John Chapter 6 (Continued) 27~~"Stop laboring for the food which perishes   {want to make Him King and remove the Romans}, but for the Food which endures to everlasting life   {working up to the Bread of Life concept}, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." {Note: Jesus is getting ready to turn them from the food they have eaten to spiritual things. The 'food which perishes' refers to the details of life - in this case political activities. These people are more interested in the details of life but they are not interested in Christ. They want to use Him to get what they want. Instead, the 'food which endures unto everlasting life' is Christ. He is the bread of life.} {Pretending to Show Interest in His Plan} 28~~Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God {produce divine good}?" {Note: Sounds real good on the surface. They said 'give us a plan, give us an outline'. Every political organization must have a plan. They are trying to deviate Christ from His plan, providing eternal life, and get Him into their plan. They don't want to go to His plan, they want Him to come to their plan.} {Jesus Answers the Unbelievers} 29~~ Jesus discerned from the ultimate source of His inner resources and answered {apokrinomai} them and said, "This is the work {singular} of God, that you believe {pisteuo} in Him Whom He sent." {Note: Jesus is talking to unbelievers, they are outside of the plan of God. The plan of God begins at the cross: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved." The issue to these people is in the singular, it is the work of God the Son Who bore their sins on the cross. Therefore it isn't works, it is 'work'.} {Note: Pisteuo means to believe. It is a non-meritorious verb. Like in eating, there is no merit in you doing so. The verb pisteuo must have a subject and also an object. You are the subject when you believe. The object is Jesus Christ the only savior. This is a dramatic present tense, active voice: each person must believe for himself. Subjunctive mood: whether you believe or not depends upon your free will. It is potential.} 30~~Therefore they said to Him "What sign/miracle will You perform then, that we may see and believe You? What work will You do?" {Note: This is the crowd who actually were fed the bread, so their question is almost unbelievable!! "What sign will You show, that we may see, and believe You?" He had performed miracle after miracle. That crowd was formed on the basis of miracles, they had crossed the Sea of Galilee on the basis of miracles, they had become the recipients of one of the greatest of all miracles and now they are asking for a miracle! What they really mean (from the following verses) is 'you fed us once, so now feed us for 40 years like 'Moses' did.'} 31~~"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert . . . as it is written {Psalm 78:24}, 'he {meaning Moses} gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " {Note: In other words, they were saying to Jesus that Moses was a great guy in his day and we figure You are about as good as Moses. If Moses gave them bread for 40 years, You can do the same! What were they quoting? They misquoted from Psalm 78:24. GOD gave them bread from heaven for forty years. But the Galileans said that Moses did this.} 32~~Then Jesus said unto them, " 'Most assuredly'/'point of doctrine', I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father keeps on giving you the true bread from heaven." {Note: In other words, He switched from divine provision for this life to divine provision for salvation. They need the bread of life. In this verse Christ is called the true bread, in Verse 33 He is called the bread from God, in Verse 35 He is called the bread of life. Jesus sticks with the Father's plan right here. He is saying what they really need is salvation, eternal life.} 33~~"For the bread from the source of God keeps on being He Who comes down from heaven, and keeps on giving life to the world." {Note: He keeps on giving to anyone who will believe.} 34~~Then they said to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." {Note: This looks like they have had a change. But, what they want is the physical food, not the spiritual food.} 35~~And Jesus said to them, "I keep on being - always was, always will be - the bread of life. He that comes face to face with Me {salvation} shall never hunger {this means being in the plan of God.}. And he that believes on Me shall never thirst {this means God's provision in time} ." {Note: Once you accept Jesus Christ as savior and enter into the plan of God, from the point of salvation all the way to eternity, there never will be a time that there is anything that is too great for the plan of God in your life.} {The Problem of Unbelief} 36~~"But I said to you that you have seen Me and keep on refusing to believe." {Doctrine of Eternal Security - Once Saved Always Saved} 37~~"All {anyone who will believe} who the Father gives/'entrusts to' Me shall come to Me. And him that comes to Me I will never cast out." {Note: This is the Doctrine of Eternal Security - Once Saved Always Saved. God in His Omnipotence knows who will believe in Jesus Christ. All who He sees as believing are 'elected' or 'become part of His plan'. The Father gives all believers to Jesus. In the Church Age, we are His Body in time and His Bride for eternity. Once you believe, then you become united with Christ and He will never cast you out. It is a permanent relationship.} 38~~"I {Jesus} came down - in the past with results which will abide forever - from the ultimate source of heaven . . . not to do My own will but the will of Him {God the Father} Who sent Me {to go to the cross}." 39~~"This keeps on being the will of the Father Who sent Me . . . that of all who He has given Me permanently, I should lose nothing {no one}, but should raise it {all believers} up at the last day." {Note: The focus is on eternity future. In other words, every person who believes in Jesus Christ will be involved in the resurrection unto eternal life.} 40~~"And this is the will of Him Who sent Me . . . that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him, may keep on having everlasting life . . . and I will raise him up at the last day." {Note: This is the Father's plan. He is going to take everyone who has entered the plan of God through faith in Christ all of the way to eternity. At the resurrection they will live with Him forever.} {Verses 41-51: Second Message to Murmuring Crowd at the Synagogue at Capernaum} 41~~The Jews then murmured/complained against Him {Jesus} because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." {Note: These are Jews from Galilee in the Northern Kingdom who want to overthrow the Roman Empire in Palestine. These are the recipients of the feeding of the 5000 and consequently they can now see that Jesus is not going to bend into their program. They are not going to be able to use Him and they therefore began to complain against Him. SideNote: This ties into Exodus 16 where the Jews murmured again Moses and at this time consider him their spiritual leader!} 42~~And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, "I have come down from heaven?" {Note: They can't understand something that is clearly taught in the Old Testament, the doctrine of the hypostatic union: that Jesus Christ is God and also true humanity. They understood that He said that He was God when He said "I am the bread that came down from heaven." Here is their problem. They have rejected the very doctrine which would help them. The Old Testament clearly taught that Jesus Christ is God. He had to become a man to go to the cross. They couldn't understand because firstly they were unbelievers, and secondly they were unbelievers who wanted to bypass the cross. They wanted the crown now, they wanted the Roman Empire out of it, and they didn't care about going to the cross. "Jesus said, I am the way." The only way you can get into the kingdom is by way of the cross. "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph." They recognized His humanity, they will not put it together with His deity.} 43~~Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves." {Stop and listen.} 44~~No one is able to come face to face with Me   {idiom meaning to have a relationship with Jesus} unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." {Note: Man does not have the ability to approach God on the basis of his own works, his own human good, his own activity, his morality.} {Note: "The Father, Who has sent me draw him" - the word 'draw' -- This word was used in the Greek for drawing a sword out of a scabbard, for a fisherman drawing a net through the water. It was also used for a public speaker drawing or attracting a crowd by his message or by some other means. Here it means to be attracted to, to be drawn to something. The word as used here refers to positive volition at the point of God-consciousness. The crowd standing before Jesus Christ went on negative signals. Why is He putting the word 'unless' in here? It is clear in the Greek but not clear in the English. Because it actually describes positive volition. Whom does the Father draw? The Father draws those who go on positive signals at the point of God-consciousness. And how does He draw them, attract them? He attracts them with the gospel. At the point of God-consciousness when a person goes on positive volition God is therefore responsible to provide gospel information for that person - John 7:17; Acts 17:27; Jeremiah 29:13. God will provide positive signals with the gospel. In other words, everyone has a chance. God gives everyone a fair shake. He stays in contact with the unbeliever all of their life. He knew all about each one of us from eternity past, at the point of our birth, at God-conscientiousness, at gospel hearing, and at the Last Judgment.} {Note: The 'last day' means the end of a dispensation. It is in the future tense indicating that there were NO resurrections before this time (resuscitations only - and they died again). The first-born/first resurrected is Jesus Christ. Next is the church at the last day of the Church Age. Then at the end of the Jewish age/Tribulation, the Old testament believers and Tribulational martyrs will be resurrected. Finally at the end of the Millennium, the millennial believers will be resurrected. 45~~"It is written in the past with the result that it stands written forever . . . in the prophets {Isaiah 54:13}, "And they shall all be taught from the source of God." Therefore everyone has heard {all hear the gospel message} and who have seen/comprehended/learned from the immediate source of the Father comes to Me." {Note: "In the prophets" - the prophets is one of three sections in the Old Testament canon. The first is the Torah, the second is the Navi'im or the prophets. In the prophets we find the book of Isaiah. The third is the Kathuvim or the writings. Isaiah 54 is a Millennial passage. This passage is talking about how all children are going to learn Bible doctrine, but when Jesus quotes this passage He takes the word 'children' out to show that this is not being fulfilled but it is a principle He is using to illustrate the human race. Every member of the human race gets a chance, from Adam right down to the end of the Millennium, at the point of God-consciousness and at the point of gospel hearing.} 46~~"No one has seen/'observed from eternity past' the Father, except He Who is from the immediate source of God . . . He has seen the Father." {Note: Jesus Christ has seen the Father in the past with the result that He always sees the Father. The only time when He didn't see the Father was the last three hours of the crucifixion when He was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree.} {Salvation Verse and Eternal Security} 47~~"Point of doctrine, I say unto you - for your advantage - he who believes on Me {dramatic present tense} keeps on having everlasting life." {He will never lose it.} 48~~"I {Jesus} keep on being the bread of life." 49~~"Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are {physically} dead." 50~~"This {analogy for Himself} keeps on being the bread which comes down from heaven . . . for the purpose that a man should eat thereof, and not die {spiritually}." {Note: Christ is now referring to Himself. 'This is' is a transition from the literal manna given in the desert to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the desert the manna sustained physical life but Christ is now speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum the manna or Christ the bread of life provides eternal life. Just as manna sustained physical life during the 40 years in the desert so Christ provides eternal life. In the case of manna they would eat it. Eating is a picture of faith. In the case of Christ they had to have faith in Him or believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God - John 6:47.} {Note: 'Which comes down from heaven' means the incarnation. The incarnation is the most dramatic point in history and begins a series of dramatic points leading to the cross, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session.} {Note: The words 'eat this bread` is an analogy to faith, the aorist tense is the point of time when a person believes in Christ. That point of time is divorced from time and perpetuated forever - aorist tense.} {Note: This is a great passage for two reasons:   a) It shows that the Bible itself when it is not being taken literally has its own set of rules for a passage, which must be taken spiritually. When Jesus says 'eat of me', This is not cannibalism. But those who rejected Christ were offended. Why are they offended? Because they fail to see that this is spiritual, not material, not physical.   b) There is a false doctrine called transubstantiation in which it is said that the bread becomes the literal body of Christ in the communion, and the cup becomes the literal blood of Christ. What Jesus meant when He said, "This is [represents] my body which is given for you; take and eat thereof." There is no cannibalism in the Lord's Table. The eating of the bread is always an analogy to faith. Why is eating such an excellent analogy to faith? Because anyone can eat . . . anyone who is normal has the ability to eat. Eating is physical illustrating the spiritual. Whenever you find the word "eating" or "drinking" in the spiritual realm it refers to faith. When a person rejects Christ as savior he cannot understand these things and he is offended by these things. Many of these disciples/students (the 5000 He miraculously fed) now use the message of our Lord as an excuse to break off. This is because while Jesus made it clear to them they refused to accept that there is a spiritual area in which a message can be brought and it is not literal. Jesus was actually saying, "Believe on Me."} continued This page is sponsored by Kenneth Sidley, CPA and Mox4PainFreeLvng.