Here is the first of the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus: “I am the bread of life.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:35-40
Look carefully at verse 35. To “come to” Jesus and to “believe in” Jesus are the same. Notice that this “bread” deals with both hunger and thirst; it is a picture of all we need to keep us alive. This is not so much about how we feel (whether we feel close to God, for example) as about actually being alive. And that means being in fellowship with the Father and the Son, as we shall see.
If you are a Christian, it is because the Father decided in his love to give you to Jesus! This is a deep truth. Yes, you “looked” to Jesus in trust (v 40), like the Israelites looking at the bronze serpent (John 3:14-15); but you only looked to Jesus because the Father gave you to Jesus.
In verse 37 He says he will never “drive away”—neither when we first come to him in faith, nor ever afterwards. In verse 38 Jesus reminds us that he came to do just what the Father wants. And what does the Father want? Verses 39-40 spell it out.