John 6 - Steve Wiggins Daily Devotional

“‘The Spirit is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some among you who don’t believe.’ (For Yeshua knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray Him.) He said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted to him by the Father.’ From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him. Therefore, Yeshua said to the Twelve, ‘You don’t want to go away too, do you?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘L_rd, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of G_d!’ Yeshua replied to them, ‘Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the Devil?’ He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, one of the Twelve, because he was going to betray Him.” John 6:63-71

When most people think of Yeshua’s disciples, they only consider the “twelve”. In actuality, there were, at times, thousands of people following Him around.

After feeding the 5000, many of those people sought-out Yeshua the next day. Yeshua took this occasion to compare the bread that He had provided the day before, with the bread (manna) that Moses provided. His point being, that earthly bread cannot eternally sustain life.

Then, Yeshua identifies Himself as the “Bread of Life”…different from Moses’ manna. Interesting, He was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem translates “House of Bread”. This message was offensive & arrogant to many of the Jews, because Yeshua was elevating Himself above Moses. Beyond miraculously imparting earthly bread, Yeshua personified the spiritual bread.

Yeshua communicated that the Spirit gives life, therefore eternal life can only be obtained spiritually. Salvation cannot be obtained by earthly means. In short, salvation is by G_d’s grace and not the works of the law. Ephesians 2:8-9

There is something at the core of a man, which makes him want to earn his own salvation. It is in direct opposition to receiving salvation by G_d’s grace. That “something” is called Pride. This is true for us today, and it was obviously true in Yeshua’s day. So much so, that when the crowds heard this teaching, they left Him.

There is a difference between following Yeshua, and simply following Him around. Many will affiliate themselves with Yeshua, but all the while, they refuse to prostrate themselves before Him. In the end, Yeshua is either L_rd of all, or He’s not L_rd at all. (By the way, He IS L_rd!)

Blessings,
~Steve Wiggins, Assistant Rabbi
Shuvah Yisrael
Daily Devotional, Tuesday, July 2, 2013