Many of the people, who had eaten of the bread Jesus supplied for the entire multitude in the country place, came to the town where He was the next day. Some of them may have walked a long way to find Him, but He knew they came wanting Him to give them more food, not to hear the words of God which He told them.
Most of the people in those lands were poor and it may have been very hard to get enough food, yet they should have known that One who could provide so much food from a few loaves must come from God, and that His words must be true and for them to believe.
The Work of God
He told them to “labor,’’ or be really in earnest for what He could give them that would last forever; the bread He had given, though good, could not last long. They were hungry again. They asked Him, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?“
He told them, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”
The people may have thought there were laws they must keep, or work to do for others before they could have everlasting life. But Jesus told them that what they must do for God was to believe on Him whom God had sent, and that One was Jesus Himself.
The Bread of Life
But some of those people were so selfish or hard-hearted that they did not believe Jesus was sent by God, even though He had done so many kind and great things for them, which no one else could do. They asked Him to do something more, “a sign”, that they could believe Him. They spoke of food, called manna, which God Had given for the many thousand people of Israel while they lived in the wilderness, on the way to Canaan. They seemed to think Jesus should do the same for them.
You remember the story of the manna, how God had sent the small round pure food each morning (except on the seventh day of the week). It lay upon the dew on the grass or ground around the camp of Israel, and the people could gather all they wanted to (Ex. 16:14-1814And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. 15And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. 16This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 17And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. (Exodus 16:14‑18)).
Yet those people tired of the pure food God sent, and complained. And the people would complain also if Jesus had supplied them each day. He told them the manna did not give people everlasting life, for all those who ate it had died. But He said God had now sent true bread to them, and that He was the Bread of life. He said, “I am the living bread which came down from Heaven.”
Bread, or food, is what keeps up life on earth. No one here can live without food. Jesus is the One to give life for heaven, so He is called “true bread.” He gives life forever to those who take Him as their own Saviour.
“Verily, verily (It is true, it is true) ... He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.”
“We believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ (the Chosen of God), the Son of the living God,” was Peter’s clear testimony of Jesus.
Further Meditation:
1. What is the “work of God”?
2. What did the children of Israel do with the manna once they became tired of it, and how does this apply to today? You will find the story in Numbers 11.
3. You will find a lot more about the manna and what it means in Typical Teachings of Exodus by E. Dennett.