Bread of Life

Welcome back. This is Wednesday, March the 8th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text to 252-582-5028. You can also email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

That's right. We want you guys to help us keep this conversation going. You can support this podcast. Share it with your friends online. Leave us a good review on iTunes, Spotify, anywhere where you get your podcasting content from. We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. But before we do, I want to read the verse of the day. Go for it, my friend.

I want to do it, my friend. It's coming from John 6, 32 and 33. Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. You know, that actually leads into what we're going to discuss today. Jesus calling himself the bread of heaven or the bread of life is a very significant and very intentional reference. And it's something that would have caused alarms to fire off in his listeners' minds because it was imagery that God has provided throughout the entirety of the Bible. And I don't want to take too much away from our discussion. We're going to get into that today, what it means that Jesus is the bread of life. But before we do that, John, I heard that you have a gripe find for us today.

I don't like stuff piled on my bed. So give us some context. All right. When I come home, I tell Ellie, Ellie's at home with two kids.

Right. And right now she's on maternity leave, but she's also going back to work soon as she works from home. So I told her, I said, I don't care if the house is a wreck. I don't have any unrealistic expectations from you where, like, I come home, the dishes are done. The laundry is clean. There's like the countertops are clear. The living room is bare. I don't care about any of that. The house is going to be messy because we have children.

No problem. I don't want clothes piled on top of my bed. That's the only standard that I have. As a man, we don't get boundaries. We don't get a lot of standards. Women get to kind of hold the standards. They are like, hey, here's how it's going to be.

We don't get a lot. So I said, my one, my one is that I don't want stuff piled on my bed because that's the first place I want to go. So you explain to me, you explain to me why every night, not most nights, mind you, not most nights, every night there's clothes, laundry, and toys piled in my bed and in my spot. Mommy's spot is clear.

How funny. Wonder if Pilots took the clothes on the bed. Did I overstep a line communicating a boundary?

No, but here's the thing. I'm going to give you the explanation because this happens to me, too. I'm going to tell you, you're not alone in this. Is it in that your one boundary is violated or that stuff is piled on the bed? My thing is, I don't care so much about clothes on the bed, whatever, we'll just fold them real quick. My irk like that is trash left on the counter or on the table because it's two steps to the trash can and it was literally on your way as you left the kitchen. However, all of you people who live in my household, wife and children, all six of you, walked right past, left your trash, walked right past the trash, walked right past the trash can. It would have saved you effort had you thrown it away.

This is a great harvest of gripes today. But here's the thing. Here's how I've wrapped my head around this. Specifically speaking of the clothes on the bed.

Elizabeth puts clothes on the bed with the intention of I'm going to fold these clothes and this is a flat surface on which I am able to fold these clothes easily. Great. Fine. Wonderful.

No problem. You don't want to fold them on the table. You don't want to fold them on the stove. There's not spaces to fold them on top of the washing machine. She tries.

Oh, they're on fire. Well, we don't have to fold them now. But she starts to fold them and she's like, oh, wait, I need to start the next load of laundry. So she goes in the laundry room and she's like, wow, we're out of laundry detergent. So I need to go ahead and order some more laundry detergent. Let me add that to the grocery pickup. You know, while I'm doing the grocery pickup, let me see what other groceries we need.

And then 45 minutes later, the clothes are forgotten and she's moved on to 18 other tasks because she's trying to keep everything rolling for her household, which I appreciate. But I know full well that that happens because the same thing happens to me too. Right. So my way is, and my way kind of annoys people. I can't complete a task unless I devote 100 percent to it. I think you guys know this about me working with me. If I'm like, hey, I'm going to do this right now. This is the only thing on earth that matters.

Right. So I'm not going to do the juggling multitasking like this. Nothing is getting done until this is done, which I don't know is efficient, but that's how I am. Honestly, that's one of the things I admire most about you is that you're able to devote 100 percent of your focus to this task. I have a hard time doing that because I'm thinking about this, this, this and this and this. And I'm not devoting 100 percent. Because then you come home and 18 tasks are half done and you and you're overwhelmed. Yeah. It's like, oh, I would rather get two things done.

And I never think I might have again, rather than have 18 things in the air. And I'm overwhelmed. I'm stressed. I've got stuff on my husband's bed.

And he's angry because that's the one thing he said he wanted to go to. But I'm putting stuff on the bed, forgetting about it. And now we're both stressed because he wants to get in the bed and he can't. And now I got laundry to fold and he's ungrateful. He's yelling at me. I'm going to yell at him. That's not fine.

That's not good thinking. So I say, don't do laundry. I'm fine living with dirty clothes piled up. We'll do it together when I get home.

That's fine. I'll fold the towels and look at TV. Yeah. Or just, you know, maybe just throw the clothes away and just wear like a sheet.

Yeah. Or just go to Walmart and buy new clothes. It'll be fine.

Whatever. Let us know your laundry situation. Text us in 252-582-5028. We've got a question of the day today from Melissa J. Melissa says, what is the best restaurant you regularly frequent, Dr. Shah? I'm going to think he's going to say Royal India. I have a guess.

I have a guess, but I want to see if I'm right. Yeah. So we're going to get back to Dr. Shah to answer that question at the end of the episode and as we dive into today's content. But if you have any questions or suggestions for us, send us a text to 252-582-5028 or visit us online at cleaviewtodayshow.com.

We'll be back after this. And that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things.

His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below. And if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text, 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show? Let's do it.

All right. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at cleaviewtodayshow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Dr. Shah, have you been seeing everybody that's been writing in all the things that people have been saying about the episodes? It's so awesome to know that we're having such a tremendous impact on people.

Oh, absolutely. Not a single day goes by that I don't either hear from somebody in person or a text message or Facebook Messenger. People send a message and say, hey, this and this episode or this and this show really made an impact on their lives. I was walking out of the café last night before men's Bible study.

Our men have a Bible study and the women have a Bible study, and I try not to be the one teaching the men's Bible study because I want other men to step up and take their role, and none of our staff are either teaching right now either for that purpose, to let people in the church take a leadership role. A gentleman stopped me and said, just to let you know, that President's Day episode was awesome. If you may remember, President's Day episode, we talked about our trip. Nicole and I took a trip, just a one-day trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, and went to the home of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.

So, Monticello, Montpelier, and Highland. It was such an awesome trip, and these are three very special men. Anyways, sharing that helped this gentleman and his friends, and they said, we love that show.

That was a good one. So, I said, okay. Praise God. That's awesome. Well, thank you for what you do, and thank you for the opportunity to make a show like this and reach people. I mean, it's so amazing to see people being impacted by your knowledge, by your scholarship, and by your heart. Thank you. Thank you. And without you guys, I wouldn't be doing this today.

Not just Ryan on my left and John on my right, but also David and then Nicholas behind the cameras, behind the scenes. Amen. It's a privilege to be part of it. We're grateful for you guys for watching, especially if you're new. If you're just hearing the show for the first time, we want to thank you for being here. Let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, an author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's episode.

You can find all of his work, all of it, at his website. That's AbadanShah.com. What was that? How much of it can they find? Every piece of it since at least 2012.

Sure. He was so passionate about it. That's 11 years worth of scholarly resources you all sleep on. Actually, earlier than that, I think you're right. 2012.

That's awesome. Speaking of that, today we're going to launch into a discussion that's going to span several episodes. Back toward the start of the year, we started talking about, I think we had an episode on Jesus being sufficient for today, Jesus being what we need for today, not looking back to the past and getting stuck in regret and not looking ahead to the future and being stuck in worry or anxiety, but trusting God for today. It was January 9th, if you're interested. January the 9th.

Very cool. Go back and check that episode out if you have the podcasting app and you're able to do so. If you can't, then... Sorry. I guess, sorry.

But that's what it was on. So we want to continue that discussion today in a sense, but talking about how Jesus is sufficient for what we need. He is the answer for any question that we could ask.

Absolutely. We began the New Year with that message called Today, and that's probably one of the top messages in the sense of hearing back from people that we've ever had. So that was a great message, and God is the one behind it. It's His word. When I say great message, it's not like I gave a great message.

It's the word of God that is so powerful. And we focused on Matthew 634 where it says, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow. You know, starting on the New Year, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And I sort of focused on how, you know, reflect over yesterday, but don't dwell on it. It's over.

It's done. You can't go back and fix things, and it's time to leave the past. As Oswald Chambers said, Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us. It is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. But then he makes this statement.

I'm trying to get this statement, and I kept stumbling over my words here, because I want to get to this line. The line is let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. So yeah, let it sleep, but let it sleep in the hands of Jesus Christ, in the arms of Jesus Christ, which means this.

He will take care of that. I cannot go back. I can only live in the present. I'm not God. I'm not, you know, a being that can transcend time. So that is now in God's hand, and he will work all things together for good in his sovereignty, in his omniscience, in his omnipresence.

He will take care of all of that. When it comes to the next day, tomorrow, I can be realistic about it, but that's all I can do. I can, you know, say it is there, it is real, but I can't worry about it. Why? Because that will only lead to fear and anxiety.

I have to leave that alone as well. You know, and Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, from which we got Matthew 634, it says Sermon on the Mount, in that he talks about, look at the birds of the air, look at the leaves of the field. You know, they don't worry about these things, and yet the Heavenly Father takes care of them.

So trust him. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. But then what are you doing today? Well, let's listen again to Matthew 634. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

It means today you have plenty to worry about. Why are you going to go back to the past and say, if only that hadn't happened? If only I hadn't done this.

If only they hadn't done this. It's done. It's over. Now, you can learn from it and fix things and say, okay, guys, this is how we're going to do it moving forward. But beyond that, you cannot go back to the past and fix it.

You cannot go to the future. You can only be realistic about it and say, this is happening, this is coming, and I'm going to pray and trust God. But I cannot afford to sit up all night and be worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow. My bills or my family or some accident or some health problems.

I can't do that. So I have to leave it alone. But I can focus on today because today has plenty of problems. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And then from there, we went to Matthew 6 and verse 11. This is the Lord's Prayer or really the disciples prayer, right? Because the Lord's Prayer is John 17. But this is the prayer where Jesus says, give us this day, our daily day. Yeah. He didn't say give us yesterday's bread.

That's done. Can't go back and eat for missed meals. He didn't say give us tomorrow's bread because that's going to breed worms.

Right. Like the manna. I can only talk about today's bread. So give us this day, our daily bread. The whole point is this focus on today. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

And here's the line. And Jesus is sufficient for today. He's sufficient for yesterday and tomorrow when you were there or when you will be there. But today he has everything that you need. Right.

For today. And I love how how the series kind of evolved beyond that because it got to this point where it's like, OK, we're answering that. We're kind of answering that question. Jesus is sufficient, which sort of begs its own question.

Well, how is he sufficient? And that's what led to those seven I am statements that we looked through. Yeah.

Yeah. And beginning with the first one, which is the bread of life. Now, just to give you a quick preface here. These are the seven I am statements coming from the Gospel of John. You know, John's gospel.

I've said this before. It is so simple that a little child can wade into it. But it is so deep that even an elephant can't touch ground. So what does that mean? It means this, that the Gospel of John on one level is very simple, easy to understand.

We know what it means. But on another level, it has layers of meaning. And these are not just like some, you know, typology or, you know, some allegory or things like that that sometimes are forced onto the text.

No, if you begin to see in the Greek text, number one, you got to go by language in the Greek text and then look at the themes that are, that begin to pop up and they begin to shine. They begin to glow like stones, like precious stones. So when you begin to connect the same kind of stones, you go, whoa, there's a pattern here. And then you look at another precious stone and you go, okay, what is this stone doing here? And then all of a sudden you see stones all over the text glowing and you connect them and you go, there's another pattern there.

What in the world is happening here? Then you take it in the context of the entire life of Christ and there's a pattern there. And then you extend that in the New Testament and then to the Old Testament.

So it's not just that we're doing just grammatical historical study, like get to the context, of course. But there's also this, this hermeneutical, theological meaning that is also there throughout the text. And so when you put all that together, you walk away going, is it real that we're seeing all this in the text?

Is this really real? Is the text of John so rich? Well, if there was no evidence, then it would be like, oh no, you're forcing things on it.

But the evidence is too much. You know, it's so much evidence in the Greek text and in the theological, the themes throughout the scriptures that it's like, yeah, that is true. And so when it comes to the bread of life, you know, the seven I Am statements of Jesus that John the apostle included. First off, when Jesus used that line, I Am, or before Abraham was, I Am, he was invoking the name of God.

I was going to say that it's really interesting, because you were talking about going back to the original languages that it was spoken, because I think in English we see that I Am bread of life, I Am light of the world. And so because the I Ams are all the same, we tend to dismiss them. When really when they were hearing it, that's the thing that would have stuck out to them. Because Jesus said other things too. If he had just said, I'm the bread of life, it'd be like, okay, maybe he's just declaring who he thinks he is or comparing himself to bread. But because Jesus made some other statements that equated him or kind of put him on the same level as God the Father, that's when you go, wait, is he claiming to be God? And then when you look in the text, yeah, that's why the Jewish people said, we got to stone you because you're being blasphemous. And Jesus never recanted and said, okay, well, guys, I'm sorry.

I just didn't think about it. He didn't do any apology tweets or nothing like that. My actions were deeply hurtful.

Yeah, I'm so sorry. No, he actually said, I told you I am. I am the Son of God. And again, let me make another claim here. And this claim is also based on evidence. And the claim is this. The Jewish people in the first century, and even earlier, knew about the Trinity. Now what I mean by that is this. Did they understand it in all the fine details as the Council of Nicaea or Constantinople and all the controversy, the Arian controversy and all that, and how the Church Fathers and Athanasius and others put together?

No, maybe not in that fine detail. Nonetheless, they understood that there is one God, and yet there is many persons within that Godhead. They understood that. We don't worship many gods. We worship one God.

And yet he is in three persons. When people talk as if the whole idea of Trinity came down the road with the coming of Constantine and his councils, that's a huge misunderstanding. The Jewish people knew. They said, how do you know that?

Well, one clear evidence that is lying in front of your eyes is this. The first converts, who were they? Were they Greeks? Were they Phoenicians? Were they Hittites? Were they Arabs? Who were the first converts? What ethnicity or religious background did they come from? Were they the Jewish people? Yeah, exactly.

What does that mean? When Jesus is claiming to be God and all this and equal to the Father, the Jewish people are the ones who are believing in him. Would a Jewish person ever dare worship a man? No.

I see. If something they understood through those dark ages, we're talking about the Maccabean period or following Malachi to John the Baptist, was this. No more polytheism, no more idol worship, no more many gods. They did other hypocrisies, but not try to worship a man. But here they are willing to bow before a human being. Why?

Because they understood. Oh, got it. He's the one. But the Pharisees and the scribes were like, no, no, no. He's got to come through our ranks. We have to sign off on him. He is some illegitimate kid from Galilee. What right does he have to come into Jerusalem, our religious capital, and claim to be the one from the riffraff Galilee? No, no.

That was a real problem. When Jesus came, John the Baptist as well, they did not say, hey, so the Pharisees are right guys. The Pharisees are good guys. No, they just turned on the Pharisees too. After they were done with the tax collectors and the prostitutes, they said, you Pharisees are whitewashed tombs. You Pharisees are hypocrites. You are the brood of vipers.

You pretend to be something you are not. Unless your righteousness, talking to the people, exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means see the kingdom of heaven. That's when the Pharisees said, we don't like this guy. Do you think that's why Jesus gave this I Am the Bread discourse so close to Passover? Because he knew that within the context of the Jewish feast, the Jewish tradition that they would understand, or they would at least get the parallels to the God of the Old Testament and himself.

Yeah, yeah. I think he spoke within that context of the feasts that were happening, the common traditions that they were celebrating. But he gave it a whole different meaning. So when you go to this I Am the Bread of Life, which is found in John chapter 635, what's happening around that time? Of course, Jesus has just fed the 5,000.

By the way, it's not just 5,000, it's probably 15,000 to 20,000, counting the women and the children. But the feast that is going around is the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pesach or Matzot. And it celebrated their freedom from Egypt and from slavery. And so on the night that they had to leave Egypt, they were supposed to celebrate the Passover quickly. Don't even sit. Tie your waist with your belt and don't even wait for that bread to rise.

No time for the leaven to work its magic. You just got to eat and go. You have to walk into this dark night and there is urgency, there is a sense of uncertainty behind it. So get some food in your stomach. Isn't that amazing?

God looked out for them. You're about to go into a dark night, it's going to be crazy. Get some food in your bellies and no, we don't have time to wait for the yeast to work.

You have to go now. So when they got into the Promised Land, God gave them that command that you should celebrate this Feast of the Passover, Feast of the Unleavened Bread. So about the same time, John 6.38, when Jesus is at this Feast of Passover 2,000 years ago, He says, For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

This is the will of the Father, who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then complained about Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother and father we know? How is it that He says, I have come down from heaven? So, you know, Jesus was saying, Just the way your fathers ate the manna, I am the bread that's come to you.

By the way, I'm jumping ahead a little bit. Not only the Passover bread, but also the manna. It also came from God to feed the people throughout the wilderness. So, the bread on the night of the Passover, as you're going into the wilderness, into the dark, uncertain night, but also for those 40 years, they're hungry, so they need bread. Jesus stands up and says, I'm the bread of life. What He's saying is, I'm the bread that you feed upon before you go into your dark and uncertain night. I'm the bread that you feed upon for those 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. And by the way, what did I say about the manna?

That was not supposed to be like, Oh, this is so good. Culinary delight. Yeah, it's not something you want to save and stock up. Right. It was more like, I can't wait to stop eating this food. Yeah.

Because I'm sick and tired of this. Unlike the manna, Jesus is the living bread, John 651, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. So, the whole point is this. Jesus was saying, feed upon me and you can walk into your dark and uncertain night.

All this just is powerful. And then it ends in John 652. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him as the living father sent me and I live because of the father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead.

He who eats this bread will live forever. Beautiful. Amen. Such a great reminder for us.

I love to listen to you talk about the Bible, too. I was just sitting here the whole time. I know.

I was so enraptured. I know. I was thinking near the end, I was like, this is pretty bad radio. We're not talking, but I just couldn't break it. I was just listening. Yeah, I felt that, too.

Man. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, you have questions or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text to 252-582-5028. You can also visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. You can support us financially on that same website.

We're grateful to all of our giving partners out there, those of you who have teamed up with us to impact the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. We got a question coming in from Melissa J. I'm actually going to tweak it a little bit, because she asked, what's the best restaurant that you regularly frequent? I might maybe save that for later, because I want to know, what restaurant has the best bread? Oh, my. Ooh, good.

Yeah, thank you. A lot of good ones. I like Indian bread. I like the naan. I like the parathas. I like the rotis. So, I would say Royal India has some really good stuff. It's right on capital in Raleigh.

They do. I've had the naan there. It's very good. Yeah. I remember those Golden Corral, those big, flaky, puffy biscuits that were frozen in honey. Oh, yeah. Those yeast rolls, I can eat and get sick on them. Okay? There's so many.

30 for a night. Yeah. You don't feel like you're eating anything. You're just like, oh, yeah, whatever. Yeah. The Golden Corral, Shoney's, Ryan's. You remember all those? No. You steak out Western Sizzling. Western Sizzling, yeah. Yeah. Good. Those are some of my favorite places. You eat one, and you eat three, and then you eat 90, and you're like, oh, wow. Oh, now I have a whole buffet to go eat.

Quincy's, Shoney's. All right. Oh, man.

I want some bread. We love you guys. We'll see you next time. We'll clear you today.