And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
No one can come to Christ unless it is given and granted by the Father, not by any work that earns heaven nor by human ambition or force. He said this in the synagogue at Capernaum as the conclusion of His teaching that eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life, resurrection at the last day, mutual indwelling with the believer, and living by Him as He lives by the living Father, unlike the manna after which the fathers died. Coming in this way requires a heart open to the Spirit so the Father can draw, with faith and spiritual perception to discern His words and see His glory, since the natural person cannot receive the things of the Spirit. To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to believe the Word, appropriate it by faith, keep it continually before the mind, and bring it into practical life in obedience. He spoke plainly to bring hearers to decide for or against Him and to test claimed disciples, and many called it a hard saying, were offended, and went back and walked no more with Him.
Setting in Capernaum
These words were spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum as the conclusion of the teaching that eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life, resurrection at the last day, mutual indwelling of Christ and the believer, and living by Him as He lives by the living Father, unlike the manna in the wilderness after which the fathers died. They followed the feeding of the multitude, the walking on the water, and the declaration that He is the Bread of life. After He refused to be made king His popularity began to wane as He devoted Himself to instructing disciples, defining His kingdom as spiritual and laying out the truth about Himself against prejudice and hostility.
The crowds did not understand the spiritual meaning of the loaves and held hopes for an earthly kingdom, freedom from suffering, and freedom from Roman rule, which was not the discipleship He offered. He made no claim to Messiahship with royal dignity as a man among men, but clearly discouraged the hope of a temporal reign while the nation was leavened with prejudice for a temporal ruler. Those who sought only His power or earthly benefits turned away when receiving Him was shown to require surrender of cherished ambitions and conformity to His self-sacrificing, humble character.
He said it because He knew in Himself that disciples murmured that this was a hard saying, and He knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would betray Him. He knows every heart, and this warning about unbelief applies in every age. Some followers who did not truly believe took offense and left Him, becoming exceptional cases rather than the rule, while true disciples conform their lives to His teachings.
Coming by Father's Gift
No one can come to Christ unless it is given and granted by the Father, for coming depends on what the Father gives rather than on any work by which heaven is earned or on human ambition or force. Belief in the Son whom God sent and sealed is the way to eternal life, and Christ alone gives the spiritual food that endures to eternal life. Those who truly come receive spiritual life from Him, and those who are not drawn fail to recognize the greatness of the Father's love for fallen humanity. Many addressed with these words did not believe and turned back and walked no more with Him, illustrating the response of those who do not receive what the Father gives.
Coming requires a heart open to the Spirit so the Father can draw, with willingness to have errors corrected, to turn from evil, and to live holy lives. Worldly hopes, discontent, and unbelief can keep people from receiving Christ, and the unbelief of religious leaders can make them hesitant and doubtful even when sufficient evidence of divinity has been given. The glory of Jesus is spiritually discerned, with faith kindled in the soul through the Holy Spirit enabling a person to see it. Coming requires that living, growing faith and spiritual perception to discern His words and see His glory, for the natural person cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. Through that faith the soul sees and enjoys Christ's holiness, and such faith moves to decisive action showing God's power. Without true faith and that depth, words plain to believers become a stumbling block, spiritual senses corrupted by worldly ideas and maxims make pure truth strange and incomprehensible to superficial understanding, and those offended stop following Him, while to the believing soul the deep, pure truth is as eating from the tree of life.
The Father's giving comes through divine impressions made upon the heart and saving grace. Christ pardons none but the penitent, yet those He pardons He first makes repentant, and those who have faith that works by love and purifies the soul have direct testimony of grace from the ever-living Saviour. Without that saving grace no one can endure temptation or be fit for any good work. The drawing is being taught of God, so that everyone who has heard and learned of the Father comes to Christ. Mere hearing is not enough, for those who hear but do not learn as diligent students have only a form of godliness, do not know truth by practice, and do not receive the engrafted word.
No one must look to any human being for power, experience, strength, guidance, or wisdom, nor rely on human strength, talent, or influence. Each person belongs to God by creation and by redemption and is accountable to Him, and must depend on Him directly with the Word of God as guide. The chapter's truths are to be studied with prayer, looking to Christ as the source of strength and wisdom rather than placing trust in human beings. Jesus Himself transforms character through His Spirit, enlightening the understanding and bringing the heart that served sin under His control, and when people trust themselves He may use the weakest instruments and simplest means instead, so that God and not people receives the honor. Coming is not mere outward connection with any church, even though the church is His body, and not a merely intellectual act; only personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. God's Word as the bread of life reaches the heart and moral nature, takes possession of the will, and leads to obedience and submission to Christ's shaping.
Coming means receiving, believing, and acting on His words, which are spirit and life, thereby assimilating the principles of truth and sharing in the divine nature. The bread from heaven can be obtained from no human agent, but God Himself gives this living bread through the gift of Christ, which is of far more consequence than perishable bread, though the same compassionate Saviour still provides food to satisfy bodily necessities and teaches care that nothing be lost. He who comes and believes shall never hunger and shall never thirst, receiving life more abundantly in Him. Following Christ in this way requires a meek, self-denying, self-sacrificing life.
Bread of Life Believed
Christ is the bread of life come down from heaven to give life to the world, and God Himself gives this living bread through the gift of Christ, obtainable from no human agent. Coming to Him and believing on Him whom God sent and sealed satisfies spiritual hunger and thirst, so that he who comes and believes shall never hunger and never thirst. This is not a work by which people earn heaven, for belief in the Son is the way to eternal life, and Christ alone gives the spiritual food that endures to eternal life, which is of far more consequence than perishable bread for physical sustenance. The same compassionate Saviour who fed the multitude is not unmindful of physical wants and still provides food to satisfy bodily necessities and imparts knowledge whereby His people are provided with food in various ways, while teaching care that nothing be lost. His words are spirit and life, and receiving them into practical life brings comfort, joy, and lasting benefit.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means believing the Word, appropriating it by faith, keeping it continually before the mind, studying and understanding it, taking it into practical life, obeying it, and being doers of the Word. All who claim to believe reveal by conversation and character how much they do believe, and those who thus receive and obey the Word have eternal life. The same lesson is taught in John 15 under the symbol of the vine and its branches. This partaking is to be acted now, while it is called today, with the Bible standing as the great educating Book above all other books in schools, for Christ clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the price of heaven is God's only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, so first believe, next work, for this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Faith in the Son and the efficacy of His blood keep people from Satan's power.
Eating and drinking means as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word and having actually tasted that the Lord is gracious, feeding upon the divine Word to secure healthy and healthful development of all spiritual powers. That experience is true conversion and the new birth, being born again and seeing the kingdom of God. It is obtained by opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, for the word gives understanding to the simple. When it is obtained the frivolous life is changed, the frivolous common level is forsaken, the feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder, the character is transformed heavenward step by step, and Christ is revealed in spirit, words, and actions in harmony with the genuine experience every child of God must have. Coming must be given by the Father and requires faith and spiritual perception to discern His words as spirit and life, and the Word must be made the essence of education to give sanctified strength, wisdom, integrity, and moral power.
This receiving is the condition of eternal life set out in the chapter, and understanding and living by the chapter's teaching leads to a life that measures with the life of God. Those who so eat and drink have eternal life with resurrection at the last day, and even if such a believer dies as Christ died, the life of the Saviour is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. Jesus came that they might have life more abundantly, carrying on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity. Receiving Christ and taking His words into the life are necessary for eternal life.
That eating and drinking means cherishing in the heart the truth that works by love and purifies the soul, producing thorough conversion and new life, humility instead of boasting and self-esteem, and the fruit borne by a good tree. It requires a spiritual experience that prepares a person to enjoy heaven. Those who come to Christ and practice His teachings, keeping His precepts and bringing revealed truths into daily life, receive the knowledge they need for salvation.
The flesh and blood of the Son of God are the living oracles, the directions given by Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, full of marrow and fatness, and no soul who takes and eats those words will suffer spiritual hunger. Christ had not yet been crucified, yet His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. The New Testament was afterward written by holy men moved by the Spirit of God, not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back upon past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy, adding blessing. The plain directions for practical holiness and practical obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be a Christian. The words of the sixth chapter of John have special reference to the spirituality of the Word, and few know the value of the bread of life as the Word appropriated as living bread which came down from heaven, though this eating gives a different, more exalted experience to every worker in every phase of God's work.
The verse defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment. It sets the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. Coming in this way requires a firm stand for Christ and surrendering to God that which is already His own, not measuring character by human ideas or presuming where eternal interests are involved. Continuing in sin hinders the fulfillment of God's promise and results in loss of the soul without the garment.
Coming in this way is receiving His words as spirit and life for eternal life by taking eyes from self to behold Jesus the perfect Pattern in order to ascertain the divine will. That life is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God by striving for the same perfection of character beheld, attained only by looking steadfastly unto Jesus, sincere self-examination, cutting away from life practice everything unlike Jesus, and diligent perusal of the Word. True children of God do not manufacture plans directly contrary to the principles Christ enjoined but do the Word, loving the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind and neighbor as self. Those doers only build their house, which is character, upon solid rock, giving themselves to the work of saving perishing souls with toil, privation, reproach and persecution without eyes for defects of others, selfish gratification, or selfish motives.
This feeding upon Christ's words as His very flesh and blood is the education to be given to children and youth and men and women to become workers together with God. It is joined with instruction in the law of Jehovah and the penalty of transgression and with the truth that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in their behalf if they are obedient to the law of Jehovah. The instruction in the fifth and sixth chapters of John is the mystery of godliness, which must be studied and made a part of life, with its teachings brought into daily experience. That experience gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.
Testing and Turning Away
Christ spoke plainly to bring hearers to a decision for or against Him and to reveal the real sentiments of their hearts. He did this to test and prove those who claimed to be His disciples before He left them, so that their apostasy would not come as a surprise to true disciples and make the trial too severe for them. The test was essential for the safety of His future work, so it would not be swayed into wrong paths.
Many called it a hard saying, murmured, were offended, and from that time went back and walked no more with Him and never returned. This included people who had been regarded as His disciples but turned away when plain truth displeased them. It shows that superficial followers may reject Christ rather than accept the truth presented to them, and that those who would not accept truth and reproof turn away preferring human praise to God's admonition.
The response exposed whether faith was genuine and distinguished those who truly believed from those who turned away. Some who heard did not believe, while Peter and the rest of the twelve except Judas became more fully established. They held to Christ confessing Him as Christ the Son of the living God who has the words of eternal life, underscoring the need to seek God's counsel and understand His Word rather than remain in doubt and unbelief.
Those who left chose form without spirit and husks without kernel, living on doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances without root in themselves. Words plain to believers became a stumbling block to them because they were not united to Him by true faith and lacked spiritual discernment. Their spiritual senses were corrupted by worldly ideas and maxims so pure truth seemed strange, and because the truth of God's Word is deep and pure and cannot be comprehended with superficial understanding they objected with disgust and were offended, while to the believing soul that truth is as eating from the tree of life.
Resistance was not caused by lack of evidence, for sufficient evidence had been given. Receiving Him demands surrender of cherished ambitions, earthly benefits and worldly pursuits, and calls for self-denial and separation from the world, becoming self-sacrificing and humble and conformed to His character. Those who wanted freedom from suffering or Roman rule but rejected His self-sacrificing life turned away when His teaching demanded this surrender, and those who would not accept truth and reproof make excuses for withdrawing, preferring human praise to God's admonition.
The teaching exposed those who were not wholly with Christ, who at His trial would take a position against Him and could tempt the disciples to dishonor their Master. Such followers who took offense at His sayings and left Him were exceptional cases, not the rule among His disciples, and they became His bitterest persecutors. By contrast true disciples as a rule practice what they teach and conform their lives to His teachings.
The same turning away recurs when test and trial comes to every soul and when reproof and warning truth must be spoken irrespective of consequences in the last days. Traitorous, heady, high-minded and self-sufficient men who did not dig deep and make their foundation sure and were not riveted to the Eternal Rock murmur that the way is made too strait. They cherish theories and sentiments of their own that do not harmonize with the truth, refuse to give up their own ideas, reject the words of the Lord brought through His chosen messengers, and misinterpret messages from God, and so make shipwreck of faith. Many receive the truth enthusiastically at first but when they meet a statement from the Word needed for purification of the soul, pride is offended and these false disciples abandon Christ, yet truth will still bear away the victory and others will receive the truth and fill the places made vacant by those who become offended and leave.
Taking offense at plain truth that comes too close can lead a person to leave God's people. Rejecting Christ's words when tested by them leads people away from Him and may leave them unwilling to return. The disciples who turned from Christ because they did not at once comprehend about eating His flesh and drinking His blood illustrate the failure to come, as do those now who are convicted in understanding and aroused in conscience by the Holy Spirit yet will not yield their will to come for life, while believing would have made Him their light of life.
Living the Word Daily
The sixth chapter of John is very instructive yet only faintly understood, holding the most precious and important lessons for all who are being educated in schools. Its wonderful truths must be brought into practical life by all who want an education that will endure through time and through eternity. Taking in these words of Christ gives understanding of privileges, showing what Christ is to each person and what advantage comes to each individual from eating His words and realizing that He Himself is the great center of life.
The chapter is part of the bread sent down from heaven contained in the Bible, the spiritual food by which mind and character are built up through what is given to the mind. Its important statements are to be read with prayer for clearness of understanding from God. That prayerful reading is to take the place of spending time on the books and magazines that flood the world, lead the mind astray, and hinder spiritual growth.
Receiving Christ's words as eating the Word means taking His teachings in, making them part of the self, and keeping them in daily life. It means keeping His precepts, bringing revealed truths into daily experience, and studying and obeying them so as to form a character like Christ's. His teachings are to be followed rather than replaced by human suppositions, for God has revealed what is necessary for salvation, though not everything. Those who so come to Christ and practice His teachings receive the knowledge they need for salvation, while some who heard did not believe and turned away and Peter with the faithful held to Him as the one who has the words of eternal life.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means being doers of the Word, and this is Christ's great lesson in simple language answering what to do to work the works of God. The Bible stands as the great educating Book above all other books in schools. Christ came down from heaven and clothed His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The price of heaven is God's only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, for this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent, so students must first be taught to believe in Christ in order that they will work the works of God, first believe and next work.
Coming to Christ depends on what the Father gives, for spiritual life and true hunger for Christ are gifts enabled by God and are not secured by worldly pursuits or divided devotion. That coming brings eternal life to those who eat His flesh and drink His blood, with resurrection at the last day, so that even if such a believer dies as Christ died the life of the Saviour is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. Jesus came that they might have life more abundantly, carrying on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity. The instruction in John 6 plainly expresses God's will for His people as the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world, and it is urged as a remedy for dissension and a guide to unity with Christ and with one another.
No one can come to Christ unless it is given and granted by the Father, not by any work that earns heaven nor by human ambition or force. He said this in the synagogue at Capernaum as the conclusion of His teaching that eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life, resurrection at the last day, mutual indwelling with the believer, and living by Him as He lives by the living Father, unlike the manna after which the fathers died. Coming in this way requires a heart open to the Spirit so the Father can draw, with faith and spiritual perception to discern His words and see His glory, since the natural person cannot receive the things of the Spirit. To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to believe the Word, appropriate it by faith, keep it continually before the mind, and bring it into practical life in obedience. He spoke plainly to bring hearers to decide for or against Him and to test claimed disciples, and many called it a hard saying, were offended, and went back and walked no more with Him.
Setting in Capernaum
These words were spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum as the conclusion of the teaching that eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life, resurrection at the last day, mutual indwelling of Christ and the believer, and living by Him as He lives by the living Father, unlike the manna in the wilderness after which the fathers died. They followed the feeding of the multitude, the walking on the water, and the declaration that He is the Bread of life. After He refused to be made king His popularity began to wane as He devoted Himself to instructing disciples, defining His kingdom as spiritual and laying out the truth about Himself against prejudice and hostility.
The crowds did not understand the spiritual meaning of the loaves and held hopes for an earthly kingdom, freedom from suffering, and freedom from Roman rule, which was not the discipleship He offered. He made no claim to Messiahship with royal dignity as a man among men, but clearly discouraged the hope of a temporal reign while the nation was leavened with prejudice for a temporal ruler. Those who sought only His power or earthly benefits turned away when receiving Him was shown to require surrender of cherished ambitions and conformity to His self-sacrificing, humble character.
He said it because He knew in Himself that disciples murmured that this was a hard saying, and He knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would betray Him. He knows every heart, and this warning about unbelief applies in every age. Some followers who did not truly believe took offense and left Him, becoming exceptional cases rather than the rule, while true disciples conform their lives to His teachings.
Coming by Father's Gift
No one can come to Christ unless it is given and granted by the Father, for coming depends on what the Father gives rather than on any work by which heaven is earned or on human ambition or force. Belief in the Son whom God sent and sealed is the way to eternal life, and Christ alone gives the spiritual food that endures to eternal life. Those who truly come receive spiritual life from Him, and those who are not drawn fail to recognize the greatness of the Father's love for fallen humanity. Many addressed with these words did not believe and turned back and walked no more with Him, illustrating the response of those who do not receive what the Father gives.
Coming requires a heart open to the Spirit so the Father can draw, with willingness to have errors corrected, to turn from evil, and to live holy lives. Worldly hopes, discontent, and unbelief can keep people from receiving Christ, and the unbelief of religious leaders can make them hesitant and doubtful even when sufficient evidence of divinity has been given. The glory of Jesus is spiritually discerned, with faith kindled in the soul through the Holy Spirit enabling a person to see it. Coming requires that living, growing faith and spiritual perception to discern His words and see His glory, for the natural person cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. Through that faith the soul sees and enjoys Christ's holiness, and such faith moves to decisive action showing God's power. Without true faith and that depth, words plain to believers become a stumbling block, spiritual senses corrupted by worldly ideas and maxims make pure truth strange and incomprehensible to superficial understanding, and those offended stop following Him, while to the believing soul the deep, pure truth is as eating from the tree of life.
The Father's giving comes through divine impressions made upon the heart and saving grace. Christ pardons none but the penitent, yet those He pardons He first makes repentant, and those who have faith that works by love and purifies the soul have direct testimony of grace from the ever-living Saviour. Without that saving grace no one can endure temptation or be fit for any good work. The drawing is being taught of God, so that everyone who has heard and learned of the Father comes to Christ. Mere hearing is not enough, for those who hear but do not learn as diligent students have only a form of godliness, do not know truth by practice, and do not receive the engrafted word.
No one must look to any human being for power, experience, strength, guidance, or wisdom, nor rely on human strength, talent, or influence. Each person belongs to God by creation and by redemption and is accountable to Him, and must depend on Him directly with the Word of God as guide. The chapter's truths are to be studied with prayer, looking to Christ as the source of strength and wisdom rather than placing trust in human beings. Jesus Himself transforms character through His Spirit, enlightening the understanding and bringing the heart that served sin under His control, and when people trust themselves He may use the weakest instruments and simplest means instead, so that God and not people receives the honor. Coming is not mere outward connection with any church, even though the church is His body, and not a merely intellectual act; only personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. God's Word as the bread of life reaches the heart and moral nature, takes possession of the will, and leads to obedience and submission to Christ's shaping.
Coming means receiving, believing, and acting on His words, which are spirit and life, thereby assimilating the principles of truth and sharing in the divine nature. The bread from heaven can be obtained from no human agent, but God Himself gives this living bread through the gift of Christ, which is of far more consequence than perishable bread, though the same compassionate Saviour still provides food to satisfy bodily necessities and teaches care that nothing be lost. He who comes and believes shall never hunger and shall never thirst, receiving life more abundantly in Him. Following Christ in this way requires a meek, self-denying, self-sacrificing life.
Bread of Life Believed
Christ is the bread of life come down from heaven to give life to the world, and God Himself gives this living bread through the gift of Christ, obtainable from no human agent. Coming to Him and believing on Him whom God sent and sealed satisfies spiritual hunger and thirst, so that he who comes and believes shall never hunger and never thirst. This is not a work by which people earn heaven, for belief in the Son is the way to eternal life, and Christ alone gives the spiritual food that endures to eternal life, which is of far more consequence than perishable bread for physical sustenance. The same compassionate Saviour who fed the multitude is not unmindful of physical wants and still provides food to satisfy bodily necessities and imparts knowledge whereby His people are provided with food in various ways, while teaching care that nothing be lost. His words are spirit and life, and receiving them into practical life brings comfort, joy, and lasting benefit.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means believing the Word, appropriating it by faith, keeping it continually before the mind, studying and understanding it, taking it into practical life, obeying it, and being doers of the Word. All who claim to believe reveal by conversation and character how much they do believe, and those who thus receive and obey the Word have eternal life. The same lesson is taught in John 15 under the symbol of the vine and its branches. This partaking is to be acted now, while it is called today, with the Bible standing as the great educating Book above all other books in schools, for Christ clothed divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the price of heaven is God's only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, so first believe, next work, for this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Faith in the Son and the efficacy of His blood keep people from Satan's power.
Eating and drinking means as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word and having actually tasted that the Lord is gracious, feeding upon the divine Word to secure healthy and healthful development of all spiritual powers. That experience is true conversion and the new birth, being born again and seeing the kingdom of God. It is obtained by opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it, for the word gives understanding to the simple. When it is obtained the frivolous life is changed, the frivolous common level is forsaken, the feet are placed on Christ Jesus as the first round of the ladder, the character is transformed heavenward step by step, and Christ is revealed in spirit, words, and actions in harmony with the genuine experience every child of God must have. Coming must be given by the Father and requires faith and spiritual perception to discern His words as spirit and life, and the Word must be made the essence of education to give sanctified strength, wisdom, integrity, and moral power.
This receiving is the condition of eternal life set out in the chapter, and understanding and living by the chapter's teaching leads to a life that measures with the life of God. Those who so eat and drink have eternal life with resurrection at the last day, and even if such a believer dies as Christ died, the life of the Saviour is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. Jesus came that they might have life more abundantly, carrying on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity. Receiving Christ and taking His words into the life are necessary for eternal life.
That eating and drinking means cherishing in the heart the truth that works by love and purifies the soul, producing thorough conversion and new life, humility instead of boasting and self-esteem, and the fruit borne by a good tree. It requires a spiritual experience that prepares a person to enjoy heaven. Those who come to Christ and practice His teachings, keeping His precepts and bringing revealed truths into daily life, receive the knowledge they need for salvation.
The flesh and blood of the Son of God are the living oracles, the directions given by Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, full of marrow and fatness, and no soul who takes and eats those words will suffer spiritual hunger. Christ had not yet been crucified, yet His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. The New Testament was afterward written by holy men moved by the Spirit of God, not to cast aside the Old but to reflect light back upon past ages and give significance to the whole Jewish economy, adding blessing. The plain directions for practical holiness and practical obedience given to ancient Israel must enter the life of everyone who claims to be a Christian. The words of the sixth chapter of John have special reference to the spirituality of the Word, and few know the value of the bread of life as the Word appropriated as living bread which came down from heaven, though this eating gives a different, more exalted experience to every worker in every phase of God's work.
The verse defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment. It sets the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. Coming in this way requires a firm stand for Christ and surrendering to God that which is already His own, not measuring character by human ideas or presuming where eternal interests are involved. Continuing in sin hinders the fulfillment of God's promise and results in loss of the soul without the garment.
Coming in this way is receiving His words as spirit and life for eternal life by taking eyes from self to behold Jesus the perfect Pattern in order to ascertain the divine will. That life is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God by striving for the same perfection of character beheld, attained only by looking steadfastly unto Jesus, sincere self-examination, cutting away from life practice everything unlike Jesus, and diligent perusal of the Word. True children of God do not manufacture plans directly contrary to the principles Christ enjoined but do the Word, loving the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind and neighbor as self. Those doers only build their house, which is character, upon solid rock, giving themselves to the work of saving perishing souls with toil, privation, reproach and persecution without eyes for defects of others, selfish gratification, or selfish motives.
This feeding upon Christ's words as His very flesh and blood is the education to be given to children and youth and men and women to become workers together with God. It is joined with instruction in the law of Jehovah and the penalty of transgression and with the truth that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour in their behalf if they are obedient to the law of Jehovah. The instruction in the fifth and sixth chapters of John is the mystery of godliness, which must be studied and made a part of life, with its teachings brought into daily experience. That experience gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.
Testing and Turning Away
Christ spoke plainly to bring hearers to a decision for or against Him and to reveal the real sentiments of their hearts. He did this to test and prove those who claimed to be His disciples before He left them, so that their apostasy would not come as a surprise to true disciples and make the trial too severe for them. The test was essential for the safety of His future work, so it would not be swayed into wrong paths.
Many called it a hard saying, murmured, were offended, and from that time went back and walked no more with Him and never returned. This included people who had been regarded as His disciples but turned away when plain truth displeased them. It shows that superficial followers may reject Christ rather than accept the truth presented to them, and that those who would not accept truth and reproof turn away preferring human praise to God's admonition.
The response exposed whether faith was genuine and distinguished those who truly believed from those who turned away. Some who heard did not believe, while Peter and the rest of the twelve except Judas became more fully established. They held to Christ confessing Him as Christ the Son of the living God who has the words of eternal life, underscoring the need to seek God's counsel and understand His Word rather than remain in doubt and unbelief.
Those who left chose form without spirit and husks without kernel, living on doctrines, customs, maxims, forms, exactions and man-made ordinances without root in themselves. Words plain to believers became a stumbling block to them because they were not united to Him by true faith and lacked spiritual discernment. Their spiritual senses were corrupted by worldly ideas and maxims so pure truth seemed strange, and because the truth of God's Word is deep and pure and cannot be comprehended with superficial understanding they objected with disgust and were offended, while to the believing soul that truth is as eating from the tree of life.
Resistance was not caused by lack of evidence, for sufficient evidence had been given. Receiving Him demands surrender of cherished ambitions, earthly benefits and worldly pursuits, and calls for self-denial and separation from the world, becoming self-sacrificing and humble and conformed to His character. Those who wanted freedom from suffering or Roman rule but rejected His self-sacrificing life turned away when His teaching demanded this surrender, and those who would not accept truth and reproof make excuses for withdrawing, preferring human praise to God's admonition.
The teaching exposed those who were not wholly with Christ, who at His trial would take a position against Him and could tempt the disciples to dishonor their Master. Such followers who took offense at His sayings and left Him were exceptional cases, not the rule among His disciples, and they became His bitterest persecutors. By contrast true disciples as a rule practice what they teach and conform their lives to His teachings.
The same turning away recurs when test and trial comes to every soul and when reproof and warning truth must be spoken irrespective of consequences in the last days. Traitorous, heady, high-minded and self-sufficient men who did not dig deep and make their foundation sure and were not riveted to the Eternal Rock murmur that the way is made too strait. They cherish theories and sentiments of their own that do not harmonize with the truth, refuse to give up their own ideas, reject the words of the Lord brought through His chosen messengers, and misinterpret messages from God, and so make shipwreck of faith. Many receive the truth enthusiastically at first but when they meet a statement from the Word needed for purification of the soul, pride is offended and these false disciples abandon Christ, yet truth will still bear away the victory and others will receive the truth and fill the places made vacant by those who become offended and leave.
Taking offense at plain truth that comes too close can lead a person to leave God's people. Rejecting Christ's words when tested by them leads people away from Him and may leave them unwilling to return. The disciples who turned from Christ because they did not at once comprehend about eating His flesh and drinking His blood illustrate the failure to come, as do those now who are convicted in understanding and aroused in conscience by the Holy Spirit yet will not yield their will to come for life, while believing would have made Him their light of life.
Living the Word Daily
The sixth chapter of John is very instructive yet only faintly understood, holding the most precious and important lessons for all who are being educated in schools. Its wonderful truths must be brought into practical life by all who want an education that will endure through time and through eternity. Taking in these words of Christ gives understanding of privileges, showing what Christ is to each person and what advantage comes to each individual from eating His words and realizing that He Himself is the great center of life.
The chapter is part of the bread sent down from heaven contained in the Bible, the spiritual food by which mind and character are built up through what is given to the mind. Its important statements are to be read with prayer for clearness of understanding from God. That prayerful reading is to take the place of spending time on the books and magazines that flood the world, lead the mind astray, and hinder spiritual growth.
Receiving Christ's words as eating the Word means taking His teachings in, making them part of the self, and keeping them in daily life. It means keeping His precepts, bringing revealed truths into daily experience, and studying and obeying them so as to form a character like Christ's. His teachings are to be followed rather than replaced by human suppositions, for God has revealed what is necessary for salvation, though not everything. Those who so come to Christ and practice His teachings receive the knowledge they need for salvation, while some who heard did not believe and turned away and Peter with the faithful held to Him as the one who has the words of eternal life.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means being doers of the Word, and this is Christ's great lesson in simple language answering what to do to work the works of God. The Bible stands as the great educating Book above all other books in schools. Christ came down from heaven and clothed His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The price of heaven is God's only begotten Son and the way to heaven is by faith in Jesus, for this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent, so students must first be taught to believe in Christ in order that they will work the works of God, first believe and next work.
Coming to Christ depends on what the Father gives, for spiritual life and true hunger for Christ are gifts enabled by God and are not secured by worldly pursuits or divided devotion. That coming brings eternal life to those who eat His flesh and drink His blood, with resurrection at the last day, so that even if such a believer dies as Christ died the life of the Saviour is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. Jesus came that they might have life more abundantly, carrying on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity. The instruction in John 6 plainly expresses God's will for His people as the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world, and it is urged as a remedy for dissension and a guide to unity with Christ and with one another.