BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS
John chapter 6, v. 41 to 71
This discourse took place in the synagogue (verse 59), so there were religious leaders present, the Jews mentioned in verse 41. They grumbled because of the claim to divinity - come down from heaven - by the man they knew as Jesus son of Joseph, whose parents they knew well, for they no doubt worshipped at that synagogue. In fact He was not the son of Joseph: He was proclaiming His virgin birth, by means of which He took on humanity. The Lord bluntly told them to stop grumbling among themselves. They must have stopped to listen, as the Lord explained in greater detail what He meant.
The word translated draw is drag. Coming to the Lord Jesus is an act of God the Father, because it is He who gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (chapter 3:16). We all have a free will, and can exercise it. God holds us responsible for it, and we know we are responsible. It's up to us. There is Scripture after Scripture in the Old Testament concerning God's teaching (for example, Isaiah 54:13, Isaiah 60:2-3, Malachi 4:2). It is not enough to hear God's voice. It must be heeded, learned and obeyed, which is a voluntary response. The emphasis made here is that whoever makes this positive voluntary response to the Word of God will inevitably come to Christ.
With physical eyes no human has seen God (chapter 1:18) save the Son who is from God in origin (chapter 1: 1, 14; 7:29; 16:27; 17: 8). The only way for others to see God is to see Christ (chapter 14:9). Eternal life is obtained by continuously believing and trusting Him. The believer in Christ has eternal life because the atonement for his sin is made effective through the death of Christ, and he is thereby justified (regarded as righteous) before God.
The manna eaten by these people's ancestors did not prevent them from dying, but this bread which comes down from heaven does. He is the living bread: not an inanimate object, but a living person, able to give life to others, thus making it clear that he was not alluding to physical food, as they had previously thought. He lives, was dead, and is alive for ever more (Revelation 1: 18). If anyone eats of this bread: He again used the act of eating bread, whereby we absorb its substance in order to nourish our bodies, as a simile for believing in Christ as our Redeemer and receiving Him as an Atonement for our sin.
He came down to this earth, the Word was made flesh (chapter 1: 14). He would a little later be giving that human body as a sacrifice to pay for sin: not His own, for He never sinned, but that of all those who believe in Him. This is what he meant by giving His flesh. This statement created far more difficulty to the hearers. They had been murmuring earlier (verse 41), now they began bitter strife with one another, some probably seeing a spiritual meaning in what was said, but not able to grasp the idea of self-sacrifice (there was division of opinion about Him in Jerusalem also later - chapter 7:12, 40; 9:16; 10: 19). There was scornful disbelief, contemptuously asking how could this man give his flesh to be eaten, as if they were cannibals! They could not understand the appropriation of Christ by the believer (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:17), though some apparently were against this literal interpretation of flesh.
To emphasise the need for total appropriation, the Lord then added blood to flesh: this was a shocking message, as the idea of drinking any blood, let alone human blood, was repugnant to them because the law forbade it (Leviticus 17:10, 11). Again, the Lord was not talking about literally drinking His blood: the only possible meaning is the spiritual appropriation of the life of Jesus Christ by faith, for we do not have life in ourselves - life is found only in Christ.
Blood is the symbol of life and this was well known by the Israelites from the very beginning when He called them out of the land of Egypt (Genesis 9:4, Exodus 12:13, 30:10, Leviticus 17:11,14). The life of the flesh is in the blood, and Christ would be shedding His blood upon the Cross and giving His life. He gives the believer new life when he accepts the life Christ gave in his place.
The Lord Jesus is certainly not speaking of the Lord's Supper, and it is rank heresy to teach that eternal life is obtained by participating in the Communion bread and cup, as some pseudo-Christians do. This is a violent misinterpretation of the Gospel and an utter misrepresentation of Christ. It is a grossly literal interpretation of the symbolism of the language of Jesus which these Jews also misunderstood. Christ uses bold imagery to picture spiritual appropriation of himself who is to give his lifeblood for the life of the world (chapter 6:51). It would have been hopeless confusion for these Jews if Jesus had used the symbolism of the Lord's Supper. It would be real dishonesty for John to use this discourse as a propaganda for sacramentalism (as some dare to say). The language of the Lord can only have a spiritual meaning as He unfolds himself as the true manna.
The living Father sent his Son, who lives because of Him: in the same way those who believe in the Son will live because of Him (chapter 11:25,26). Jesus Christ is our ground of hope and guarantee of immortality. Life is in Christ.
It is curious that among the ruins of the synagogue at Capernaum has been found a block of stone, perhaps the lintel, carved with a pot of manna, and with a pattern of vine leaves and clusters of grapes.
Probably because of the last saying of Jesus, that He was the bread of life come down from heaven and they were to eat him, many of his disciples (presumably not the twelve) complained that this was hard to understand.
The Lord, as proved before, had a supernatural insight into meets minds, and immediately reprimanded them for their unbelief in Him. He makes a clear statement of His pre-existence in His own Words (chapter 3:13; 17:5), and explains that it is God - the Spirit - who gives life, and the flesh (physical matter) is of no benefit (John 3:6-8); He is talking of spiritual things, the breath of God and the life of God are in these words. "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46). There is life in His words today.
The Lord Jesus knew each one of these people, and how they would react to Him, even how Judas Iscariot would betray Him in the future. He again declares He knows that many do not believe in Him, and that they cannot if they are not impelled by God (as He had already explained). Many followers then left Him. When He asked the disciples if they would also leave, he was showing that they could either accept or reject him: they were not coerced by predestination.
Peter replied, To whom shall we go? In his straightforward way, Peter answered for all of us: there is no other way; the Lord Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. Thinking he was speaking for the twelve, Peter added we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Lord Jesus, however, knew better: He had chosen them, well aware of what they were and would become. He did not say that Judas was a devil (slanderer) when he chose him, but that he was one now.
R David Jones
41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
42 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'?"
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.
44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 "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.
46 "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
48 "I am the bread of life.
49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
51 "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."
52 The Jews therefore quarrelled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"
53 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.
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 food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
58 "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."
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?
62 "What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?
63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
64 "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.