I AM the Bread of Life

I AM The Bread of Life

                                                             (The first of Seven I AM’s)                                               

 

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ‘I AM’  (John8:58)                 Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah, Yahweh, who spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:14)

(In context, John 8:48-59)

Jesus said to them, “I AM the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me (John 6:38).

For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:40).

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63).

Jesus said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Jesus not only provides bread that leads to eternal life; He is the Bread of Life!

We read in John chapter one that Jesus is the Word that became flesh and made His dwelling among us, He is the glorious and Only Son from the Father, and He is full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

In Hebrews we read a description of God’s Word.  It is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, it pierces to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of our heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Ephesians 6:17 tells us that the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.  In all our spiritual battles the Holy Spirit will take the Word of God and use it to defend us and to defeat the enemy. 

In Ephesians 5:25-26 we read Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the Word.

We have been taught, with regard to our former way of life, to put off our old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitudes of our minds, and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24). 

We cannot just put off our old attitudes without replacing them with godly attitudes.  Whatever you put off will be replaced either by worldly affections or godly affections.  We need to be in God’s Word regularly, (daily according to Jesus in Matthew 4:4), in order to progressively put off the old self, and to put on and practice living out Christ-like attitudes.  The Holy Spirit is our Helper and Teacher in this, as He takes the Word of God and causes us to delight in it.  Our desire to know God deeper will grow the more we are in His Word.  The more deeply we go into His Word, the hungrier we get as we delight in discovering truths that we may have not noticed before.  .  

Peter tells us to prepare ourselves for action, to be self-controlled and to set our hope fully on the grace to be given us through Christ Jesus.  As His children we have been set free from enslavement to evil desires, and we are to purify our ways by obeying the truth so that we have a sincere and deep love for the brethren.  For we have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of God (taken from 1 Peter 13-23).

According to Peter, we are to crave God’s Word so that we may grow up in our salvation (1 Peter 2:2)

The Bereans,  in Acts 17:11, give us a good example of learning how to be “discerning of what is correct doctrine and what is false doctrine”.  If we do not examine what we are taught or what we watch online, we could be led astray from the truth of God’s Word.  Besides this reason, for people who are on their way to heaven, do we not want to know more about God now, and His Word?  Do we not want to be living our best in light of His Word so we will not be ashamed when we meet Him face to face?  No, we will not get our living out His Word here perfected until after He comes back, but we are to be progressively allowing His Word, ignited by His Spirit, to change our desires and attitudes to reflect Christ’s, to increase our love for each other, and to enable us to live by faith upon faith until He comes.  We must always rely on  the Holy Spirit to open God’s Word to us and enable us to apply it to our lives.  The Holy Spirit always works in accordance with God’s Word and never contrary to it. The Holy Spirit will always give glory to Christ Jesus.

~Annie~