JESUS HAS THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE

John 6:41-71

Key Verse: 68

“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’”

We have learned in John chapter 6 that Jesus fed five thousand hungry people with five small loaves and two small fish. These crowds should have accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah and Christ. But they didn’t. Rather, they wanted Jesus to give them free bread again and again. To this shameless crowd, Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jesus really wants them to accept Jesus so that they can have eternal life. But they reject Jesus’ words. Today’s passage is the continuation of the previous passage.

In today’s passage, we will see the crowd grumbling about Jesus. Jesus, however, teaches them again graciously and patiently that he is the bread of life from heaven. Jesus really wants them to accept him and have eternal life. But they reject Jesus’ words and leave Jesus. Yet, one person Peter accepts Jesus’ words of eternal life and confesses that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Through this study, may we also accept Jesus as our Christ in our hearts.

First, God draws people to Jesus (41-46).

Look at verses 41-42. “At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”?’” These people witnessed that Jesus’ miracles. They saw that Jesus fed them with five loaves and two fish. After eating free bread and fish, they were ready to declare Jesus king (15). Why?  It was because they wanted Jesus to give them free bread continually. But as soon as they realized that Jesus would not give them free bread any longer, they changed their attitude. When Jesus said, “I came down from heaven,” they grumbled about Jesus and vilify Jesus as a poor carpenter Joseph’s son. When they could not get what they wanted they became unbelieving.

Their response could have made Jesus despair and abandon them. But Jesus graciously repeated his teaching and tried to help them to know God’s work. Look at verse 44. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Here Jesus taught them that God draws people to Jesus. What does it mean that God draws people to Jesus? It simply means that fundamentally it is God who opens our hearts to accept Jesus. I heard a story of a woman who was raised in a nonreligious family and had never gone to church. When she was in high school, some of her friends invited her to a big Christian meeting. Out of curiosity, she went there with her friends. But she was determined not to be influenced by the messenger. she thought that the messenger would manipulate people with his rhetoric message. She felt very confident that she could withstand the messenger’s manipulation through his message. Finally, after the sermon, the messenger asked those who accepted the Christ come forward. She then jumped out of her seat and came forward. In fact, she was a bit embarrassed because she was the very first person to respond. She was drawn to Jesus by God. She was born again on that day.

Some may say, “Well, I made a decision to believe in Jesus.” But who opens our closed heart? It is God who opens our hearts and draws us to Jesus. How does God draw people to Jesus in actuality? Look at verse 44. “It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” Here, pay attention to the prophecy; “They will all be taught by God.” God teaches people. How? God teaches us through his scriptures. So we have to listen to God and learn from him as we study the Bible. That is why Jesus says “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” God draws each of us through his words personally. God does not use certain mystic force to draw people to Jesus. He draws us through his words. Therefore, anyone who studies the Bible sincerely, with a learning mind, will come to Jesus. They will accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Here we must think about what kind of attitude we have toward the word of God. Jesus assures us that everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him will come to Jesus and have salvation. No one can blame God for not working in them. Rather, it is up to each of us to approach the word of God with reverence and to listen to and learn from the word of God. They say that Dr. Billy Graham has had a great learning mind toward the word of God. Once he was asked, “Dr. Graham, do you really believe that story in the Bible that a great fish swallowed Jonah?” Dr. Graham replied, “Yes, I do. In fact, I would believe it if the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the great fish. The Bible is the word of God.” God teaches us through the scriptures. And God’s word leads us to Jesus. May God help us to listen to God and learn from him through Bible study.

Second, Jesus is the living bread from heaven. (47-60)

Look at verses 47-48. “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.” Jesus gives everlasting life to those who believe in him. Some people think of everlasting life as a vague concept. Some think it is like having fire insurance–it does not seem useful during ordinary times, only when there is a fire. They think, “I will need eternal life in the future to avoid the fire of hell.” However, everlasting life is much more than that. It is God’s life in us. It satisfies the deepest longing of our souls and meets our deepest need. Frankly, life is short. When I was a young man, in my late teens and even early twenties, I could not believe that I would ever get old. When I looked at the feeble old people at that time, I thought to myself, “I can’t believe that will happen to me. I feel so vigorous and strong. The years stretch on ahead of me. I don’t think that is ever going to happen to me.” But it has. I feel uneasy when I read life insurance category that I am considered as an old man. Time passes by so quickly and in one direction only. Without Christ, we have only this life on earth and our life is very short. Without Christ, we are heading to death and graveyard. Seeing only this short life, people become nervous, nihilistic and selfish. But Jesus came to give everlasting life to those who believe. Everlasting life  begins right after we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts. Everlasting life is the best gift that Jesus could give.

However, it is hard for people to realize this when they are stuck on material things. The people Jesus confronted were convinced that bread would solve their problem. So Jesus told them in verse 49, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.” No matter how much bread a person eats, he will still die. In fact, overeating can make our body unhealthy and die earlier. No one ever gained eternal life from bread. Nor can we buy eternal life with money. Even so, many people in our time think that money will solve all of their problems. There is a movie about Howard Hughes. He was once the richest man in the world. Many envied him. But money did not make him happy. Great wealth did not comfort his soul before the power of death. In fact, he was so fearful of invisible germs that it drove him mad. In the end, he died all alone and most miserably. We must admit that our fundamental problem is the death problem. Only Jesus can save us from death by giving us everlasting life. That is why Jesus is the bread of life (48). Jesus is the bread from heaven (50).

In verse 51 Jesus explains more in detail how he is the bread of life. Jesus says, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” We must not misunderstand this verse. When Jesus said this, he was referring to his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus gave his body as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus shed his holy blood to cleanse us from sin. Jesus’ words were to be taken spiritually. But those whose minds were stuck on material things only understood literally. They assumed Jesus was advocating cannibalism. So they began to argue about it.

Look at verses 53-54. “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’” These words of Jesus sound so eerie and gruesome, if we take them literally. Particularly, drinking Jesus’ blood sounds like a Dracula story. It was most offensive to Jews who knew that God prohibited meat with blood in it. They believed that life is in the blood and life belongs only to God. (Man has no right to take life.) Even today, the religious Jews only eat “kosher” meat. Kosher meat is meat that has all the blood drained from it. In Israel, the butcher shop has a rabbi. This rabbi drains the blood from the meat and certifies it. Without complete draining its blood, meant cannot be sold on the market. Thus, Jesus’ words, “drinking my blood” were very offensive to the Jews. But Jesus meant his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross is the only solution for our sin problem. Simply put, to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood is to accept his suffering and death for our sins by faith.

The people Jesus spoke to could not understand what he was talking about. Even many of his disciples began to grumble, saying, “This is a hard teaching.” To those who believe, faith is very simple. But to those who do not believe, the teaching to have faith alone is very hard indeed. But we must all know that Jesus’ gospel is the blood stained Gospel. Jesus’ gospel is not the gospel of prosperity, but the gospel of Jesus’ blood that saves us from sin and death. When we simply accept this by faith, God forgives our sins. Jesus dwells in our hearts. Jesus gives us eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Third, “the Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing” (61-71).

Jesus knew the problem of his disciples. Because they did not simply believe his words by faith, they were full of human reason and complaints. So they began to grumble among themselves. Those who have no word of God in their hearts are all candidates to be grumbling people. Jesus wanted to help them somehow accept his words. So he taught them who he really is. Jesus is God who came from heaven to live among us for a while. After his time on earth was over, he would ascend into heaven once again to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Jesus is the only one who has come from heaven and the only one who has seen the Father. The disciples needed to simply accept his words as the words of God.

Look at verse 63. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” Jesus contrasts life by the Spirit and life by the flesh. Life by the flesh is eating and drinking, marrying, buying and selling, planting and building, without any relationship with God. From God’s point of view such a life is a waste of time and it is nothing. Those who set their minds on the flesh are ruled by the power of sin and death. They are hostile to God and rebellious without any reason. They are evil in God’s sight even if they seem to keep their own kind of moral standard. During Noah’s time those who lived by the flesh all perished in the flood. This kind of destiny awaits everyone who lives by the flesh. However, when we accept one word of Jesus, the Spirit of God comes into our hearts. We can understand the mind of God. We can see the world from God’s point of view. We can find God’s purpose and holy mission for us. We can live a meaningful life for the glory of God. We can have the assurance of eternal life and true peace in our souls. Here we learn that we must make every effort to deny the desires of our flesh and to accept the word of Jesus.

At Jesus’ clear teaching about life by the Spirit, many disciples turned away and no longer followed him. Then Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him in verses 68-69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Here we learn that Simon Peter had accepted Jesus’ teaching. He honored Jesus’ word in his heart. He had the word of eternal life in his heart. To him, Jesus was the only way. He committed his life to Jesus without calculation or reservation. We also must accept the word of Jesus and have a life commitment to Jesus.

Jesus’ teaching in today’s passage is the core of Christian faith. Jesus died on the cross, shedding his blood to the very last drop. Jesus offered his body and blood to sinners so that they can have everlasting life. When we accept Jesus’ words in our heart, we can live a most meaningful and joyful life by the Spirit. May God help each of us confess like Peter, “Lord Jesus, you have the words of eternal life,” and commit our lives to Jesus Christ.