When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 2, Chapter 2
The King and the Bread Question

"I am that bread of life." (John 6:48)

There was a principal and profound difference between the conception of the kingdom of God as Jesus came to establish it, and the conception of that kingdom as it was in the minds of many of the Jews during the time of the Savior's sojourn on earth. After all, the latter was very little different from the kingdom Christ was offered by the devil on the mount of temptation. The Jews expected an earthly kingdom. The earthly throne of David was to be restored and even raised to unknown heights of glory and splendor by the expected Messiah, and the nation of Israel was to be victorious over its enemies in that earthly sense, and rule over the nations of the world. And not only had they formed an earthly and rather carnal conception of the Messianic kingdom, and of the Christ that was to come, but they had set their heart on it. That the kingdom was to be a spiritual commonwealth, embracing all the nations of the world equally, that its blessings were to be spiritual blessings of righteousness, holiness and truth, the forgiveness of sin and eternal life, and that the kingdom would not finally realized here in this world, but in the world to come -- this they did not understand. Even the inner circle of Christ's disciples had this earthly and carnal conception of the kingdom of the Messiah, as is evident from their entire attitude to Jesus before the cross and the resurrection. For a king that must suffer to enter into His glory, or at least, for one that had to suffer as Christ would to be delivered, crucified, and slain, they had no room in their conception and hope. When the Lord predicted to them this suffering, they either strenuously opposed the idea and contradicted their Lord, or His word failed to register in their minds. And constantly they were discussing the question of who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

No wonder then that there was a constant conflict between Christ and the carnal Jews on this score. For His kingdom was in no sense of the word of this world. He did not come to establish a natural, but a spiritual kingdom, and His kingdom was not earthly, but heavenly. His coming into the world had nothing to do with earthly prosperity and peace, earthly power and glory. He had come to establish the kingdom of God, i.e. that commonwealth in which God reigns by grace in the hearts of the subjects, and they acknowledge Him as their God and delight in doing His will. To become citizens of that kingdom men had to be redeemed, for they had no right to its citizenship. And to redeem them Christ had to pay the price of their redemption by His obedience unto death. And to enter into that kingdom men had to be delivered from the dominion of sin and the devil, and translated from death into life, from darkness into light. But the conception of such a kingdom is directly opposed to the carnal desires and expectations of the natural man. He does not want to be redeemed and to be delivered from the power of sin, but in his sin he wants a kingdom of this world with an abundance of peace and prosperity. Thus it is today. And thus it was in the days of Christ's sojourn on earth, even though this carnal conception assumed a more specifically Jewish form and aspect. And the more clearly carnal Israel apprehended that Jesus would have nothing of their earthly kingdom and carnal expectations, the more they were disappointed in Him, hated Him, denied He was the Christ, and became ready to reject and to kill Him. And so, the anointed King of God suffered, not only in order to enter into His kingdom, but also because of the very nature of the kingdom He came to establish. Because of it, and because He could never cater to the carnal desires of sinful men, He was despised and rejected, the Royal Sufferer.

A very clear illustration of this conflict between the anointed King and the carnal Jews, which resulted in the latter's alienation from Him, and their rejection of Him as the Messiah, is recorded in the sixth chapter of the gospel according to John. To bring the story of this conflict briefly and sharply before your minds, and to give you an impression of the swift and radical change that was brought about by it in the attitude of the carnal Jews to the Christ of God, I will "read" just a few verses of this chapter. In vss. 14 and 15 we read: "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone." And in vs. 56 we read: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." What a change! In the evening of one day they acknowledge that He is the expected Messiah, and they are so filled with enthusiasm about Him, that they are ready to acclaim Him king, and would compel Him to ascend the throne of Israel. And on the next day they are wholly disappointed in Him, and become alienated from Him, so that they forsake the company of His disciples! They leave Him alone, and reject Him! What had happened? Briefly I may answer that the bread-question had been discussed and explained by the Savior, and although these would-be disciples had probably not understood all the Lord had been saying to them, His speech had been sufficiently plain to cause them to understand that they certainly had made a fundamental mistake when on the previous evening they had intended to make Him their king, and that He was not the Christ they expected and desired. Let us follow for a moment the course of events that had brought about this change.

It was toward the close of Jesus' Galilean ministry, of which Capernaum had been the center. To speak in modern parlance, the Savior appeared to be at the height of His popularity. Tremendous multitudes followed Him, many of whom might be counted among the broader group of His disciples that followed Him wherever He went. For the Lord had not only preached the gospel of the kingdom, but His fame was spread abroad because of the many miracles "which he did on them that were diseased." vs. 2. Especially on the occasion recorded in the sixth chapter of the gospel according to John, many thousands had gathered about Him, for the feast of the passover was nigh, and many that went through those parts to go up to the feast to Jerusalem paused to hear Jesus of Nazareth, and to see His marvellous works. And John makes mention of five thousand men only. They were gathered on the east side of the sea of Galilee, whither the Lord had departed with His disciples. And there something occurred, that raised the already feverish enthusiasm of the multitude to a still higher pitch, something so marvellous and appealing to their imagination, that they confessed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, and made preparations to crown Him king.

What was it that so roused their zeal? Jesus had performed another miracle. Yet, the mere fact as such, that the Lord had performed a wonder, will hardly suffice to explain their present state of enthusiasm for Jesus. Many a miracle the Savior had performed in their coasts, and most of the multitude had been witnesses of them. He had healed the sick, made the lame to walk, opened the eyes of the blind, caused the deaf to hear, cast out devils, and even raised the dead. Yet, never had the multitude been so deeply moved, never had their emotions been so profoundly stirred, never had their enthusiasm reached such a high pitch, as at the sight of the miracle the Lord had now performed before their eyes. With five loaves of bread and two fishes the Lord had supplied food to the entire multitude of thousands of people, and when they were all satisfied they had taken up twelve baskets of fragments that were left over, enough to feed another multitude! To them this was the climax, the greatest of all miracles they had ever seen, and the one that most strongly appealed to them. It fired their imagination. It opened before them glorious vistas of new possibilities. This man must be the Messiah, the prophet that was to come. He surely is the Messiah after their own heart. And they decide to take action at once, and to make Him a king by force. But the Lord withdrew Himself from them, alone into the mountain. He perceives that this is a time of crisis, that on the morrow He will be called to fight a battle. And as often, so now He desires to be alone with the Father to prepare Himself in prayer, not only for the battle that awaits Him on the morrow, but also to consecrate Himself anew unto the work He came to do in the way of the cross.

What was wrong with the zeal of the multitude on this occasion? They were carnal, and their present enthusiasm for the Lord was carnal. It was their earthly expectations of the kingdom that was roused. They had seen bread, and an abundance of it. True, it was wonderful, miraculous bread they had seen, but still it had been real and honest bread that could fill their stomachs and satisfy their hunger. And they wanted more of it. They had not seen the sign itself. That in multiplying the bread Jesus had revealed Himself as the spiritual Bread of Life, that would feed His own unto eternal life, they had not understood. This is evident from the rebuke Jesus administers to them on the following day: "Verily, verily, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled." vs. 26. They wanted more bread! When they had watched Jesus so marvellously multiplying those few loaves, they had seen tremendous possibilities. Surely, this was the king they wanted! Here was a man that had the power to solve the social and economic problems, that could supply them with a full dinner pail, that could bring prosperity to the world, the more abundant life! Was there an end to the power of this man? Was He not the very man that did not only talk about and promise freedom from want, but had given a demonstration of His power to realize it, to bestow this freedom upon men? And is not freedom from want the key to all other freedoms in the world? A mighty, earthly king they saw in Jesus. That this is correct is evident from their very intention to make Jesus king by force. They were going to help Him to the throne, and to support Him in the establishment of the kingdom! Had they understood the nature of the kingdom Jesus came to establish, they would never have conceived of such a thing. For men do not make Jesus king. Nor do they establish His kingdom for Him. He establishes His own kingdom, even as He receives it from the Father. And He establishes it, not through human zeal or by the power of man, not in the way of earthly pomp and glory, but in the way of the righteousness of God with respect to a sinful world, through obedience unto the death of the cross. He is the Royal Sufferer!

This truth the Savior impressed upon the hearts and minds of His enthusiastic would-be disciples on the following day. However imperfect may have been their understanding of what Jesus taught them on that day in Capernaum, it became very clear to them that He had not come to bring abundance and prosperity to the world, but to suffer and die, and that they could never enter into His kingdom except by believing on Him as the Royal Sufferer! It became clear to them that this man would reject all their offers of power and glory, would spurn their carnal zeal, and deliberately choose the way of the cross! That is the meaning of the battle that is fought on the following day between the Royal Sufferer and the carnal Galileans in the form of a conversation.

Let us briefly analyze this conversation. The subject is bread. And for a while it appears as if they might agree on the subject, and as if they were talking about the same kind of bread. Jesus admonishes them that they must not labor for the meat that perishes, but rather for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life, and which the Son of God giveth unto them. And they are ostensibly interested, for they ask: "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Vss. 27, 28. And when the Lord continued to explain that not Moses had given them the true bread from heaven, when they had eaten manna in the wilderness, but that His Father gave them that true bread, and that this true bread is He that giveth life unto the world, they appear to be very eager to receive it, and pray: "Lord, evermore give us this bread." However, from there on it becomes increasingly plain that there is a deep chasm between Jesus and the Galileans, and that they have not the same bread in mind. Jesus deliberately disillusions these would-be disciples. He does so, first of all by emphatically declaring that He is the Bread of life! That upsets them. That Jesus could give them bread, they had witnessed. But when He declares that He is the Bread of life, they perceive that He is talking, not of physical, but of spiritual bread. And they care not for it. They begin to murmur. And suddenly they recall that Jesus is the son of Joseph, and that they know His father and mother. How, then, can He be the bread from heaven? And when the Lord elaborates upon this truth, and emphasizes, not only that they can never come to Him unless the Father draw them, but also that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, they perceive that He will become spiritual bread in the way of sacrifice, of suffering unto death! And as they have no desire for spiritual bread, they do not want a suffering Messiah, whose flesh and blood they are to eat and drink. They are disillusioned. A hard speech they declare this instruction of Jesus, a speech that no one can hear. And they forsake Him!

The battle was finished, and once more the Royal Sufferer had won the victory, although He was forsaken by men. The issue had been clear. It had been the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, between physical and spiritual bread, between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of heaven, between disobedience to the Father in the way of earthly glory and perfect obedience in the way of the cross. And Christ had chosen the latter. In the way of suffering He would receive His kingdom from the Father. And in this He would not be ashamed.

And how about us? At the end of the conflict in Capernaum the Lord placed His chosen twelve before the question: Will ye also go away? What is our answer to this question? What do we want, the kingdom of the world or the kingdom of heaven? What do we seek, carnal or spiritual bread? What do we hunger for, the things of the flesh or the righteousness of Christ? By nature we will surely seek the things of the world with those Galileans. But when it is given us of the Father, we will remain with the Royal Sufferer and answer with Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."