Ramesh C. Reddy
Editor in Chief
Hi everyone :)
May you know the "I AM" of your life this Christmas season! Amen!
Quiet Times (Psalm 33 and John 6:48-51)
“For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. Let Your mercy, O Lord be upon us, just as we hope in You.” (Psalm 33:4,6,9,22)
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51)
Observations:
I looked for words/phrases that are repeated over and over because repetition usually implies importance! What stuck out in these verses is BREAD. It is mentioned 7 times in these verses alone:
Within these 7 listings alone, I saw lots of precious nuggets of Truth which have been spoken by Jesus and confirmed with repetition.
1 & 5 can be paired together.
3 & 5 can be paired together.
4 & 6 can be paired together.
All these pairings are brought together and summarized in a nutshell with #7!!!
I found these 7 points very fascinating and exciting to look deeply into!
Observations/Interpretations:
I asked myself what types of bread are represented here?
1. Dying bread!
2. Living bread!
I asked myself what ‘dying bread’ means?
What came to my mind when I thought about dying bread is the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness. It was a type of bread that was going to rot if it was not used in the specified time and amount that the Lord had allotted for them to eat it. Also, this bread was not going to help them live forever. Those that ate of it eventually died. This bread could not sustain life forever.
I asked myself what ‘Living Bread’ means?
What came to my mind is Jesus Christ for He claimed to be the ‘Living Bread’. Not only that but He is the ‘I AM’ that introduced Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush. It is Jesus that gave them manna to eat. Now Jesus does not just introduce Himself as ‘I AM’ but as ‘I AM the BREAD OF LIFE’. It is this Bread that gives life but there is a condition.
Those who want to continue to live forever need to eat this Bread. Just as the Israelites had to eat the bread that fell from heaven to stay alive physically, following the rules set by God, Jesus is letting his listeners know that they need to eat a new kind of Bread that came from Heaven to stay alive eternally, following the Way introduced by Jesus.
All the manna eaten would not give people Eternal life but Jesus said He could give it to them.
The statement Jesus makes is so profound that Jesus introduces His credentials first before make the statement, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
I asked myself what are the credentials that Jesus introduces for Himself?
1. I Am
2. Heaven
The people of that day would have been familiar with ‘I Am’ especially since that is how God introduced Himself to Moses. The people knew that God spoke from Heaven. Jesus uses those same words with a description: ‘I Am the Bread of Life’. Jesus does not stop there but lets them know He is the I Am from Heaven!
People needed to believe in His credentials if they were going to accept what He was going to tell them. Right after speaking about His credentials, Jesus talks about eating.
Jesus wants them to eat the Bread of Life to live forever and makes it clear to them He is the key to make that happen. This is evidenced by “and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
What cannibalism? No, No, No!!!
Jesus is foreshadowing His death to come when His body would be broken, symbolized by bread, and given for the life of the world.
Jesus starts of with ‘I Am the Bread of Life” and concludes here with ‘Given for the life of the world.”
If these two are put together for a nutshell summary it comes of as “I Am the Bread of Life given for the life of the world.”
I asked myself what is the ‘life of the world’ mean?
What came to my mind is that physical bread such as manna was not enough to keep the world from dying. People were eating and living but their souls were still dying because they were separated from God due to missing the mark set by God. No one of the world has been able to achieve the mark and the people of the world have not been able to live forever. Their eternity has been hampered because of them missing the mark.
Finally, God decided to intervene as the Son of Man and became a new kind of Bread with living qualities called the Living Bread so those who partake of it will never die.
God made Eternal life available to the life of the world so people of the world would not continue to die eternally. But it had a price!
Jesus was going to give His life for the life of the world for only life could give life. Jesus was foreshadowing His sacrifice for the world but wanted those there to follow Him right there. He was going to sacrifice His life so the people of the world could have life. There is a condition though.
Jesus is letting them know that as they follow Him, their life will continue forever eternally because it will be interwined with His Life.
I saw important implications for my own life.
Life starts with Jesus for He is the Bread of Life. Just because I am living does not mean that I have Eternal Life and will live forever. It begins with Jesus. This means no one else can give Eternal Life. Jesus is making the Absolute claim that He is the ‘I Am’, He is from Heaven, and He is the Bread of Life given for the life of the world.
No one else claimed what Jesus claimed, not Buddha, not Krishna, not Muhammod, not Satan, not anyone else. If I wanted a religion to follow, I could have stuck with Hinduism. For me it is not about religion for religion can save no one. In fact, people following a religion have caused more havoc in the world and have made people see that religion can become the death of the world, not the life of the world.
It is God who saves who revealed Himself as ‘I Am’ to Moses and has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to partake of Him to receive Eternal Life. I am so glad that I do not follow a religion but follow a relationship with Jesus Christ who wants me to partake of Him. For He has become my Bread of Life!
I ask you now dear friend what kind of bread do you eat?
Dear friend, all the earthly bread we eat regardless of who it is blessed by will not save us to live forever eternally unless that bread is symbolic of what Jesus did. For then the Good News is that there is bread that you can eat and live eternally. Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life offering Himself to you. He gave His flesh for you on the Cross of Calvary. His body was broken for you. He wants you to eat of Him in a symbolic sense.
Partake of Him in your life by allowing Him to come live in you. One way we do this is by taking Holy Communion! The first is the bread that represents Christ’s body broken for you and me. When we eat the bread, we are saying that we do remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross of Calvary and He did it to give life to the world of which we are part of. The second part of Holy Communion is the wine/juice symbolic of Christ’s cleansing blood when His body was broken for you and me.
To eat the bread, symbolizing the broken body of Jesus to give you life, is telling those around you that you do follow Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Jesus Christ because of what He did for you and your willingness to follow Him. To drink the wine/juice, symbolizing the cleansing blood of Jesus to give you life, is also telling those around you that you do follow Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Both bread and juice must be taken. There cannot be one without the other!
Eating of the bread or drinking of the juice at Holy Communion without acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Personal Savior, just becomes a religious ritual of religion which cannot save for only a relationship with Jesus Christ can save you and me!
Friend, Jesus has offered Himself for you too. Yes, He has! The world is full of sin and since the world is full of sin those who inhabit it are infected and become sinners. But the Good News is, Jesus came as the Bread of Life to give His life to give you Eternal Life. While we were yet sinners Jesus died for us.
Friend, this means you do not need to be perfect or have everything right in your life before you come to Jesus. If you wait for that to happen, you maybe waiting until it is too late. Lord wants us to come as we are. Remember, the Quiet Time I had on Thanksgiving called T.H.A.N.K.S.G.I.V.I.N.G, it explains this concept much better.
Come as you are and allow the Lord Jesus to work in you. No matter how stained your sins are and you cannot forgive yourself, Jesus lends a Hand and wants to forgive you. Jesus reminds us though our sins are scarlet red, He can make us white as freshly fallen snow and though they are crimson red, Jesus can make us white as wool.
If I allowed my sins to control my life, than I have given control over to Satan and he has won but I have come to accept Christ’s grace and merciful forgiveness to move on and remain His child. For He reminds us friend that “To all who received Him, He gave them right to become children of God, all they needed to do is trust in Him.”
Won’t you do that friend?
You could be reading this and already have a personal relationship with the Lord. That’s great! If you feel this would be helpful to someone who does not have a relationship with the Lord, won’t you share it with them? If you do not have a relationship with the Lord as you desire, now is the time of Salvation. Don’t wait, for Jesus is the Bread of Life and wants to be part of your life. Yes, He does! May you make Jesus part of your life this Christmas Season! Amen!
“Beautiful Redeemer Emancipates Always Delivering!” (B.R.E.A.D)/”What kind of bread do you eat?”
Make this your prayer. Don’t let the enemy deceive you into thinking you need all the answers before coming to Christ. Let me just assure you that you may not have all the answers right now before coming to Jesus but He will answer them slowly. Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the Bread of Life. You are the Living Bread of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life, digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life. I want that Lord. I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the bread represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me and I will be clean from this infection. Come Lord Jesus and please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you. I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will be to you. I thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Saviour. I thank you Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
Love in Christ,
Ramesh
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