"I am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35 (TPT)

This quote is a fantastic statement from Jesus, which reveals His divinity.  The Aramaic translation makes it much more transparent: "I am the living God, the Bread of Life." 

His disciples are awestruck by the miracle of feeding 5,000 people with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. What is also amazing is this miracle does not just come from a vacuum; it isn't because Jesus just thought it up and did it, the miracle has a specific message.  Jesus compares this miracle to the manna, which fed the children of Israel in the desert on their way to the promised land. 

"The truth is," Jesus said, "Moses didn't give you the bread of heaven. It's my Father who offers bread that comes as a dramatic sign from heaven. The bread of God is the One who came out of heaven to give his life to feed the world." 
John 6:32-33 (TPT)

What was manna?  Manna was almost certainly trehalose, a white crystalline carbohydrate made of two glucose molecules joined together. It is one of very few naturally occurring molecules that taste sweet, although it is only half as sweet as sugar. What the Israelites were gathering was the cocoon of the parasitic beetle Trehala manna from which trehalose gets its name, and which explains Moses' warning not to hoard it: "Some, however, did not listen ... and it became full of maggots and stank." The cocoons, found on thorn bushes in the Middle East, are highly nutritious, consisting of 30 percent trehalose plus protein.

A) Trehala manna is produced by the salivary glands of weevils (Larinus spp. from Curculionidae family) on Echinopsspp. B) A weevil; a type of beetle from the Curculionidae family. C) An adult weevil inside Trehala manna, after the larval stage.

Another aspect is Jesus says in the passage above is "if you believe in me you will never be thirsty," Jesus is also referencing water which flowed from the rock in the desert, which gave the children of Isreal water to drink.

Moses went and got the stick, as the LORD had commanded.  He and Aaron assembled the whole community in front of the rock, and Moses said, “Listen, you rebels! Do we have to get water out of this rock for you?” Then Moses raised the stick and struck the rock twice with it, and a great stream of water gushed out, and all the people and animals drank. 

Numbers 20:9-11  (GNT)

Jesus used this analogy again with the woman at the well, and He told her everything about her life.  Jesus told her that He is the living water that fills the soul and gives life.  

The analogies between the natural and the spiritual are very striking, but at the heart of it, Jesus is both natural and spiritual, He created everything by His word.

Taking in Jesus as our daily bread is recognizing that Jesus is our everything, He sustains us because He created everything in our natural world.  

Then on the most important day of the feast, the last day, Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds—“All you thirsty ones, come to me! Come to me and drink! Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!”
John 7:37-38 (TPT)

The living water is the Holy Spirit flowing through us in the form of God's glory, which is perceived by others as pure joy.  

Oh to be caught in that surprising flow of God, and to experience that joy of His presence as we take Him into us, and through us as He flows out of us every day!

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett