John 6:48

"I am the bread of life"; and this for believers, because, as is said in Proverbs three, "she is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her," namely through faith: "and he who holds her fast is blessed," who holds fast through …

I am that bread of life. See Gill on Joh 6:35.

I am that bread of life - I alone afford, by my doctrine and Spirit, that nourishment by which the soul is saved unto life eternal.

You will observe that our Lord here speaks concerning Himself. He speaks not merely of His Words, nor of His offices, nor of His work, but of Himself. "I am that bread of life." And herein He teaches us all to fix our eyes mainly upon His blessed Person and to think of Him first and foremost. He is the center and soul of all. There is a tendency about us all to get away from Jesus and to look rather to the streams than to the Fountainhead.

OBSERVE carefully the order in which our Lord puts the two blessings He mentions—first, life through believing on Him, and then food to sustain that life. First, "he that believes on Me has everlasting life," and next to that, "I am that bread of life." Life comes first and food follows afterwards. It is impossible for a dead man to feed, or to be fed— only the living can eat and drink.

Jesus replied, "Do not complain about me to one another. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me. (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—he has seen the Father.) I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

Jesus replied, "Do not complain about me to one another. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me. (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—he has seen the Father.) I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Truths of the weightiest importance follow each other in rapid succession in the chapter we are now reading. There are probably very few parts of the Bible which contain so many "deep things" as the Sixth Chapter of John. Of this the passage before as is a signal example. We learn, for one thing, from this passage, that Christ's lowly condition, when He was upon earth, is a stumbling-block to the natural man. We read that "the Jews murmured, because Jesus said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I came down from heaven?" Had our Lord come as a conquering king, with wealth and honors to bestow on His followers, and mighty armies in His train, they would have been willing enough to receive Him. But a poor, and lowly, and suffering Messiah was an offence to them. Their pride refused to believe that such an one was sent from God. There is nothing that need surprise us in this. It is human nature showing itself in its true colors.

You will observe that our Lord here speaks concerning Himself. He speaks not merely of His Words, nor of His offices, nor of His work, but of Himself. "I am that bread of life." And herein He teaches us all to fix our eyes mainly upon His blessed Person and to think of Him first and foremost. He is the center and soul of all. There is a tendency about us all to get away from Jesus and to look rather to the streams than to the Fountainhead. Why are we more taken up with bits of glass that sparkle in the light than with the Sun, Himself? That Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God— we forget to eat of that and we wander to the borders of the garden to pluck the fruit of the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I wish that our ministry—that mine, especially—might be tied and tethered to the Cross! I would have no other subject to set before you but Jesus, only. Moses and Elijah are well enough in their places, but when they disappear and Jesus is the better seen, we are gainers by their loss! If I might dig for copper, silver and gold, I should think it no deprivation to be obliged to find only gold. It is no loss to lose all but Jesus! You may wander from Dan to Beersheba and you may not sin, for it is all holy ground between the two places—but he is wisest who does not ramble even there, but keeps to Calvary—and is content to speak only of Jesus crucified. "God forbid," said one who was a great and a wise man—"God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul would have considered it a terrible calamity if he had become fascinated, or even influenced by the speculations of the cultured men of His period! He felt that the atoning Sacrifice deserved all His admiration and He had none to spare for anything else.

OBSERVE carefully the order in which our Lord puts the two blessings He mentions—first, life through believing on Him, and then food to sustain that life. First, "he that believes on Me has everlasting life," and next to that, "I am that bread of life." Life comes first and food follows afterwards. It is impossible for a dead man to feed, or to be fed— only the living can eat and drink. I once went into the monastery of the Capuchins at Rome and there I saw certain of the departed brotherhood dressed in their regular habits, although they had been dead, some of them a hundred years, some fifty, and one gentleman, I think, had scarcely been dead more than a year or so. But there they sat, with their breviaries in their hands, just as if they had been alive! Yet I did not see any preparations for feeding them. It would have been as ridiculous to attempt to feed them as it was to keep them there at all! Now, when we preach the Gospel, unless you have spiritual life, you cannot feed upon it. And if you were to come to the Communion Table, unless you were truly alive unto God, you might eat the bread and drink the wine, but with real spiritual food, the body of Christ, and the blood of Christ, you could have nothing to do. We do not give food to people in order to make them live. That would be a useless experiment, but, because they are alive, they take food in order to sustain and nourish the life which is already in them. Always remember, dear Friends, that the best spiritual food in the world is useless to those who are spiritually dead. And one very essential part of the Gospel is that Truth of God which our Savior so plainly taught, "You must be born again." All attempts at feeding the soul are of no use until the new birth has been experienced! Even that precious, priceless bread of life cannot be assimilated unless the soul has been quickened by the Spirit of God.

I am that bread of life - My doctrines and the benefits of my mediation are that real support of spiritual life of which the manna in the wilderness was the faint emblem. See Joh 6:32-33.