Wherever Jesus went when He was here on earth, there is always a multitude of people around Him apart from the disciples. And He would always talk to them about the kingdom of God. Jesus' time here on earth was spent on doing good according to the book of Acts 10:38 which says this how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Jesus was able to fulfil His ministry because He was anointed by God and the anointing that was on Him was the power of the Holy Spirit and most importantly God was with Him. Therefore, everywhere He went He was able to do exploits even when He was opposed by the Pharisees, the Sadducess and the chief priests.
Matthew 16:1
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.
Mark 8:11
Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.
Luke 20:20-26
So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.
Then they asked Him, saying, Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?
They answered and said, Caesar’s.
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marvelled at His answer and kept silent.
Mark 12:28-34
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all?
Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
So the scribe said to Him, Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.
But after that no one dared question Him.
Even with all this Jesus who is the Living WORD continued to do good. Jesus was able to give His word to the people and He blessed the people spiritually and physically. The power of God in Him enabled Him to feed the multitudes in the following chapters of the bible.
Feeding the multitude
John 6: 1 - 14
In John's gospel of the feeding of 5000
After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
Philip answered Him, Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?
Then Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.
Soon after Jesus fed the 5000, He was able to feed the 4000 and even with that His disciples still questioned Him about the feeding of the 4000 - Matthew 15:29 - 39. not remembering that in the previous chapter He fed the 5000.
Jesus is Love and He was walking in love towards people (everyone). Jesus in His ministry would heal and feed people by not leaving them hungry. And this is who Jesus is and still is.
In John 6:22-40
Jesus introduced Himself to the people as the Bread Of Life
On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone— however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks— when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did You come here?
Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.
Then they said to Him, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.
Therefore they said to Him, What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
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.
Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always.
And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 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.
It's very important to remind us of the fact that Jesus said to the people in verse 29 that we are to believe in Him that God sent to save us from sins - Matthew 1:21
For us to have Him as our Living Bread we are to believe Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior - John 3:1 - 20
The New Birth
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?
Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man [b]who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practising evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
For us to have eternal life we are to believe in Him that was sent as the Bread from heaven, Jesus is the Bread from heaven and He desires for us to have life and as we come to Him, He promises us that we shall not hunger nor thirst and as we believe in Him we will not be cast out.
Also in John 6: 41 - 58
Jesus is saying to us that He is the Living Bread.
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 father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, I have come down from heaven’?
Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught by God. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread 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.
The Jews therefore quarrelled 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.
What Jesus is saying is that as He is the Living bread from heaven and we are to faithfully eat His flesh and drink His blood so as to have eternal life. Jesus is not saying we are to eat Him physically but we are to believe in Him as the Living Bread from heaven and this is seen has the communion we take in our lives.
In the institution of the Lord's Supper
Mark 14: 22 - 25
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, Take, eat; this is My body.
Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Luke 22: 18 - 20
for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
1 Corinthians 11:23 - 25
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
Therefore, as spoken to us by the Lord Himself we are to faithfully observe the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup till He comes, doing it in remembrance of Him always.
In all this chapters the Lord introduced the new covenant to us, and this is why He died to bring us into a relationship with Him.
Jesus is Love who came as the Bread of Life and the Living Bread from heaven to reconcile us back to God the Father. In Him is Life - John 1:4 ; John 10:10 and John 6:27. Once we believe in Him we have His life in us all and with His life in us we are blessed with every spiritual blessing - Ephesians 1:3.
Remain blessed in Him that gives us life.
