“In very truth I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from Heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.”
The Pharisees believed that by reading and assiduously obeying the Law of Moses they would find eternal life by being established in the covenant. Jesus informed them that eternal life was rather to be found now by believing in Him. It was response to Him that would bring life, and that alone. So the message given previously is repeated. Jesus is ‘the bread of life'. Those who truly believe in Him as the bread of life, and receive Him, will have eternal life immediately. This was thus far superior to the manna from Heaven given in the wilderness. ‘Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died'. That food, which they claimed was ‘from Heaven', could not give life. Those who ate of it died as all men die. It just gave temporary satisfaction, and they even got sick of that (Numbers 11:4-5). But He is the food that has come down from Heaven so that men may ‘eat' of Him, by coming and believing (John 6:35), and thus not die.