“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” John 6:51-53.

Before getting into these statements, let us examine verse 52 where the Jews quarrel among themselves. Notice that the Jews are quarreling among themselves rather than referring their questions to Jesus.

Not one of the crowd edges his way through the throng to where Jesus is standing and simply asks, “Teacher, it is obvious that You are very intelligent, but You are not making sense. What do You mean by these statements which actually ask us to transgress the laws of God?” But there are no honest questions asked.

Now we know that Jesus Christ has indeed come down from heaven as seen by His attesting miracles which were His credentials. God’s word also attests to Christ’s preexistence in heaven.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [means He is preeminent] over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:15-17.

We will now continue on to the rest of this interesting passage.

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” John 6:51.

Then in John 6:52, the Jews quarreled, discussed above.

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.’” John 6:53.

Now the explanation for these passages is quite fascinating and instructive.

According to J. N. Darby the statements, “If anyone eats this bread” verse 51; and “unless you eat the flesh…and drink His blood” verse 53, are in the aorist tense in the Greek; meaning, “whoever has done so”, giving the sense of this being in the past tense, which might be rendered this way.

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, whoever has done so, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” John 6:51 amplified.

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless, you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, unless you have done so, you have no life in you.’” John 6:53 amplified.

These changes will show the major contrast between the above verses and the following ones in John 6:54, 56, and 57.

“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” John 6:54-57.

These verses, John 6:54, 56, and 57, are in the present tense, which indicates, “a present continuous action” according to Darby. The main thing that separates these verses from the other two is that verses 51 and 53 are salvation verses; unless you have done so, you have no life in you.

Whereas, John 6:54, 56, and 57 refer to those who have accepted Christ as their savior. If you will bear with me, I will attempt to amplify these verses too.

“Whoever continually eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who continually eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me continuously will live because of Me.” verses 54-57 amplified.

The concepts in these passages are so exciting and have a depth to them which classifies them as true pearls for the Christian and a revelation to those who have puzzled over them before.

As discussed in the first few paragraphs on John 6:51 earlier, we are again looking at spiritual food; in verses 51 and 53 the spiritual food is that of ingesting the word of God and accepting Christ as savior. We now turn to the continual feeding on the bread of life, the flesh and blood of Christ.

But first, this is not what we call communion or the taking of the bread and the wine. And it is especially not what is called transubstantiation which is supposed to happen during communion, the Eucharist, in the Catholic Church.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

This communion is a Remembrance Meeting, something which is not mentioned in John 6:54-57; rather these verses are linked to abiding in Christ.

One reason Jesus talks of flesh and blood and not just the bread of life, which seemingly would cover the whole subject, is that He became flesh and blood and this speaks of His kinship with mankind, or as He often called Himself, the Son of Man, identifying Himself with man.

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Hebrews 2:14.

Another aspect of the terms flesh and blood is that this is what the sacrifices of old pointed forward to.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11.

The book of Hebrews then brings this current.

“And according to the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22.

“…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” Hebrews 9:28-10:1.

So partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ as the sacrifice for our sins cannot be separated from the idea of Christ being the bread of life for it is in His death that sins were paid for.

But we do not serve a dead savior, for His resurrection is the proof that God has accepted His sacrifice.

The continual feeding on the flesh and blood of Christ is the manner in which the Christian becomes more like Christ. Just as it has been said that you are what you eat physically, so it is true that you are what you feed on spiritually; or as it has been said of computers, garbage in garbage out.

While there are many good Christian books and commentaries, it is still necessary to read your Bible, or to listen to it on tapes or CDs; it is the only food that will consistently feed you spiritually.

While it is good to study your Bible carefully, you do not always need numerous translations and a Bible dictionary; if you just pray for understanding and pay attention to what you are reading, God will teach you what He has for you that day.

Some say, “I go to church and Bible studies, is not what the pastor feeds me enough?” No, it is not enough to keep you abiding in Christ, the Lord states in this passage, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me”; this does not mean, “If I am fed Christ’s flesh and blood I will abide in Him.”

The reason for the difference is this, when we pray for understanding and read Scripture we begin to commune with God Himself, not through someone else, it is you and Jesus alone.

Herein is the idea of abiding in Christ; we are living with Him, communing with Him, building an intimate relationship with Him.

You cannot do this through a third party, anymore than a person can court their girlfriend by talking to her friends.

Because of this close relationship with Christ, a person begins to take on His characteristics in their life, becoming more like Jesus, which is what the Father desires in us.

This also draws those who are seeking Christ to them and gives the opportunity for them to tell others about the Savior.

The same idea is expressed by Jesus when He makes the following statement.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

Mark that well, without Christ you can do nothing, and that means without Christ you can do nothing.

Many Christians have accepted Jesus as savior, but do not abide in Him, yet go out and do many wonderful things, and accomplish nothing, because while they are doing things for Him, they are doing them without Him.

“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father…” John 6:57a.

Christ is the eternal God Himself, so this does not mean that the Father was somehow keeping Jesus alive.

Jesus had such a close relationship with His Father, having set aside His Godly prerogatives, He became dependent as a man on the Father and He lives because of the Father. Does this make sense?

“…I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” John 6:57b.

In the same manner, we are to be dependent on Christ by abiding in Him. Feeding on Christ is the difference between being a Christian looking forward to eternal life in heaven and a Christian living the abundant life now and looking forward to their reward in heaven.

“This is the bread which came down from heaven – not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:58.

The contrast between manna and the bread of life is again made, and in a sense the question is asked, “Would you like a full belly now, or would you prefer to live for eternity?”

“These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.” John 6:59.

Down from Heaven, John 6:51-59 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 10-13-12, updated on 9-7-17.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.