Wednesday in the Word...John 6:66-71

Wednesday in the Word today is covering John chapter 6 and verses 66 through 71.  

v.66 - As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

Do you see the word "many"?  We can assume that is more than half pack up their bags and start heading the other direction.  Instead of going with Jesus, they are going away from Jesus.  What is the point?  It is hard to follow after Jesus and His teachings.  Do you also see the word "anymore"?  This is an action that is determined.

John later gives us this description of what is going on here in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 19.

"They went out from us, but they were not really of us;

for it they had been of us, they would have remained with us;

but they went out, so that it would be shown 

that they all are not of us."

v.67 - So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"

Jesus throws a question at the 12.  The direction of the crowd is a powerful thing.  It is easy to go with the flow of those around you.  Maybe some of those leaving were friends of the 12; maybe the crowd was putting up some good arguments to leave and go home; or maybe Satan was working overtime to try to negate the miracles they had seen Jesus perform.  

Jesus points the question directly at them.  He will ask the disciples who the public says that He is and then He will ask them directly, "But who do you say that I am?"   This is another direct question that makes them make up their own mind about the next step they are going to take.  Is it going to be with Jesus or away from Jesus?

v.68, 69 - Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have words of eternal life.  We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." 

Our rising leader within the ranks of the disciples speaks up.  Simon Peter again answers the call to respond as he will many times.  Sometimes it will be right and sometimes it will be wrong.  Jesus will either give glory to God for the words that come out of Simon Peter's mouth or He will call Simon Peter "Satan" for what he has said.  This is one of those times that Simon Peter has said the right thing.

This statement is early in the game but the disciples are going in the direction of becoming fishers of men.  They will need to have the message of eternal life from Jesus and also hold firmly that Jesus came from God as the Messiah to save sinners.  By watching and listening to Jesus, they are being convinced that Jesus is who He says He is.  But here comes a correction from Jesus.

v.70, 71 - Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil."  Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.

The correction from Jesus is that it sounds like it is all the disciples' doings that they have come to this conclusion.  Jesus corrects them to say that before they came to any type of conclusion, He had chosen them.  He had not only chosen them but He knew which one was going to betray Him as part of God's plan.  Jesus is referring back to the sovereignty of God in verses 37, 44, and 65.  They could make the claim to believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God but they could only say that because they were chosen by Him first.  The statement of faith is required by man but it has been preceded by the Father bringing them to Jesus.  The glory or credit doesn't go to man but only to God for our salvation.

Judas Iscariot has been identified.  You will now watch his every move that is given to us in the gospel accounts.  Satan's man is on the inside but even God is in control of that.  

Will you go away from Jesus or continue to follow after Him?  When you read of Jesus' teachings that are hard to follow in a world that seeks its own desires, will you continue to follow the will of God rather than the will of your own pleasures?  The pressure will be great to turn your canoe around and float downstream with the rest of the world, but will you continue to paddle nonstop upstream against the current, eyes fixed on Jesus' back?  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, we see that Jesus wasn't always all that popular.  We see that His teachings actually drove people away.  May we be on guard against the "satans," even on the inside, that are whispering other wills rather than Your own in our ears.  All glory be Yours Christ, even the proclamations that come out of my mouth.  May I not forget who first gave it to me along with the faith to proclaim who You are.  Amen."

Pastor Adam