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The Gospel of John, The Period of Controversy, The Claims of Jesus Christ, Jesus as the Bread of Life, Part XII, John 6:39-44, Lesson 42
Read Verses John 6:39-48
Verse 6:39,40, And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
What a promise; the Father's will is that Jesus lose none of those that the Father has given him.
This is the responsibility of the Son. He is responsible to bring to fruition all those given to him by the Father.
This is the Father's will.
He is to lose none.
Zero loss rate of believers.
No allowance for failure in the life of any of those whom the Father gives him.
No, I repeat, no losses allowed.
100% success rate.
No room for failure in anyone!
No believer need fear being overlooked among the multitude of his or her companions in the faith.
The believing community as a whole, and each member of the community, given by the Father to the Son, will be safety kept by the Son until the consummation at the resurrection.
Is Jesus up to this?
Can he succeed in this?
Would God the Father entrust this work to anyone else?
Remember the search that takes place in heaven when the seals of the seven sealed book were to be loosened?
"And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon."
And John wept because no man was found.
But one of the elders said, "Weep not; behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."
Likewise in this responsibility of losing nothing, God the Father chose correctly when he chose the Son.
Jesus is up to this!
You can bet your life on it!
You can bet eternity on this!
Phil. 1:6, Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ.
No gaps allowed in that work.
We can be confident that Jesus Christ will continuously work in us and that he will be successful in each and every believer.
The security of the believer is guaranteed by the mighty power of God who has assigned this task to the Son.
Doubting this security is doubting the ability of the Son to carry out the will of the Father.
Doubting this security is lack of faith in the Father and the Son.
Doubting the ability of Christ to keep his own, borders on blasphemy because it denies that which is due to him and belonging to him.
The idea of a man losing his salvation can only stem from the idea that he gained his salvation through his own efforts.
That kind of salvation will always be lost.
But when Jesus saves it all depends on him, from beginning to end and he makes no errors nor does he forget his own.
Now to continue, the seeing of the Son mentioned in verse 40 is much more than a superficial seeing of him.
This seeing is the same seeing of the sermon of Christ on the mount where he said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
According to C. H. Dodd, this seeing is the discerning vision which recognizes the eternal reality behind or within the phenomenal facts of the life and death of Jesus Christ.
Jesus ties together the possession of eternal life with the resurrection "at the last day."
We all die in this body but Jesus assures his listeners that death will not have the victory because of the resurrection.
To rephrase these verses,
Jesus is the One who is the bread of life. He is the One who has promised to never turn anyone away. He is the One who guarantees the preservation of all his children. He is the One who guarantees the culmination and completion of their salvation by raising their bodies from the dead.
Verses 6:41,42,43, The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
Murmur; Latin-murmuro, French-murmurer, Italian-mormorare, Dutch-morren, German-murren, Swedish-murra Danish-murrer Spanish-morro
Murmur: To make a low continued noise, like the hum of bees.
To grumble; to complain, to utter complaints in a low, half articulated voice, to utter sullen discontent.
The Jews were not men enough to be heard openly or to speak loudly and clearly so they gathered in groups of like minded men and, in a low voice, meant to be slightly heard so they could deny what they had said, they complained to each other.
These Jews were probably the congregation from the synagogue in Capernaum.
Verse 59 tells us that this conversation took place in the synagogue probably with the leaders of the congregation.
Jesus resided in Capernaum, hence the murmuring.
How could this man who was of a family that was known to them make this astounding claim?
How could he claim to be the food of immortality?
How could he claim to be connection between heaven and earth?
Is he not the son of Joseph the carpenter, who perhaps built houses and made furniture for them?
We know this man's parents so he must be just like us!
Born into this world just like us.
He is of earthly origin, how can he be from heaven?
Perhaps they had even heard rumors that Jesus had been born to Mary before she was married to Joseph.
How could he have come down from heaven?
He bears the same daily burdens just like us.
He is no better than the rest of us.
They had no inkling of the incarnation, that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among them.
They tried to figure out God with their puny minds.
His father and mother, we know, but they did not know.
How many times we say that we know, when we do not know.
We are so sure of ourselves when we have no reason to be.
His father they knew not of, nor could they, unless the Father revealed himself to them.
Verses 6:43,44, Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Birds of a feather flock together. Water seeks its own level. We run with our own kind. You can find out about yourself by examining those you spend your time with.
Jesus knows what these synagogue goers are doing.
He knows that they are murmuring with their own kind.
And he knows what they are murmuring about.
He knows the murmurer seeks others who he can murmur with.
Murmurers need a support group.
It is no fun murmuring alone.
It reinforces pride when others have the same conclusion you have.
But it is never right to murmur.
Jesus infers to the individuals in this group that their murmuring indicates that they have not come to him. |