Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (3.1)

The Gospel Of John
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John 6:36-71 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

I Am the Bread of Life (Part 2)

v.36 In the previous verse Jesus had claimed to be the Bread of Life (ie, the Sustainer of Life). By claiming to be the Sustainer of Life, He was claiming to be God. Since He had miraculously fed thousands with five loaves and two fishes, He had proved that He was indeed God. Therefore, He accuses them of being unreasonable because they had seen His miracles, and yet believe not that He is from God.

v.37 Jesus seems to say "Your unreasonable unbelief does not surprise me, because I know that the elect [1] whom the Father giveth me shall come to me and trust in me."

v.38 The will of the Father (which is also the will of the Son) is mentioned in verses 39 and 40.

v.39 Firstly, it is the Father's will that all the elect will be preserved. [2]

v.40 Secondly, it is God's will that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour shall have everlasting life. The word "seeth" means more than mere looking but implies looking at the Son as the Messiah.

v.42 [3] Obviously, these Galilean Jews knew Jesus' family. However, they did not know that Jesus did not have a human father, and indeed came "from heaven. " [4]

v.43 Jesus replies “I'm not surprised at your murmuring and unbelief. Don't waste your time trying to upset me by your unbelief, because...." (see next verse).

v.44 "...no man can come to me believing that I am from heaven, except the Father draw him." This word "draw" in the Greek is also found in 18:10, 21:6, ACT 16:19; 21:30; JAM 2:6. It indicates something more than mere moral influence. It implies an irresistible force. [5]

v.46 [6] Though we are taught of God, we do not have direct knowledge of God. All knowledge that we have of God is indirectly revealed through nature, through the Word, and through the living Word (ie, Jesus). Only Jesus has direct knowledge of God, i.e, only Jesus, which is of God, hath seen the father.

v.49 [7] Moses' manna only sustained physical life temporarily.

v.50 Jesus probably made this statement as he pointed to Himself.

v.51 Just as physical bread must be physically eaten to be of any benefit to us, the "living bread' must also be spiritually received by faith into our souls to be of any benefit. True believing is more than mere intellectual assent.

Jesus tells them the "bread" is His "flesh" (ie, His body offered as our substitutionary sacrifice). The future tense ("will give") refers to Calvary. [8]

v.52 The hostile Jewish leader (ie, the Jews) murmured in verse 41, but here they strove among themselves (ie, angry, violent arguments - probably about how to deal with Jesus). They interpreted Jesus' words literally, and could not understand how Jesus could possibly encourage cannibalism.

v.53 Jesus adds the phrase "verily, verily" to tell them that He was serious about the need to "eat" Him.

Drinking of blood is clearly forbidden in Scriptures (GEN 9:4, LEV 3:17, 17:10,12,14) and was even more repulsive than cannibalism to Jews. Since the Jews were given enough evidence that Jesus was a miracle-maker sent from God, they should have considered this statement carefully rather than reject it so quickly. If they did, they would have recognised that "blood" was a symbol of "life" (LEV 17:11). The Jews were about to eat their passover lambs in remembrance of how their forefathers were saved from destruction in Egypt. Therefore, Jesus used the example of the passover lamb to teach them about salvation. [9]

v.54 If we compare this with verse 40, we realise that "eating Jesus' flesh and drinking His Blood" is merely another way of saying: "believing on Him". Jesus uses this metaphor of ''eating and drinking'' to teach the need of receiving Him totally into their heart and soul. Furthermore, the act of eating and drinking must be done personally, no one can do it on our behalf.

v.55 Just as we need "meat" and "drink" to survive physically, we also need Jesus' sacrifice and Blood for our spiritual survival. The word "indeed" literally means “truly”.

v.56 Just as the food and drink that we eat becomes a part of us, whoever really believes in Jesus will have an intimate, vital spiritual relationship with Him. Obviously, the "eating and drinking" is meant spiritually and not physically, because we do not physically "dwell in Jesus nor He in us.”

v.57 Jesus illustrates the mysterious union between Him and Christians with a physical example of eating and drinking in verse 56, and with a spiritual example in this verse. The life of Christ and that of God the Father are totally bound together (ie, I live by the Father). Similarly, the life of a Christian is also bound totally to that of Jesus Christ. [10]

v.60 The word "hear" means hearing and believing and obeying. [11]

v.61 "Offend" literally means to stumble.

v.62 "What will you have to say when you see Jesus' resurrection, and realise that He was really the Son of God, wouldn't it be too late?"

v.63 Jesus tells the listeners to interpret His message spiritually rather than literally.

v.64 Though Jesus knew that they would not believe, yet He faithfully preached to them.

v.65 Jesus repeats this hard-to-accept doctrine.

v.66 "Went backward" means to desert, to forsake. Even today, many so-called “disciples" are not born-again Christians.

v.68 The Holy Spirit had given Peter the faith to believe, though he did not fully understand all that Jesus said, that there was no other way a man could be saved (- certainly not through performing Jewish rituals).

v.69 Only a Christian can really say this believingly.

v.70 Peter answered confidently for the twelve because he assumed that all the twelve were faithful, but Jesus knew better. Jesus warns Judas. The word “devil” means false accuser, slanderer.



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Footnotes

[1] Jesus speaks of God's irresistible grace that draws the elect to Jesus (v.44). Jesus was speaking to a very carnal crowd, yet He gives the assurance that "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." The doctrine of election should not prevent us from making a general invitation to our hearers to trust in Jesus. Remember that the business of election belongs to God but the business of evangelism belongs to us. Therefore, let us leave God to His business and let us be busy about our business. While we may not fully understand how the doctrine of election and the necessity of evangelism fit together (see “will of God” in v.38 and 40), we are clearly commanded to “preach to every creature” (MAR 16:15).

[2] This verse teaches the doctrine of preservation in a negative way, the next verse teaches the same doctrine in a positive way (also 10:28; ROM 8:29,30,38; 11:29; PHI 1:6; HEB 6:17, 2TI 2:19; IPE 1:4,5 etc.) because "everlasting life" implies preservation. All the elect will be raised up again at the last day.

[3] v.41 There seems to be an interval between the last verse and this one. The Jews mentioned here are probably the leaders of the synagogue at Capernaum (see v.59) who had heard what Jesus said (as recorded in verses 32-35).

[4] Jesus' miraculous birth is never mentioned throughout His ministry because it would probably have stirred up much ungodly curiosity. The Jews are guilty before God, because they had seen His supernatural power but did not attempt to find out the source of Jesus' abilities.

The word "this" has an element of contempt. They seem to say "How can this poor fellow Jesus claim to come down from heaven?'

[5] God works His irresistible grace by influencing our mind, heart, and will, ie, our entire personality. In this verse, the "drawing" action is attributed to the Father not the Holy Spirit, because the Jews were yet unfamiliar with the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is hated because man likes to believe and claim the honour in any success.

[6] v.45 The previous verse teaches the doctrine of salvation by grace in a negative way, this verse teaches it in a positive way. This is a quote from ISA 54:13 (though many other verses also teach this, eg. ISA 60:2,3, JER 31:33,34).

This verse also teaches the doctrine of irresistible grace, ie, those whom God elect are convicted by the Holy Spirit of their sinfulness, their need of the Saviour, and given faith to trust in the Saviour. Salvation is both the work of God, and the "work" ("cometh unto me") of the man when worked upon by the Holy Spirit . This verse does not mean that the Holy Spirit merely teaches us (in an intellectual way) and then we of our own free will come to God - as this will contradict verse 44.

[7] v.47 Jesus repeats this verse to emphasise that all that we need to do is to believe on Him. This is necessary, because the following verses may appear to teach that "eating Jesus' flesh" (as is symbolically done in the Roman Catholic Mass) is necessary for salvation.

[8] Those who teach that Jesus is good teacher but who deny His substitutionary sacrifice have difficulty with this verse.

[9] When Jesus used the word "except" at the beginning of a sentence, it was usually to teach something of great importance, "Except a man be born again," “Except ye be converted," "Except ye repent."

[10] v.59 Jesus had probably headed for the synagogue after His return from the other side of the Sea of Galilee (v.41).

[11] Without the Holy Spirit the things of God are not understandable (1CO 2:14), nor are they acceptable to men. Though all men are without excuse for failing to consider Jesus' words carefully before rejecting them.