Give Us This Bread
Jesus had just fed the people and left the area. They followed because they wanted Him to Give Us This Bread again. They wanted a miracle worker.
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22-25. It appeared that Jesus had just disappeared. They knew that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with His disciples but where had He gone? “The crowd was really wanting to know how He had been able to get away as He did.” (McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible: Volume IV: [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983], 404)
26. Jesus “knew that the people originally followed Him because of His miracles (John 6:2), but now their motive was to get fed!…Now their interest degenerated to the level of food. (Wiersbe, Warren W, The Bible Exposition Commentary New Testament Volume 1 Matthew-Galatians. [Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2004], 311)
“This phrase emphasizes Jesus’ point that the crowds which followed Him were motivated by superficial desires of food rather than any understanding of the true spiritual significance of Jesus’ person and mission (8:14-21; Mark 6:52).” (MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Bible Commentary. [Nashville, Thomas Nelson Inc., 2005], 1374)
Bread for Life
27. “What the people needed was not food but life, and life is a gift. Food only sustains life, but Jesus gives eternal life.” (Wiersbe, 311) Isaiah 55:2
28. “Man feels thoroughly capable of working out his own salvation. He feels competent to do it, and he feels that God must accept his works.” (McGee, 404)
29. I read several translations and they all say the work of God is to believe in Him whom He sent. [NKJV]
Jesus is asking us to believe in Him whom God sent.
30. The people wanted a sign!
31. Moses gave us manna. Psalm 78:24
32. “Moses was not the provider of bread. So Jesus turned their statement around and announced that the Father was active not merely in the past with Moses but was in their midst giving (present tense) them in Jesus the ‘true bread from heaven.’” (Borchert, Gerald L., The New American Commentary Volume 25A, John 1-11. [Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002], 263)
“V. 33 ties the entire matter together by emphasizing that the gift of bread comes down from heaven and provides life to the world.” (Borchert, 263)
Bread of God. “This phrase is synonymous with the phrase ‘Bread of heaven’ (v32).” (MacArthur, 1374)
34. “‘Lord, give us this bread always [NKJV].’ This statement once again demonstrated the blindness of the crowd, for they were thinking of some physical bread and failed to understand the spiritual implication that Jesus was that ‘bread’ (cf. 4:15).” (MacArthur, 1374)
Come to Jesus
35. “Jesus clearly identified what the bread is: He is the true Living Bread that came down from heaven. But He came, not only for Israel but for the whole world. And He came, not just to sustain life, but to give life! Seven times in this sermon, our Lord referred to His ‘coming down from heaven’ (John 6:33, 38, 41-42, 50-51, 58), a statement that declared Him to be God.” (Wiersbe, 311)
36. “You have seen Me, and you do not believe.” (McGee, 405)
“Mere physical seeing of Jesus did not guarantee believing (cf. 6:40).” (Borchert, 264)
37. “To come to Jesus means to believe on Him, Believing is not merely an intellectual thing, giving mental assent to some doctrine. It means to come to Christ and yield yourself to Him. (Wiersbe, 312)
“Because coming to Jesus involves a divine dimension, believers who are enabled to come can have a sense of confidence and assurance that they will neither be cast out by Jesus nor misplaced or lost by Jesus.” (Borchert, 265)
Believe in Jesus
38. “How wonderful it is that the will of God is for you to come to Him. Jesus came down from heaven because ‘the Son of man must be lifted up.’ He came to do the Father’s will in that, and it is the Father’s will that you be born again. But you will have to come to Him, friend; that is the only way. You must come to the Lord Jesus by faith.” (McGee, 406)
39. “He assured them that nobody who came to Him would ever be lost but would be raised at the last day.” (Wiersbe, 312)
40. “This verse emphasizes human responsibility in salvation. Although God is sovereign, He works through faith, so that a man must believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God who alone offers the only way of salvation (cf. 14:6)
References
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
In this article Scripture quotations taken from KJV.
Borchert, Gerald L., The New American Commentary Volume 25A, John 1-11. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002
McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible: Volume IV: Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983
MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Bible Commentary. Nashville, Thomas Nelson Inc., 2005
Wiersbe, Warren W, The Bible Exposition Commentary New Testament Volume 1 Matthew-Galatians. Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2004