An encouraging word from John 6
Biblical Israel Ministries & Tours (BIMT) is all about teaching the Bible in the context of the land of Israel and other biblical countries (Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy). We teach the historical geography of the Bible as well as archaeology, customs and culture of the land. We aim to make connections between the Bible and the land in all that we do.
This is another session in the new series of teaching videos called “Devotions from Israel.” This brief five-minute devotional comes from John 6. The setting for this narrative from the Gospel of John is the Sea of Galilee and the city of Capernaum.
About the Devotional
Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the One sent to earth to be the only source of salvation. He truly is the “
way, the truth, and the life” (
John 14).
Eight chapters earlier (in John 6), following the Feeding of the 5,000 Jesus returned to
Capernaum. He used this shoreline Jewish city as a “home base” for His Galilean ministry. Archaeologically, a late 4th / 5th century synagogue was found. You can see it was made with white limestone. However, below this level the ruins are basaltic stone structures of what probably was an earlier first century synagogue. This is the synagogue where Jesus taught before (Mark 1). We even know who built it (Luke 7).
Later on in John 6, we find Jesus teaching in the synagogue again. He was speaking about the prior blessing of God in the form of manna that fell from heaven. This manna provided for the ancient desert-dwelling Israelites in a miraculous way. Now speaking metaphorically, Jesus said this: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
He continued, “Very truly I tell 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 them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them” (John 6:53-56).
