In John’s Gospel, the words “come down” are used eight times—once in the third chapter and seven times in the sixth. The words have their origin in the ancient Greek word “katabaino”, which appears 80 times in the New Testament, 18 times in the Gospel of John (and 10 times in the Book of Revelation, but not in John’s Epistles).
Katabaino, most often translated “come down” or “descended”, is always used literally and never figuratively (although it is used metaphorically in the Book of Revelation of the New Jerusalem “descending” out of heaven). The words “come down” or “came down” speak of the act of descending, as rain comes down; as Jesus came down from the mountain; as Zachaeus climbed down from the tree; as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism; as a person comes down from a housetop; as every good gift comes down from the Father; as Jesus will descend on his return to earth; and as opposed to the act of ascending.
So, when Jesus, in John’s Gospel, speaks of himself as having “come down” from heaven, he means that he actually descended from heaven to earth. No other New Testament writer describes Jesus as having done that. Did he descend in the manner of a Greek god, (cf. Acts 14:11) using Mary’s womb in transit; or did he descend as the Logos to be “made flesh” in the Virgin’s womb?
The latter, of course! The former is a pagan concept—the very thought of which is offensive to those who believe in scriptural terminology, In John 3:13 Jesus says, “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the Son of Man which is in heaven.”
Katabaino is used by Jesus five times in John chapter six, and by the Jews twice (as they repeat his words).
In verse 33 Jesus says, “For the bread of God is he that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
In verse 38 he says, “For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.”
In verse 41: “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
Verse 42, “And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How it is then that he says, I came down from heaven?”
After speaking of himself in verse 48 as “the bread of life”, in verses 50 and 51 Jesus contrasts his flesh with the manna of old: “Your forefathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, of which a man may eat and not die.”
In verse 51 Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
The Lord’s last use of the word katabaino is in verse 58: “This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers ate manna, and are dead; he that eats this bread shall live forever.”
Since the NT Greek word translated “came down” speaks always of a literal descent, the Lord’s descent from heaven as the “bread of life” is a reference to the manna from heaven, which John 6:30-35 confirms. The multiplication of the loaves and fish was a sign-miracle.
The NT Greek word “semeion”, which John uses repeatedly in his Gospel, is better translated “sign” than “miracle”. John uses it in John 6:2, 6:14 & 6:26. (See Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.)
Spiros Zodhiates, in his Complete Word Study Dictionary, defines “semeion” as “Sign, mark, token, miracle with a special end and purpose”, and in the plural, “miracles which lead to something out of and beyond themselves; finger-marks of God, valuable not so much for what they are as for what they indicate…”
The day after Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, the crowd found him on the other side of Lake Galilee, which Jesus had walked across during the night. “Rabbi”, they questioned, “when did you come here?” (John 6:25)
“Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.”
The word “miracles” in this verse is the familiar “semeion”, which, as we know, means “sign”. In other words, the crowd had benefited from the miracle of provision the day before, but had missed the “sign” to which the miracle of provision pointed. It signposted the future provision of Christ’s body as the “bread” that he would give for the life of the world.
Jesus further identified the “bread” as his “flesh”, the body he would offer to God on the Cross. The “bread of life” Jesus refers to is the future provision of his body for those who would be as dependent on it for life as were the children of Israel on the manna from heaven.
In the wilderness God had “opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna on them to eat, and had given them the corn of heaven. Men ate angel’s food…” (Psalm 78:23-25) The Hebrew word for “corn” means “increase” or “growth”; it pictures a ripe ‘ear’ of grain. (In John 12:24 Jesus speaks of his own body as “a grain of wheat”.)
In the context of the “sign” miracle of the previous day — the provision of food for the 5000 — and now the demand of the Jews for a manna-like “sign” of the kind Moses had given their forefathers, it is possible to discern a ‘thoughtstream’ flowing from the loaves and fishes “sign” to ”bread from heaven” and then to the “flesh” of Christ that ends the discourse (John 6:55-58).
“For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he who eats me shall live by me. This is that bread which comes down from heaven: not as your forefathers ate manna, and are dead. He that eats of this bread shall live forever.”
That “bread”, Christ’s body, “came down” from heaven when “the power of the Most High” overshadowed the virgin, Mary. Few would claim that Christ’s body literally “came down” from heaven. That being so, the “I came down” texts refer to the word or “logos” that came to Mary, which she received when she said, “Let it be unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:36) and conceived; and to the body of Christ, who is “the bread of life.” By faith, the believer “eats” of Jesus’ “flesh” daily (as the children of Israel daily ate the manna that came down from heaven). So, “We are what we eat” is also true spiritually.
The “sign” miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes pointed to the multiplication of the body of Jesus to believers down through the ages. Sadly, those who “ate and were filled” then failed (as many among believers who take communion now fail) to see the spiritual significance.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and COMES DOWN from the Father…” (James 1:17) The greatest gift God gave us is Jesus Christ, who “came down” as the Logos when the power of the Highest overshadowed the virgin, Mary, in whose womb “the word was made flesh”. The Word of Life continues to “come down” when we ‘eat his flesh and drink his blood’ by faith and in so doing partake of his life!