The human body is a marvel of creation. Formed by the hand of God, man declares the power and majesty of his Maker by the fashion and design of his physical form. Created in the womb and brought forth in the miracle of birth, life is an incredible assembly of millions of cells working together for a constant energy of reproduction and replenishment with each passing year in an endless function of beauty. All of this purpose in the human form is dependent upon two important facts: hunger and thirst. The brain and heart are vital to life as well as other essential organs and limbs but without food everything will die. Life is based upon the sustenance of refueling the body with the proper nutrients to allow life to continue. Short periods of time can pass without food or water but in time the body begins to break down and die. The consequence of sin was God taking away the tree of life originally placed in the center of man’s world. Bread is a term used to describe all the needs of man to maintain his life. The Lord told Adam in the sweat of his face he would eat bread until he returned to the ground from whence he came. Life is about hunger and thirst.
Jesus uses the necessity of life in the physical body to illustrate the design of the Father for the spiritual needs of man. Like the human form, the inner man of eternity requires the holy nutrients of the Father to sustain life. Man cannot feed himself these things as they must come from the Lord. Jesus reminded the Jews of His day that Moses did not give the ancient Hebrews manna but this bread came from God. Moses was a servant of the Lord but the manna appeared through the power of the Lord without any help from man. It came from above by the power of God alone. This manna kept the people alive for forty years as the wandered the wilderness. Their provisions were blessed by the hand of God where they never hungered, thirst or lacked anything. Their clothes did not wear out or their shoes. All of their needs were cared for by God. Jesus declares that as the manna was given by God to nourish the bellies of His people, so now Jesus would become the bread of life for all men to partake and live.
Hungering and thirst are the two basic needs of man. Without food and water, man will die. The eternal man requires food and water and this can only come from Jesus Christ. Life is found in the bread and the everlasting water. There is only one bread of life and the Son of God gave His life to become that life giving stream. Like the manna of old, Jesus came from the Father and if men refuse to partake of the bread they will die. Two things are required to find life in Jesus. First, men must come to Him. God sent the manna to the children of Israel but they had to go and gather what they needed. Jesus came into the world to save sinners but those who are lost must seek the Lord. The hunger of the soul brings men to seek out Jesus. He will not come to them if they are unwilling to come to Him. Secondly, bread alone will not save. It requires quenching the thirst. Like the human body, food and water are both needed for life. Coming to Jesus alone does not save. Believing that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God is where man finds the quenching of his spiritual thirst. The bread of life is found in Jesus Christ for those who hunger after Him and fill their thirst abiding in His word. This bread of life will never go away and will always sustain the life of those who hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?