JOHN 6:41-44
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? 43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is a coincidence that the WORD of GOD records the behavior of the children of Israel, as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, that they murmured because of the constant diet of manna - that heavenly bread that GOD fed them with - and here the LORD Jesus declares Himself to be the bread which came down from heaven.
Just as the Hebrews were tired of "the same ol' manna" and rejected it from their hearts and lusted for some meat and even the leeks and onions and flesh pots of Egypt, these Jews were rejecting Christ and His claims:
The Jews that heard this bold declaration "murmured" and in the Greek it means the same as its Hebrew equivalent found in EXOD 16:7-8, "to grumble, to complain".
They were after some bread to fill their bellies with (JOHN 6:26), much as their ancestors were in that hot Sinai wilderness; yet the LORD is offering them something far better - that bread from heaven!
The Jews wrongly associated what the LORD was talking about with the bread (coriander seed in white fluffy flakes) that fell upon the Hebrews which they could form into a bread-like meal and bake (JOHN 6:32). They just didn't believe the LORD's claim that He came down from heaven as the Father's provision of spiritual nourishment:
JOHN 6:35-36
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
When we grumble, complain and reject the LORD's will for our lives, this is at once born of unbelief and perpetuates to further unbelief. This is the danger for those who are seeking truth, and finding truth in JESUS, but ultimately don't express genuine faith in Him - they see but "believe not".
It's very much the same as what the writer of HEBREWS stated to his readers (a mixed multitude of truly believing Jews and mere professors of truth, but not possessors of the Truth):
HEBREWS 6:9-13
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Willful unbelief and deceitful sin will bring about hardness of heart.
Because you see, there is believing and then there is believing. One can give intellectual assent to the truth, but it's not from the heart of faith "mixed with faith" and as a result, they cannot enter into "rest" that is, salvation in the finished work of Christ so that they don't have to work (for the impossible) themselves (HEB 4:1-7).
In just a few verses the LORD is going to tell them directly that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood, that they have no life in them (JOHN 6:53). Not only were they offended at the notion of the LORD Jesus "coming down from heaven" but also this idea of committing cannibalism! Yet the LORD clarified this for them by saying,
JOHN 6:61-63
61 Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
On the one hand He was saying, You don't believe I came down from heaven - well the day is coming I will ascend up and return there! What are you going to say then??
On the other hand, He was explaining that this consumption of "flesh" and "blood" is on a spiritual level; that we receive Christ for salvation; that we account His offered body on the Cross as the exclusively acceptable propitiation (sacrifice) for our sins, and that by His holy blood, there is remission of sins (See HEB 9:21-26; 10:5).
At the church we have just begun a study in NUMBERS (Intro, Ch's. 1 & 2; watch the Facebook video here) as we travel the length of breadth of the Old Testament, and the primary theme of this book is "Unbelief will bar a person from the blessing of GOD and His promises".
May this be a warning to us all, that we make certain of our genuine faith in Christ and not mere professors of the faith; examination of our hearts is necessary under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to determine this (2 COR 13:5) and that if we in fact have genuine faith in Christ, if there is evidence of fruit in our lives, that our hearts truly love the LORD and obey Him, then we may be assured that we have eternal life (1 JOHN 5:13).
The LORD is gracious and plentiful in His provisions, of His grace and truth, love and peace, all of the "Bread of Life" that He is! Let's partake of this abundance daily! AMEN?
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