Last time we closed with the following dialogue with Jesus and people.
John 6:32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
The giver of the manna was standing among them. It was Christ Himself who had led the Hebrews through the wilderness, and had daily fed them with the bread from heaven. That food was a type of the real bread from heaven.
The life-giving Spirit, flowing from the infinite fullness of God, is the true manna. Jesus said,
John 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
The form of the verb in the Greek implies a continuous act. What a thought! These words speak of Jesus’ coming to this world continually is an eternal fact. Up to this point the Jews had thought of Jesus as a giver of bread. Now He began to declare Himself to be the bread itself. At the same time Jewish thinking was not entirely unprepared for a more spiritual concept.
As physical bread promotes physical life, so Christ, “the bread of God … which comes down from heaven,” is the source of spiritual life.
Still thinking that it was temporal food to which Jesus referred, some of His hearers exclaimed,
John 6:34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
What is Jesus going to tell them?
John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Three times in the present discourse He repeated this statement concerning Himself (vs. 41, 48, 51).
He who comes. Gr. ho erchomenos, literally, “the one coming.” Jesus is continually coming to the sinner to offer His gift of eternal life. The Greek form of the verb implies, not a single act of coming to Christ, but a consistent habit of life. “He who comes to me” is here clearly in parallel with “he that believes on me.” Coming to Christ can be accomplished only by faith (see on v. 29). Coming and believing are both “works of God.”
John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
The words of Jesus are in sharp contrast with those found in Ecclesiasticus (a book familiar to the Jews of His time), where wisdom is made to declare: “They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty” (ch. 24:21).
The figure which Christ used was a familiar one to the Jews. Moses, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had said, “Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3.
And the prophet Jeremiah had written, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” Jeremiah 15:16.
The rabbis themselves had a saying, that the eating of bread, in its spiritual significance, was the study of the law and the practice of good works; and it was often said that at the Messiah’s coming all Israel would be fed.
The teaching of the prophets made plain the deep spiritual lesson in the miracle of the loaves. This lesson Christ was seeking to open to His hearers in the synagogue. Had they understood the Scriptures, they would have understood His words when He said,
John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Only the day before, the great multitude, when faint and weary, had been fed by the bread which He had given. As from that bread they had received physical strength and refreshment. So, from Christ they might receive spiritual strength unto eternal life.
“He that cometh to Me,” He said, “shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” Listen to this heart breaking words that Jesus sobbed:
John 6:36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
They had seen Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit, by the revelation of God to their souls. The living evidence of His power had been before them day after day, yet they asked for still another sign. What a loving persistent effort of Jesus to save us!
Had this been given, they would have remained as unbelieving as before. If they were not convinced by what they had seen and heard, it was useless to show them more marvellous miracles.
Unbelief will ever find excuse for doubt, and will reason away the most positive proof.
Again Christ appealed to those stubborn hearts.
John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
This verse is not to be taken as indicating that God has selected certain persons for salvation, and that they inevitably will come to Christ and be saved (see on v. 40).
It is rather a declaration in the broadest terms of the relationship of Jesus to the Father, a relationship of complete surrender, utter dependence, and entire confidence that all that God willed for Him would surely be fulfilled.
The one who comes to me. The second clause of this verse is a specific application of the general truth stated in the first clause. Only in God’s love is grace provided by which the sinner may come to Jesus, and through Him, to the Father.
My dear friend if the has told you that your case is too sinful for God to handle, please quote this verse to him. God has never turn a fallen sinner away how came for forgiveness and salvation.
By no means cast out.
An example of the figure of speech known as litotes. The word litotes is of Greek origin, meaning “simple,” and is derived from the word litos meaning “plain, small or meager”.
Litotes is an ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g. I shan’t be sorry for I shall be glad ).
It is an understatement designed to give emphasis. Thus Jesus meant that He heartily welcomes the one who comes to Him.
All who received Him in faith, He said, should have eternal life. Not one could be lost. No need for Pharisees and Sadducees to dispute concerning the future life. No longer need men mourn in hopeless grief over their dead.
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
What do you think is His ultimate will? Listen to this amazing statement!
John 6:39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
Can you imagine being raised from the tomb and see the face of God. And to think that this is His will. He wants to give us eternal life.
John 6:40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Here Christ speaks specifically of the righteous who will be raised from their graves, since all things that are Christ’s, will finally be claimed by Him.
This passage is significant also for the emphatic position of the pronoun “I.” The sense of Jesus’ declaration is, “I, even I, will raise him up.”
As it is Christ who mediates between God and man and who saves man from sin, so also it is He who raises man up in the last day. See ch. 5:25–27.
How are the people going to react to this unbelievable good news?
John 6:41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”
Here the descent of Christ from heaven to earth is viewed from the standpoint of His incarnation. Failing to recognize Jesus as indeed the Son of God, the Jews were provoked at the mere thought of His claiming to have come from heaven.
What arguments did they use to deny His coming down from heaven?
John 6:42 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’?”
But the leaders of the people were offended. They tried to arouse prejudice by referring scornfully to the lowly origin of Jesus.
They contemptuously alluded to His life as a Galilean labourer, and to His family as being poor and lowly. The claims of this uneducated carpenter, they said, were unworthy of their attention. And on account of His mysterious birth, they insinuated that He was of doubtful parentage, thus representing the human circumstances of His birth as a blot upon His history.
Jesus did not attempt to explain the mystery of His birth. He made no answer to the questionings regarding His having come down from heaven, as He had made none to the questions concerning His crossing the sea.
He did not call attention to the miracles that marked His life. Voluntarily He had made Himself of no reputation, and taken upon Him the form of a servant. But His words and works revealed His character.
All whose hearts were open to divine illumination would recognize in Him “the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.
The prejudice of the Pharisees lay deeper than their questions would indicate; it had its root in the perversity of their hearts. Every word and act of Jesus aroused antagonism in them; for the spirit which they cherished could find in Him no answering chord.
If we were at this meeting, we would have seen pain mingled with love in eyes of Jesus.
NEX TIME
We will study the words of Jesus as He continue to His efforts to save these lost sinners.
By the way. Jesus does not give up on sinners. You and I shall have no excuse should we be lost one day. My I invite you to keep on surrender yourself to Him daily. And if you have never yielded yourself to Him, I invite you to do it. That will be one decision you will never regret.