us nourishment, providing us spiritual sustenance each and every day, going to Him, relying on Him for that day.

Well, let's go back to where we started in John, chapter 6 and verse 48. Let's go back and read those scriptures again. It's our final scripture for today. Now that we've taken a look at some of the scriptures in the Old Testament, connected with bread, and we've seen some of the things that Jesus said and did in the New Testament, connected with bread. Let's read this again. John chapter 6 and verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. It wasn't enough.

Didn't give them eternal life. Verse 50. This Christ speaking of Himself is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat and not die. I am. One of the great I am statements reflecting His connection to being the God of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant who spoke to Moses. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

So, brethren, let us partake daily far beyond this feast in the last seven days, which hopefully has put us in a good habit of going daily to the bread of life. But even if we didn't do that, we still have that opportunity. Each day is brand new. As Abac have said, morning by morning, new mercies I see. So, if we've been falling off the wagon, if we haven't been going to the bread of life every day, we can wipe that slate clean and start over again and do it right. We can go to the bread of life and feed on his word every day in a similar way that we did for the last seven days, eating physically unleavened bread. Allow him to live in us and through us as ambassadors of his kingdom. So, the feast is over at sunset. But for us, let's continue to daily feed on the living bread of life. I wish all of you a very fulfilling and wonderful seventh day, last day of unleavened bread.