THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life

Part XIX: Believing On Christ By His Discourse On The SPIRITUAL Bread Of Life, John 6:22-71

A. Believing On Christ By His Critique And Exposure Of Unbelieving Israel's Material Viewpoint

(John 6:22-48)

I. Introduction

A. One of the great obstacles to faith in God and Christ is a materialistic orientation rising from worldly values.

B. This problem was exposed in faithless Israel in John 6:22-48, and we study it for our edifying insight:

II. Believing On Christ By His Critique And Exposure Of Unbelieving Israel's Material Viewpoint.

A. After having been miraculously fed by Jesus with the loaves and fishes and temporarily losing sight of Him, the crowd sought for and found Christ on the other side of the sea at the city of Capernaum, John 6:22-24.

B. When they asked when He had arrived there, Jesus said they sought Him not due to realizing the spiritual significance of the feeding miracle, but since He had materially fed them, Jn. 6:25-26; B. K. C., N. T., p. 295.

C. Jesus thus told the crowd not to labor for the material food that perishes, but for the spiritual food that endures unto eternal life, which He the Son of Man [Messiah, cf. Daniel 7:13-14] would give them, for God the Father had sealed or authenticated Him as His Messenger to the nation Israel, John 6:27; Ibid.

D. Starting here, Jesus spoke spiritually while the crowd spoke materially, exposing its darkness, John 6:28-48:

1. Realizing Jesus implied God "had a requirement for them" (Ibid.), the crowd in its material mindset asked Jesus what they could do to work the works of God to attain eternal life, John 6:28; Ibid.

2. Countering their material viewpoint of salvation by human works, Jesus said the only alleged "work" of God required of them to attain eternal life was to believe on Him whom God had sent, John 6:29.

3. The crowd with its material viewpoint wanted an external sign from Jesus so they could believe in Him, a sign like Moses who had fed the people with manna from heaven, John 6:30-31.

4. Jesus answered [on the spiritual plane] that Moses had not given that true [spiritual] bread from heaven, only material bread, but that God the Father was giving them the true [spiritual] bread of Him Who had come down from heaven and gave eternal [spiritual] life unto the world, John 6:32-33.

5. The crowd then asked Jesus from then on to give them the bread about which He spoke, bread that would last with eternal affects versus the bread manna that had lasted only for forty years, John 6:34; Ibid.

6. Jesus replied that He HIMSELF was that "Bread of life," that he that came unto Him would never [spiritually] hunger or thirst, John 6:35. However, Jesus recognized his hearers had seen Him and yet had not believed in Him (John 6:36) as only those who had [spiritually] believed in the Father was the Father giving unto Jesus to follow Jesus, that Jesus was not going to cast them out, John 6:37.

7. Jesus had come to do the Father's will, not His own will or the will of a materially oriented crowd (John 6:38), which will ordained that all who had believed in the Father, whom the Father in turn directed to trust in Jesus, would be preserved and raised in the resurrection of the just at the last day, John 6:39-40.

8. The crowd, persisting in their materialistic viewpoint, reacted negatively, offended at Jesus' claim that He was the "Bread which came down from heaven," John 6:41; they knew Him as the son of Joseph and Joseph's wife Mary, John 6:42: such a man in their thinking had not come down from heaven, John 6:43.

9. Jesus charged the crowd not to murmur at His words, for no man could come unto Him unless God the Father had drawn him, John 6:44. Only those who had [spiritually] heard and trusted in the Father, though they had not [physically] seen Him, would come unto Jesus in fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:34 where men in the Kingdom would be taught of God, that all who trusted in Christ had eternal life, John 6:45-47.

10. Jesus then clearly asserted that He was that Bread of Life that provided everlasting life, John 6:48.

Lesson: The lost crowd heard Jesus through a material viewpoint in unbelief and so missed the eternal life He offered as He spoke of spiritual salvation and eternal security by faith in Himself as the spiritual Bread of Life.

Application: (1) May we understand that Jesus spoke of partaking of Himself as the SPIRITUAL Bread of Life to obtain SPIRITUAL eternal life and eternal security by faith alone. (2) May we assert this truth. (3) Also, opposite what many Calvinists claim, John 6:44 does not teach God authors salvation faith itself, for Jesus in John 6:45 clarified that God was then leading those in that day who already believed in Him to trust in Jesus, a special case that no longer applies. (cf. John 17:6 where "esan" ["were"] is in the imperfect tense to indicate these folk had been believing in the Father for some time; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 396; The Analy. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 188)