The Bread Of Heaven

Feature 2 – February 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

BREAD Of Heaven

Although frequently sung at Welsh rugby matches, few know that the idea behind “Bread of heaven, Feed me now and evermore” is from the Bible. Most do not care. The singing gives a lift and that is all that matters to them. It is a tragedy that the English-speaking world has largely forgotten the Rock who begot it (Dt. 32:18; Isa. 51:1). And sadly the subversion of Christianity is increasing. We follow the crowd with words like “unacceptable” instead of “wrong.” Rather than declaring what is truly right, we say, “Well maybe that is right for you.” We feed on an unhealthy diet of platitudes, half-truths and worldly sayings. Such things are not food for the soul!

God’s Instruction
“Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Dt. 8:3 KJV). The Lord Jesus quoted this verse when he [Satan] tried to get Him to make bread from stones to satisfy His hunger (Mt. 4:4; Lk. 4:4). The Son of God did not live to satisfy His stomach, but to please His Father in heaven – and so should we (Jn. 6:38).

Moses showed us how to practice this when he said, “These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Dt. 6:6-7). Clearly the words must be read and meditated upon before they can be discussed with one’s family, neighbors and friends.

Even though the idea of truth is derided today, much like Pilate did when he asked, “What is truth?” (Jn. 18:38), we cannot live without it. The Lord Jesus declared, “Thy [God’s] word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). It is not theory, point of view, or opinion. It is raw reality with no deception, delusion or disguise. Everything we see in the world around us may change, but God does not. He says, “I am the LORD, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). So too, God’s Word does not change – for it is the Truth, as He is the Truth.

The Answer For The World
The world is in constant change; there is no rest, no firm ground. A prophet of long ago said, “If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?” (Ezek. 33:10). The people of the world stumble about, groping in the darkness of sin and looking in vain for the light.

But the Lord Jesus is the Way. He is also the Light which beams into man’s darkness. He is the Truth, and He says to us, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32). He is the still small voice saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isa. 30:21).

God, who is the Beginning and the End, knows all that has gone on, is going on and will go on. He made everything from the tiniest particle to the galaxies of space. He is the Creator, Upholder and Sustainer of all things. He is God, and therefore He cannot lie (Heb. 6:18). God’s Word gives us the truth from His all-encompassing viewpoint and infinite wisdom and knowledge.

His Word provides us moral absolutes by which we may learn to choose the good and resist the evil, and to understand why we should do so. Does the complexity of the universe amaze us? God has given us the drive to understand so that we may “consider ... the work of [His] fingers, the moon and stars which [He] has ordained” (Ps. 8:3). As His children we look to our Father with our questions, and He gives us the answers that we are capable of grasping and that are for our good. For we, “are bought with a price” and are loved by God (1 Cor. 6:20, 7:23).

When we see the darkness of sin covering the earth we look to God and hear: “The glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isa. 60:1). We understand: “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” and “they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined” (Isa. 9:2). God’s Word therefore is the stable foundation on which we build. A hymn writer wrote: “All other ground is sinking sand.” As believers, we have learned that our building needs to be firmly built on the Rock (Mt. 7:24-28).

These are the things that we must “hear.” It is not simply being aware of the sound of what is said, but it is taking in the message and understanding it so that we may put it into practice. That is what “hear” in the Bible means.

Life Through Christ
We find the teaching of Deuteronomy, that men live by the words of God, exemplified by the Lord Jesus, who is Himself the Word. He gave a human demonstration of this when He fed the five thousand men, along with the women and children (Jn. 6:5-13). As He fed the multitude with loaves and fishes, so He feeds us today with His Word. But like those people, we often miss the heavenly food for our souls because our bodies crave the earthly food for the stomach.

After the Lord explained the meaning of His miracle, they challenged Him: “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat” (Jn. 6:31). The feeding with manna was an earthly picture of the heavenly reality. He explained, “The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (Jn. 6:33). Since they failed to grasp the spiritual interpretation of all that had gone on, the Lord then insisted, “I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (Jn. 6:35).

Like the children of Israel long ago, we also need food and strength for our wilderness journey of life. Surrounded on all sides by cruel enemies, we desperately need refreshment, wisdom and discernment (Mt. 10:16-18). It is a journey of the spirit, so we need spiritual food.

God has provided us with that food. The Lord Jesus taught, “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (Jn. 6:57-60). We feed on the Lord Jesus in order to become like Him. We do so by reading, studying and meditating on God’s Word – the Bible. By doing so we grow spiritually. It is food for the journey, for the soul and the spirit within us.

We are to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). For the people of the world, this is impossible. One must have new life and God’s Holy Spirit within him or her. These things are given to us the moment we are born again (See Ezek. 36:24-27; Jn. 3:3,5).

Are you feeding on Him, trusting in Him as your Savior and Lord? Do so today!

By Roger Penney