Tag Archives: Bread

John 6

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John 6: The Bread of Life

                Jesus goes to the sea of Galilee, which is known as the sea of Tiberias, where a great number of people followed Him to hear from Him. Jesus calls for His Apostles to find food for everyone there, but they only could find a boy with five loaves of bread and two small fishes. Jesus said to His Apostles; “…Make the men sit down… And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat down… When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost… and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves.” (John 6:10-13)

                The 5,000 men that had just been fed were so astonished by this miracle that Jesus just performed, they desired for Him to be a King. Jesus, knowing their intentions of forcing Him to be a King, departs into the mountains to be alone. Meanwhile the Apostles depart by ship over the sea to Capernaum. The sea begins to rise from the wind and just off in the distance they saw Jesus walking on the water and were afraid. Jesus reached out to them saying; “…It is I, be not afraid” (John 6:20)

The next day in Capernaum, the group that Jesus had fed, followed Him to Capernaum seeking Jesus. He tells them that they only seek Him, because He fed them. Not because of the miracles Jesus had performed. Those gathered asked Jesus how they could obtain the very same manna that Moses and his people ate. Jesus explains that the work of God is that “…ye believe on him who he hath sent.” (John 6:29) and that the bread that they seek is only of this world. Jesus offers them true bread from heaven; “…I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I say unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.” (John 6:35-36)

                Jesus explains that anyone who partakes of the bread of life, the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ shall have eternal life. Essentially we need to actively pursue a good life, follow the commandments, receive a baptism by the proper authority, receive other ordinances which comes with covenants and promises, then actively partake in the Sacrament [water and bread] to keep renewing those covenants.

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Ezekiel 13-14

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Ezekiel 13-14

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

People will always be led away by a false preacher. I personally had the opportunity to visit a number of religious organizations last year, I felt that I needed to see and participate in services that were different from my own. I found that a number of congregations had good hearted people that were seeking the Lord. However I was disgusted to find many churches, whose so called “Pastor” would lead his people astray. He spoke nonsense, but the scriptures were true! In the hallway of the church, before the services… the pastor would setup a table of bread, with a sign that read “take what you need”. Innocent enough, to make anyone believe that it was for a good cause. But the people that came, were not only given free bread… but a constant reassurance that they were saved, just on the act of believing. How deceiving! How wrong! People, will always be led astray!

Chapter 13: False Prophets

The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and the Lord tells Ezekiel to go unto the people and say; “Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” (Ezekiel 13:3)

God is not happy with the false prophets that have risen only to entrap the souls of those who listen to them. God mentions that he will break down the walls of their intuitions (false churches) because their walls were built with un-tempered mortar (or in other words poorly built). God speaks to the false prophets “…ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread… by your lying” (Ezekiel 13:19) and “…with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad… and strengthed the hands of the wicked… by promising him life.” (Ezekiel 13:22)

                God is speaking directly to these false prophets, who literally bring people to their church by offering free bread and telling them that they can be saved. Salvation is a FREE gift of God, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is absolutely TRUE! However, what many people fail to understand is that it DOES NOT guarantee our return to God. Jesus Christ died for our sins, to give us the OPPORTUNITY to be SAVED! For the Bible makes it clear; “… though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? … Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead…” (James 2:14, 17)

No one can just say, “I accept Jesus in my heart” and be done. To accept Jesus Christ, we accept the challenge of becoming like him, to follow him.  As a disciple, who is disciplined in following the commandments.

Chapter 14: The Lord will not answer to the evil-doers

“…they are all estranged from me through their idols.” (Ezekiel 14:5)

God speaks to Ezekiel and tells him that the people have forsaken him and have pursued after false gods and have listened to false prophets that have led them astray. Ezekiel cries repentance!

Exodus 16-18

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Exodus 16-18

Chapter 16: Israel Wants Bread!

Israel takes their journey from Elim, and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the second month on the 15th day after leaving Egypt.

The children of Israel cry out to Moses and Aaron and complain of hunger, stating that if they were back in the land of Egypt, at least they would be eating. They accuse Moses of leading Israel into the wilderness to kill them all of hunger.

The Lord speaks unto Moses and tells him that he will cause bread to rain from the heavens. That when the children of Israel see this, they will no longer murmur and know that God is all powerful. Moses has Aaron explain to the children of Israel that they Lord has heard their murmurings/complaints and he has answered them. At this same point the entire congregation of Israel looks to towards the wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. The Lord then spoke to Moses; “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, at even ye shall eat flesh and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 16:12)

Quails appeared in the camp and in the morning, after the morning dew was gone, the children of Israel find small “round things”, they call this “manna”. Moses tells them that this “manna” is what the Lord told them would be the bread from heaven. Moses commands them to collect as much bread/manna as they would eat according to each person, but they are lazy and do not collect enough for the day. Because of this it collects worms and stinks. After that they gathered it every morning before the sun came out, otherwise it would melt.

On the sixth day of the week, Moses commands Israel to gather enough to make two days’ worth of bread, because on the seventh day is the Sabbath and no manna will appear in the field. So some of the children of Israel do as Moses had commanded and they were able to eat on the Sabbath. But there were still some that went out on the Sabbath morning to collect Manna and found none. This upsets the Lord, and asks Moses “…How long refuses to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:28)

The children of Israel eat Manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land, the land of Canaan. The Israelites describe the Manna like a  Coriander seed, white with the taste of a honey wafer.

Chapter 17: Israel Wants Water!

Israel travels from the wilderness of Sin and pitched their tents in Rephidim. When they arrive there, they find no water. So they begin murmuring/complaining about not having water. Saying that Moses had brought them out of the land of Egypt to kill them of thirst! They even get to the point of wanting to stone Moses. Moses then asks them; “…Why chide with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?” (Exodus 17:2)

Moses speaks with the Lord asking him for guidance on what he should do. The Lord then tells him that he needs to go to the rock in Horeb, and with his rod he would smite the rock and water would come forth.

Then Amalek comes to fight with the Israelites in Rephidim, but Moses tells Joshua to fight with Amalek, while Moses went to the top of the hill to raise his hands to God. When Moses raised his hands; Israel prevailed… but when he lowered his hands; Amalek prevailed. Moses’ hands become heavy and Aaron and Hur help to keep his hands up, until Joshua injured Amalek enough with the sword to prevail.

The Lord then commands Moses to write this in a book for memorial (this is part of the “lost books” of the Bible). Moses then builds an altar and names it “Jehovah-nissi” which is translated “The Lord is my Banner”.

Chapter 18: Organization of Church Laws.

Moses is near the mount of God, when Jethro (his father in law) comes to see him, bringing his wife Zipporah and his sons. Jethro offers sacrifices to the Lord and asks about Moses’ welfare. Jethro then counsels with Moses.

Jethro counsels that Moses teach the law, appoint righteous men of “truth” to be rulers/leaders of thousands, hundreds and tens. Essentially there needs to be good, trustworthy honest men and have the power delegated throughout from the higher to the lower leaders.