Wednesday in the Word...John 6:60-65

Our Wednesday in the Word this morning will cover John chapter 6 and verses 60 through 65.  It reads...

v.60 - Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"

What is the "difficult statement"?  Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves."  He also said, "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."  Jesus made it clear, "I am the bread of life."  

In the midst of those who were following Jesus as a rabbi, a teacher, they were coming up on statements that they couldn't listen to.  The sweeping statements that Jesus was saying about Himself and salvation were getting beyond their willingness to continue to follow or to take Jesus from just another rabbi to follow to be the actual Son of God sent by God to be the Messiah of the world.

v.61-63 - But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?  What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."

The questioning of some of the disciples was actual grumbling about it.  They were grumbling like the crowd back in verse 41 and also the Israelites in the desert as they grumbled to God about not having food as they did back in Egypt.  So Jesus throws a couple more questions at them.

Having the rest of the story, we see Jesus telling them that He will ascend back to heaven.  He didn't just come down like the manna in the desert but He will also be taken up.  The understanding of this takes something else to happen in the listener's ears and it is the Spirit.  The Spirit gives eternal life.  The Spirit makes it possible for the listener to accept the words of Jesus that are true and forever.  We will not just "figure it out" on our own, but the Spirit must intervene if there is going to be eternal life.

v.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 it was that would betray Him.

This is a verse that points to the sovereignty of God.  Jesus knew from the beginning who believed and who didn't believe.  He wasn't waiting for them to make up their minds.  In the midst of unbelief, Jesus continued to give the gospel message.  We don't have this capability to know who is to believe and who is not to believe but we are to follow Jesus in continuing to give the gospel message as He did.  

There are some things that Jesus knows that we don't know and prior to us possibly knowing them and one of those things is if we will believe in Him.  This is not hidden from His sight and yet He continues on with the message and mission of the cross and an empty grave.

v.65 - And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

The coming to Jesus, the believing that He is the only salvation offered by God, is possible because God has granted that person to do so.  This is a "struggle" verse.  We want to be in control.  What are we to do?  When we hear and see then we need to respond in this faith given to us by God with a "yes" to Jesus.  We say "Jesus is Lord."  We respond with repentance, surrender, and submission.  We join the work that God has prepared for us from the beginning of time.  

I have struggled to understand these verses in light of my upbringing.  If I grab ahold of them and let them stand on their own then I need to revisit my standard definition of "free will" in light of salvation.   Jesus said, "I have said to you."  This is the third time.  In verse 37, He said,

"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out."

In verse 44, Jesus said,

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."

Now in verse 65, Jesus said,

"For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

The question to myself, "How sovereign is my God?"  Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, may I allow You to be fully who You are in relationship to my life.  So many times I want to be the star of my story but the leading role is not me but You.  In the face of what You already know, may I be faithful as Christ to proclaim the One who died on the cross to take my place and rose from a grave to fulfill victory over an evil end.  You know because You are God and I am not and may I not take Your place today.  Amen.

Pastor Adam