By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher
Text:
John
6:41-59
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’?”
(NKJV)
John
3:16 reminds us that God sent us His only Son and that those choosing to
believe in Him shall receive eternal life. However, Romans
10:9-10 reminds us that this belief must be a heart belief and not just a mental
belief in the existence of Jesus. The complaining Jews in John
6:41-59 had no difficulty in believing in the existence of Jesus because he
was with them, but they did have a lack of a heart belief in who Jesus was. The
purpose of this posting is to have everyone reading it search their hearts to
determine who they believe Jesus is.
The Jews following Jesus
have a complaint against Him because He said He was the bread from heaven
believing He was wrong because he had earthly parents (John
6:41-42). Jesus replies by telling them not to murmur among themselves for
no one can come to Him unless the Father who sent Him draws them and that those
that come to Him will be raised at the last day (John
6:43-44). Jesus continues by reminding them that the prophets said all will
be taught by God with everyone who has heard and learned from the Father coming
to Him (John
6:45). Jesus then reminds them that anyone alive then has not seen the
Father except for the one sent by the Father, Him, the bread sent from heaven (John
6:41,46). Jesus then tells them what he told Nicodemus that anyone
believing in Him has everlasting life (John
6:47). Jesus says he is the bread of life, reminding them that those who
ate the manna in the wilderness died (John
6:48-49). Jesus says again that He is the bread of life, the living bread,
with the bread He offers His flesh which He shall give for the life of the
world (John
6:50-51).
This led to the
complaining Jews quarreling among themselves wondering how Jesus could give
them His flesh to eat (John
6:52). Jesus’ reply tells them that unless they eat of the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, they have no life in them (John
6:53). Those choosing to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood have eternal
life and will be raised up at the last day (John
6:54). Jesus’ flesh is food indeed with his blood drink indeed with those
partaking in His flesh and blood abiding in Him and He in them (John
6:55-56). Just as the living Father sent Jesus and Jesus lives because of
the Father, those choosing to feed on Jesus will live because of Him (John
6:57). Jesus concludes these things taught at the synagogue in Capernaum by
saying He is the bread from heaven with anyone partaking of this bread living
forever (John
6:58-59).
Jesus’ words may seem arrogant,
but Jesus says them with confidence because Jesus knew who He was and where He
came from. Jesus’ words may also seem to condone cannibalism, but he is
speaking of partaking in His flesh and blood in a spiritual sense which we
remember when we take communion. To believe Jesus as the Messiah one must believe
He came from Heaven and is not the descendant of an earthly father. The
complaining Jews of this text seem to have missed the point of the miracle of
feeding the five thousand (John
6:1-14). While these complaining Jews did not witness Jesus’ walking on the
water (John
6:15-21), they did observe that Jesus somehow arrived at the other side of
the sea without the use of a boat since the only boat there was the disciple's
boat and Jesus had not joined them (John
6:22-25). This evidence alone should indicate Jesus was someone special and
not just the son of Mary and Joseph, who was Jesus’ adopted father with God as
his Father. In fact, when questioned by the disciples of John regarding whether
He was the one, Jesus pointed to the miracles as signs He was the one (Matthew
11:1-6). One would need to be blind not to see that Jesus was special.
However, belief in Jesus
as Savior is not just a belief in a good man who did many good works while on
earth. It is more than just a belief in one who arose from the dead. It is
belief in the one sent from God out of love to die for humanity’s sins and to rise
from the dead to bring them eternal life (John
3:16). Jesus is from heaven and knew no sin, yet he took the sin of
humanity upon Himself so anyone choosing to believe in him would become the
righteousness of God and a child of God (2
Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:2).
As the salt
(preservative) and the light (Illuminators of the truth of God’s Word), the
Church has the mission of taking the Gospel to a world desperately needing it (Matthew
5:13-16, 28:19-20). Sadly, many Churches are lukewarm and more focused on
wealth, prosperity, and what they can get from God instead of focusing on Who
Jesus is, the Son of God sent from God to redeem fallen humanity (Revelation
3:14-17). It is time for the Church to repent of its lukewarmness and
return to its mission from God (Acts
1:8).
I want to invite anyone
reading this post who has not prayed for salvation from their sins and to make
Jesus the Lord of their life through the confession of their belief in Jesus as
their Savior to do so now by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23)
and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe
you died, spent three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
May the Lord challenge,
convict, and bless everyone reading this post.
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