Author: iolaHC

I am an Artwork in progress

I Am the Bread of Life

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John 6:30-35 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 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. 

The Jews questioned Christ and asked Him to give them a sign to prove that He is the Messiah and the Son of God. To them, His multiplying of bread didn’t prove it, because Moses gave Israel bread for 40 years and He did not claim to be the Messiah or the Son of God.

Jesus answers them that Moses did not give them the true bread that feeds the soul and sustains eternal life, but mere temporal bread that feeds the body only (Exo. 16:15; Psa. 78:24). They still understood Him as speaking of temporal food.

John 6:35 is the twelfth New Testament prophecy in John that is being fulfilled. Jesus is described as seven typologies in John: “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35-51); “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12; 9:5); “I am the Door of the Sheep” (John 10:7-9) “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11-14); “I am the Resurrection and Life” (John 11:25); “I am the Way, Truth, and Life” (John 14:6); “I am the True Vine” (John 15:1-6).

Will never thirst because he can have “rivers of living water” flowing out of his innermost being (John 7:37-39). The abundant fullness of the Holy Spirit will meet every need and solve every problem (Matt. 17:20; 21:22; John 14:12-17, 26; 15:7, 16, 26; 16:7-15; Acts 1:4-8; 8:26).

Work the Works of God

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John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent.

‘Work the works of God’ – we are commanded to let men see our good works and glorify God (Matt. 5:16) and to show faith by works (Jas. 1:22-27; 2:9-26). People “zealous of good works” are the only kind that is redeemed (Tit. 2:11-14). A desire to do miracles is not sinful if the motive is right. There can be a right and a wrong motive behind everything and a right and wrong way to do everything. Lucifer (Isa. 14:12-14) and Adam (Gen. 3:1-14) had a noble desire to be like God, but the motive behind it and the methods they used were sinful. One should desire this more than his necessary food, but he must go about it the way Christ set the example – by emptying Himself (Php. 2:5-11). Jesus did not rebuke even these selfish people for wanting miraculous power. He gave them the only true answer.

This answer to the question of what to do to work the works of God is the clearest one possible. It gives the sum total of all answers to the question. It has been so lightly passed over and limited in meaning to a mere faith that Jesus is the Son of God and to forgiveness of sins only. How far from the whole truth this is! Faith and forgiveness are a part of what is referred to, but not all. Receiving the power from on high to “work the works of God” is included (Mark 16:15-20; Luke 24:49; John 14:12).

Everlasting Life

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John 6:26-27 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 

The next day, the crowd from the previous day saw that there was no other boat there, except the one His disciples entered with, and that Jesus did not go with His disciples in the boat, but that His disciples left alone. When they, therefore, saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also went to Capernaum by ship, seeking Jesus.

When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him when He came over. Jesus answered them that they seek Him not because they saw miracles, but because He gave them food and they ate; not as being convinced by visible miracles, which should lead godly men to acknowledge Him as Messiah, but as by appetite, which leads sensual men like beasts through the impulse of want and supply.

We get eternal life now and keep it forever if we meet the following conditions: Come to Christ (John 6:37, 44, 45, 65); know God and Christ (John 17:2-3); cause no offense (Matt. 18:8-9); forsake all (Matt. 19:27-29; Mark 10:28-30); overcome sin (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21); live free from sin (Rom. 5:21; 6:16-23; 8:1-13; Tit. 2:11-14); fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on it (1Tim. 6:12, 19); be sober and hope to the end for it (Tit. 1:2; 3:7; 1Pet. 1:5, 9, 13); endure temptations (Jas. 1:12); love everybody (1Jn. 3:14-15); keep yourself in the love of God, looking for eternal life (Jude 1:20-24); be faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10; Heb. 12:14-15); believe and obey the gospel (John 3:15-19, 36; 4:14; 5:24; 6:40, 47, 54; 2Cor. 5:17; Rom. 1:5); be born again, hear Christ, and follow Him (John 3:1-36; 10:27-29).

BUT eternal life does not become an unforfeitable eternal possession until we enter into it (Matt. 7:13; 18:8-9; 19:17; Rom. 6:22); receive it (Rom. 6:23; Jas. 1:12; 1Pet. 1:13; Rev. 2:10); reap it (Gal. 6:7-8); and inherit it in the world to come (Matt. 19:27-29; Mark 10:28-30; Luke 18:28-30), and at the end of this life (Rom. 6:22).

‘Him has God the Father sealed’ – confirmed by giving Him the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:33-34).

Jesus Walks on Water

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John 6:16-21 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

The disciples went over the sea toward Capernaum when it was getting dark, and Jesus was not with them. The sea became choppy and full of waves because of a great wind that was blowing.

When they rowed about 6 kilometres or halfway across, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. They perhaps thought Jesus would follow in a ship, but instead, He walked nearly 6 km on the water to help them in their new danger. He identified Himself to them by saying: ‘It is I; be not afraid.’

‘Immediately the ship was at the land’ – this is one of the greatest miracles of all – a whole ship taken from a storm in the middle of the sea was suddenly at the shore. It was no doubt carried by God’s power like Philip was carried physically through the air (Acts 8:39-40) about 40 kilometres to Azotus.

Twelve Baskets Filled

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John 6:12-15 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. 

‘Nothing be lost’ It is always a divine principle to use everything possible and waste nothing. God has always followed the principle of creating everything for a purpose and of using everything according to the created purpose. They filled twelve baskets which was twice as much leftover as when they started and yet 5,000 men were filled and fully satisfied. The twelve baskets refer one for each of the apostles.

‘That prophet’ the one spoken of in the law and prophets, refers to the Messiah (John 1:21, 45).

‘Therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king’ – this notable miracle was sufficient to cause an immediate political rally to make Christ king of the Jews. A man that could do this could defeat the Romans and the whole world, so they tried to take Him by force and make Him a king. Jesus did what every man must learn to do in times of popularity and temptation to be exalted over success – He slipped away from the crowd into some secret place to pray. What a lesson to learn! Would to God many men today who are constantly seeking to exalt themselves as God’s man of the hour would stumble on to this example and have grace to follow it. It is repulsive, to say the least, to hear and see the self-exaltation of such men. Proverbs 16:18 will be fulfilled many times in these days of pride and boastfulness over gifts and abilities, which, if really received, should make men humble and dependent upon God and as nothing before men.

Feeding the Five Thousand

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John 6:1-3,5-6,11  After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 

After Jesus’ second visit to Jerusalem to attend the second feast of the Jews, He went back to Galilee and passed over the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee from which the sea got its name. Great multitudes followed Him because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased.

Jesus went up the mountains where He sat with His disciples and then saw a great company come unto Him: He then asked where they shall buy bread so the multitudes can eat; He already knew what He was going to do.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, solved the problem for a very few, but Jesus solved it for the very many (John 6:9-13). He found a baker boy with his basket of barley loaves. Such boys are seen among crowds even today in the East.

On all such occasions, Jesus gave thanks to God for blessings already provided, putting emphasis on thankfulness rather than asking for food to be blessed. Everyone ate as much as they could eat, not only “take a little,” as expressed by Philip in John 6:7.

Search the Scriptures

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John 5:39-47 Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that come from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuse you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? 

Jesus accused the Jews of searching the Scriptures because they think they can find eternal life therein, whereas the Scriptures testify of Jesus giving eternal life to those who believe He is from the Father, yet the Jews rejected Him and thus they searched in vain. ‘Testify of me’ – His “works” were only indirect testimonies; the Father Himself has given direct testimony concerning Jesus (John 5:30-37; Mat. 3:17; 17:5). That kind of testimony cannot be derived by the Jews, for they have never heard the Father’s voice; (John 5:37) neither do they have the direct witness of the Spirit as all believers have, for they do not have His Word in them and they refuse to believe in Christ whom the Father has sent (John 5:38, 40). Yet there is one form of direct testimony of Jesus that they (and all others) can know – that is, if you will search the Scriptures.

Christ has never sought men’s honour – Greek: doxa, meaning approval or praise. The eleventh New Testament prophecy in John that is unfulfilled: ‘I am come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.’ All Christ’s works were done in the name of His Father (John 10:25). The future Antichrist will be received by the Jews and they will make a seven-year covenant with him (Dan. 8:25; 9:27). Just as so many come today in Christ Jesus’ name as deceivers (Matt. 24:5, 11, 24) and they have so many followers, yet He will at the time of judgement send them away (Matt. 7:22-23) for misusing His name and His Word (2Tim. 4:2-4).

Christ warned the Jews that they must not think He will have to accuse them, they considered Him an enemy, but Moses whom they trusted as a friend will accuse and condemn them in the judgment day.

‘But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?’ Here Christ bears full testimony to the divine authorship and authority of the Pentateuch. He also affirms that no man can believe His words if he does not believe Moses’ writings, for they confirm each other.

Witnesses to Jesus

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John 5:30-38 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that bears witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witness of me is true. You sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that you might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And you have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent him you believe not. 

The Son can do nothing of Himself (John 5:17,19, 30; 8:18, 28); He seeks not His own will, but the will of the Father (John 6:38); His doctrine is not His, but the Father’s who sent Him (John 7:16; 8:26,38).John 5:31

‘If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.’ For a witness to be legally true and acceptable there must be two or three witnesses (Deut. 17:6).

‘Another that bear witness of me’ this refers to the Father (John 7:28; 8:26; Mat. 3:17; 17:5). He did not here refer to John the Baptist who also witnessed of Him (John 5:33-35), but to the Father and the works which are greater witnesses than John (John 5:36-38).

John the Baptist ‘was a burning and a shining light’ which was a common rabbinic idiom for a famous man; the Jews rejoiced in him for a season, thus did they believed John to be a prophet. A prophet cannot lie, so why didn’t they believe what John said of Christ (John 1:29)?

‘You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His shape.’ – You Jews here today have never heard the Father’s voice as did Israel at Sinai (Deut. 5:22-33 and others in Mat. 3:17; 17:5); nor have you seen His shape as men in other ages have seen His physical form (Gen. 18:1-8; 32:24-30; Exo. 24:9-11; Jos. 5:13-15; Jdg. 6:11-23; 13:3-23; etc). This proves that God has both a voice and a bodily shape.

Resurrection of Life

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John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 

The ninth New Testament prophecy in John: ‘The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live’ are fulfilled and continuously being fulfilled as men turn to God for salvation. They that hear shall live (Acts 3:19; Rom. 10:9-17). ‘So hath He given to the Son to have life in himself’ – As God, this could not be true, but as the Son of man all life-giving powers and all authority to redeem and judge were given by the Father through the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1; Acts10:38; Mat. 12:28).

The tenth New Testament prophecy in John is unfulfilled ‘for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.’ Jesus is saying that we must not marvel at His power to resurrect souls from death in sin (John 5:25; Eph. 2:1-9) and that He will also resurrect dead bodies from the grave (John 5:28-29; 1Cor. 15:20-23; Rev. 20:4-15).

Only the bodies die at physical death (Jas. 2:26) and only the bodies go into the graves to await physical resurrection (John 5:28-29). All scriptures on the future resurrection of the dead refer to the bodies that sleep in the graves, not to the souls and spirits which are immortal and do not sleep in the graves. The righteous are in a conscious state in heaven (2Cor. 5:8; Eph. 4:8-10; Php. 1:21-24; Heb. 12:22-23; Rev. 6:9-11) and the wicked are conscious in hell (Luke 16:19-21; Isa. 14:9; Rev. 20:11-15). The souls and spirits of all men will be brought back from heaven or hell to the place where the bodies were buried and God will then resurrect them so that they will hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth to live forever in heaven or hell (Dan. 12:2; 1Thes. 4:13-18). The bodies cannot come forth out of the graves lifeless and dead, so when the souls and spirits reunite with the bodies in the resurrection they will come forth like Christ did when His soul and spirit came back from hell to the body in the tomb and He came out of the grave (Psa. 16:10; Mat. 12:40; 28:1-6; Eph. 4:8-10).

The righteous that ‘have done good’ (Greek: poieo, from which we get the word poem) refers not so much to individual acts of goodness as to character, nature, and conduct. The righteous that are ‘blessed and holy’ (Rev. 20:4-6); that ‘are Christ’s’ (1Cor. 15:23, 51-58; Gal. 5:24); that are ‘worthy’ (Luke 21:36); that are ‘in Christ’ (1Thes. 4:16-17; 2Cor. 5:17); that are in ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:1-6); that have purified themselves ‘even as He is pure’ (1Jn. 3:2-3); that are without spot or wrinkle and without blemish and are the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:27; 1Cor. 12:13; Col. 1:18, 24) – these will be resurrected to eternal life 1,000 years before the wicked (John 5:29; Dan. 12:2). The wicked will be resurrected to eternal punishment and damnation 1,000 years after the resurrection of the righteous (Dan. 12:2; Rev. 14:9-11; 20:4-6, 11-15; 21:8; 22:15).

The Authority of the Son

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John 5:19-27 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what He see the Father do: for what things so ever He does, these also does the Son likewise. For the Father love the Son, and showed him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raise up the dead, and quicken them; even so the Son quicken whom he will. For the Father judge no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honour not the Son honour not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hear my word, and believe on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

The Son does the same works as the Father in perfect union with Him and His will. No person of the Trinity acts independently of the others. During His ‘self-emptying’ life He was an agent of the Father, who worked through Him by the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:2; 61:1; Acts 10:38).

The Son was limited in knowledge and wisdom and power during the days of His flesh (Isa. 50:4; Luke 2:40, 52; Mat. 11:25-27; 24:36; Acts1:6-8). The eight New Testament prophecy in John ‘and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel’ was fulfilled in the increased works of Christ.

‘So the Son quicken whom He will.’ Jesus had unlimited and absolute authority from God by the fullness of the Spirit (John 3:34) to act as He willed in resurrecting men (John 5:28-29; 6:39; 11:25). The Father will judge the world by Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31; 12:1-25:48).

‘Even as they honour the Father’ This absolute equality with the Father in honour proves His deity and membership in the Trinity (1Jn. 5:7).

He that obeys God’s Word and believe (trust without doubt) in the Father, have everlasting (eternal) life and will not come to judgment before God, but as for all men the law of sowing and reaping is always in effect (Gal. 6:7-8) and anyone can still fall away from grace when they sin wilfully (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-31).

To pass from death unto life happens when 2 Corinthians 5:17 come to pass: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” See also 1 John 3:14 and Galatians 5:24.