A Loaf of Bread

 •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
“A long price for a loaf, ain’t it?” said the old baker, as I placed 5d. in his hand, in exchange for the bread.
“It do seem a lot,” he went on, “and yet it is the cheapest thing on the market: 2d. a lb., and all ready to eat! If you buy a pound of taters, you has to peel and cook ‘em; but here, all you has to do, is to sliver it off, and eat it!”
“You have done the cooking!” I replied, smiling at his apology.
“Yes; and then the farmer; he had to sow his seed, and wait pretty near a twelvemonth, and then pay his reapers; and then the millers! Why, it is nigh eighteen months before there is a return on the money! And it comes to you all ready to eat! Yet people grumble!!”
“It is a wonderful picture of God’s salvation,” was my answer: “the Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the Bread of Life.’”
“Yes, but people don’t think nowadays,” he responded, as he moved away.
Dear reader, do you think as you partake of the loaf on your breakfast table, of the wonderful illustration it affords of God’s great salvation? You know it is a necessity in your daily life, a staple article of food for rich and poor: and so is the Christ of God. You must have Christ, or perish eternally!
The first act in the produce of that loaf was the sowing of the seed; and He has said: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). He Himself, “the Bread of God,” come down from heaven, has gone into the grave; He has died; nay more, “Bread corn is bruised” (Isaiah 28:2828Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. (Isaiah 28:28)); and on the Cross He was “bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:55But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)); the wrath of God fell on Him, the Holy Substitute in the sinner’s stead, and He bore the judgment, and exhausted it. He cried “It is finished!” and bowing His head, dismissed His Spirit. They took His lifeless, sinless Body from the Cross; they laid it in the tomb: the Corn of wheat had fallen into the ground, and died. But the third day, He rose again! He is today the Risen One; death has no claim on Him; the grave cannot hold Him; and He is ascended to heaven; on the right hand of the Majesty on high He sits, the Purger of sins, the Firstfruits from the dead.
All that the sowing, and the reaping, the milling, and the baking suggest has been borne by Him; and this is His own blessed word: “I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that Bread of life.”
Make no mistake, nor imagine that the Christ of God spoke there of the physical partaking of the elements in the Communion Service in remembrance of His death: thousands may partake of them and still have no life. The “eating” in verse 53 is the same as in verse 35: “He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” But it is faith, not alone in His Person, as the Incarnate Son of God, but also in His finished and perfect work, His atoning Sacrifice, once offered (Hebrews 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)), that gives life to dead sinners, and is meant by “eating” His “flesh,” and “drinking” His “blood.” Your hunger is not appeased by admiring your loaf on the table; you must partake of it, feed on it; receive it into your very being.
But in one way the loaf I purchased, the loaf you partake of, are contrasts as well as illustrations of God’s salvation. They needed to be bought. As the old baker handed me the bread, he expected payment, even though it was “the cheapest food on the market.”
But the Bread of Life comes to you and to me on far other terms “Ho!” such is God’s proclamation: “Ho, he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy... without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness!” (Isaiah 55:1, 21Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. (Isaiah 55:1‑2)). “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)).