Sunday, February 21, 2021

JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE, PARTS 2&3 - JOHN 6:22-40

 



Jesus, the Bread of Life, Part 2

6:22-34


In the previous passage, we read about Jesus feeding thousands of people from two loaves and five fishes. After doing so, Jesus went off by himself. The disciples gave up on him by nightfall and started rowing across the lake to get back home. Jesus walked on water to join them and made the boat go ashore.


This passage starts on the next day. The crowd realized Jesus was gone even though the disciples had left in the only boat. So, they got in other boats that had come and went over the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum to look for Jesus. 


The motive for the crowd was trying to find out how and when he came to Capernaum, since it did not appear that he had come by boat. Given what Jesus said to them, they must have also been hoping he would feed the whole crowd again. So, Jesus addresses them at this point. He really was a master at getting to the point, regardless of the question you asked.


Also, it appears that this discourse at this point actually occurred in the synagogue. Verse 59 says that Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. This teaching is commonly called the Bread of Life Discourse. 


So, Jesus did not tell them how he got to Capernaum, instead he challenged them. He accused them of looking for him in order to get fed, not to believe in him. He began his statement with the double amen, translated in English as “truly, truly”. This is a manner of speaking that creates emphasis by repetition. He said they did not come because they saw the signs, or miracles, he had done. 


This means they were not interested in Jesus’ divinity. They were not interested in salvation through faith in the Son of God. They were interested in the material things he could give them.


Many people are like that today. They are not interested in knowing Jesus as much as they are getting stuff from him. Worse, there are many popular ministers that cater to this desire by teaching people how to get stuff from God. 


This is the essence of the Word of Faith movement, where you can name what you want and claim that you have it and God must give it to you. Their gaze has been averted from the giver to the gifts. 


So, Jesus gave them a course correction. He told them to stop laboring for food that perishes. They had gone to great effort following Jesus around just to get bread to eat and were still doing so.


Instead, Jesus said, labor for, or seek, the food that endures to eternal life. He used a food metaphor here, but he was telling them to stop the pursuit of material things and pursue eternal life. And that  eternal life would be given to them by the Son of Man. (27) The title “Son of Man” was Jesus’ favorite title for himself.


This discourse, or dialogue, is not unlike the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. She was focused on physical water and wanted Jesus to give her water that would quench her thirst forever. But Jesus was speaking metaphorically of eternal life.


Jesus also said that God the Father set his seal on Jesus the Son. (27) A seal was a mark made in wax by an instrument that left a mark in the wax. It was often used on a message or letter or even an official order for a government official. The seal was unique to the individual and so authenticated the document as being from that person. 


Jesus meant by this that the Father had sent him and vouched for him, that he was the Messiah and Savior. How did God the Father do this? This passage does not say, but others do. 


He gave prophetic words over the course of history to help the Jews identify him, he sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus and to identify him, and he spoke at Jesus’ baptism, calling him his son. Later, he would authenticate him by raising him from the dead. 


Out of all of this talk, the Jews in the crowd focused on the word “labor” in regards to obtaining eternal life. So, they asked Jesus what works did they need to do? (28) This shows us that they were focused on working for salvation. 


It seemed to be a common idea among the Jews. It is also reflected in the story of the young rich man in Matthew 10. He asked Jesus “what good dead must I do to have eternal life”. 


But Jesus brought them to the idea of belief. He said the work of God is to believe in him whom he has sent. (29) And, Jesus is the one God has sent. 


That is the core message of the New Testament. Salvation is not obtained by works. Paul said it plainly: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight”. (Romans 3:20) 


Instead, salvation comes to us by grace through faith. Again Paul said “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:23-25)


Paul also wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”. (Ephesians 2:8-9)


The crowd understood that Jesus said eternal life came from belief in the Son of Man, and that Jesus was claiming to be that Son of Man, but they did not believe him. So, the asked him what sign he would do so that they might believe in him. 


I find this to be one of the most appalling statements in the New Testament. Jesus had just the day before fed them through a miracle, a sign. He also somehow miraculously appeared in Capernaum despite having no boat on the shore. Yet, they wanted another, greater, sign.


They even had the audacity to refer to bread. They said Moses gave them bread from heaven, meaning the manna God gave their forefathers in the wilderness. (31) They appear to be quoting Psalm 78:24, which says “(he) rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 


What they were saying was, if you claim to be superior to Moses, show us by doing a miracle greater than Moses did by bringing us bread from heaven. However, the “he” of Psalm 78 is not Moses, but God. 


Jesus corrected them, saying it was not Moses the gave them bread from heaven, but his Father. (32) Notice he did not say “the Father” as he did in verse 27, but “my Father”, making a claim to be the Son of God sent by the Father. 


There is a shift of verb tense here that is interesting. Moses gave them Manna, but the Father gives you the true bread from heaven. (32)


Jesus expanded the thought of bread from heaven, though, saying the bread of God, which is the same as saying the bread from heaven,  is the one who came from heaven and gives life to the world. (33) Jesus is, of course, referring to himself.


The crowd still did not believe him. They asked Jesus to give them this bread always, still focusing on the physical rather than the spiritual. (34)


Again we see these people being much like the woman at Jacob’s well. She said “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water”. (John 4:15) She also focused on the physical rather than the spiritual. 


Jesus the Bread of Life, Part 3

6:34-40


Since the Jews did not understand what Jesus meant, Jesus again directed them away from loaves of bread to himself, saying he is the bread of life. This is considered the first of the “I AM” sayings, where Jesus invokes the holy name of God to identify himself.


So, Jesus as God is the bread which satisfies forever, so one will not be hungry again. Then Jesus added the metaphor of water, saying whoever believes in him shall never thirst. (35) Jesus said practically the same thing to the woman at the well: whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. (John 4:14) 


He is speaking of eternal life here. Certainly, we continue to need Jesus on a daily basis, but once we come to him and believe in him, we have eternal life, life that is permanent and does not need to be restored or given again and again. 


The Father sent the bread and Jesus is the bread. He is the source of eternal life. It is a one time deal - once you get eternal life, you never need anything else again to have life. 


In contrast to those who believe in Jesus, these people have seen him but do not believe. (36) And we know that not all who hear the gospel will believe. 


But, all of those the Father gives to Jesus will come to him. If the Father has given a person to the Son, that person will come to the Son. And if a person comes to the Son, the Son will receive him and will not cast him out ever. (38) Again, Jesus says that salvation is permanent. It is not even ours to lose. He holds us and he will not let us go.


The reason Jesus will not cast out anyone who has come to him is his obedience to the Father. Jesus came from heaven to do the will of the one who sent him. (38) The one who sent him is the Father. And the will of the Father is that the Son will not lose any of all that  the Father has given him. Rather, he will raise them on the last day. (40) 


So, it is the Father’s will that those he gives to Jesus will come to Jesus and Jesus will keep them and raise them on the last day. 


Peter reflected this truth when he wrote that we have been born again to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us, where Jesus is, ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)


Jesus concluded with a plain statement that it is the will of his Father that everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life and is resurrected on the last day. (40)


This is the doctrine that Baptists have commonly called “once saved, always saved”. It is also called “the perseverance of the saints”. 


Section 5 of the Baptist Faith and Message says:


 “All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.”


The Westminster Confession states the same doctrine in Chapter 17:


“They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally, fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”


The better term might be the preservation of the saints, since Jesus preserves us by his power and raises us on the last day. 


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