Yet another interesting text in John, which I have to quote more completely. We are asking what does “heaven” mean and whether or not it is the final place of the blessed.
30 So they asked him, ?What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ?He gave them bread from heaven to eat.? ? 32 Jesus said to them, ?I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.?
34 ?Sir,? they said, ?from now on give us this bread.?
35 Then Jesus declared, ?I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who 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 that 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 that 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 him up at the last day.?
41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ?I am the bread that came down from heaven.? 42 They said, ?Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ?I came down from heaven???….
53 Jesus said to them, ?I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 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 him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.?
First, the passage is filled with vertical dualism, whether this is a real place and a real moving or not.
Second, Jesus is from heaven, comes down from heaven to earth.
Third, manna finds its true destiny in Jesus, the bread.
Fourth, eating this bread, etc., is participating in the heavenly bread.
Fifth, this bread gives life, eternal life.