The Word of Life

Only the person and work of Christ the God-Man can and has turned away the wrath of God from all those who have put their trust in Him. For by the blood of His cross, Christ paid the full penalty for their sins and satisfied the wrath of God on their behalf. Therefore they will escape death (eternity in hell) and inherit the Kingdom of God. But those who reject Christ will be cut off from the land of the living. For there is no life for those who have not eaten the Bread of Life.

“I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst”, declares the Lord in John 6:35.

“Man is an eternally dissatisfied being”, they say. For he always wants to obtain more than what he already has – more pleasures, more money, more stuff; he always yearns for more comfort. No matter how much he already possesses or how pleasant the circumstances of his life are, man always desires to obtain more temporal blessings and pleasures and aspires to the ideal in all things. Truly, the natural man is never satisfied. Why? Because of his moral corruption and separation from God. But the Lord promises complete and eternal satisfaction to anyone who comes to Him. The question now is: How can man, who is known to have an insatiable hunger for all kinds of things, become so satisfied to the point where he no longer hungers nor thirsts when he comes to Christ?

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal” (John 6:27). “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe” (John 6:35-36).

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). This offer is to everyone who thirsts... Will you deny your soul such a precious drink? Why do you condemn your soul to drought while there is a free gift of wine and milk prepared for you? Do not harden your heart any longer, for the King Himself, Lord of heaven and earth, is calling you today, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). Run to Him, and He will purify you from all your impurities and idols and give you the water of life.

There is none like the LORD God; there is no other God besides Him. The LORD is the well of salvation, the wellspring of living water, the river of the water of life that brings healing to the soul. Anyone He sprinkles with clean water thirsts no more and stops chasing after broken cisterns, for the water He gives them is living; it satisfies their soul. “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”, declares the Lord Jesus in John 4:14.

Since the Fall of man and his expulsion from the Paradise of God, he is no longer the well-watered garden of Paradise, he is no longer the golden and undefiled vessel that once perfectly reflected the glory of the holy God. Rather, man is like a parched land, with a reprobate mind and a sensual heart. He is no longer pure but a filthy vessel that needs cleansing. For his soul is no longer watered by the Fountain of Living Waters – man no longer drinks the pure, sweet water of God. Instead, he drinks poison from the river of darkness, a river soiled with iniquities, pride and immorality, to the peril of his soul. 

After considering the uniqueness of God's essence and His singularity as the Self-existent Maker and the Self-sufficient Sustainer in the first part of this series, the focus in the second and last part is on the unchangeableness and the trustworthiness of God, as it transpires from His personal name "I AM". The conclusion, which speaks of God's self-revelation, will serve as a bridge to our upcoming series in which I will survey the metaphorical statements that the LORD uses throughout the Bible to speak of Himself, namely the "I AM" statements.

When the LORD sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, "Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations" (Exodus 3:13-15).

What does God's name communicate to His people? This two-part series, titled Picture of the Great I AM: A Look into God's Transcendent Beauty, gives you a clear answer to this question.