[2026. 2. 15.] I Am the Bread of Life | John 6:35

[2026. 2. 15.] I Am the Bread of Life | John 6:35

Sermon by Rev. Jinkook (Danny) Sohn (Hope of Heaven Baptist Chuch) 

 

2026. 2. 15. 주일예배 설교- 요한복음 강해 20
본문: 요한복음 6:35
제목: 나는 생명의 떡이니

설교자: 손진국 목사 (하늘소망교회)

 

In today’s passage, Jesus speaks about bread. In fact, it is closer to bread than to rice cake. Bread, rice cake, or rice all refer to the staple food that people eat as their main meal.
People eat every day. And they also prepare what they will eat tomorrow. This is because we must eat every day. Unless we are dieting, fasting, or starving because of illness, we need to eat daily and prepare food to eat.
Yet even if we eat well every day, we still have hunger and thirst. This refers to the hunger and thirst in our hearts. The food we eat with our mouths cannot satisfy the hunger and thirst of our hearts and souls. Even if we eat delicious and healthy food, and even if we succeed in our work or field, there is still an emptiness in one corner of our hearts. Even if we have many good people around us, we still feel lonely. Even if we live diligently, there is emptiness.
In today’s text, Jesus proclaims to us who feel the emptiness and void of life, “I am the bread of life.” This word is God’s decisive answer to the fundamental lack of human beings.
Through today’s message, may we all receive the grace of eating Jesus, the bread of life, and having the lack of our souls filled.

 

1. Ego Eimi

[John 6:35] Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Today’s message is Jesus’ self-declaration. When Jesus speaks about Himself, He uses the expression “I am ~,” and this appears seven times in the Gospel of John. The first of these is the declaration in today’s passage, “I am the bread of life.”

In the original Greek, “I am the bread of life” is “Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς” (ego eimi ho artos tes zoes). The phrase “ego eimi” at the beginning means “I am” in English, and it is a statement revealing that Jesus is God Himself.

This “ego eimi” also appears in the Old Testament. Of course, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, not Greek, so the pronunciation is different, but the meaning is the same. When God was about to send Moses to Egypt, Moses felt troubled and asked, “If I go to the Israelites in Egypt and say, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I tell them?” God’s answer is recorded in Exodus 3:14.

[Exodus 3:14] God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Here, the phrase “I AM” means not a created being but the Creator God. In English, it is “I am who I am.” And when it says, “I AM has sent me to you,” it shows the same meaning.
Beloved congregation, the Jesus we believe in is not merely a great man in human history who lived on this earth 2000 years ago. He is God who came to this earth in human form. Therefore, the disciples who met Jesus, lived with Him for three years, and observed Him closely said this about Him:

[Matthew 16:16] Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Doubting Thomas also confessed this when he saw the risen Jesus:

[John 20:28] Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” And in James 1:1, James introduces himself in this way:

[James 1:1] James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

Who is this James? Among Jesus’ twelve disciples there were two named James, but the James who wrote the book of James is not one of them. This James is the brother of Jesus. During Jesus’ ministry, he neither believed in nor followed Jesus. He even thought his own brother Jesus was out of His mind. But after seeing the risen Jesus who died on the cross and rose again after three days, he believed in Him and became the chief leader of the early Jerusalem church. He confessed that he was a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, God and the Lord Jesus Christ are placed on the same level. And the word “Lord” here means my Master, my God.

Today Jesus also says to us, “I am ego eimi, the self-existent Creator God. Do you believe this?”

[Application] Do I believe that Jesus is my God? What aspects of my life arise because I do not believe that Jesus is God?

 

2. The Bread of Life

[John 6:35] Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus says that He Himself is the bread of life. Here, bread refers to the physical food necessary for our living. Is there anyone who can live without eating? No. All living creatures that have a body must eat to live. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, and even microorganisms that we cannot see with our eyes must eat to live.

Therefore, when God created the heavens and the earth, He gave food to humans. There were trees in the Garden of Eden that were good for food. And after the judgment of the flood, according to the change of environment, He permitted people to eat animals as well.
After leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, in the wilderness where there was no food, God sent manna down from heaven and sent quail from the sea by the wind to feed the Israelites. This shows how important food is for human beings. Two weeks ago, through the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, we saw that Jesus fed the many people who followed Him.

And in today’s text, He says, “I am the bread of life.” Life means to live. It means that we can live only when we eat bread, that is, food, and we cannot live if we do not eat. What was the Greek original of this? “Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς” (ego eimi ho artos tes zoes). In Korean, life is expressed with one word, but in Greek, life is expressed with two different words. One is Zoe, which appears here, and the other is Bios. Bios refers to the life of our physical body, while Zoe refers to the life of the soul.

When we eat food, our body lives, but human beings cannot truly live with that alone; we must have the life of the soul, Zoe. Therefore, in the Bible, this word Zoe is translated as life or eternal life. The life of Bios disappears when our soul leaves the body. But the life of Zoe does not disappear even when the body dies; it refers to eternal life. To say that Zoe is alive means that one has obtained eternal life with God forever, and to say that Zoe is dead means that one will receive eternal punishment in eternal hell.

Human beings do not have only the body. [1 Thessalonians 5:23] May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here, we see that human beings have not only the body but also the soul and the spirit. The soul is the channel through which we connect with other people, forming relationships through our thoughts, emotions, and will (choices). On the other hand, the spirit is the channel through which we are aware of God and communicate with Him. God’s will for us is not only that our body be healthy, but also that our spirit and soul be strong. However, many people invest much time and money for the health of the body, but they are reluctant to invest in their soul. Remember, human beings do not live on bread alone; we must eat the food for our soul in order to live. No matter how delicious and healthy the physical food is, it cannot fill the emptiness and void in our hearts.

Jesus says that He is bread, but not bread for the life of the body, Bios, but bread for the life of the soul, Zoe. Jesus is the One who gives life, and He Himself is life. [John 14:6] Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 11:25-26] Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 

Jesus says that He is the bread that gives life, and also that He Himself is that life. The word “life” in the verses above is not Bios but ζωῆ (Zoe).

Beloved saints, believe that our Lord Jesus is the One who came to this earth as true life and gives us eternal life, Zoe, and may you all become God’s people who rejoice in Him and praise Him.

[Application] Do I believe that Jesus is the true life? What am I diligently doing for the life of the body (Bios)? What am I doing for the life of the spirit (Zoe)?

 

3. Eat and live.

[John 6:35] Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

In this word, it says that those who come to Jesus, the bread of life, will never be hungry. Everyone, if bread is in front of you, what should you do to be full? Will you be full just by looking at it? No. You must put it in your mouth and eat it. If you do not eat, you will become hungry. He says it again: whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. To eat spiritually means to believe.

[John 6:40] For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Physical bread must be taken, chewed, and swallowed so that it can supply nutrition to the body. Then how do we eat the spiritual bread, the bread of life? It is to believe. To believe that Jesus is the bread of life who came down from heaven and to receive Him into one’s life is to eat the bread of life.

In verse 35, the verb “comes” in “whoever comes to me,” and in verse 40, the verb “believes” in “whoever looks to the Son and believes in him,” are both in the present continuous tense in the original language. In other words, coming to Jesus, the bread of life, and believing in Him is not completed once, but refers to a relationship that continues and is repeated. Just as eating food is not finished once but must be done continually.

We must eat Jesus, the bread of life, every day. To eat Jesus every day means to eat and digest His word daily and to maintain a relationship with Him. Who is Jesus, the bread of life?

[John 1:14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the Word of God. And Jesus also says, [John 6:63] The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

He says that the Word itself is Jesus and life. To believe means to believe that Jesus is the Word of God, to eat His word daily, and to live according to that word.

Faith is not a past event but a present, ongoing dependence. May you become believers who come daily to Jesus, the Word of God, eat His word every day, and live in a continuous relationship with Christ.

The Lord is not far away. Even today, He quietly speaks to us from the closest place: “Come to me, eat me, and live.” What will you answer to that voice? “Lord, not other bread, but You Yourself are the bread of my life. Today also I eat You and live. Please be with me.”

[Application] Am I eating Jesus, the bread of life? How am I eating Him? What is the reason I do not eat every day?

 

 

 

하늘소망교회(담임 손진국 목사)는 뉴질랜드 오클랜드 북부 실버데일에 세워진 한인교회로 '하나님의 마음으로 사람을 살리는 교회'입니다.

Hope of Heaven Baptist Church (Senior Pastor: Rev. Jinkook Sohn) is a Korean church established in Silverdale, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a church that saves people with the heart of God.