The True Bread From Heaven

Have you ever been truly hungry?  I am not asking about whether your appetite is aroused when the clock is at a certain time of day.  We all have appetites.  What I am asking is have you ever gone so long without nourishment that you really experienced hunger?  When one has lived in such a state, he develops an appreciation for being fed.

I am reminded of how Jesus must have felt after he had gone without food for forty days and forty nights.  The Bible states, “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.  And in those days he did eat nothing:  and when they were ended, he afterward hungered” (Luke 4:1-2).  That my friend is true hunger.  Many would have done just about anything to have something to eat.  It is no surprise that the devil came and tempted Jesus when the Lord was in such a physically weakened state.  “And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread” (Luke 4:3).  Amazingly, our Lord did not let His physical hunger lead Him to sin (Heb. 4:15).  “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4).  There is something more important to consume than meats, vegetables, and fruits.  Man must feed on the Word of God!

During the time of Hosea, the prophet indicated something terrible about the people of Israel.  They had gone away from God, and they had become spiritually malnourished.  Hosea put it this way, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:  because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that  thou shalt be no priest to me:  seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hos. 4:6).  The people of Israel had largely stopped studying God’s Word.  They needed to be hungry for the Word of God, but instead, they had turned away from It.  It is hard not to see a correlation with present day conditions.  The world, by large, is ignorant of what the Bible contains.  However, it is even sadder that many of the people of God have also fallen into such a condition.  Too many in the kingdom refuse to study God’s Word regularly.  Even after Paul gave instruction to Timothy, and in turn to us, many refuse spiritual nutrition.  He wrote, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).  How are we ever going to learn how to handle God’s word correctly if we never, or rarely, feed on It.

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus took time to teach the importance of spiritual things over physical things.  He even included putting physical desires for food and drink behind spiritual matters.  He said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).  It is good to know what God’s righteousness is since we are supposed to be seeking it.  The Psalmist once wrote, “My tongue shall speak of thy word:  for all thy commandments are righteousness” (Psm. 119:172).  Do we get a good diet of God’s Word?

A great example of a person that was spiritually nourished is the Ethiopian eunuch mentioned in Acts chapter eight.  That man took Bible study seriously.  On his way back from Jerusalem, the eunuch studied a scroll of what we call the book of Isaiah (Acts 8:28).  He used his time wisely to feed on the Word of God.  As a result of his diligence, the Holy Spirit sent Philip to teach the eunuch about what he did not understand.  In the process, the eunuch learned the Gospel of Jesus Christ and became a child of God.  It is fantastic to see how a spiritually hungry man was filled.

In closing, let us remember that Jesus physically fed many while He was on the Earth.  However, He wanted the people to understand that they needed more than physical food.  He said, “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” (John 6:27).  In their quest for nourishment, Jesus also told them, “…Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread of heaven.  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (John 6:32-33).  Jesus was the living Word on which man should feast (John 1:14).  People should be diligent in seeking out the Word.  Those in Jesus’ time said, “…Lord, evermore give us this bread” (John 6:34).  It was then that Jesus told 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).  With such available to us, there is no reason for so many to remain malnourished spiritually.
~ Corey Barnette