John 6:30-40 PODCAST
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:30-40
The Jews weren't satisfied with one miracle, they needed a second. The fact is they would never be given to believing in Him after He had performed many more miracles. The real question is: how many miracles constitute belief in our hearts?
So, the Jews asked the Lord Jesus to match the miracle of Moses during the Exodus. The Lord Jesus responds, "It wasn't Moses who gave you the manna. No, My Father did that." They say, "manna tastes like frosted corn flakes, like ground coriander seed mixed with honey." The word "manna" itself means, "What is it?" The Jews ate, "what is it" for forty years.
The Lord Jesus told them manna was not the true bread from heaven, it was only a symbol of it, a picture of the real thing. He told them, "the real bread from heaven is me! I came down from heaven, sent by the Father, to feed the restless hunger of the masses for meaning and fulfillment and satisfaction and excitement and glory in their lives."
In response, the crowd the Lord Jesus, “Sir, always give us this bread.” Jesus responded by saying, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
The Lord Jesus uses hunger and thirst to get His point across: "Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." He is saying, when we come to Him and believe in Him, it is tantamount to eating and drinking. It means to see Him as "the essential" in our lives. The way to lay hold of the gift of bread from heaven, life that is real life, is coming to Him on a habitual basis.
But, as is noted in v.36, not all who see the miracle, will come. These Jews had seen the miracle, yet they did not come to the Lord Jesus. This experience the Lord is speaking of is not an intellectual assent, it is about trusting Him, committing ourselves to Him, being vulnerable to Him.
In v.37 we see that God is sovereign over the work of our salvation. We learn that we are gifts to the Son from the Father, "and whoever comes to me," Jesus says, "I will never drive away." It is true, we would have never come to Him and believed in Him had God not enabled us to believe, but as these Jews illustrate, we can refuse the free gift of salvation by not coming to the Lord Jesus. In this verse we have divine sovereignty, "All those the Father gives me" and human responsibility, "will come to me."
According to v.38-39, this process produces in and for us, life, it puts us into a new and dynamic relationship with God, wherein He becomes our intimate friend. This invitation is to all, the bread of life is ours for the receiving. In the last analysis, the one thing which derails this process, is the defiance of the human heart. Life is there for the receiving or the refusing.
According to v.40, the goal of the Lord Jesus is guaranteed eternal life for the believer. This eternal life begins the moment we come to Him and believe on Him. Central to our relationship with Him is His salvation which will involve, one day, our eventual resurrection from the dead.
Finally, the Lord Jesus Christ will never allow any soul that has come to Him and believed on Him to be lost and cast away. He will keep us safe, in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Not one of His, will ever be abandoned. God blots out His people’s sins (Isaiah 44:22), but not our names (Revelation 3:5).
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