I am the Bread of Life
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 KJV)
Jesus miraculously fed 5000 men with five loaves of bread and two fishes in a desert to the astonishment of the people. He then proceeded in His teaching and told them He is the living bread. The people had just eaten Bread to quench their physical hunger and could relate better to what Jesus just told them:
In verse 33, He told them:
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world (John 6:33 KJV).
Bread, in general, is whatever gives life. Physical bread sustains physical life. Spiritual Bread gives and sustains spiritual life. The true Bread of heaven is not some entity but Someone. Jesus is God’s Bread that came down from heaven to earth so that humans can receive God’s eternal life as a gift.
Whoever eats that Bread receives the gift of eternal life. We eat that Bread when we know and believe in Him. Jesus explained this truth in the 53rd verse using His flesh and His blood as food! The people were not happy about it and questioned why He would want them to eat His flesh and His blood. However, He was not talking about His physical flesh and blood.
Please note that the Bread satisfies both our hunger and thirst! The Spirit is in the Word!
Related post: Daily bread from heaven for you.
Meditate
What is the meaning of bread as used above? Why does Jesus call Himself the living bread or the bread that gives life?
Apply the Word
You ate Jesus when you believed Him as your Lord and Savior! You continue to eat this Bread as you know and believe the Word today. Keep feeding on the Master!
Pray
Thank the Father for the gift of Jesus as the Bread from heaven that gives life to the world.
Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Leviticus 20:7–8, KJV)
As the Great I AM that I AM, God revealed Himself as the Lord who sanctifies His people in the Old Covenant—Jehovah Mekaddishkem. But this was only a shadow of something greater that was coming in the New Testament.
Jehovah Mekaddishkem is the English transliteration of the Hebrew words for “I am the Lord which sanctify you” ( “mekaddish” = sanctify, “kem” = you). Divine names and titles in the Old Testament often reveal an aspect of God in relation to His people.
There are three keywords that underlie the meaning of sanctification: “wash,” “consecrate,” and “separate.” Sanctification essentially means to make something holy. Sinlessness is a core aspect of holiness, but there is more to holiness than sinlessness. It is the very nature of God. However, when used in reference to us humans, it means to be cleaned from sin, set apart for God, and consecrated to Him.
In the passage above, God tells the people first to sanctify themselves and then reveals He is the One who sanctifies them. Thus, He gives us the two sides of sanctification—the God side and the human side. There’s something God does and something His people do for their sanctification.
This truth was only a shadow in the Old Testament. It is in Christ that we see God fully revealed as Jehovah Mekaddishkem to His people through the sanctifying work on the cross. In speaking to the Corinthians, Paul revealed,
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, KJV)
This is Jehovah Mekaddishkem fulfilled in Christ: We were washed and sanctified. Note that these are in past tense, describing something God has already done. The day you received Christ, you received the bath of your life, a heavenly bath by the Spirit of God that removed every stain of sin through the precious blood of Christ. And as you continue to live on earth, the Spirit continues to sanctify you daily.
Following the sanctifying work He has already done in us, He commands us,
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, KJV)
Now that you are clean, washed, and sanctified, He tells us to put that sanctification to work outwardly. Paul explicit states it is what God wants—His will. He gives us a very specific example of sanctification here: abstain from sexual immorality. Few things defile us, like sexual impurity. But sanctification certainly includes more than abstaining from fornication or adultery. As above, it includes living a consecrated and separated life to God daily in the way we talk, act, think, feel, and handle our bodies.
He is Jehovah Mekaddishkem, the God who has Sanctified you in Christ and continues to sanctify you every day.
Meditate
Is our sanctification completed, ongoing, or both?
Apply the Word
This is the crucial part of this devotional. Until you receive the truth that God has already sanctified you by His Spirit, you will not be empowered to be sanctified practically. Put God’s sanctification power to work in your life daily by faith in the finished work of Christ.
Pray
Ask the Lord to help you in your daily walk of sanctification.
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