John 6:40, commentary and pictures

The will of Him that sent Christ is plain and far-reaching, that every one who sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life. Seeing the Son means recognizing Him as Redeemer and bread of life by faith through God's revelation, and believing on Him is coming to Him and receiving Him into spiritual union as a personal Saviour. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is the figure for this seeing and believing, a spiritual receiving in which the Spirit gives life and His words are spirit and life. Everlasting life is received now, for those who truly receive His Word have His life in them and never hunger nor thirst for higher food. He will raise up at the last day every believer who so sees and believes, ransoming them from the power of the grave and redeeming them from death.

Setting and Hearers

The discourse belongs after the feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two fishes and the walking on the water, given in the synagogue at Capernaum as the spiritual meaning of the loaves. It declared Christ the bread of life, and it was no promise of an earthly kingdom or of worldly rewards. Some of the disciples turned away because of this teaching.

It was spoken to Jews whose minds were fixed only on the feeding of the five thousand, who sought temporal benefits and a temporal reign rather than higher truth. Though they had seen evidence of His power in compassion, love and benevolence, they still refused to believe and demanded more signs, and the lesson charged them with unbelief. The testimony tested the hearers, leading them to decide for or against Him and revealing the real sentiments of their hearts. In defining His spiritual kingdom it turned away the worldly-minded.

Many were offended by the words and turned away rather than accept truth that exposed their faults and set forth the conditions of eternal life and entrance into God's kingdom. Seeing His works does not by itself mean believing in Him. The twelve at that time did not show themselves unfaithful, but stayed, with Peter declaring loyalty for his brethren.

The hearers were confused and in darkness about the future life and the resurrection of the body. Jesus as the great Life-giver called them to accept Him as the bread of life and the only hope of everlasting life and resurrection.

Seeing Believing and Eating

To see the Son is to recognize Him by faith as Redeemer and as the bread of life, through the witness of the Holy Spirit and the revelation God gives. It is more than merely looking at Him or claiming to believe, and saving faith demands far greater faith than many professors display. This seeing joined with believing is the individual response by which the promise of everlasting life is received, spoken even to those who already had evidence of His Messiahship.

To believe on Him whom God sent is to come to Jesus, to receive Him, and to receive Christ as Way, Truth, and Life. Believing comes first and then follows working the works of God, for believing is the work God requires. Such personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ, and to know God and Jesus in this way is essential to eternal life. Mere outward connection with the church does not save. Coming to Him and believing on Him is eating the living bread unto eternal life, for His words are spirit and life and receiving Him gives life.

Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is the figure for this seeing and believing. It is spiritual receiving, because the Spirit gives life and the flesh by itself profits nothing, for the words He speaks are spirit and are life. The bread He gives is His flesh, which He would give in future sacrifice for the life of the world. Those who so eat and drink have eternal life and dwell in Him as He dwells in them, and abiding in Him means abiding in His Word. Such faith gives a well-founded hope of resurrection to immortal life in the kingdom of God.

This eating means receiving Bible truth as His flesh and blood and practicing its teaching, by which come spiritual strength, health, growth, and soundness. It means taking in His Word and keeping its truth continually before the mind, studying and practicing the Word, looking to Jesus by faith rather than sight, and living by faith in God's Word. It means studying the Word, bringing its principles home to the soul, not departing from its precepts, bringing its truths into daily life, grasping the mysteries of godliness, praying and communing with God to prove His mind and know His will as those striving for eternal life. It is receiving and assimilating His words until they become part of self, living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, which is all God has revealed as necessary for salvation, and not leaving His word for human suppositions. It is comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by bringing truth into daily experience, which requires continual growth in grace, daily prayer for this and all other blessings, and daily learning in the school of Christ, with the Word as spirit and life shaping the whole life.

Christ Himself is the living bread from heaven, God's gift through Christ, not something obtained from a human agent, and of far greater importance than food for bodily needs. Though He provides for physical needs, as shown in feeding the multitude, people should give greater concern to the spiritual food that endures to eternal life. Everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him must look to Jesus Christ alone as source of strength, power, wisdom, and guidance, depending on Him whose they are by creation and redemption rather than on any human being, receiving Him by faith as sanctification, righteousness, and exceeding great reward unto everlasting life and resurrection at the last day. Mind and life are shaped by what they feed on, so feeding on Him means taking in His Word, which gives eternal life and makes people observers of the Word.

Father's Will for Life

The will of Him that sent Christ is plain, comprehensive and far-reaching, the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. It is that every one, every man and woman, who sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life. Seeing and believing is eating the bread that came down from heaven, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which gives power to accomplish in His name and gives what is essential for piety, devotion, and sanctification of soul, body, and spirit.

Everlasting life is received now, for all who truly receive His Word never hunger and all who believe never thirst for higher or more satisfying food. The believer has the Saviour's life in him, hid with Christ in God, with abundant life in this present life. The Spirit of God received into the heart by faith is the beginning of eternal life, and those who so receive Him will never perish. Christ carries on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity. He became one with humanity so that their life is united with His, and by living through Him they share His life. Even if they die as He died, His life is in them, and He will raise them as part of Himself.

Seeing and believing defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment. It is the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. Without accepting it there is presumption about eternal interests, measuring character by human ideas, continuing in sin that hinders the promise, and loss of the soul, while accepting it requires a firm stand and surrendering to God what is already His. Jesus is the only hope of everlasting life and the resurrection of the body for those in darkness about the future life. Believing on Him whom God sent comes first and then working the works of God, for the price of heaven is the only begotten Son and the way to heaven is faith in Jesus as Way, Truth, and Life, and failing to understand this means missing heaven.

The verse plainly states the way to obtain eternal life. It calls for praise and thanksgiving to God. Believing His words should inspire an earnest desire to conform the will to God's will. Receiving and taking them into the life brings deep piety and less self.

Resurrection at Last Day

Christ will raise up at the last day every one who sees the Son and believes on Him. He is their Deliverer, who ransoms them from the power of the grave and redeems them from death. He regards the believing soul with pity, having given His life to save those in peril, and He will not fail to raise it.

His pledge to raise believers rests on their life being united with His. He became one with humanity so that they might share eternal life with Him, and even if they die as He died His life is in them, hid with Christ in God. He will raise them as part of Himself, making them one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity.

The promise fixes thoughts and hopes on the second coming and on meeting the Lifegiver with joy in the great awakening. The latest thought at death and the earliest thought at awakening is to meet Him who welcomes the raised believer to the joy of the blest, looking beyond execution to awakening. It gives assurance because Christ has conquered death and is able to keep what is entrusted to Him. The believer is ransomed by His sacrifice, washed from sin in His blood, clothed in His righteousness, precious in the Redeemer's sight with life hid with Christ in God, so no one who receives Him in faith need be lost or grieve over the dead without hope.

Grasped in dying testimony, it gives courage and triumphant joy in the face of execution and death, as in Paul's case. His grasp of it has nerved thousands of later witnesses and wakened the same triumphant joy in sorrow-stricken hearts through nearly twenty centuries.

Scriptures and Spiritual Food

Spoken as Passover drew near, the promise that everyone who sees the Son and believes will live forever and be raised at the last day is inseparable from the Passover lamb and its blood, which pointed to Christ's coming sacrifice for the sins of the world and foreshadowed Him as the Lamb of God, just as the blood on the doorposts shielded Israel when the firstborn in Egypt were slain. To see and believe is by faith to eat His flesh and drink His blood, receiving Him clothed in humanity as Redeemer, and all who so feed on Him have a well-founded hope of resurrection to immortal life in the kingdom of God. Salvation is offered to all who accept Him as having access to the Father and invested with divine authority, for the bread He gives is His flesh to be given in future sacrifice for the life of the world, and He has power to raise from the dead all who receive Him.

His flesh and blood signify His work as substitute for sin, which was the only hope of ancient Israel even before His death. The New Testament does not replace the Old, but its light gives deeper meaning to God's dealings with Israel, and believing the Old Testament Scriptures leads to believing the New Testament and Christ. The call to believe on the Son is connected with looking to Him in faith for pardon and acceptance, and calls for receiving the Scriptures with practical obedience and holiness.

The chapter sets out the conditions and terms of eternal life and entrance into God's kingdom, explaining who Christ is and the personal benefit of receiving His words, for Christ is the center of life and His words are spirit and life to the receiver. It must be understood and lived, studied and studied again, made part of life by bringing its teachings into daily experience through prayer, and doing so leads to a life that measures with the life of God. Its instruction is the mystery of godliness, meaning much to every soul, giving the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril, and fully understanding and obeying it would advance God's people to a higher standing.

Receiving means studying the Word with prayer for understanding and clearness of understanding, grasping the mysteries of godliness, praying and communing with God to prove His very mind and obtain knowledge of His will as those striving for eternal life. It means receiving and assimilating His words until they become part of the self, which is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, living by every word proceeding from the mouth of God. This is to bring the principles revealed in Scripture home to the soul, not departing from its precepts, keeping them, bringing truths into daily life, and walking with the Word as guide as one accountable to God. It is to live by all God has revealed as necessary for salvation, since all has not been revealed and men could not bear it, and not to leave His word for the suppositions of men, for failure to walk in this light leaves spiritual weakness and brings bondage to men.

The bread sent down from heaven contained in the Bible is food for the mind that builds men and women up spiritually, and the mind and life are shaped by what they feed on. As food sustains physical life, the Word, which is spirit and life and has the life of Christ in it, must be personally received and absorbed into actions and character. Receiving it in this way brings strength from God, lasting joy and immortal vigor, and makes people observers of the Word. Believers are therefore to choose this heavenly food and seek the living Word for spiritual growth rather than spending time on corrupting material, books and magazines that lead the mind astray, corrupt thoughts and desires, and hinder spiritual growth.

Receiving Christ's words into the heart is eating the leaves of the tree of life now, without waiting until translation. When the believer in fellowship of the Spirit lays hold on truth itself and appropriates it, he eats the bread from heaven, enters into the life of Christ, and appreciates the great sacrifice made for the sinful race. He is the bread of life come down from heaven to give life to the world.

The gospel does not address the understanding alone like mathematics for the intellect, but aims at the heart, addresses the moral nature, takes possession of the will, casts down imaginations and brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Receiving this life requires yielding the will to God and becoming a submissive student in Christ's school, disciplined to habits of obedience, with the soul emptied of proud possessions so Christ can imprint His image and the soul-temple become the abiding place of the Most High. Children and youth must be educated in feeding upon His words as His very flesh and blood, being taught the law of Jehovah and the penalty for transgression, and understanding that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in their own behalf when they are obedient to the law of Jehovah.

Transformed Life and Service

Seeing and believing is tasting that the Lord is gracious as a living experience by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. It is being truly converted and born again, learning as newborn babes to desire the sincere milk of the word that growth may come. It is opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, so that light and understanding come to the simple. It requires seeing self as it is, thorough conversion to a new life, boasting far less of own capabilities, becoming a humble Christian and bearing the fruit of a good tree, since self-esteem endangers the soul.

When this education is obtained the frivolous former life is changed, the character is transformed, the common low level is forsaken, and the feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder. Step by step heavenward Christ is revealed in spirit, words and actions, in harmony with the real genuine experience every child of God must have. Lives become Christlike, marked by love for God and others, by His Spirit and by holy desires toward God. Those who eat the bread of life reveal Christ abiding within and display Christlike character in words and actions, making evident whose attributes they bear, with abundant opportunity for spiritual growth and firm character. Had this life been received it would have transformed even one who merely professed, into what he professed to be.

Feeding on the Bible as the bread which came down from heaven and communing with God puts away self with its peculiar habits, manners and customs until Christ's likeness is formed. The one who so partakes receives the element of eternal life and a new perception of truth instead of stale, oft-repeated ideas. This eating and drinking is comprehending and appreciating the truth as it is in Jesus by bringing truth into daily experience, which requires continual growth in grace, daily prayer for this and all other blessings, and daily learning in the school of Christ. Believing every word, being united to Him by living faith, and bringing His requirements into the practical life gives the Spirit's witness that the ways please God, gives the joy of Christ in the soul, gives full assurance of hope, and lifts from under condemnation of the law. Faith in the Son and the efficacy of His blood keeps believers from Satan's power.

Christ dwelling in the soul gives joy, comfort and sobriety. Coming to Him and believing in Him bring life, for He is the bread of life come from heaven and His words are spirit and life. Receiving Bible truth as His flesh and blood and practicing its teaching brings spiritual strength, health, growth and soundness. As food sustains physical life, the Word with Christ's life in it must be personally received and absorbed into actions and character, bringing strength from God, lasting joy and immortal vigor. Happiness and salvation depend on obeying His words and doing His works, which advances righteousness and restrains unrighteousness.

The chapter directs a choice of whom to serve and calls to seek God rather than feed the mind on worldly entertainments. Turning away from God's light leaves no peace, joy or hope and gradually weakens assurance and love for Bible religion. Serving God with a divided heart is impossible. Everyone who sees the Son and believes must look to Jesus alone as source of strength, power, wisdom and guidance, depending on Him whose they are by creation and by redemption rather than on any human being, receiving Him by faith unto everlasting life and resurrection at the last day. This bread is God's gift through Christ, not obtained from a human agent, and is of far greater importance than food for bodily needs, though He provides for physical needs. Failure to walk in this light with the Word as guide leaves spiritual weakness and brings bondage to men.

Making His life part of one's own gives power for service. As His representatives, disciples must receive this spiritual food from Christ so they can give it to hungry people, turning none away unfed, with God supplying what His servants need. Only the minister who has first eaten himself can feed the flock with bread that satisfies every soul hunger and kindles inner life and the fire of God's love in hearts susceptible to the Holy Spirit. Readiness for service comes from feeding most on Christ by reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace not to hoard but to give to others. Those who instruct others must first be learners themselves, combining active work with learning at His feet.

The will that everyone who sees the Son and believes may have everlasting life is comprehensive and far-reaching to every man and woman, and eating the bread from heaven gives power to everyone who will eat it. The life of Christ within gives life to the world and enables accomplishment and great accomplishment in His name, and He will raise up the believer at the last day. That will is to be made known everywhere as a present call because the great day of salvation has come. It calls to leave lukewarmness, humble the heart, repent and confess sin, draw near to God, and fear to continue in transgression. It calls to reform the home with pure and elevating conversation, and for parents and families to be aroused and converted so the church in the home shines with sanctification in clear rays.