THE MOSES CONNECTION

Background

6: 14–15 “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world”.

-Quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 18: 15, 18  The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers

-The Jews imagined/expected/demanded the Messiah to be this Moses-like Prophet

Key Passages

Exodus 16: 1–18  Manna from Heaven

Exodus 17: 1–6  Water from Rock

Connection to John

6: 26  Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill”.

-Their first concern was to meet their immediate physical needs

-“What can Jesus do for me?” attitude

6: 30–31  So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert”

-Grumbling and demand for a miracle

-Ironic considering what Jesus had just done (also what Moses had just done)

6: 33  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

-Contrast with 6: 58 (“your forefathers ate manna and died”)

-Supporting verses  6: 35, 48–51 (emphasis on “This bread is my flesh”)

-What is different about the two types of bread? What needs do they satisfy?

-Also consider the Samaritan woman in 6: 13–14  She misunderstands Jesus, demands the water (6: 11, 15), and Jesus offers her spiritual water

Take Home Message

Deuteronomy 8: 1–3  Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord

-6: 63  The words I have spoken to you … are life

THE PASSOVER CONNECTION

Key Passages

Luke 22: 7–20 The Last Supper

Exodus 12: 1–14, 17 Moses and the Passover

Connection to John

6: 53–55  I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you

-The significance and importance of Communion (like baptism, it is symbolic and done in remembrance, but it is not the act itself that brings salvation)

-Communion makes Christ’s death personal and internalized

-1 Corinthians 11: 28–29  Reflect on Christ’s sacrifice

6: 33, 51“…gives life to the world …”, “ … I will give for the life of the world …”

-Emphasis of the passage falls not on Christ’s death for sin, but on His death for life

-John 16: 33 Jesus has overcome

6: 63  The Spirit gives life: the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

-What is eternal life?

John 17: 3  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 10: 10  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

-Eternal life belongs to the believer at the moment of acceptance

Take Home Message

6: 56  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

-Ephesians 3: 16–17  … his Spirit in your inner being … so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

-Colossians 1: 27  … which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

-To eat of Christ’s flesh is to take Christ into our heart and life in the form of a personal ongoing and deepening relationship

-Only with Christ in us can we EVERGLOW ^-^ and love as He wanted