For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
He came down from heaven clothed in humanity to carry out the will of the Father who sent Him, not to follow a will of His own or pursue His own purposes. The Father's will is that all whom He gives will come to the Son, and whoever comes will in no wise be cast out, but be kept safe and lost nothing. It is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life and be raised up at the last day. He Himself is the true living bread given by the Father to give life to the world, and to eat His flesh and drink His blood is to receive and believe His life-giving Word, become one with Him, and dwell in Him. Obedience to the Father's will was the keynote of His life of selfless ministry, and those who would be saved must have His mind and walk in His footsteps of doing God's will instead of their own.
Words and Earthly Setting
The One sent by the Father came down from heaven clothed in humanity, with divine authority to offer salvation and access to the Father. As divine Teacher He clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Though equal with God He humbled Himself to serve sinful people, leaving heavenly riches and glory for a life of humility, hardship and reproach in order to raise them to a higher life. His condescension was not a low view of His character or abilities but love reaching fallen humanity, and His mission included giving His flesh for the life of the world so that those who receive Him by faith have hope of resurrection to immortal life. His sinless life in humanity makes it possible for those who receive Him to share the divine nature and escape the world's corruption.
The words were spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum as His teaching of Himself as the bread of life. They belong to the bread-of-life discourse and sermon that followed the miracle of the loaves and fishes and His walking on the water. That sermon set out the conditions of eternal life and entrance into God's kingdom. It answered the question what to do to work the works of God, that the work God requires is to believe on Him whom He sent, first believing and next working.
The hearers were fixed on temporal food and did not understand His spiritual line of instruction. He Himself is the bread of life and tree of life to a starving world that does not realize it is perishing of hunger, so that coming to Him ends hunger and believing on Him ends thirst, yet those who saw Him still did not believe. They had evidence of His Messiahship, but the natural unconverted response was to murmur at His claim to have come from heaven rather than receive His words in humble childlike faith and willingness to learn. Many priests, rulers and disciples did not understand these truths in John 6.
In this setting He refused to be made king when the crowd wanted to give Him honor and an earthly kingdom, showing He would not be diverted from the Father's will or pursue purposes of His own. He made no distinct claim to temporal Messiahship, took no position of royal dignity, and offered no promise of worldly rewards. After feeding the five thousand He devoted Himself to instructing His disciples in the mysteries and truths of His spiritual work, presenting Himself to the people as the bread of life and clearly defining His spiritual kingdom while discouraging the idea of a temporal reign. His mission was not to satisfy ambitions for earthly power.
The teaching was plain testimony that tested hearers to decide for or against Him and to reveal their true feelings. Because the nation was leavened with prejudice for a temporal kingdom, His defining of a spiritual kingdom caused His popularity to wane. Many who had followed for temporal benefits rejected its demands, and many disciples were offended, rejected the truth, and turned away rather than accept reproof and reform their lives. The Twelve did not then show themselves unfaithful, for Peter speaking for his brethren declared loyalty to Christ.
Sent to Do Father's Will
He came down from heaven to carry out the will of the Father who sent Him, not to follow a will of His own or pursue purposes of His own. That will is to save those who come to Him and believe in Him, to lose none of those given to Him but keep them safe, to raise them up at the last day, and to give everlasting life to everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him. His example in this calls His followers away from selfishness and self-pleasing toward obedience to God.
He always disclaimed independence, for His words were not spoken of Himself and His works were done by the Father dwelling in Him, in complete dependence rather than acting from Himself. His work was wholehearted, undivided obedience carrying out the Father's purpose, lived as Sonship in partnership with the Father. His own will was not opposed to the Father's but in perfect harmony with it, yet subordinated to the divine will in acknowledgment of dependence upon God. God alone is independent, while every being He has created in heaven and in earth is dependent upon Him, and He designs that man shall subordinate his will to the divine will so that the will of God becomes the will of every human being. When self no longer seeks supremacy and the heart is surrendered to God, the Holy Spirit guides the life into accord with God's mind, and the one who realizes dependence upon God and subjects the will to the divine will grows like Christ in character and renders willing obedience to God's commandments without weariness. By contrast, the hidden principle of sin is rejection of the will of God, refusal to acknowledge dependence upon Him, and allowing self to gain the supremacy in rebellion, deception, dishonesty and self-exaltation.
Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity moved Him to come to earth to suffer and die, and obedience to the Father's will governed His life. He bore the yoke of God's law in human life. Though equal with God, He humbled Himself to serve and to save sinful people, leaving heavenly riches and glory for a life of humility, hardship, and reproach. That humility was not a low view of His character or abilities, but His condescension to fallen humanity so that He could raise people to a higher life. This obedience was lived in truly human nature, with the divine and the human linked in Him and both complete, His human will nourished by the divine and actively exercised to save people, showing that obedience to God's will is the path to a pure and holy life.
Father's Will to Save
The will of Him who sent Him is that all whom the Father gives shall come to the Son, and that whoever comes to Him He will in no wise cast out. God gathers believers not because they are already perfect, but because His grace can correct their errors, instruct them through the Holy Spirit, and make them complete in Christ. Mere outward connection with any church does not save, while personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. This will stands in His rebuke of unbelief and in His teaching that He Himself is the bread of life, whom men must receive and believe and become one with by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which is receiving His words as spirit and life.
That same will is that of all given to Him He should lose nothing, but keep them safe and raise them up at the last day. It is to save those who come to Him and believe in the Son, granting them everlasting life and resurrection to immortal life. The Passover lamb and its blood point to His sacrifice, while faith in Christ as spiritual food gives believers hope of that resurrection.
The Father's will is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life and be raised at the last day. Christ is the bread of life come down from heaven; he who comes to Him shall never hunger and he who believes on Him shall never thirst, for He gives His flesh for the life of the world. If any eat of that bread he shall live forever and not die, dwelling in Christ and Christ in him, with eternal life and resurrection at the last day. Receiving these words in humble, childlike faith is set against the natural, unconverted response of murmuring at His claim to have come from heaven, even by those having evidence of His Messiahship and needing willingness to learn from Him.
Bread of Life Received
He Himself is the true living bread and tree of life given by the Father to give life to a starving world that does not realize it is perishing of hunger, obtainable from no human agent, and He gives His flesh for the life of the world. His compassion in feeding the hungry multitude shows He is not unmindful of bodily necessities and can supply food, yet He used the miracle to teach a spiritual lesson of far more consequence. Men must not bestow chief labor and anxiety on perishable bread for physical sustenance but must believe on Him whom God sent and seek with far greater anxiety the living bread that endures to everlasting life. Coming to Him ends hunger and believing on Him ends thirst, and those who receive Him by faith have hope of resurrection to immortal life.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means receiving and believing His life-giving Word, becoming one with Him, and dwelling in Him with Him dwelling in the believer. It is receiving His words as spirit and life, keeping the Word and truth before us, studying and practicing its teachings, and living by faith in Jesus and God's Word. Feeding on Him means receiving His words and the spirit of His life into one's own character, and like nourishment assimilated into the body His life transforms those who receive it. This eating calls people to cling to Christ's word as the terms of eternal life, to believe the Word of God and appropriate that Word to the soul and bring the requirements of Christ into the practical life.
Receiving Him means feeding on His words by studying, obeying, and practicing them daily and bringing them into life experience. The chapter's lessons set out the conditions of eternal life and plainly state the way to obtain it, through receiving the principles of the Word into the daily life and thereby coming into connection with Christ, who knew no sin. Genuine faith hungers and thirsts for this Bread, studies the Word prayerfully, and takes it into life practice. The work God requires is to believe on Him whom He sent, first believing and next working, so students taught to believe in Christ will work the works of God, which advances righteousness and restrains unrighteousness. This spiritual nourishment leads to eternal life and obedience to the Word, and to a life measured by the life of God.
His life thus assimilated like nourishment transforms the receiver to become Christlike in character, filled with love for God and others, Christ's Spirit, and holy aspirations toward God. Coming to Him ends spiritual hunger and thirst, and gives strength from God, perfects experience, and brings lasting joy. This eating gives the witness of the Spirit that ways please God, gives eternal life, gives the joy of Christ remaining in the soul, gives full assurance of hope, unites the believer to Christ by living faith, and brings the person where the law no longer condemns his course of action. That experience is true conversion and being born again, learned as newborn babes learn to desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby. When it is obtained the frivolous life is changed, the character is transformed, the feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder, and Christ is revealed in spirit and words and actions as believers mount heavenward step by step. Taking in the words of Christ gives understanding of privileges, realizing that He Himself is the great center of life, whose words are spirit and life.
The chapter is rich manna from heaven and Bible bread from which men and women are built up spiritually, a source of spiritual nourishment and strength. It is urged as a guide to choosing whom to serve and to seeking God rather than letting worldly entertainments extinguish spiritual hunger. Those ministering in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding toward it, but feed the mind on this heavenly bread rather than spending time on books and magazines that hinder spiritual growth and lead the mind astray. The minister must first personally feed on that Word and commune with God before daring to stand before the people, being divested of own habits, manners and customs, renouncing self to have none of self and all of Jesus, and coming into Christ's likeness. One who so feeds sees truth on every side, gains a new perception of truth instead of stale oft-repeated ideas, carries the element of eternal life in ministry, is led to work as Christ worked, respects varied minds, and speaks a plain word that touches every case without worldly perplexities.
His work as substitute for sin is the hope of ancient Israel. The living oracles are the Son of God's life-giving provision, and Christ's words and directions in Scripture give spiritual nourishment, so no one need remain spiritually hungry who takes them in. The Old Testament directions remain spiritually nourishing and practically binding, and the New Testament sheds light on them and sheds light back on the Old Testament without setting it aside or replacing them. Christ's words present the lessons already given in Scripture, and those who believe the Old Testament Scriptures will believe the New Testament as well.
The Passover lamb and its blood point to His sacrifice, while faith in Him as spiritual food gives believers hope of resurrection to immortal life. His compassion in feeding the hungry multitude shows He is not unmindful of bodily necessities and can supply food, yet He used the miracle to teach that chief labor must be for the living bread that endures to everlasting life rather than perishable bread.
Obedient Life of Christ
Obedience to the Father's will was the keynote of His life, understood already in childhood when He knew He must be about His Father's business. That obedience meant living a life of selfless ministry for the saving of a lost world, with no selfishness and no haphazard work. His daily life embodied it through teaching, healing, compassion, and service, leaving a perfect example of faithful work and a pattern for workers in God's service. Doing that will meant exemplifying God's character and teaching and practicing the law of the kingdom of heaven, magnifying the law and making it honorable by showing that it can be obeyed and by fulfilling it rather than destroying it. As the obedient Son He kept the Father's commandments with a perfect and complete obedience, living God's law in human nature so that through faith in Him and power given human beings may become sons of God, learning His meekness and finding rest.
In Gethsemane He submitted to that will and consented to drink the cup, though He knew the suffering and the wrath against sin it involved, bearing the sins of the world alone as humanity's substitute and surety, and He was victorious. Even under cruelty and suffering at His trial He did not depart from His Father's will in the least nor utter a murmur, though He had taken human nature, being sustained by Godlike fortitude and strength. He came in submission to bear human infirmities and to endure sacrifice and death in order to give immortal life. He will forever bear the marks of His earthly humiliation as one slain, even while the redeemed and the angels honor and worship Him, and the more fully His infinite sin-atoning sacrifice is appreciated the more closely believers come into harmony with heaven and rejoice and triumph in every condition of life.
His active work was joined with devotion, for He prayed to His Father for strength to complete His mission and to face duty and temptation, showing that prayer and worship sanctify ministry and supply strength for daily duty and service. He came in perfect love as the full expression of God's heart and mind, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person, yet lived as a humble, meek, and lowly man sharing the daily work and burdens of His family. From childhood through manhood He worked with Joseph at the carpenter's bench with perfect, honest, careful workmanship with no sham work, with speech always fitting, and with encouragement to fellow workers to do their best, making Him an example in daily labor. He gave Himself without reserve to reclaim fallen humanity, attaching people to Himself so that He could work through them to save sinners, in all things bringing His own wishes into strict abeyance to His mission as the unwearied servant of human need and glorifying His life by making everything in it subordinate to His Father's will.
Following in His Steps
His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice is the only way devised for salvation and its practical illustration, submitting to insult, scorn, and mockery without retaliation and not reviling when reviled, and those who would be saved must have the mind of Christ and walk in His footsteps of doing God's will instead of their own. No one can be a Christian while living to please self, but followers must enter through the strait gate of self-denial sharing the shame and reproach He suffered for them. Those who profess godliness yet want an easier path and climb up some other way refuse to follow in the footsteps of the Redeemer, and are called thieves and robbers because they take the name of Christian which does not belong to them, do not represent His life, claim privileges belonging to sons of God while they are none of His, live selfish lives and have done nothing as they ought for truth and salvation of souls, and will never see heaven because they are not willing to share the shame and reproach He suffered for them. Following Him requires constantly seeking a more intimate acquaintance with Him, walking even as He walked, doing His works, and appropriating the lessons of His life.
His example is cheerful self-denial in imitation of the Redeemer, a Christian life of conflict and sacrifice, following the path of duty instead of inclination and choice. Perfect submission to God's will must be reached to be fitted for heaven, with thoughts, words, actions, appetites, and passions brought into subjection to the will of God and fruit borne unto holiness, though it may take time. True religion leads on to perfection and to defending the poor, the fatherless, the motherless, and the afflicted, doing justice to the widow, relieving the needy, dealing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God.
His righteousness is surrender to God of that which is already His own. Accepting that righteousness puts on the wedding garment, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity and the standard of character each must reach to be accounted a fit guest at the wedding. Without it, measuring character by human ideas and continuing in sin leaves the soul without the garment and results in loss of eternal interests.
His example teaches Christians not to exalt self, for Christian worth rests not on talents, birth, or power, but on a clean heart that reflects Christ. It calls His followers away from selfishness and self-pleasing and toward obedience to God. It calls believers to conform their wills to God's will. God's will is to govern every purpose, plan, and aim, and His followers are to yield their wills to God rather than pursue independence or self-sufficiency. Learning from Him means yielding the will to God and being trained in habits of obedience and service, for His Word as the bread of life, representing His body and blood, is meant to reach the heart, take possession of the will, and bring thoughts into obedience to Him.
This submission is to be unreserved and perfect, rooted in unlimited confidence in the heavenly Father, yielding all desires, affections, and secret motives, being clothed with humility and pure, peaceable, gentle love. Surrendering self and submitting fully to God in the same way He submitted are essential to a holy life, renewing in knowledge and true holiness. His obedience and submission were complete, and His life is the example of surrender to God which His followers must likewise yield. His submission to the Father's will is reflected in giving everything up to Him and seeking to do God's will. So submitted, believers become perfect overcomers, and cheerfully endure privation, suffering, poverty, weariness, and hatred without murmuring so they can share His glory in His heavenly kingdom.
Mere outward connection with any church will not save, but personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. All that the Father gives come to Him, and whoever comes to Him He will not cast out. The Father's will is that of all given to Him He should lose nothing but raise it up at the last day, and that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life. He is the bread of life; he who comes to Him shall never hunger and he who believes on Him shall never thirst; this bread come down from heaven gives His flesh for the life of the world, and if any eat of it he shall live forever and not die, dwelling in Him and He in him, with eternal life and resurrection at the last day. He came clothed in humanity to live a life without sin, and His sinless life makes it possible for people who receive Him to share in the divine nature and escape the world's corruption. The bread of life gives people an opportunity to receive the Word and grow into Christlike character.
The chapter's lessons set out the conditions of eternal life, and studying and obeying those lessons leads to a life measured by the life of God. The chapter explains how to study God's Word: receive and assimilate His words until they become part of daily life, obey the Word's precepts, and live by what God has revealed. Its truths are to be studied to understand dependence on God rather than on human beings, pointing to Him as the source of strength, wisdom, and guidance, in whom those who receive Him by faith find sanctification, righteousness, and reward. Its instruction is the mystery of godliness, to be studied, made a part of life, and brought into daily experience, giving the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril. Those who strive for eternal life prove His mind made known by prayer and communion with God and gain a knowledge of His will in Him, receiving and assimilating His words until they become part of themselves, bringing principles of Scripture home to the soul and into daily life, grasping the mysteries of godliness, and not departing from its precepts. This receiving and living is what is meant by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that is, by what God has revealed, which is all that is necessary for salvation though not all that could be revealed, and not leaving His word for the suppositions of men.
Living that instruction in practical life leads to unity with one another and with Him. The chapter's instruction is guidance that, when lived, can cure dissension and lead to unity with Him and with one another. Following Him means receiving Him as the perfect Saviour and yielding wholly to the Lord, and those who do so reveal His attributes in words and actions, because they are doers of the Word.
Every worker in His service must understand the chapter's lessons, follow His example, and seek His guidance in service. Its teaching inspires believers to deny self, lift the cross, and labor for others with self-sacrificing zeal, showing the importance demonstrated by Christian missionary work. He showed His disciples that they were to serve as His representatives, giving the bread of life to people who were spiritually hungry, and because He appointed this work, God would supply what they needed to carry it out. Those who consecrate their talents to God and balance intellectual ability with religious principle can carry forward the work entrusted to Him as co-workers with Him. Feeding on Him means reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace, and the grace received is not to be hoarded but given to others, so that those who feed most on Him are most ready for service, and teachers must first be learners, joining busy active labor with listening and learning at His feet.
Believers are to step into those footprints by obeying in co-partnership with the Son of God, asking God for wisdom and courage and faith to move forward and leaving all outcomes with Him when the path is not clear, for His work was wholehearted, undivided obedience carrying out the Father's purpose rather than acting from Himself, lived in truly human nature with the divine and the human linked in Him and both complete. As the obedient Son He kept the Father's commandments and gave a perfect, complete example of obedience, living God's law in human nature so that through faith in Him and power given human beings may become sons of God. By receiving Him by faith, human nature obtains power to share that obedience and become sons of God, learning His meekness and lowliness and finding rest of soul, while His submission magnifies God's love and makes the law honorable by restraining impulses that work against God's character. His own will was in perfect harmony with the Father's, not opposed to it, and His submission expresses humility and self-denial as the example: when self no longer seeks supremacy and the heart is surrendered to God, the Holy Spirit guides the life into accord with God's mind.
Entire conformity to the will of God means being worked in God's way, following and obeying God as He obeyed Him, with His human will nourished by the divine and actively exercised to save people, showing that obedience to God's will is the path to a pure and holy life. For God's people in the last days it calls for giving self wholly to seeking the Lord, parents and children, households, churches and institutions, with heart and soul, with faith and hope proportionate to the truth, praying with the spirit and with the understanding also, in order to be made ready to advance God's work. Receiving Him means obeying His words and doing His works, advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness, on which happiness and salvation depend.
He came down from heaven clothed in humanity to carry out the will of the Father who sent Him, not to follow a will of His own or pursue His own purposes. The Father's will is that all whom He gives will come to the Son, and whoever comes will in no wise be cast out, but be kept safe and lost nothing. It is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life and be raised up at the last day. He Himself is the true living bread given by the Father to give life to the world, and to eat His flesh and drink His blood is to receive and believe His life-giving Word, become one with Him, and dwell in Him. Obedience to the Father's will was the keynote of His life of selfless ministry, and those who would be saved must have His mind and walk in His footsteps of doing God's will instead of their own.
Words and Earthly Setting
The One sent by the Father came down from heaven clothed in humanity, with divine authority to offer salvation and access to the Father. As divine Teacher He clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Though equal with God He humbled Himself to serve sinful people, leaving heavenly riches and glory for a life of humility, hardship and reproach in order to raise them to a higher life. His condescension was not a low view of His character or abilities but love reaching fallen humanity, and His mission included giving His flesh for the life of the world so that those who receive Him by faith have hope of resurrection to immortal life. His sinless life in humanity makes it possible for those who receive Him to share the divine nature and escape the world's corruption.
The words were spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum as His teaching of Himself as the bread of life. They belong to the bread-of-life discourse and sermon that followed the miracle of the loaves and fishes and His walking on the water. That sermon set out the conditions of eternal life and entrance into God's kingdom. It answered the question what to do to work the works of God, that the work God requires is to believe on Him whom He sent, first believing and next working.
The hearers were fixed on temporal food and did not understand His spiritual line of instruction. He Himself is the bread of life and tree of life to a starving world that does not realize it is perishing of hunger, so that coming to Him ends hunger and believing on Him ends thirst, yet those who saw Him still did not believe. They had evidence of His Messiahship, but the natural unconverted response was to murmur at His claim to have come from heaven rather than receive His words in humble childlike faith and willingness to learn. Many priests, rulers and disciples did not understand these truths in John 6.
In this setting He refused to be made king when the crowd wanted to give Him honor and an earthly kingdom, showing He would not be diverted from the Father's will or pursue purposes of His own. He made no distinct claim to temporal Messiahship, took no position of royal dignity, and offered no promise of worldly rewards. After feeding the five thousand He devoted Himself to instructing His disciples in the mysteries and truths of His spiritual work, presenting Himself to the people as the bread of life and clearly defining His spiritual kingdom while discouraging the idea of a temporal reign. His mission was not to satisfy ambitions for earthly power.
The teaching was plain testimony that tested hearers to decide for or against Him and to reveal their true feelings. Because the nation was leavened with prejudice for a temporal kingdom, His defining of a spiritual kingdom caused His popularity to wane. Many who had followed for temporal benefits rejected its demands, and many disciples were offended, rejected the truth, and turned away rather than accept reproof and reform their lives. The Twelve did not then show themselves unfaithful, for Peter speaking for his brethren declared loyalty to Christ.
Sent to Do Father's Will
He came down from heaven to carry out the will of the Father who sent Him, not to follow a will of His own or pursue purposes of His own. That will is to save those who come to Him and believe in Him, to lose none of those given to Him but keep them safe, to raise them up at the last day, and to give everlasting life to everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him. His example in this calls His followers away from selfishness and self-pleasing toward obedience to God.
He always disclaimed independence, for His words were not spoken of Himself and His works were done by the Father dwelling in Him, in complete dependence rather than acting from Himself. His work was wholehearted, undivided obedience carrying out the Father's purpose, lived as Sonship in partnership with the Father. His own will was not opposed to the Father's but in perfect harmony with it, yet subordinated to the divine will in acknowledgment of dependence upon God. God alone is independent, while every being He has created in heaven and in earth is dependent upon Him, and He designs that man shall subordinate his will to the divine will so that the will of God becomes the will of every human being. When self no longer seeks supremacy and the heart is surrendered to God, the Holy Spirit guides the life into accord with God's mind, and the one who realizes dependence upon God and subjects the will to the divine will grows like Christ in character and renders willing obedience to God's commandments without weariness. By contrast, the hidden principle of sin is rejection of the will of God, refusal to acknowledge dependence upon Him, and allowing self to gain the supremacy in rebellion, deception, dishonesty and self-exaltation.
Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity moved Him to come to earth to suffer and die, and obedience to the Father's will governed His life. He bore the yoke of God's law in human life. Though equal with God, He humbled Himself to serve and to save sinful people, leaving heavenly riches and glory for a life of humility, hardship, and reproach. That humility was not a low view of His character or abilities, but His condescension to fallen humanity so that He could raise people to a higher life. This obedience was lived in truly human nature, with the divine and the human linked in Him and both complete, His human will nourished by the divine and actively exercised to save people, showing that obedience to God's will is the path to a pure and holy life.
Father's Will to Save
The will of Him who sent Him is that all whom the Father gives shall come to the Son, and that whoever comes to Him He will in no wise cast out. God gathers believers not because they are already perfect, but because His grace can correct their errors, instruct them through the Holy Spirit, and make them complete in Christ. Mere outward connection with any church does not save, while personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. This will stands in His rebuke of unbelief and in His teaching that He Himself is the bread of life, whom men must receive and believe and become one with by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which is receiving His words as spirit and life.
That same will is that of all given to Him He should lose nothing, but keep them safe and raise them up at the last day. It is to save those who come to Him and believe in the Son, granting them everlasting life and resurrection to immortal life. The Passover lamb and its blood point to His sacrifice, while faith in Christ as spiritual food gives believers hope of that resurrection.
The Father's will is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life and be raised at the last day. Christ is the bread of life come down from heaven; he who comes to Him shall never hunger and he who believes on Him shall never thirst, for He gives His flesh for the life of the world. If any eat of that bread he shall live forever and not die, dwelling in Christ and Christ in him, with eternal life and resurrection at the last day. Receiving these words in humble, childlike faith is set against the natural, unconverted response of murmuring at His claim to have come from heaven, even by those having evidence of His Messiahship and needing willingness to learn from Him.
Bread of Life Received
He Himself is the true living bread and tree of life given by the Father to give life to a starving world that does not realize it is perishing of hunger, obtainable from no human agent, and He gives His flesh for the life of the world. His compassion in feeding the hungry multitude shows He is not unmindful of bodily necessities and can supply food, yet He used the miracle to teach a spiritual lesson of far more consequence. Men must not bestow chief labor and anxiety on perishable bread for physical sustenance but must believe on Him whom God sent and seek with far greater anxiety the living bread that endures to everlasting life. Coming to Him ends hunger and believing on Him ends thirst, and those who receive Him by faith have hope of resurrection to immortal life.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means receiving and believing His life-giving Word, becoming one with Him, and dwelling in Him with Him dwelling in the believer. It is receiving His words as spirit and life, keeping the Word and truth before us, studying and practicing its teachings, and living by faith in Jesus and God's Word. Feeding on Him means receiving His words and the spirit of His life into one's own character, and like nourishment assimilated into the body His life transforms those who receive it. This eating calls people to cling to Christ's word as the terms of eternal life, to believe the Word of God and appropriate that Word to the soul and bring the requirements of Christ into the practical life.
Receiving Him means feeding on His words by studying, obeying, and practicing them daily and bringing them into life experience. The chapter's lessons set out the conditions of eternal life and plainly state the way to obtain it, through receiving the principles of the Word into the daily life and thereby coming into connection with Christ, who knew no sin. Genuine faith hungers and thirsts for this Bread, studies the Word prayerfully, and takes it into life practice. The work God requires is to believe on Him whom He sent, first believing and next working, so students taught to believe in Christ will work the works of God, which advances righteousness and restrains unrighteousness. This spiritual nourishment leads to eternal life and obedience to the Word, and to a life measured by the life of God.
His life thus assimilated like nourishment transforms the receiver to become Christlike in character, filled with love for God and others, Christ's Spirit, and holy aspirations toward God. Coming to Him ends spiritual hunger and thirst, and gives strength from God, perfects experience, and brings lasting joy. This eating gives the witness of the Spirit that ways please God, gives eternal life, gives the joy of Christ remaining in the soul, gives full assurance of hope, unites the believer to Christ by living faith, and brings the person where the law no longer condemns his course of action. That experience is true conversion and being born again, learned as newborn babes learn to desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby. When it is obtained the frivolous life is changed, the character is transformed, the feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder, and Christ is revealed in spirit and words and actions as believers mount heavenward step by step. Taking in the words of Christ gives understanding of privileges, realizing that He Himself is the great center of life, whose words are spirit and life.
The chapter is rich manna from heaven and Bible bread from which men and women are built up spiritually, a source of spiritual nourishment and strength. It is urged as a guide to choosing whom to serve and to seeking God rather than letting worldly entertainments extinguish spiritual hunger. Those ministering in word and doctrine must not be dull of understanding toward it, but feed the mind on this heavenly bread rather than spending time on books and magazines that hinder spiritual growth and lead the mind astray. The minister must first personally feed on that Word and commune with God before daring to stand before the people, being divested of own habits, manners and customs, renouncing self to have none of self and all of Jesus, and coming into Christ's likeness. One who so feeds sees truth on every side, gains a new perception of truth instead of stale oft-repeated ideas, carries the element of eternal life in ministry, is led to work as Christ worked, respects varied minds, and speaks a plain word that touches every case without worldly perplexities.
His work as substitute for sin is the hope of ancient Israel. The living oracles are the Son of God's life-giving provision, and Christ's words and directions in Scripture give spiritual nourishment, so no one need remain spiritually hungry who takes them in. The Old Testament directions remain spiritually nourishing and practically binding, and the New Testament sheds light on them and sheds light back on the Old Testament without setting it aside or replacing them. Christ's words present the lessons already given in Scripture, and those who believe the Old Testament Scriptures will believe the New Testament as well.
The Passover lamb and its blood point to His sacrifice, while faith in Him as spiritual food gives believers hope of resurrection to immortal life. His compassion in feeding the hungry multitude shows He is not unmindful of bodily necessities and can supply food, yet He used the miracle to teach that chief labor must be for the living bread that endures to everlasting life rather than perishable bread.
Obedient Life of Christ
Obedience to the Father's will was the keynote of His life, understood already in childhood when He knew He must be about His Father's business. That obedience meant living a life of selfless ministry for the saving of a lost world, with no selfishness and no haphazard work. His daily life embodied it through teaching, healing, compassion, and service, leaving a perfect example of faithful work and a pattern for workers in God's service. Doing that will meant exemplifying God's character and teaching and practicing the law of the kingdom of heaven, magnifying the law and making it honorable by showing that it can be obeyed and by fulfilling it rather than destroying it. As the obedient Son He kept the Father's commandments with a perfect and complete obedience, living God's law in human nature so that through faith in Him and power given human beings may become sons of God, learning His meekness and finding rest.
In Gethsemane He submitted to that will and consented to drink the cup, though He knew the suffering and the wrath against sin it involved, bearing the sins of the world alone as humanity's substitute and surety, and He was victorious. Even under cruelty and suffering at His trial He did not depart from His Father's will in the least nor utter a murmur, though He had taken human nature, being sustained by Godlike fortitude and strength. He came in submission to bear human infirmities and to endure sacrifice and death in order to give immortal life. He will forever bear the marks of His earthly humiliation as one slain, even while the redeemed and the angels honor and worship Him, and the more fully His infinite sin-atoning sacrifice is appreciated the more closely believers come into harmony with heaven and rejoice and triumph in every condition of life.
His active work was joined with devotion, for He prayed to His Father for strength to complete His mission and to face duty and temptation, showing that prayer and worship sanctify ministry and supply strength for daily duty and service. He came in perfect love as the full expression of God's heart and mind, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person, yet lived as a humble, meek, and lowly man sharing the daily work and burdens of His family. From childhood through manhood He worked with Joseph at the carpenter's bench with perfect, honest, careful workmanship with no sham work, with speech always fitting, and with encouragement to fellow workers to do their best, making Him an example in daily labor. He gave Himself without reserve to reclaim fallen humanity, attaching people to Himself so that He could work through them to save sinners, in all things bringing His own wishes into strict abeyance to His mission as the unwearied servant of human need and glorifying His life by making everything in it subordinate to His Father's will.
Following in His Steps
His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice is the only way devised for salvation and its practical illustration, submitting to insult, scorn, and mockery without retaliation and not reviling when reviled, and those who would be saved must have the mind of Christ and walk in His footsteps of doing God's will instead of their own. No one can be a Christian while living to please self, but followers must enter through the strait gate of self-denial sharing the shame and reproach He suffered for them. Those who profess godliness yet want an easier path and climb up some other way refuse to follow in the footsteps of the Redeemer, and are called thieves and robbers because they take the name of Christian which does not belong to them, do not represent His life, claim privileges belonging to sons of God while they are none of His, live selfish lives and have done nothing as they ought for truth and salvation of souls, and will never see heaven because they are not willing to share the shame and reproach He suffered for them. Following Him requires constantly seeking a more intimate acquaintance with Him, walking even as He walked, doing His works, and appropriating the lessons of His life.
His example is cheerful self-denial in imitation of the Redeemer, a Christian life of conflict and sacrifice, following the path of duty instead of inclination and choice. Perfect submission to God's will must be reached to be fitted for heaven, with thoughts, words, actions, appetites, and passions brought into subjection to the will of God and fruit borne unto holiness, though it may take time. True religion leads on to perfection and to defending the poor, the fatherless, the motherless, and the afflicted, doing justice to the widow, relieving the needy, dealing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God.
His righteousness is surrender to God of that which is already His own. Accepting that righteousness puts on the wedding garment, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity and the standard of character each must reach to be accounted a fit guest at the wedding. Without it, measuring character by human ideas and continuing in sin leaves the soul without the garment and results in loss of eternal interests.
His example teaches Christians not to exalt self, for Christian worth rests not on talents, birth, or power, but on a clean heart that reflects Christ. It calls His followers away from selfishness and self-pleasing and toward obedience to God. It calls believers to conform their wills to God's will. God's will is to govern every purpose, plan, and aim, and His followers are to yield their wills to God rather than pursue independence or self-sufficiency. Learning from Him means yielding the will to God and being trained in habits of obedience and service, for His Word as the bread of life, representing His body and blood, is meant to reach the heart, take possession of the will, and bring thoughts into obedience to Him.
This submission is to be unreserved and perfect, rooted in unlimited confidence in the heavenly Father, yielding all desires, affections, and secret motives, being clothed with humility and pure, peaceable, gentle love. Surrendering self and submitting fully to God in the same way He submitted are essential to a holy life, renewing in knowledge and true holiness. His obedience and submission were complete, and His life is the example of surrender to God which His followers must likewise yield. His submission to the Father's will is reflected in giving everything up to Him and seeking to do God's will. So submitted, believers become perfect overcomers, and cheerfully endure privation, suffering, poverty, weariness, and hatred without murmuring so they can share His glory in His heavenly kingdom.
Mere outward connection with any church will not save, but personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. All that the Father gives come to Him, and whoever comes to Him He will not cast out. The Father's will is that of all given to Him He should lose nothing but raise it up at the last day, and that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life. He is the bread of life; he who comes to Him shall never hunger and he who believes on Him shall never thirst; this bread come down from heaven gives His flesh for the life of the world, and if any eat of it he shall live forever and not die, dwelling in Him and He in him, with eternal life and resurrection at the last day. He came clothed in humanity to live a life without sin, and His sinless life makes it possible for people who receive Him to share in the divine nature and escape the world's corruption. The bread of life gives people an opportunity to receive the Word and grow into Christlike character.
The chapter's lessons set out the conditions of eternal life, and studying and obeying those lessons leads to a life measured by the life of God. The chapter explains how to study God's Word: receive and assimilate His words until they become part of daily life, obey the Word's precepts, and live by what God has revealed. Its truths are to be studied to understand dependence on God rather than on human beings, pointing to Him as the source of strength, wisdom, and guidance, in whom those who receive Him by faith find sanctification, righteousness, and reward. Its instruction is the mystery of godliness, to be studied, made a part of life, and brought into daily experience, giving the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril. Those who strive for eternal life prove His mind made known by prayer and communion with God and gain a knowledge of His will in Him, receiving and assimilating His words until they become part of themselves, bringing principles of Scripture home to the soul and into daily life, grasping the mysteries of godliness, and not departing from its precepts. This receiving and living is what is meant by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that is, by what God has revealed, which is all that is necessary for salvation though not all that could be revealed, and not leaving His word for the suppositions of men.
Living that instruction in practical life leads to unity with one another and with Him. The chapter's instruction is guidance that, when lived, can cure dissension and lead to unity with Him and with one another. Following Him means receiving Him as the perfect Saviour and yielding wholly to the Lord, and those who do so reveal His attributes in words and actions, because they are doers of the Word.
Every worker in His service must understand the chapter's lessons, follow His example, and seek His guidance in service. Its teaching inspires believers to deny self, lift the cross, and labor for others with self-sacrificing zeal, showing the importance demonstrated by Christian missionary work. He showed His disciples that they were to serve as His representatives, giving the bread of life to people who were spiritually hungry, and because He appointed this work, God would supply what they needed to carry it out. Those who consecrate their talents to God and balance intellectual ability with religious principle can carry forward the work entrusted to Him as co-workers with Him. Feeding on Him means reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace, and the grace received is not to be hoarded but given to others, so that those who feed most on Him are most ready for service, and teachers must first be learners, joining busy active labor with listening and learning at His feet.
Believers are to step into those footprints by obeying in co-partnership with the Son of God, asking God for wisdom and courage and faith to move forward and leaving all outcomes with Him when the path is not clear, for His work was wholehearted, undivided obedience carrying out the Father's purpose rather than acting from Himself, lived in truly human nature with the divine and the human linked in Him and both complete. As the obedient Son He kept the Father's commandments and gave a perfect, complete example of obedience, living God's law in human nature so that through faith in Him and power given human beings may become sons of God. By receiving Him by faith, human nature obtains power to share that obedience and become sons of God, learning His meekness and lowliness and finding rest of soul, while His submission magnifies God's love and makes the law honorable by restraining impulses that work against God's character. His own will was in perfect harmony with the Father's, not opposed to it, and His submission expresses humility and self-denial as the example: when self no longer seeks supremacy and the heart is surrendered to God, the Holy Spirit guides the life into accord with God's mind.
Entire conformity to the will of God means being worked in God's way, following and obeying God as He obeyed Him, with His human will nourished by the divine and actively exercised to save people, showing that obedience to God's will is the path to a pure and holy life. For God's people in the last days it calls for giving self wholly to seeking the Lord, parents and children, households, churches and institutions, with heart and soul, with faith and hope proportionate to the truth, praying with the spirit and with the understanding also, in order to be made ready to advance God's work. Receiving Him means obeying His words and doing His works, advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness, on which happiness and salvation depend.