Walking with Jesus Today
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Who is Jesus Really? I AM the Bread of Life – Lesson 6
We have learned in the study series Who Is Jesus, Really? (Lessons 4 and 5) that Jesus is the Son of GOD, and He is also the Descendant of Abraham and David; thus, the promised Messiah. We continue in this study series and learn that Jesus declares, “I AM the Bread of Life.” Why was this declaration so important at that time, and why is it important today in our walk with Jesus?
This proclamation Jesus makes takes place following His performance of the miracle of feeding 5000-plus people. He departs alone, by way of walking on the Sea of Galilee (the Sea of Tiberias), and catches up with the disciples in the storm tossed boat, enters the boat and they quickly arrive at Capernaum.
The next day, the crowd that had been fed follows Jesus to Capernaum, catches up with Him, and basically begs for more bread. Jesus turns the table on them and says, “I AM the Bread of Life.” WOW! Jesus declares His deity as it was declared to Moses, “I AM that I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) YES! Jesus unequivocally proclaims to the Jewish people that He is the same I AM that identified Himself to Moses as, “I AM Who I AM.”
The series of seven “I AM” statements of Jesus, makes an emphatic declaration to His true identity. Jesus without any parable-framed teaching, boldly states that He is Deity that has come to rescue humanity from its sins and to reconcile lost humanity unto Himself; the Creator GOD, the Israelite GOD that brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage and became their GOD and made them His people. In each of His “I AM” statements, He offers the opportunity for the people to receive eternal salvation from their sins through His being “I AM.”
Children of GOD, followers of Jesus the Christ, this is essential to us understanding Who Is Jesus, Really? Regardless of what the philosophies of men may say about the identity of Jesus, the Bible records Jesus Himself providing His own identification without any misunderstanding. In fact, He declares it seven times with the Bible and we will explore each Deity declaration for the next seven weeks.
In this particular passage of Biblical Scripture, John 6:25-40, Jesus offers eternal life as The Bread of Life. As the day before, He provided the sign of the miracle of feeding more than 5,000 men to their full, with only five (5) barley loves and two (2) fish. There was so much left after every person had eaten to their satisfaction that the disciples of Jesus gathered leftovers to fill twelve (12) baskets full. The action of the miracle Jesus performed was for those who did not believe His WORD. The promised Messiah would come and perform signs and wonders so that all would believe that GOD had sent Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, let us full understand by the grace of the empowering Spirit of GOD that all who believe will feast upon the Bread of Life through faith, so that we receive reward of eternal life. Jesus tells the questioning crowd that the works of GOD that they are to perform is to “…believe on Him Whom He hath sent.” In short, the work that GOD has assigned us to do is to believe on Jesus as our redeeming Savior and LORD. Therefore, believe and obey the WORD that He has spoken and the exampled life He has lived. This is our obligated work of GOD to perform.
Remain blessed of our GOD always children of GOD as we understand that Jesus’s declaration, “I AM the Bread of Life”, is the declaration that we are complete in Him. (Colossians 2:10) We have no need of anything nor any other than Jesus; Him crucified, risen and soon returning.
Next week we will continue the series study, Who Is Jesus, Really? and the sub-series, “The I AM Statements of Jesus” by focusing on “Who Is Jesus, Really? I AM the Light of the World.” John 8:12