Your Basket
Your Basket Is Empty
This article appeared in:
Part 4 of the Series:
“search the scriptures” John 5:39
‘And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst’, John 6. 35
This is the first of the seven delightful ‘I am’ sayings of Christ in John’s Gospel.
There are three types of bread in John chapter 6.
Andrew said to the Lord, there is ‘a lad [“little boy” (JND)] here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?’ v. 9. He was thinking of the quantity of food required. It is interesting that there was also a little boy used in the service of the Lord in the Old Testament. ‘Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child’, 1 Sam. 2. 18.
The little boy in John chapter 6 was part of an interesting trio in scripture. He gave what he had. In 2 Kings chapter 5, the little captive maid in the house of Naaman told what she knew and her master was cured of leprosy. Mary of Bethany did what she could, Mark 14. 8, and was the first to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus in view of His burial.
Philip was concerned about the cost of providing for such a large number. He said, ‘Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little’, John 6. 7. Andrew was thinking about the quantity, Philip about the cost.
It was a small amount of bread, only five loaves, but they were given into the hands of the Creator. He took the loaves and gave thanks, He distributed it to the disciples and the disciples to the multitude.
The men sat down on a carpet of grass which the Lord had provided. ‘He causeth the grass to grow’. Ps. 104. 14. The Lord took account not only of their spiritual need to hear His word, but also of their comfort as they sat on the ground. His spoken word was spiritual food; He also provided the food they needed to sustain them on the journey home.
We note the abundance of the Lord’s provision despite the scepticism of the disciples. Each person was given as much as they desired. They were filled. When the Lord said, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain’, v. 12, there were twelve baskets full. This was ‘over and above’ the amount that was eaten, v. 13. The Lord often gives not only enough to meet the present need, but He gives ‘over and above’ our expectations. The miracle is recorded by all four Gospel writers, and the place was noted as ‘where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks’, v. 23.
The children of Israel tempted God in the wilderness, by asking ‘Can God furnish a table in the wilderness . . . can he give bread also?’ Ps. 78. 19, 20. The Psalm records God’s gracious provision for them, vv. 23-25. He ‘opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food’.
The name of the manna The people called it ‘Manna’, meaning ‘what is it?’ Exod. 16. 15. The One of whom it speaks is the transcendent Christ, beyond knowing completely. ‘No man knoweth the Son, but the Father’, Matt. 11. 27. Josiah Condor wrote,
‘But the high myst’ries of His Name
An angel’s grasp transcend;
The Father only (glorious claim!)
The Son can comprehend’.1
Exodus chapter 16 describes the manna. As to its size, it was small. As to its shape, it was round, v. 14. As to its taste, it was sweet, like wafers made with honey. As to its colour, it was white, v. 31. As to its location, when the morning dew had gone up it lay on the face of the wilderness. Each of these descriptions speak beautifully of the Lord Jesus.
The manna small speaks of His incarnation. The One of whom Solomon said, ‘The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee’, 1 Kgs. 8. 27, was born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes, held in the arms of Mary and laid in a manger. Bethlehem means ‘the house of bread’. In Ruth chapter 1 verse 6, in the land of Moab, Naomi heard that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread and she returned to Bethlehem.
The manna round speaks of His eternity. In Micah chapter 5 verse 2, the prophet said, ‘whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting’. John begins his Gospel with the words, ‘In the beginning was the Word’, and begins his Epistles stating, ‘That which was from the beginning’. Bethlehem was not the beginning. The One who was born there bears the name, the ‘Father of Eternity’, Isa. 9. 6 JND.
The manna sweet. Every believer can bear testimony to what the Lord Jesus means to them. Not only has He saved our souls, but He has won our hearts. The bride in the Song of Solomon said, ‘I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste’, S. of S. 2. 3.
The manna white reminds us of the unsullied light of heaven from whence the Lord Jesus came. On the mountain of transfiguration, the disciples had a glimpse of His glory, Matt. 17. 2. He was the only man who passed through this defiling world, untainted by sin.
The three Synoptic Gospels each give a record of the Lord’s progressive postures in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
Luke says that the Lord Jesus ‘was withdrawn from them [the disciples] about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed’, 22. 41.
Mark says, ‘And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground and prayed’, 14. 35.
Matthew adds, ‘he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed’, 26. 39. With His face pressing the dust of the earth, that was cursed because of sin, Gen. 3. 17, He knew that on the morrow He would suffer and die on the cross. To redeem us from the curse of the law, He would be made a curse for us, Gal. 3. 13.
John does not refer to the prostration of the Lord on the ground in the garden. By contrast, He speaks of how the arresting party fell to the ground before His glory, John 18. 6.
The true bread is in contrast to the manna. It was for a limited number, the children of Israel; for a limited time, forty years in the wilderness. When they reached Canaan, the manna ceased. It only sustained those who ate of it for the journey through the wilderness. In process of time, they died.
We see a vivid picture of the Lord Jesus in His incarnation. Seven times in the chapter, we read ‘He came down from heaven’, 6. 32, 33, 38, 41, 50, 51, 58. Darby translates the words, ‘come/comes down out of heaven’, cp. the true light, 1. 8, 9. The contrast is with John the Baptist who was not that light but came to bear witness of the light.2
Clearly the bread is a man, the Lord Jesus, 6. 33. Christ is the bread of God. He is the One who continually and eternally brought delight to God’s heart, Prov. 8. 30. God has sent His Son that He might give life unto the world, abundant life for all who will receive Him.
The hymn writer penned the words,
‘O what is all that earth can give?
I’m called to share in God’s own joy;
Dead to the world, in Thee I live,
In Thee I’ve bliss without alloy’.3
‘I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst’, John 6. 35. The one who has come down from heaven to give life unto the world is able to save and satisfy every person who comes to Him.
‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven’, 6. 51. How are we to understand what the Lord meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood? This is not a reference to the Lord’s supper; the emblems do not become the actual body and blood of Christ. The words of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 6 were spoken before the Lord’s supper was instituted in the upper room.
‘The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ v. 52. As the Jews were asking the question among themselves, the Lord said in verse 53, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you’. The Lord Jesus is clearly speaking of His suffering and death on the cross for the potential blessing of all mankind. What is meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood? He was not speaking of His physical body but using it as a spiritual message. When He said, ‘he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst’, v. 35, it is clearly spiritual hunger and thirst. It could not possibly mean that the person who comes to Christ will never again feel natural hunger or thirst thereafter. He was not speaking of the satisfaction of physical hunger and thirst but rather a spiritual blessing that those who come to Him would receive. When we eat and drink, our body assimilates food and we derive benefit from it; we come into the good of it. The Lord Jesus suffered and died on the cross, more than 2, 000 years ago. When a person repents of their sins and trusts in Him for salvation, they immediately come into the good of all He accomplished at Calvary. By faith we partake of the bread of life and come into the possession of life eternal.
Not only does receiving Christ as the bread of life bring salvation but it also brings satisfaction. Note what He said in verse 35, ‘I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst‘. Not only salvation and satisfaction, but also union with the Lord Himself, v. 55.
Well might every believer say from a full heart, ‘Lord, evermore give us this bread’, 6. 34.
Your Basket Is Empty