John 6:39, commentary and pictures

The Father's will in sending Christ is that of all He has given Him He should keep safe and lose nothing but raise it up at the last day. All whom the Father gives come to Christ, and He will not cast out anyone who comes to Him. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means by faith receiving Christ, coming to Him and believing in Him and becoming one with Him, so that he who comes never hungers and he who believes never thirsts. The same eating and drinking means receiving His words in faith, for His words are spirit and life, keeping them continually before the believer and taking them into character and actions. Those who so receive Him have eternal life now and are made one with Him in this present life, and He will raise them at the last day, and this comes through personal faith in a personal Saviour bringing spiritual union with Christ, not through mere outward connection with the church.

Chapter Setting and Occasion

The verse belongs to teaching connected with the miracle in which by creative power five barley loaves and two small fishes were increased to feed five thousand men besides women and children. After the increase the disciples were commanded to gather up the fragments that nothing be lost, showing the same compassionate Saviour who does not overlook physical hunger, teaching care to allow nothing to go to waste, and showing a hand of benevolence still imparting knowledge to provide food in different places. That temporal provision points to a spiritual lesson of far more consequence, that chief labor must not be for meat which perishes but for meat which endures unto everlasting life.

The teaching was given after the miracle of the loaves and fishes and the walking on the water, in the synagogue at Capernaum. It was spoken to Jews who were thinking only of the feeding of the five thousand and whom Christ sought to lead to higher truth, and it was addressed to both Jews and Gentiles. Connected with the miracle, it was not understood by people who hoped for an earthly kingdom, and it set forth the conditions of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom of God.

The plain testimony tested those who claimed to be disciples, speaking truths that led hearers to reveal their hearts and decide for or against Christ. It exposed whether they would receive truth even when it brought reproof, or reject it from love of human praise and resistance to self-denial. After He rejected the desire to make Him king and clarified that His kingdom was not a temporal reign, many worldly-minded hearers and professed disciples turned away and walked no more with Him. The Twelve did not prove unfaithful but remained, with Peter declaring loyalty on behalf of his brethren.

The chapter presents the conditions of eternal life and the mystery of godliness. It holds most precious and important lessons for all being educated, giving an education that endures through time and through eternity when its wonderful truths are brought into practical life. It is a very instructive chapter that is only faintly understood. It is to be studied and made part of life and brought into daily experience, giving knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril and giving instruction in godliness that helps distinguish truth from error.

Bread of Life Teaching

John 6 teaches Christ as the Bread of Life come down from heaven, given by God the Father through Christ and obtainable from no human agent, who gives life to the world. He is the center of the believer's life, the source of true life, the Life-giver and the only hope for everlasting life. The provision made for the Father's will to lose nothing but raise it up is nothing less than Christ Himself, the bread from whom flow the streams of salvation. The same chapter shows Him as the compassionate Saviour who did not overlook physical hunger, who by creative power increased five barley loaves and two small fishes to feed five thousand men besides women and children and then commanded the gathering of the fragments that nothing be lost, teaching care to allow nothing to go to waste and continued benevolence in providing food in different places. That temporal provision points to a spiritual lesson of far more consequence, that chief labor must not be for meat which perishes but for meat which endures unto everlasting life, so that he who comes to Him never hungers and he who believes on Him never thirsts.

Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means by faith receiving Christ, coming to Him, believing in Him, and becoming one with Him. Those who so receive Him have a well-founded hope of resurrection to immortal life in God's kingdom. The promise belongs to those who come to Jesus and believe in Him, for all whom the Father gives will come and will not be cast out, and everyone who sees the Son and believes has everlasting life and will be raised at the last day. This was set forth as a repeated, clear, definite, positive lesson to Jews thinking only of the feeding of the five thousand and whom He sought to lead to higher truth, and as a charge against unbelief. That promised raising rests on His saving sacrifice, which the Passover lamb and its blood foreshadowed as His sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The same eating and drinking means receiving His words in faith, for His words are spirit and life and it is the Spirit who gives life. The lesson is explained by the declaration that His words are spirit and life, meaning keeping His Word and truth continually before the believer. Believers receive this life by studying and practicing the Word and by walking in faith, not by sight, taking His words into the life and into character and actions. This is a spiritual work accomplished by the Spirit through His life-giving words, and spiritual life is sustained by personally receiving that Word. Receiving and obeying those words brings eternal life, and the truth when accepted gives life and, through faith in the Son and the efficacy of His blood, keeps believers from Satan's power.

Eating the bread means feeding on the Bible as the bread from heaven that came down from heaven, comparing Scripture with Scripture, believing every word, and communing with God until self with its habits, manners and customs is renounced and Christ's likeness is formed. It means bringing His requirements into practical life by keeping His commandments from the heart, being united to Him by living faith. This eating puts the element of eternal life into ministry, gives fresh perception of truth instead of stale oft-repeated ideas, makes the Word shine with clearness and power, kindles inner life and the fire of God's love in susceptible hearers, and satisfies every soul hunger. It brings the witness of the Spirit that one's ways please God, with the joy of Christ remaining in the soul, full assurance of hope, and freedom from condemnation of the law. It means cherishing in the heart the truth that works by love and purifies the soul, producing thorough conversion, new life, humility without boasting, and the fruit of a good tree.

Tasting that the Lord is gracious in this eating and drinking is a real personal experience, not mere profession: being truly converted and born again, opening the mind to God's Word with determination to practice it, and as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word for growth. When this is obtained the former frivolous life is changed, character is transformed, the common frivolous level is forsaken, the feet are placed on Christ as the first round of the ladder heavenward, the believer mounts step by step, and Christ is revealed in spirit, words and actions. The Word as bread of life brings the eternal future to view and does not address the understanding alone like a book of mathematical formulas for the intellect, but aims at the heart, addresses the moral nature, takes possession of the will, casts down imaginations and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God, and brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Learning the science of salvation from it requires being a submissive student in Christ's school, with the soul emptied of proud possessions so Christ may imprint His image and the soul-temple become the abiding place of the Most High. Those ready for service are those who feed most on Christ by reading and studying His Word, drinking in His Spirit, and receiving grace not to hoard but to give, so teachers are first learners and even zealous workers join busy activity with learning at the feet of Jesus.

The living oracles are the Son of God's flesh and blood, with special reference to the spiritual life found in God's Word. His work as substitute for sin was the only hope of ancient Israel even before the crucifixion and remains the hope of God's people. His words are spiritual food to be received and lived, and the Old and New Testament Scriptures together reveal their significance. The Old Testament Scriptures are sufficient to lead to truth, and belief in them leads in this age to belief in the New Testament.

Father's Will to Keep

The Father's will that sent Christ is that of all which has been given Him He should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day, and Jesus came to do that will by keeping safe, preserving, and losing none of everyone entrusted to Him. Those who by faith receive Christ, represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, have a well-founded hope of resurrection to immortal life in God's kingdom. The promise belongs to those who come to Jesus and believe in Him, and it is part of His teaching that He is the bread of life. Mere outward connection with the church does not save, for only personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. All whom the Father gives come to Christ and are not cast out, and everyone who sees the Son and believes has everlasting life.

Christ is the bread of life come down from heaven, and His flesh given for the life of the world gives eternal life so that those who receive Him live forever, dwell in Him, and are raised at the last day. The promise of resurrection belongs with coming to Christ and believing in Him for everlasting life. In its context, those who come to Jesus and believe in Him receive everlasting life, and He promises to raise them at the last day. It stands among the Scriptures concerning death and the resurrection hope.

All the Father gives will come and will not be cast out, and He will not cast out anyone who comes. This was spoken as a repeated, clear, definite, positive lesson that He Himself is the bread of life, addressed to those who were thinking only of the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes and whom He was seeking to lead to higher truth, and as a charge against unbelief. To have eternal life and be raised, a person must receive Christ, believe in Him, and become one with Him, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, coming to Him so as never to hunger or thirst. Seeing the Son and believing on Him brings everlasting life and resurrection at the last day. This assurance calls for praise and thanksgiving, and should inspire believers to bring their wills into harmony with God's will and to trust Christ's words.

God gathers a people through His wisdom and grace, not because they are already perfect, but because He can correct their errors and complete every believer in Christ through His grace and the Holy Spirit. God will fulfill every specification of His promise to lose nothing but raise it up at the last day, and the danger is not failure on His part but hindrance by continuing in sin. Presumption in matters of eternal interest, measuring character by human ideas instead of agreeing with God's standard, results in loss of soul. The righteousness of Christ must be accepted to have on the wedding garment, which is God's given standard of character to be met to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. A firm stand is required, with surrender to God of that which is already His own.

The verse plainly expresses God's will for His people as the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. Those who eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood have eternal life now, are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity, and receive life more abundantly. Though a believer may die as Christ died, the life of the Saviour is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God, and Christ will lose nothing but will raise him up at the last day. Its instruction belongs to the teaching they are to live out, and living that instruction is the way to unity with one another and with Christ.

The promise belongs with the call to see the Son and believe in Him for everlasting life, and it is received by humble faith. Its teaching is demonstrated in missionary work, which shows the importance of Christ's instruction in this chapter. It assures those who trust in God that Christ will not leave them to perish, but will preserve them and raise them at the last day. This promise strengthens afflicted people to hold fast their faith.

Resurrection and Eternal Life

Though a believer may die as Christ died, the Saviour's life is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God, and Christ will lose nothing but will raise him up at the last day. Those who eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood have eternal life now, are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him through all eternity, and receive life more abundantly.

Those who by faith receive Christ, represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, have a well-founded hope of resurrection to immortal life in God's kingdom. The Father's will is for Jesus to lose none of those given to Him but to raise them at the last day, and to keep them safe and raise them from the dead, and His promised raising of believers rests on His saving sacrifice. The Passover lamb and its blood foreshadowed His sacrifice for the sins of the world. In a time of confusion about life after death and the resurrection of the body, He calls people to believe in Him as the bread of life and Life-giver and only hope for everlasting life, offering eternal life and hope of bodily resurrection to those who receive Him.

Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him has everlasting life, and Christ will raise him at the last day. Coming to Jesus and believing in Him belong together with the promise, for all whom the Father gives come to Christ and will not be cast out, and to have eternal life and be raised a person must receive Christ, believe in Him and become one with Him, eating His flesh and drinking His blood so as never to hunger or thirst. Mere outward connection with the church does not save, and only personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. Christ is the bread of life come down from heaven, and His flesh given for the life of the world gives eternal life so that those who receive Him live forever, dwell in Him, and are raised at the last day. Learning from Christ and feeding on Him as the bread from heaven belong together with the promise, and choosing what feeds the soul affects whether a person hungers for God and receives spiritual life.

Christ is the bread that comes down from heaven from whom flow the streams of salvation, and His inexpressible love furnished the costly gospel banquet at infinite cost through His death, providing unsearchable, inexhaustible resources. To be invited to this supper is the greatest honor that can be conferred, and refusal amazes the universe of heaven and grieves the angels, while the love that provided the plan of salvation cannot be measured except by reaching the depth of the pit of sin into which man fell. Those who eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood by receiving Christ, dwelling in Him and partaking of Him, have eternal life, hear His voice and follow Him, shall never perish, no one can pluck them out of His hand, and He will raise them up at the last day.

Faith Union and Character

Mere outward connection with the church does not save, for salvation comes only through personal faith in a personal Saviour that brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ, not through outward membership alone. All whom the Father gives come to Christ and will not be cast out, and everyone who sees the Son and believes has everlasting life, dwelling in Him and living forever as the bread of life come down from heaven whose flesh given for the life of the world is received and raised up at the last day.

The Father's will to lose nothing but to raise it up at the last day is done through the work God requires, that you believe on Him whom He sent. The price of heaven is the only begotten Son of God and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, first believing and next working, so that eating His flesh and drinking His blood means being doers of the Word of God, and those taught to believe in Christ will then work the works of God. This is the simple great answer in John 6:28-71 to what shall be done to work the works of God, with the Bible standing as the great educating Book above all other books in schools, and this answer must be understood or heaven will be missed.

Those who receive the life and words of Christ take His spirit into character and become one with Him, and their lives show His compassion, mercy and generosity. Receiving the instruction means accepting Christ as a perfect Saviour, following Him and desiring to belong wholly to the Lord, revealing Christ abiding within through words and actions. Happiness and salvation depend on obeying Christ's words and doing His works, advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness. Receiving this life-giving bread gives opportunity to grow into firm, Christlike character, as Judas could have done.

The verse defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment, which is God's given standard of character to be met to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, and the wedding is the marriage of humanity with divinity. God will fulfill every specification of His promise to lose nothing but raise it up at the last day, and the danger is not failure on His part but hindrance by continuing in sin. Presumption in matters of eternal interest, measuring character by human ideas instead of agreeing with God's standard, results in loss of soul, so a firm stand for Christ is required with surrender to God of that which is already His own. The chapter's statements guide dependence on God rather than on human beings, for Christ is the source of strength and power, and those who receive Him by faith receive sanctification and righteousness.

Studying and Living the Word

John 6 sets forth Christ as the bread of life who gives life to the world, and its lessons are to be brought into practical life with Christ Himself as the great center of life. His words are spirit and life, and it is the Spirit who gives life, so eating and drinking of Christ means keeping His Word and truth continually before the believer. Understanding and living by this chapter, which presents the conditions of eternal life, leads to a life that measures with the life of God. The chapter is most precious and important for all being educated, giving an education that endures through time and eternity when its wonderful truths are brought into practical life, yet it is only faintly understood. Taking in these words makes known individual privileges, what Christ is to each person, and what advantage comes individually from eating His words, received by studying and practicing the Word and by walking in faith and not by sight.

The chapter explains how to study God's Word: to receive and assimilate Christ's words, to live by what God has revealed, and to bring scriptural truth into daily life and daily experience. God has revealed all that is necessary for salvation, though not everything has been revealed. Knowing and doing His will requires studying the Scriptures, praying and communing with God, and proving the mind of God. Its truths and principles are to be brought home to the soul and into daily life without departing from its precepts, grasping the mysteries of godliness. Christ's words are to be received and assimilated until they become part of the self, with human suppositions set aside, for truth is revealed only as thus known in Christ. This receiving and living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is what is meant by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, and the instruction of John 5 and 6 on this mystery of godliness is to be studied and made a part of life, giving the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.

Feeding on Him who is the bread of life brings eternal life, and feeding on Him means taking in His Word, which shapes the life and leads to obedience. Believers are to eat the Word, making its divine principles part of their lives. Understanding and appreciating the truth requires receiving Christ as spiritual food and drink and making that truth part of daily life. Happiness and salvation depend on obeying His words and doing His works, advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness.

Feeding upon Christ's words as His very flesh and blood is education of the highest importance for children, youth, and men and women preparing to become workers together with God. That feeding belongs with instruction in the law and the penalty of transgression, and with the truth that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in behalf of each obedient child and youth. The Bible stands as the great educating Book above all other books in schools, for the Father's will to lose nothing but raise it up at the last day is done through the work God requires, that of believing on Him whom He has sent. The price of heaven is the only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, first believing and next working, so those taught to believe will then work the works of God as doers of the Word, an answer that must be understood or heaven will be missed. The chapter's statements guide dependence on God rather than on human beings, for Christ is the source of strength and power, and those who receive Him by faith receive sanctification and righteousness.

Believers are called to cling to Christ's word and to eat His flesh and drink His blood, that is, to receive Him and His teaching as the source of life under the terms of eternal life set forth in the lesson on the bread of life. Those ready for service are those who feed most on Christ. Feeding on Christ means reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace not to hoard but to give to others. So teachers are first learners, and even the most zealous workers join busy activity with learning at the feet of Jesus.