We are still in John 6 and we left off with verse 51: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” This perplexed the creatures He was talking to. They knew Him as Jesus, son of Joseph and now this rabbi is telling them things, with such authority, (Matthew 7:29) it seemed incredulous. They were basing their knowledge of what they knew from what was being taught in the synagogues and those things imposed on them from the Pharisees. It is similar to today, where our Pastors teach us from the Bible, which is becoming much less of a given everyday, and our secular government imposes rules for living safely, trying hard to take the place of God and wanting the same trust and faith that God wants from us. Many of our church leaders seem fine with letting the government tell them what to do.
The Pharisees were mostly concerned with outward appearances and claiming Abraham as their father. They truly thought that being of that particular lineage plus all their rules, their ritual washing and tithings and fancy clothing made them a sure thing for Heaven. When confronted by Jesus and told that none of what they were doing was going to get them into heaven, they didn’t take it well. In fact, they plotted to kill God. (Matthew 12:14) When put that way it sounds strange, but that is the essence of it. They had invested their whole culture into living out their righteousness in laws they imposed, the rituals they enforced and the clothing and attitude they adopted. The people noticed this and you could say it rubbed off on them. And Jesus was never one to sugar coat the path to heaven. (Matthew 19:24). I think Ephesians 2:8-9 says it the way I like it best: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. By Grace through Faith. That passage is really what the Reformation was about. You are saved by Grace through Faith, by God, not by a religious body that claims it and it alone is the only authority for dispensing and interpreting the word of God. If you’ve lived under a rock for most of your life and don’t know what I’m talking about, it is the Catholics and their claims of such authority.
What Jesus was doing with Him saying “The bread I give you for the life of the world is my flesh” is known to us because we have the whole word of God, breathed out into the Bible. The Jews of that day were stiff necked and unwilling to believe what He told them. And Christ was not going to offer the “greasy grace” or better known as easy believism. They grumbled amongst themselves saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (v. 52)
To better understand where this negativity in His message came from, let us turn to Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers written in 1897:
Some of them have spoken of eating His flesh. Others may even have pressed this to the reductio ad horribile. Eat His flesh! Shall we, then, drink His blood too? In no less than seven passages of the Pentateuch had the eating of blood been forbidden (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:26-27; Leviticus 17:10-14; Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16; Deuteronomy 12:23-24; Deuteronomy 15:23); and we find in later times the strength of the feeling of abhorrence, as in 1Samuel 14:32, and Ezekiel 33:25, and in the decree of the first Judæo-Christian Council (Acts 15:29). In the fullest of these passages (Leviticus 17:10-14), the prohibition is grounded upon the facts that the blood is the physical seat of animal life, and that the blood maketh atonement for the soul. It was the life-element poured out before God instead of the life of the soul that sinned. Such would be the thoughts of those who strove among themselves as to what His words could mean; and to these thoughts He speaks with the “Verily, verily,” which ever expresses a spiritual truth that He alone could reveal.
Much of their law was wrapped up into what they could and could not eat. For the average Jew following Jesus around, for mostly entertainment purposes, they would fall back on what they thought they knew, which when you look at it in the whole, was not much.
Jesus told them “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. (vv. 53-59)
So what are we to make of Christ’s statements? From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary:
The flesh and blood of the Son of man, denote the Redeemer in the nature of man; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption; pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the way to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life. These are called the flesh and blood of Christ, because they are purchased by the breaking his body, and the shedding of his blood. Also, because they are meat and drink to our souls. Eating this flesh and drinking this blood mean believing in Christ. We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith. The soul that rightly knows its state and wants, finds whatever can calm the conscience, and promote true holiness, in the redeemer, God manifest in the flesh. Meditating upon the cross of Christ gives life to our repentance, love, and gratitude. We live by him, as our bodies live by our food. We live by him, as the members by the head, the branches by the root: because he lives we shall live also.
Just so you’d know, that chunk of text was originally written in 1706. He is one I go to quite often for understanding scripture. “We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith” Those Jews heard what they heard and recoiled at what Christ had said. Jesus knew their hearts would not believe, so He told them the truth of the matter, yet put it in a way that they would not understand. So that their ears would not hear and eyes not see. (Matthew 13:15)
It was not just the common Jew that was grumbling about Christ’s statements. The disciples were starting to get nervous:
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (vv. 60-65)
The message that we are granted to Christ, by the Father, is a strong one and throw in by Grace through Faith and you’ve got the entire understanding of your salvation, one granted by the Father, as a gift of grace. Square that with what the Pharisees did, works and looks and who you belonged to. The disciples had heard some of this before and this, as they said, was a hard message and one alien to the Jews way of thinking.
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (vv. 66-69) Jesus was culling those who He knew would not accept His message. We are also tested in our Faith. Who do you turn to when tested? Does your Faith waiver?
I have not known personally, a person who claimed to be a believer, and then turned away and never came back when things got challenging. This is what some of the disciples did, walk away when their rabbi started talking in such a harsh manner. It is a classic “Sower of the Seeds” parable. Their seeds had been cast into the weeds and when they were tested, they had no depth to their roots and their faith left them. Then Simon Peter speaks for the 12 and with some divine knowledge.
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. (vv. 70-71)
So how does this apply to you? Christ is the Bread of Life. In fact, He is our only Hope. And that Hope brings Faith, granted by Grace, given to us by the Father. In your day to day life, do you feel that Hope? Is your Faith strong enough to withstand a test of it? Do you talk to your Father about your concerns? This should generate an interest in reading what our Father wanted us to read. How else will you know what God wants of us? Ponder on where your roots of Faith are planted. As I said before, if you have an interest in God, He’s already had an interest in you. The very Creator of the universe has an interest in you! Are you going to squander that because it’s not entertaining enough? “Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom” (James 4:9). From MacArthur’s Devotionals:
Humor has always had a place in popular culture. But in recent decades a more worldly side to humor has emerged. Situation comedies dominate the list of top-rated TV shows, but many are far from what’s really best for people to view. The shows’ contents so often pander to the immoral and tend to put down scriptural values. Meanwhile, the world also runs headlong after activities that stress fun and self-indulgence. Most people just want to enjoy life and not take anything too seriously.
God’s Word acknowledges that there is a proper time and place for joy and laughter: “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccles. 3:4). The psalmist tells of one appropriate time for laughter and happiness: “When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyful shouting” (Ps. 126:1-2).
But the Lord requires that anyone who would have a relationship with Him must begin on a sober, serious, humble note. In today’s Scripture, James urges sinners to exchange worldly laughter and frivolity for godly mourning and gloom over their sin. The laughter spoken of here is the kind that indicates a leisurely indulging in human desires and pleasures. It pictures people who give no serious thought to God, to life, death, sin, judgment, or God’s demands for holiness. Without mincing words, it is the laughter of fools who reject God, not that of the humble who pursue Him.
James’s message is that saving faith and proper humility consist of a serious, heartfelt separation from the folly of worldliness as well as a genuine sorrow over sin. If these characteristics are present in your life, it is fairly safe evidence that you are one of the humble (see 1 John 2:15-17).
So you see, God takes our salvation seriously, so seriously that He sent His Son to die on a cross and be raised again, all for us that would believe. I would ask that you would approach your salvation with the same intent. Don’t sit back and let your Life in Christ pass you by.
