Bread of Life

Dear Brethren,

Jesus said, "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, 48)  The Lord's Passover is the most important and solemn Feast of the year. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there is no forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is the Bread of Life who gives us eternal life. As the True Passover Lamb, Jesus sacrificed His body and blood to deliver us from the penalty of our sins and give us eternal life.
 
Christians are commanded to observe the Passover each year.  "Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19) "Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  (Passover is a salvational requirement.) Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:53-54)
 
How is it possible to eat the flesh of Jesus, and drink His blood? If nothing else, it poses a logistical problem:  Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into heaven nearly 2000 years ago (Acts 1:9-11). In an attempt to solve this problem, the great superstitious Roman Church invented the concept of transubstantiation - meaning, that bread wafers and wine are actually changed into the literal flesh and blood of Jesus - and that by taking of the wafer and wine, eternal life is assured. This ritual of the eucharist, (as they refer to it), replaces the requirement on their part to embrace the Biblical teachings, principles, and laws of Christ. They eliminate the meaning of Passover, while substituting the pagan, Easter. Jesus said, "My Father gives you the True Bread from heaven." (John 6:32)
 
What then do these Scriptural words mean, "Eat my flesh, and drink my blood?" These are hard words, indeed, but we understand that they are a definite and clear picture of the True Passover Lamb being consumed. Jesus is the True Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). It is the words and teachings of Jesus Christ that are able to give life. "It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)
 
If we are to follow Him, we must put on Jesus Christ until He becomes the very substance of our existence.  His principles must be our principles.  His words must be our words.  His thoughts must be our thoughts.  We must willingly lay down our lives for one another – just as He was sacrificed for us.  We must follow Jesus until we become exactly like Him in the way we think, reason, and act. That is when Christ is in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Paul demonstrated this concept when he wrote,  "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
 
"Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body... This cup is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:19-20) The true "Bread of Life," Jesus Christ, must live within us, enabling us to live an entirely new life. In the yearly New Testament Passover service, the unleavened bread and wine are the gracious symbols that Jesus selected to take the place of His flesh that was once sacrificed, and His blood that was once shed.  The wine is Jesus’ own chosen representation of His very life blood that He shed once and for all – but He does not intend for the point to be lost on us that it is only by His blood that we have the remission of our sins (Ephesians 1:7).
 
Passover originated with creation and the inception of the Plan of God. Jesus was, "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). This verse means that it was a foregone conclusion that Jesus would have to die for the sins of the world.  Jesus maintained the same original concepts of deliverance and salvation in the New Testament Passover, that He incorporated in the Old Testament Passover that He gave to ancient Israel. "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."  (John 1:29)
 
Jesus was the Passover Lamb, fulfilling the very meaning of Passover, and He changed the New Testament symbols to bread and wine to represent His body and blood. Jesus said of the bread, "Take, eat; this is my body..." just as He had told the Israelites in Egypt to eat the flesh of the Passover lamb (Matthew 26:26, Exodus 12:7-8). 
 
When we participate in the Passover service by partaking of the symbols of His body and blood, we express our faith in Christ's death on our behalf, and renew our commitment to allow Jesus to live His life in us. Jesus said, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you...At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." (John 14:18,20)
 
Brethren, Passover is the most serious, important, and solemn Feast of the year. Pray for one another that we may take of the Bread of Life worthily. "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." (1Co 11:27-28)

***

Sermon:  "Bread of Life"      
This is #12 in the series: A Blending of the Gospel Accounts.


image
image