[Biblemat] A) BREAD OF HEAVEN

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Thursday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my recent files:

BREAD OF HEAVEN

     In Jno. 6 we have the famous sermon of Christ.  He is the
"bread of life," contrasted with the manna in the wilderness.
Then in Jno. 7, His brothers taunt Him saying, in effect, "If
You are really who You claim to be, go to the feast of the Tab-
ernacles openly and show forth your claim."  But Jesus let
them know that He was on the Father's time schedule, not on
theirs.  And yet when He did go to the feast, and began to 
teach, this statement is indicative of the reaction of the peop-
le: "Never man so spake."

     One of the beauty spots of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
is Jno. 8:12, when Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he
that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of 
life."  And then the famous utterance of Jno.
8:32 when Christ said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free."  In Jno. 9, Jesus healed a man born 
blind, and then went back to him to take care of his spiritual
blindness.

     In Jno. 10;10, we have a magnificent statement of the Lord, "I am come 
that they might have life, and have it more
abundantly."  In Jno. 11:25, at the graveside of Lazarus, He
said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in
Me, though he die, yet shall he live.  He that believeth in Me
shall never really die."  And then the climactic statement of 
Jno. 12:48, Jesus said, "He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth
not My sayings, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I
spake, the same shall judge him in the last day."

     But if I had to choose just one verse in the whole book,
that emphasizes the importance of Christ and His message,
it would be Jno. 14:6, where Jesus said, "I am the way, the
truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."  Then in Jno. 
15, we learn the practical nature of Christ-
ianity.  In vs. 8 of that chapter, Jesus said, "Herein is My
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My disciples."  
In Jno. 16:13, the Lord promised that the Holy
Spirit would come and guide the apostles "into all the truth."
And in Jno. 17:17, He identified that truth as God's Word by
saying, "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy Word is truth."

     To Pontius Pilate He said, "My kingdom is not of this world
(Jno. 18:36)"  Suspended between heaven and earth on the
cross, He cried, "It is finished" (Jno. 19:30).  He had finished
the work which God gave Him to do (Jno. 6:38; 17:4).  And
then, in Jno. 20:2, one of His friends exclaims at the empty
tomb of the Christ, "They have taken away the Lord out of
the tomb, and we know not where they have laid Him."  Today
men have taken away the authority of Christ, the church of
Christ, the example of Christ, the worship Christ ordained --
but they will pay for it in the day of Judgment.  They rob them-
selves and become bereft of the best things this life affords
by removing the Lord.  Of course, His body had not been stol-
en away -- up from the grave by the power of God, He had
risen.

     The last few verses of Jno. 20 state the purpose of this
book and of the three preceding ones in the New Testament.
"Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are
written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name" (Jno.
20:30,31).  Just as a gentle mother slaps hard on her baby to
keep the child from choking, so God chastens those whom He loves and scourges 
everyone He receives (Heb. 12:5-10).  
We dare not pick and choose the characteristics we admire in
Jesus.  We must be like Him in every way.  Each facet of the
Divine One should challenge our attention.

     Yes, Christ was meek and gentle (2 Cor. 10:1), but He was
also exacting, straightforward and unbending (Mk. 9:43-48; Jno. 8:21; Lk. 
13:3; Matt. 12:30).  At the first and last of His
personal ministry (Jno. 2; Mk. 11), Jesus ran the money-chan-
gers out of the temple in a an awesome display of righteous
indignation.  The apostles saw it and were reminded of Psa.
69:9 and the famous words: "The zeal of Thine house hath
eaten Me up."  Evidently, some of us are not very zealous, for
we never get excited enough about error and sacrilege and
blasphemy even to raise a whisper against such matters.  And many a preacher 
has been branded as harsh and uncou-
th when the real problem was cowardice and compromise by
the many unconverted members.

     We must conclude, therefore, that some folk want to be
like Jesus only in the characteristics that are palatable to them.  The full 
Bible account of what Christ was really like
would truly shock many casual, traditional members of the
church.  If we were to truly "stamp His own image deep on
our hearts" as the great song suggests, I guarantee we would
be more militant against sin and most outspoken against error!  Everybody 
knows of the love of the lord, but many
seem oblivious to the fact of His wrath.  Justice demands a
proper view of these matters, lest we concoct a vision or
image of our own imagination and then become disenchanted
when we really meet Jesus on the pages of the Bible.

     What was Jesus really like?  We all need to read again the
Bible story of Jesus, lest we grope around the scaffolding of
His life like the blind men of Hindustan and never really get to
the super-structure of divine revelation on the matter.  Such
a study would be a real adventure for any honest Bible stud-
ent, and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are waiting to tell us
the story.  ------- Johnny Ramsey in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 56,
No. 16, April 20, 2007.   </HTML>
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