John 6: 41 – 71
I’m So Angry I can’t See Strait
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 quarreled 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.
Have you ever heard the statement ‘I am so angry that I cannot think straight?’ I do not know about you but in my life time I have come across some religious zealots who get so angry at you that like our Lord you need to exit stage left.
Today we are going to see this same situation occur against our Lord and King Jesus Christ. The people then and people today do the same thing – they do not listen. Our Lord Jesus Is going to state that He Is The Bread from Heaven. Many of the religious zealots are not listening to Him. They think He Is talking about cannibalism. He plainly states to them this comment, The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.’
In our last study we mentioned three phases that are dealt with in this chapter. The first was our Lord Jesus’ interaction with the people. They wanted Him to be their caretaker and provider. They wanted their physical needs met while He was concerned with their eternal needs.
The second phase is when some strongly religious and narrow-minded religious men took offence and muttered against Him. At this stage too He is dealing with the question of the bread that came down from Heaven and about offering Himself as the bread of life to all men and women.
We need to take a moment and recognize that our Lord Is dealing with spiritual issues using natural descriptions. Ask yourselves how would you speak of heavenly things in a physical world?
We have studied that the people when they questioned John the Baptist was that their beliefs were in the appearance of a man ‘anointed’ by God to come on the scene. So, why did these people right from the start give the Lord Jesus such a hard time?
The Hebrew word ‘mashach’, that we translate messiah, means anointed one. The Greek translation of the same word, ‘christos’, is our word Christ. Therefore, when you hear the English-speaking Christian talking of Jesus Christ, or Jesus the Christ, they are referring to their belief that Jesus is the Anointed One, or the Messiah as promised in the Old Testament.
The prophets of ancient Israel spoke quite often of the Anointed One. The significance of anointing is that it was a ceremonial sign of being set apart for a special purpose, and as a symbol of having God's power or approval. Ancient Israel's prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed for their respective duties within the nation. In a minor sense, each of these was anointed ones.
The future ‘Anointed One’, however, was specified by prophecy to come at a certain time, in a specific place, having a certain lineage, be called "Mighty God", accomplish specific tasks, suffer rejection and seeming defeat, yet establish a kingdom that would destroy all of its enemies. The Anointed One would rule this kingdom forever.
The Old Testament looks forward to the Messiah's coming and the kingdom He was to establish. Because of the pre-eminent importance of the Messiah and of His mission, God revealed numerous unique qualifications through his prophets that allow for the Messiah's being positively identified. The messianic prophecies qualify what the Messiah's gender will be, His lineage, place of arrival, year of appearance, how He would be received, the characteristics of His life and death, His resurrection, His kinship to God, His destruction of the wicked, and His reign into eternity.
I was thinking, why some prominent religious Jewish scholar didn’t just put down on a tablet a checklist on identifying the Messiah. So, even if it would be hundreds or thousands of years in the future it could be dusted off and all the Messiah identifying prophecies could be checked off when someone showed up displaying that He Is The Messiah.
If I was around then I could give the scribe an example of what to put down;
Messiah Requirements { All must be checked }
[] Baby boy born in Bethlehem, Israel
[] Born of a virgin
[] Proven Genealogy that He Is a descendent of King David
[] He will arrive after 483 years after the decree is made to rebuild Jerusalem [made by Artaxerxes around 450 AD
[] Preceded by a messenger preaching "in the spirit and power of Elijah",
[] Possesses the qualities of a prophet, priest and king,
[]Rejected by many in spite of the miracles He worked,
In truth though they weren’t waiting for Him? Yes, they had the Scriptures and studied them a lot but to actually have the anxious desire that He would show up was lacking. They should have had a close idea of His arrival yet as we read in the Gospel of Luke chapter 13, verse 34 they weren’t expecting Him, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!”
Oh, don’t blame the Jews. Someone told me if you point at someone three fingers are pointing back at you. Over 456 passages of Scripture were declared by the Jews to be Messianic in nature. Much of the Bible is dedicated to the theme of the Second Coming. There are over 1500 prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming recorded in the Bible. For every prophecy of His first coming mentioned in the Old Testament, there are eight predicting His Second Coming. Christ’s return is also mentioned once in every five verses in the New Testament.
We have all the answers now, right? We know Who The Messiah Is now, right? Our Lord Jesus spoke about the future and we are worse. He says as recorded in the Luke chapter 18 verse 8, ‘I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
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’?”
These men had probably not been in the crowds when Jesus wrought His miracle with the bread, and they may even not have been present when the crowds requested bread from Heaven. They were therefore looking at what He had just said out of context. Yet they faced the nub of the matter, the claim of Jesus to have come down from Heaven. They discussed this among themselves and agreed that this was not possible because they knew His human parents. The idea of a heavenly figure becoming man was beyond their conception.
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.
Our Lord Jesus reiterated what He had said to the people. He gently rebuked them for their attitude and contradicted their claim to know His father. He pointed out that it was God Who was His own Father (‘My Father’), the One Who is in Heaven. (There is possibly here a hint of the virgin birth. He has no human father. God is His father). Those whom His Father draws will come to Him and partake of the bread of life which has come down from Heaven, and this will mean that they will not die the final death but will live forever. Those who refuse to respond merely indicate that His Father has not chosen them. They demonstrate that they have not been ‘drawn’ by the Father.
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
The Lord Jesus now references Scripture to back up what He had said. He reminded them that the Scripture specifically promises, ‘and they shall all be taught by God’ as recorded in Isaiah chapter 54 verse 13. This was a promise made by Isaiah in respect of the coming age of blessing, and here and now the Lord Jesus was saying that that time was now. Those who hear and learn from the Father will come to Him and enjoy the blessing of the coming age.
All therefore who are God’s will be taught of God. They will hear the Father speaking to them, will learn from Him, and will recognize Jesus Himself as the fulfillment of the promises. Such teaching is effective teaching, for it is God Who teaches. It results not only in learning but in obeying. The religious zealots’ refusal to be taught by God about The Lord Jesus merely demonstrates that they are not of God’s genuine people.
46 not that anyone has seen the Father, except He Who Is from God; He has seen the Father.
Even though people had heard Father God they had never seen Him, because no man has seen God at any time as explained in the book of Exodus 33.20, ‘And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.’
There Is One, and only One, Who has uniquely seen the Father. He Is the One Who Is from God and it Is Jesus Himself. He alone Is such that He can actually look on the Father’s glory, (a glory which had once been His and would be His again).
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.
The Pharisees believed that by reading and assiduously obeying the Law of Moses they would find eternal life by being established in the covenant. The Lord Jesus informed them that eternal life was rather to be found now by believing in Him. It was response to Him that would bring life, and that alone. So the message given previously is repeated. Jesus is ‘the bread of life’. Those who truly believe in Him as the bread of life, and receive Him, will have eternal life immediately.
Our Lord Jesus explained that a belief in Him as the bread from Heaven was far superior to the manna given in the wilderness. He reminded them that ‘Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died’. That food, which they claimed was ‘from Heaven’, could not give life. Those who ate of it died as all men die. It just met their temporary physical needs. But He Is the food that has come down from Heaven so that men may ‘eat’ of Him, by coming and believing, and thus not die.
Some confrontations just do not go away. We now are going to see that these rebel rousers will continue to hound our Lord. They follow Him to the synagogue at Capernaum. At this point our Lord Jesus knows that He Is talking to those who are seeking His life and His message therefore alters to take that fact into account. From now on He has His coming death in view.
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.”
A new theme is introduced into His teaching. ‘The bread which I will give is my flesh’. From now on He would not talk of ‘the bread of life’, the life-giving bread, but would use the Old Testament simile of ‘eating flesh’ and ‘drinking blood’, which meant killing someone, or benefiting by their death. It would, however, still give life, for finally that life would be made available through His death. But it was a new perspective not introduced to the general people.
Many people think what is being said by our Great Master and Lord Jesus Christ is strange. However, if people were only doing their homework and study the God’s Word then it would not be strange at all. In order to fully appreciate what He was saying we need an awareness of vivid Jewish imagery. In the Old Testament the Psalmist spoke of those who ‘eat up my people like they eat bread’ (Psalm 14.4; 53.4), whilst Micah describes the unjust rulers of Israel as ‘those who hate the good and love the evil --- who eat the flesh of my people’ (Micah 3.3). Compare also Psalm 27.2, ‘evil-doers came on me to eat up my flesh’. Thus ‘eating flesh’ or ‘eating people’ signified killing them or doing them great harm.
Furthermore in Zechariah 9.15 the Septuagint speaks of the fact that the victorious people of God ‘will drink their blood like wine’ signifying a triumphant victory and the slaughter of their enemies, and David used a similar picture when three of his followers had risked their lives to fetch him water. He poured it out on the ground as an offering to God and said, ‘shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?’. Isaiah brought both metaphors together when he said of the enemies of Israel that God would ‘make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine’ (Isaiah 49.26), signifying that they would destroy themselves. Thus in Hebrew thought drinking a person’s blood meant killing someone.
We could paraphrase like this - ‘I know that you are plotting to kill Me (to eat my flesh and drink My blood). Well, let Me tell you this. As a result of the death you are plotting for Me, men will be able to partake of the benefit of My death by believing in Me and finding life through it.’ They knew that they were ‘after His blood’. And so did He. Yet still He was offering them life. He would not give up on them. Perhaps one day when they had killed Him, they would remember His words, and having eaten His flesh and drunk His blood in one way, they might also do it in another way by putting their trust in the crucified and risen Christ. If they did they would receive eternal life and be raised at the last day
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
Please notice that they did not just bounce their thoughts off each other, it says they quarreled with one another - 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.
Our Lord Jesus now made plain that what was in mind was His death, and that all who would be saved must benefit through that death. In the end all who would be His must ‘eat His flesh and drink His blood’ in both ways. We must all recognize that it was we who crucified Christ. We must acknowledge that it was our sin that nailed Him there, and that caused the intense suffering through which He went through. We have ‘eaten His flesh and drunk His blood’. Then we must come to Him in confident faith and receive Him and His words, drinking them in and letting them fill our whole being, dying to the world and all its claims by being ‘crucified with Christ’ and sharing His resurrection life.
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.
It is customary among many to see these words as referring to partaking of the bread and the wine at the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) but that is in fact to take things the wrong way round. The Lord’s Supper certainly illustrates this truth, but here it is not simply a partaking of Communion that our Lord Jesus had in mind. His thoughts went far deeper. He was wanting them to enter fully into what was now in store for Him, recognizing that it was through His death at their hands alone that they could they find life. And the aim was that men would then eat and drink (coming and believing) continually by a daily response to Him in His death and resurrection. It was a daily dying and rising again that was in mind (Luke 9.23; Romans 6.1-11), an experiencing of the power of His resurrection and of the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death (Philippians 3.10). Of course, that is what should be in our minds as we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
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.
So, we see many back then and now who have a hard time with the words of our Precious Holy Lord. Yet, again we understand that spiritual words do not mix with earthly reasoning. Understanding this then how would you now understand what Psalm 34 verse 8 which says, ‘Oh, taste and see that the LORD Is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.’
We see here in this verse that our Lord Jesus was not only thinking of the fact that His human life had been given to Him, and was sustained, by ‘the living Father’, the very Fountain of Life Himself, but that His resurrection would also be the Father’s work. Both His present and future life would be sustained by ‘the living Father’ Who sent Him. He had ‘life’, and would continue to have life, ‘because of the Father’. In the same way, to those who ‘eat Him’, i.e. seek to benefit by His death by coming to Him in full commitment, He Himself will give eternal life, and will raise them at the last day. They will receive their life from Him, so that He Who receives life from the living Father will sustain that life in His own.
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.”
Our Lord Jesus reveals that He came down to be bread. It is as bread that He will be ground by evil spiritual powers, and undergo the heat of the oven of extreme physical and spiritual torment, but then it is as the bread of life that He will meet the eternal needs of men and women.
Moses who now was so revered in the Jewish minds could offer only temporary substance when he prayed and received from God manna to feed the people. It could only satisfy partially. While what our Lord Jesus offers a never ending value because all who partake of Him live forever.
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Please notice the reference of ‘He taught’ [in the synagogue]. They allowed Him to teach what? The answer is God’s Word. He had just previously told them that what? - 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” God Is there in their place of worship teaching them and they are so blind and dumb they can’t put two and two together. They knew He Was someone anointed by God for He could not do the ‘signs’ He was doing without God’s Power yet through their pride they couldn’t just ask our Lord to help them understand what He was saying.
There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won’t anymore, and who always will. In the end you learn who is a fake, who is true and who would risk it all for you. Being swept up with the crowd of dissidents we now see those who weren’t sold out for Jesus turn against Him.
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.
Our Lord Jesus did not match what the people thought He should be like. They especially did not like His remarks about having to die. So, being aware of their murmuring and the danger of their falling into disbelief Jesus answered them by pointing to His resurrection. ‘He wanted them to recognize that His death would result not in tragedy but in victory. Death would be followed by resurrection.
This now brought Him to the essence of the matter. “It is the Spirit who makes alive. The flesh is of no benefit’. Jesus in the flesh alone can do nothing for them, and when He has spoken of flesh He has not been talking about literally eating physical flesh, but about flesh being offered in sacrifice from which they must spiritually benefit. What they need is a work of the Spirit through His words, life from Himself through the Spirit, a life that survives death so that the one who receives it never dies. Nothing else counts for anything. That alone is true life.
Now looking around at those who volunteered to be His disciples He could see those who did not truly believe in Him. They had their own motives for following Him. He again recognized the sovereign work of the Father in the salvation and destiny of men. All are given the opportunity, but not all will come. We will see in a moment one of these doubters was Judas. To me it is amazing how the chapter and verse 666 says, - 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.
In verse 66 it says that many of His disciples left Him. Since our Holy Master and King Jesus now question His twelve selected apostles does this mean that they were the only ones left?
I love Peter’s reply. He was right on target when he replied, ‘To whom shall we go?’ For them the honor of seeing and hearing Him they had recognized the inadequacy of other teachers and their messages. Where else then could they turn? They accepted that eternal life could only be received through what He was and what He was teaching them. While they did not yet fully understand everything, the faith of eleven of the twelve was real and was growing. They had recognized that Jesus was unique in His relationship with the Father, was the promised One and was able to offer them eternal life.
Yet even now Jesus knew that, although He had especially chosen them as his special group, there was one who was not true. ‘Have I not chosen you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ This latter phrase is not, of course, to be taken literally but means ‘is doing the work of the Devil’. The one whom He had in mind was, of course, ‘Judas the Betrayer’. Yet we should note that He would still give him the chance to repent if he would. What a Great and Merciful God we have!
To be chosen by Jesus Christ for a unique privilege and yet to betray Him! It almost seems impossible. But we must recognize from this that Jesus already knew Judas’ heart and mind. Why then did He choose him? We must assume that Judas was at least partly sincere at this stage. He would after all perform miracles and cast out evil spirits as did the other Apostles. And every man must be given a chance. But his commitment was not full and true. He too believed for the wrong reasons, and the greed for money got the better of him. He was not following Jesus for the right reasons; he was gripped by ambition and hopes of power.
We too must learn to root out anything within us that in the least hinders our obedience to Christ, or we too may find that our trust is not in the real thing. We must ask ourselves - Am I really committed to Him for Him to save, or is my Christianity just a social thing or a way of self advancement or in order to boost my self-esteem or for what I can get out of it? That is the crucial question.
