32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
In a solemn revelation to His Jewish hearers, Jesus discloses that Moses was only an instrument in God’s hand used to deliver the manna from heaven to their forefathers in the wilderness. God, the supplier of all need, refreshes and satisfies His creatures – it was He who delivered the bread to the wanderers of the wilderness. God tells us through the prophet Jeremiah:
25 I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." Jer 31:25 (NIV)
In like manner, King David states in Psalm 145:
15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. 20 The LORD watches over all who love him, Psalms 145:15-20 (NIV)
Satisfaction – is there a better word? Is there a better state of being? The definition itself leads us to longing – “to put an end to an appetite or want; to meet the expectations or desires of; to satisfy desires and to gratify feelings” Oxford Dictionary – let’s face it, who does not desire sustained satisfaction? Unfortunately, we all too often look for it in all the wrong places – roaming from here to there, jumping from bigger to better, seeking, striving, sweating only to be found wanting.
“The hand of God being my chief provision and storehouse, is it not a shame to be anxiously careful for anything? Has the Lord all things in his hand? Then surely I shall receive what he has for me; none will be able to withhold it. Faith has always a free access to the treasures of God, who is never wanting. Christians have their chests and treasures in such a high place, even in God, that no thief can rob them, and they are sure to have enough in God; and though the Lord should try them with want a little while, yet he relieves them in due time: their bread must rain from heaven, rather than they should be left without. If this does not comfort and strengthen us, nothing else will.” K.H. Von Bogatzky
“Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty, Hold me with Thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more; Feed me till I want no more.” William Williams
While provision of our earthly needs provided by the Father is profitable, it pales in comparison to the Provision sent for our spiritual needs. Just as God rained down the manna from heaven sending it forth to temporarily fill the tummies of the wanderers, He sent forth His Son – the true Bread of God - to save all who would believe – permanently. He made Jesus to be sin for us so that through Jesus we would be rightly restored to relationship with the Father. Paul tells us:
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:16-21 (NIV)
Initiated by God and becoming a reality through the work of our Lord Jesus, it is now possible for human beings to be reconciled to their Maker through faith in Christ. Once alienated by sin, Christ made peace with God possible for those who would believe in Him when He himself bore our sins upon the cross. Not only that, Jesus descended from heaven to bestow upon those who would follow hard after Him life effervescent – life to the full - as we walk the dust of this earth. Life to the full, pressed down and brimming over – overflowing our cups; healing us, forgiving our transgressions, setting us upon a Rock and establishing our ways. Is there anything more we could ask for? We are certainly the biggest losers when we flippantly disregard what is handed out for us through grace. We find the following in Ephesians:
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:4-10 (NIV)
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:9-11 (NIV)
21 My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever. Psalms 145:21 (NIV)