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Scripture Reading: John 6:22-35, 37, 47-54, 56-58, 63
John 6:22-35 and 37 say, “The next day the crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there had been no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. But other small boats from Tiberias came near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did You get here? Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, You seek Me not because you have seen signs, but because you ate of the bread and were filled. Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for Him has the Father, even God, sealed. Then they said to Him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe into Him whom He has sent. They said then to Him, What sign then will You do that we may see and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread out of heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. They said therefore to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst...All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and him who comes to Me I shall by no means cast out.”
John 6 continues, “Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh, given for the life of the world. The Jews then contended with one another, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day...He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread shall live forever...It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (vv. 47-54, 56-58, 63).
The Gospel of John shows eight kinds of people whom the Lord Jesus contacted on the earth. In the previous chapters we saw the first three kinds: the moral, the immoral, and the impotent. Now we will consider the fourth kind — the hungry.
Everyone in the world is hungry. Hunger is different from thirst. However, both hunger and thirst speak of man’s inward need. The need of the hungry is that they are dissatisfied inwardly. This kind of person is the most common in humanity.
The eight kinds of people depicted in the Gospel of John do not merely represent eight separate kinds of people in humanity. These eight kinds of people represent eight conditions in every person. Every person has the condition of Nicodemus, the moral person spoken of in chapter 3, and the condition of the Samaritan woman, the immoral woman spoken of in chapter 4. Every person also has the condition of the impotent man in chapter 5, who had been sick for thirty-eight years, and the condition of the hungry described in chapter 6. We are moral because we want to do good, but we do not understand the spiritual things of God. We are immoral because we are always dissatisfied inwardly, and we sin to find satisfaction. We have been sick for many years because we know what we should do and are willing to do it, but we do not have the power. We are also the hungry because we are dissatisfied inwardly.
We have the intention to do good, but we lust after sins, and we continually desire to do good but do not have the power; we also seek after things because we are dissatisfied inwardly. Hence, every one of us has the conditions of these four kinds of people. We should not think that we are represented by only one kind of person. The conditions of the eight kinds of people depicted in the Gospel of John can be seen in each one of us.
John selected these eight kinds of people to show how the Lord Jesus meets the needs of every kind of person. No matter what kind of person we are and no matter what kind of needs we have, the Lord Jesus is able to meet our needs. This is the significance of the eight kinds of people recorded in the Gospel of John. Now we will consider how the Lord Jesus meets the need of the hungry.
The hungry people were by the seaside (6:22-25). They wanted to eat bread and be filled; hence, they sought the Lord Jesus (v. 26). They sought the Lord Jesus on one side of the sea and on the other side of the sea. They were by the seaside. This account has symbolic meaning. In the Bible the sea is the dwelling place of demons and symbolizes the world corrupted by Satan, the world filled with sin. The seaside is adjacent to the sea and signifies the place where people live a sinful life. The seaside is adjacent to the dwelling place of demons. People do not live in the sea with the demons, but they walk by the seaside, which is very close to the dwelling place of demons. People do not live the life of demons; people are not demons, but they live a life that is very close to the demons. They are by the seaside; they are close to demons. People in the world live a sinful life by the “seaside.” Thoughtful people acknowledge that humanity is full of sins. This sinful humanity is the seaside. It is full of corruption and sin and very close to the demons.
This portion of the Scriptures reveals that the people who walked around the seaside were inwardly dissatisfied. Nothing in their sinful life could satisfy them, and nothing enabled them to live forever. They had a genuine need, the need for eternal life. On the one hand, they lived a sinful life. On the other hand, they were dissatisfied with their human life. These people lived in sin, they lived a sinful life, but they did not sense that they were sinful. They only felt dissatisfied with their human life. Therefore, on the one hand, they sought the Lord, but on the other hand, they lived a sinful life.
This is still the situation today. On the one hand, people live a sinful life, and on the other hand, they are dissatisfied with their human life. On the one hand, they sin, but on the other hand, they are seeking. Human existence consists of committing sins, being hungry, and seeking. Besides committing sins and being dissatisfied and seeking, there is nothing else for people in the world to do. If we observe humanity, we will discover that everything related to humanity involves these two things. Every product on the market is either related to sin and entertainment or related to meeting people’s needs. Hence, people are either sinning or seeking. People are seeking because they feel dissatisfied and sense an inward need.
The hungry people sought the Lord Jesus because they hoped to receive physical food from Him to satisfy their hunger. However, the Lord Jesus said to them, “Work not for the food which perishes” (v. 27). The word perish is quite emphatic. The Lord Jesus seemed to be saying, “You people see only what is present. You see the tangible instead of the intangible and the earthly instead of the heavenly. You care for the body instead of the soul and the spirit, and you care for the temporal instead of the eternal. You seek physical things instead of spiritual things. Everything that you seek will perish. Every physical thing in this world will perish. Hence, do not seek physical food, and do not work for the food that perishes.”
Food is for man’s satisfaction. In principle, therefore, food is whatever man seeks to be filled with or whatever man seeks to satisfy his need. If someone seeks money, money is his food. If he seeks education, education is his food. If he seeks a good family and a career, his family and career are his food. If he seeks clothing and beautification, clothing and beautification become his food. Whatever man seeks in order to be satisfied is his food. From the perspective of the Lord Jesus, however, this food will perish. A very expensive garment will eventually deteriorate, even if it is not worn. The most delicious food will gradually rot if left untouched. Nothing related to fame, wealth, and position lasts forever.
In northern China people say that one rarely finds a household whose wealth lasts more than three generations. There is no sure way to keep wealth from one generation to the next generation. Wealth continually changes hands in human society. Other things, such as education and position, also cannot be maintained. They are temporary attainments. Everything related to human life is temporary; it will soon disappear. All things perish.
Regrettably, people are willing to be deceived by the things that perish. Although these things perish and cannot last forever, people seek them and refuse to wake up and repent. People are continually deceived by physical things. Many people declare that physical things are practical and that physical things can be realized, but physical things cannot last even if they are practical. Physical things vanish and disappear after a short period of time.
Some people say that material riches also undergo chemical changes. Material riches do not need to be spent. In time they will undergo chemical changes and disappear. Those who rely on material riches for satisfaction must realize that material riches will disappear even if they are not spent.
Everything will disappear. A good son will eventually pass away. A good family may collapse for no reason. A good relationship between a husband and wife may dissolve one day for no apparent reason. All these things are food that perishes; they are deceptions. Even if a person gains all these things, he will still be empty because these things cannot satisfy him. Man does not lack these things; they are not man’s genuine need.
People know that they have a need, but they do not know what they need. Because they have the wrong concept that physical things can satisfy their needs, they do their best to gain physical things. This is like the hungry people who sought the Lord but did not know their true need. These people thought that they needed physical bread, but their true need was the bread of eternal life. For this reason the Lord Jesus told them, “Work not for the food which perishes.”
The Lord Jesus spoke a long word to show these people that their real need was not physical food but eternal life (v. 27). Eternal life does not perish; it exists forever and abides unto eternity. The Lord Jesus said that He is eternal life; He is the food that abides unto eternal life. He is the One who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. He is the bread of life (v. 35). Anyone who comes to Him shall by no means hunger, and anyone who believes into Him shall by no means ever thirst (v. 35). He is what man needs. Only He can supply man and give man true satisfaction. Only He can be man’s life and cause man to live forever. He does not give man physical bread but the bread of life. He gives man spiritual life, not physical things.
Man’s real need is life. Without the divine life, everything in the human life comes to an end. The human life lacks the divine life. The human life is insufficient and empty; it cannot meet man’s need. The human life is also temporary and mortal; it cannot enable man to live forever. Only the life of the Lord Jesus is rich, solid, and eternal. His life can meet every need of the human life and enable man to live forever. The life of the Lord Jesus is the Lord Himself (1:4). He wants to enter into man to be man’s life and life supply for man’s satisfaction. For this reason the Lord Jesus said, “He who comes to Me shall by no means hunger” (6:35). The phrase by no means hunger implies that there will be no lack, no emptiness; it means “being filled and satisfied.” The Lord Jesus said that we should work for Him, the food that abides unto eternal life. This means that we should choose Him, receive Him, and gain Him.
We need to be prudent. Those who are prudent make good choices. Why should we choose what is inferior over what is superior? Why should we choose something that perishes over something that abides unto eternal life? Human history proves that physical things do not abide unto eternal life. Why are we still deceived by physical things? Why do we not choose the food that abides unto eternal life? This food is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our real need.
Christ said to those who were hungry and seeking Him, “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh...He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life... For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him” (vv. 51, 54-56). He seemed to be saying, “I came to be the bread of life for you to eat and enjoy. You can eat Me and enjoy Me. If you eat Me, you will have eternal life; you will receive Me into you as your life.” This word is perplexing and hard to understand. It is no wonder that those who heard this word said to one another, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (v. 52). They asked how He could be their food.
The Lord Jesus said, “My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink” (v. 55). The significance of this statement is very profound. When we eat mutton or beef, we are eating the flesh of a sheep or a cow. In order for a sheep or a cow to give us its flesh to eat, it must first be killed. When it is killed, it will shed its blood. What the Lord Jesus said has the Old Testament as its background. We may not understand what the Lord Jesus said, but the Jews understood Him. The Jews celebrated the Feast of the Passover every year. During this feast they killed a lamb and ate its flesh, and they applied the blood of the slaughtered lamb on the doorposts and the lintel (cf. Exo. 12). The Jews understood the passover, and the Lord Jesus said this to remind them of the passover. He seemed to be saying, “The blood of the passover lamb redeemed you from your sins, and the flesh of the lamb became your food to satisfy you. I will be the same to you. I will be slain and will shed My blood just like the lamb. My blood will redeem you from your sins, and My slain flesh will become your food to satisfy you. Without My shed blood, you cannot be redeemed from your sins. Without My slain flesh, you cannot receive the indestructible, eternal life. Without Me as your bread of life, you will die in your sins. I am the bread of life. If you eat of Me as the bread of life, you shall by no means die, because this bread of life is the living flesh. In order for you to eat My living flesh, My blood must be shed. My shed blood redeems you from all your sins before God. When you are redeemed from your sins, you will also be delivered out of condemnation and death. Moreover, My living flesh, the eternal life, will enter into you so that you may live forever. Therefore, he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and lives forever.”
When Jesus Christ said that His flesh was true food and that His blood was true drink, He was referring to His death on the cross in which He gave His body and shed His blood for our redemption from sins so that we might receive Him as our life.
There are two key points here. First, every person is sinful before God. As a result, according to the righteous law of God, we deserve to die. Therefore, no one can escape death. Death means perdition. This is our first condition. Second, our human life does not have the ability to live forever. Our life is mortal. Therefore, we are not living daily; we are dying daily. The more we live, the closer we are to death. We live until the day we die. When the Chinese celebrate the New Year or any joyful occasion, they like to write words, such as blessing, prosperity, longevity, joy, and peace from heaven, on red paper and post them. However, no one writes the word death, and no one wants to mention it, because no one likes death. Whether or not we like death, one day death will come and swallow us up. This is our second condition. Thus, we have these two conditions: sin and death.
In order for Christ to give Himself to us as our life, He must first deal with sin and death, because these are our conditions. How does He deal with sin and death? On the one hand, He gave His body and shed His blood on the cross. He shed His blood to redeem us from our sins before God. On the other hand, when His body was broken and slain on the cross, the divine life within Him was released (John 12:24). Now this life can enter into us to be our life, thus delivering us from death. Let us use a grain of wheat as an example. When the grain is sown into the soil, its outer shell is broken, and the life within the seed is released. This life then grows into wheat and bears many grains. In this way the life that was originally in one grain is released into many grains. How wonderful is Christ’s salvation! He shed His blood to wash away our sins, and His body was broken to release the life within Him. If you believe that He died for you on the cross and shed His blood to redeem you from your sins, you will receive Him. Then His life will become your life, and His element will become your element.
Animals need to pass through death in order to become man’s food and enjoyment, and plants also need to pass through death in order to become man’s food and enjoyment. Every living thing needs to pass through death in order to become man’s food. Birds, cattle, and sea animals and also fruit, grain, and herbs must pass through death, through breaking, before they can become our food, enjoyment, and nourishment. Likewise, in order to become the bread of life for our enjoyment, Jesus Christ passed through death. He said that His flesh is true food and that His blood is true drink. This implies His death, because death is needed in order for flesh to be separated from the blood. When the Lord Jesus died, His blood and flesh were separated (cf. 19:34). Hence, we can enjoy Him. Through the death that separated His flesh and blood, He became the bread of life. Now we can eat Him as our life supply.
Jesus Christ the Savior does not teach doctrines; rather, He enters into man to be assimilated by man as man’s food, life, and enjoyment. How does the Lord Jesus give Himself to us? He gave Himself to us on the cross when His body was broken and His blood was shed. His blood washes away our sins and resolves our case before God so that our sins may be forgiven. Furthermore, through His death on the cross His life was released and entered into us to be our bread of life and our element. Thus, He is assimilated into us. If you are willing to believe in Him, you will eat His flesh and drink His blood; in other words, you will eat and enjoy Him.
Jesus Christ gave Himself to us by dying on the cross and shedding His blood so that He can be the bread of life to us. But how can we receive Him as our life? How can we enjoy Him as the bread of life? In principle, we need to eat and drink Him. If we want to receive nourishment, we need to eat and drink. Likewise, if we want to receive Christ as the bread of life, we need to eat and drink Him into our being. On the cross His flesh and blood were separated so that we might eat and drink of Him and thus receive Him into our being. Eating and drinking is receiving. Receiving is believing. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him...to those who believe into His name.” Hence, to believe into Jesus Christ is to receive Him, which is also to eat and drink Him. In John 6 the Lord Jesus said, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (v. 54), and He also said, “He who believes has eternal life” (v. 47). This shows that to believe into Him is to eat His flesh and drink His blood. When we believe that Jesus Christ died and gave Himself up for us on the cross, we are eating His flesh. When we believe that He bore our sins and shed His blood on the cross, we are drinking His blood. When we believe that through death Jesus Christ gave Himself up for us, shed His blood, and bore our sins on our behalf, we are receiving Him into our being. Such believing by eating and drinking is to receive Him as our Savior and our life. If you believe in such a way, you receive Christ. Not only so, Christ enters into your being as your life for your enjoyment.
Perhaps some people still do not understand how Jesus Christ enters into our being when we believe in Him. They may still ask, “How does Jesus come into us to be our food when we believe that He died and shed His blood for us? How can He become our life simply by our believing in Him?” This is truly incomprehensible. It is more reasonable and easier to believe that Jesus Christ died for us on the cross and shed His blood to wash away our sins. Many people find it hard to understand that simply by believing in Jesus Christ, He will enter into them to be their life. In John 6 those who heard this word also said, “This word is hard; who can hear it?” (v. 60). They could not understand the meaning of the Lord’s words. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said to them, “It is the Spirit who gives life” (v. 63).
Here the Lord Jesus made a turn to the Spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life. We receive life when we believe in the Lord Jesus, because He gives life to us through the Spirit and because He is the Spirit. We receive life when we believe that He gave Himself up for us on the cross and shed His blood, because when we believe, the Spirit enters into us to give us life. Therefore, the Lord said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (v. 63).
Christ is God becoming flesh to be our Savior so that we may receive Him as our life. On the cross Jesus Christ was crucified, and His blood was shed so that He might redeem us from our sins. Furthermore, on the cross He released His divine life for us to receive. Then He rose from the dead and became the life-giving Spirit so that He might enter into our spirit. Regardless of where a person may be, as soon as he believes in Jesus Christ, the Spirit will enter into him to be his life. This may be likened to a radio broadcast — as long as sound is turned into radio waves, any radio, no matter where it is, can receive the radio waves. Man can contact Christ in the Spirit, and Christ can become man’s life as the Spirit.
Jesus Christ said that those who believe in Him have eternal life and that those who believe that He died and shed His blood have life. We have life by believing in Him because it is the Spirit who gives life. Where is the Spirit? How do we touch the Spirit? How does the Spirit give life? After saying that it is the Spirit who gives life, the Lord Jesus also said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (v. 63). The Lord seemed to be saying, “My words are the Spirit. When the Spirit enters into you, He is life. If you receive My words, you will touch the Spirit and receive life.” Therefore, the Spirit who gives life is in the word of Christ. Through the word of Christ we can touch the Spirit and receive the life of Christ.
We cannot carry sounds with us, but we can record them on an audiotape. Wherever we take the audiotape, we also take the sounds. Whoever receives the audiotape also receives the sounds on the tape. The Spirit of Christ and the life of Christ are contained in His word. I cannot give you the Spirit of Christ and the life of Christ, but I can speak the word of Christ. When you receive this word, believing this word in your heart, the Spirit of Christ and the life of Christ will enter into you. Sounds are abstract, but when they are recorded on an audiotape, they become concrete. In the same way, the Spirit and the divine life are abstract, but in the word of Christ they become concrete.
As long as you receive the word of Christ in your heart, His Spirit will enter into you, and you will receive His life. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst” (v. 35). He also said, “He who believes has eternal life” (v. 47). Simply grasp one sentence, and you will receive the Spirit and the divine life. You may say, “Lord, I receive You as my bread of life.” Or you may tell Him, “Lord, I come to You. I believe in You. I believe what You say.” Then the Spirit with His life will immediately enter into you.
The words of Christ are spirit and life because Jesus Christ is God, and God is the Spirit and life. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh.” The Word is Christ. He is God becoming flesh. Therefore, He is the Spirit and life. Jesus Christ is God, the Spirit, and life. Thus, the words that He speaks must also be the Spirit and life.
Jesus Christ died for you on the cross. He has released His life so that you may receive His life. He shed His blood to cleanse you from your sins. He has done everything for you. If you believe that He died for you and shed His blood for you, you will eat Him. In other words, you will receive Him into your being by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. As soon as you believe, the Spirit and the divine life will enter into you, and He will become your life. As evidence, He has given you His word; you can hold on to His word. His words are Spirit and life. As long as you hold on to His word, the Spirit and the divine life will be yours. As soon as you believe in His word, you receive the Spirit and the divine life. It is the Spirit who gives life. The Spirit is in His word. If you believe in His word, you will receive the Spirit, and the Spirit will give you life. You can trust His word. People often say that you need to trust their word. If you have their word, they are obligated to you. Christ has given you His word as something that you can hold on to. If you hold on to His word, you will gain Him. His word is Spirit and life. When you believe and receive His word, you will receive the Spirit and the divine life.
