Chapter VI

Verses 1-4. John passes over many months of the ministry of our Lord and does not report what else happened in Jerusalem. The great miracle of the healing of the impotent man and the subsequent discourse of our Lord, as given in the previous chapter is not mentioned by the synoptics, and John in his Gospel does not record the greater part of the ministry of the Lord in Galilee. In all this we see the divine guiding hand of the Spirit of God. He did not lead Matthew, Mark and Luke to write of the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda and the words which were spoken then, for He intended to use the pen of John to reveal these things in harmony with the scope of the fourth Gospel.

A great multitude followed Him. Mark explains how they followed the Lord as He crossed the lake. ‘And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto Him” (Mark vi:33). While the Lord entered into a ship to take Him to the other side of the lake, the multitude went on foot around the lake to the place where the ship landed. What kind of a multitude they were we learn from the chapter itself. Like those mentioned in the close of the second chapter, they believed in a certain way because they had seen the miracles. Many of them evidently claimed discipleship, but after the words of our Lord spoken concerning Himself as the bread of life many of these professing disciples went back and walked no more with Him (Verse 66). ‘The time was immediately before another Passover, here significantly called a feast of the Jews.

Verses 5-14. This great event is also fully recorded by the three preceding Gospels, where we find additional facts connected with the feeding of the five thousand. He saw this great multitude and was moved with compassion for they were as sheep having no shepherd (Mark vi:34); He also taught them many things.

Here we read that He asked Philip “whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” From Luke’s Gospel we learn that the place was near Bethsaida. Philip was of that place (John i:44) and that is probably the reason why the Lord asked him about supplying the need of the hungry people. But He did not ask thus because He was perplexed; it was to try Philip. Philip might have answered — Oh! Lord, Thou knowest and Thine is all power! One would expect such an answer, for Philip had heard Nathanael’s great confession “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” But the question the Lord asked is blessedly guarded by the Spirit of God through the writer of the record — ‘‘He Himself knew what He would do.” The miracle of the feeding of the multitude was one of the works the Father gave Him to do; He knew all about what He would do and what should take place, for He is the same who gave Israel the bread in the wilderness (Exodus xvi). Then the brother of Simon Peter, Andrew, called His attention to the lad with the five barley loaves and the two fishes, and he was but a little boy (the meaning of the Greek word), hence the loaves must have been very small. But how could this insignificant supply satisfy the needs of this vast crowd of people? He did not need the two hundred pennyworth; the little things are chosen by Him to manifest His power; yea, He could have fed them all without the use of the five loaves and the two fishes. Then He speaks. They were told to sit down, as we learn from Mark’s Gospel, in perfect order in ranks of hundreds and fifties. What a beautiful scene it must have been, these five thousand men, besides the women and children, peacefully resting in the place of ‘“‘much grass”! It suggests the green pastures into which He leads His people (Psalm xxiii:2; John x:9).

And with what expectancy they all must have looked to Him as He stood in the midst! Then He took the loaves and after giving thanks He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples distributed to them that sat down. It must have been in that moment, after He had given thanks and handed the loaves to the disciples, that the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes took place. Being one of His great signs, wrought by Him, the omnipotent Lord, it is unexplainable. There is a tendency manifested in our times, even among men who hold to the inspiration of the Bible, to explain some of the miracles of the Bible as natural occurrences. This has been done with the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, the miracle of the sun standing still in Joshua’s day, and others. As soon as a miracle can be explained it ceases to be a miracle. Some of the rationalistic critics have attempted to explain away this miracle also. Some have suggested that the seated company all brought out the provisions they carried with them, and that this is how they were fed. But all these explanations, the inventions of pure infidelity, are so ridiculously silly that they do not deserve an answer. It has been well said “it requires more faith to believe their explanations than to believe the miracle and take it as we find it.”” Without question the feeding of this immense company was a wonderful manifestation of the power of the Creator,, who, though in creature’s form, had not divested Himself of the attributes of Godhead.

And after this miraculous feast provided by Himself He commanded that the fragments be gathered up “that nothing be lost,” another wonderful fact, that the omnipotent Lord should care even for the fragments of what He called into existence. How true it is in all His creation. In nature, so wonderfully fashioned and ordered by His hands, nothing is lost. And if He thus orders and maintains such a principle it behooves us to reckon with it in all our ways.

Twelve baskets were filled with the fragments, abundant evidence that a great miracle had been performed, for what was left over was perhaps a hundred times more than the original supply.*

The great sign He wrought has also a striking dispensational meaning. While He revealed Himself thus as the omnipotent Lord, the loving, caring Lord, He is likewise seen as Israel’s King. We read in Psalm cxxxii a prophecy which fits in with the scene before us. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision, I will satisfy

*It was a custom of the Jews that when they are together they should leave something to those that served. The little portion which each one left was called “the servants’ part.” The baskets were probably the baskets the Jews carried with them in their travels.

her poor with bread” (Verses 13-15). This will be fully realized in the coming kingdom. And He had come as the promised King; He was in their midst and when He thus satisfied them with bread and abundantly blessed their provision, they might have beheld in Him their King. The twelve baskets too have a meaning, for twelve is the number of Israel. That they had some conception of all this we learn from what followed. When they saw this miracle they said ““This is in truth the Prophet that should come into the world.” ‘The reference is to Deuteronomy xviii:15-16, and from John i:21 we learn that the delegation from Jerusalem suspected that John the Baptist might be “that Prophet.” Ancient Jewish interpretation states that the Prophet promised in Deuteronomy is the Messiah.

Verse 15. Perhaps they gathered in groups talking together and scheming to make Him a leader, to make Him a king, but not “The King.” And He knew their carnal plans. This was but another attempt inspired by the same being, who on the mountain top had shown to Him the Kingdoms of the earth, and had offered them to Him. Here through the enthused multitudes, because He had satisfied their wants, Satan tried to achieve his end once more, quite willing to have Him to receive the crown without going first to the cross, where alone His crown rights in redemption through the shedding of His blood could forever be secured and established. But all they meant was to use Him for their own selfish ends, to make Him some kind of a ringleader, to lead in a revolt against the Roman government, so that they might be freed from the Gentile yoke. They wanted to make him a king; they erred and knew not the Scriptures, which foretold that He must suffer first and that God Himself would enthrone Him as King upon the holy hill of Zion, to receive the nations for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possessions. Then when He appears crowned with many crowns, as King of kings and Lord of lords, when the true remnant of Israel bows before Him in true humiliation and looks upon Him whom they pierced, the promised blessings of the cxxxii Psalm, and the many other prophecies as to the millennial glories, will be accomplished. And when here He suddenly departs into a mountain alone to spend the whole night there, we see readily how this foreshadows His ascension, to be in the presence of God throughout this age. Their scheming to use Him in a carnal way had revealed their own heart. They knew nothing of a true turning to God. What Hosea had declared, “I will go and return to my place” was fulfilled “till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face.” And that will be “in their affliction’ (the coming great tribulation) when they will say “Come, and let us return unto the Lord” (See Hosea v:15; vi:1-3).

Verse 16-21. The sea, the night during which He is absent, the storm, are symbolical of the present age. The incident is fully reported in Matthew’s Gospel. (See our Exposition of Matthew.) It is thus because of the dispensational-Jewish character of the first Gospel. When we read in that Gospel of Peter leaving the little ship to go forth to meet the Lord, we have a beautiful type of the Church, while the ship with the frightened disciples represents the Jewish remnant as it existed when He left the earth to return to heaven, and a similar remnant which will be on earth before He returns from heaven for their deliverance. Like it was on that sea so it is with this age. It is getting darker and the wind more boisterous. And how God’s people even now may say “it is now dark and Jesus has not yet come.” But we know He will come for His own. And after that comes the great darkness and the great storm with which this age closes.

Then another miracle took place. He came walking on the sea. The so-called laws of nature were entirely suspended. He who is the author of these laws can do as it pleaseth Him. Of course “the scholarly” and “reverend” critics have also set aside this miracle, and probably some scientist will explain it in some “natural way” or that it may have been an “illusion.” But the giving up of the belief in the miraculous must lead ultimately, and in most cases speedily, to the giving up of all revealed Truth. The disciples knew they were face to face with a supernatural occurrence, for they were afraid. But precious is that voice which was heard by them above the noise of breaking waves and howling tempest — “It is I; be not afraid.” May we all, dear readers, hear that same voice speaking to our hearts. The practical remark has often been made, that many of the things which frighten Christians and fill them with anxiety, would cease to frighten them if they would endeavor to see the Lord Jesus in all, ordering every providence, and overruling everything, so that not a hair falls to the ground without Him. They are happy who hear His voice through the thickest cloud and darkness and above the loudest winds and storms, saying “It is I; be not afraid.”

And when He came, how glad they were to receive Him. And when He came, how quickly the storm ended and the ship was brought to the land. So will it be when He comes again. ‘The darkness will end; the storm will cease. His Church will be with Him and the remnant of Israel will be brought to the promised haven.

What we have followed up to this point may be termed the introduction to the great truths concerning the special message of this Gospel, the message of eternal life, which we find in the rest of this great chapter.

Verses 22-25. The multitudes were evidently greatly puzzled about the disappearance of Him who had fed them so miraculously. They did not know how He could have come to Capernaum. ‘They took shipping and had come to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. A difficulty has been raised here by the supposition that all the five thousand men had followed Him. Criticism, trying to pick flaws, has stated how impossible it would have been to have ships for this large company of people to cross the lake. But the supposition is incorrect. It does not say that all those who had been fed by the Lord on the previous day crossed Tiberias in ships. Matthew tells us that He sent the multitudes away (Matthew xiv:22). The great majority went to their homes, or continued their journey towards Jerusalem to celebrate Passover there. There is nothing whatever in the text to show that all the people crossed the lake, probably only a small number followed Him. They found Him right on the seashore. But if we read on in this chapter we discover that the words which our Lord spoke at this time, the great discourse, was not delivered at the sea shore, but in the synagogue of Capernaum. “These things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum” (Verse 59). This is the conclusive evidence that not all the five thousand men were present, but just a small number. The question prompted by their curiosity, “Rabbi, when camest Thou hither?” He left unanswered.

Verses 26-29. The Lord, the searcher of hearts, knew why they had followed Him. They did not seek Him because they believed on Him as the Son of God; they did not even seek Him, as it is stated in the beginning of the chapter, “because they saw His miracles,” but they sought Him for a very selfish reason. Their motive was thoroughly carnal. “Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.” Before this they wanted to make Him King and He suddenly disappeared, because He knew that the same selfish desire was behind it. And so He is still the discerner of the thoughts of men and knows the innermost motives of the heart. How many there are today who make a religious profession, who claim to seek the Lord and follow Him, but the “loaves and fishes” are underneath all their religiousness. ‘This is especially true today in some heathen lands where destitution prevails and relief from earthly want is offered; it is likewise true in the larger cities of our land.

Then He resumes His blessed teaching concerning eternal life. He exhorts not to labour for the food which perisheth but for that food which endureth unto eternal life. They had followed Him strenuously to obtain perishing food, that which sustains the physical life; He tells them to work for the food which abideth unto life eternal and this eternal life, which man cannot obtain by working for it, He, the Son of Man whom the Father sealed, is able to give. The latter expression means that He as Son of Man is accredited by God as His Son, sealed by the gift of the Spirit, with power to give eternal life (Chapter xvii:2). He is the giver of both, the life and the food that abides unto eternal life; and He Himself is the life and the food. In His own blessed, all-wise way He begins once more to feel His way to their hearts and consciences as He had done with the woman at the well. They ran after Him, exerted all their physical energy to get more of the bread that perisheth, as the woman had come for the water to Samaria’s well. He uses their selfish desire to teach them the greater need.

Henry Martyn, the noble Apostle of India and Persia, who gave his young life in October 1812, was greatly discouraged in preaching to the poor Hindoos at Dinapore, India. He was tempted to give up the work entirely for he discovered they did not care a bit for his preaching, they had no desire to listen to the Gospel, and only came for temporal relief, to receive the bread that perisheth. But one day the young man was reading the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John and when he read this verse he said: “‘If the Lord Jesus was not ashamed to preach to mere bread-seekers, who am J, that I should give over in disgust??? He had learned from Him and so can we follow His blessed example.

And what answer did they give Him? It is the answer of the darkened heart of the natural man. ‘‘What shall we do that we might work the works of God?’ He had spoken of “Labouring not for the food which perisheth” and now they are ready to work* for the food that abideth; they speak of working the works of God. Their poor hearts did not realize that they were sinners, that the guilt and curse of sin was resting upon them; nor did they reckon with the Holy character of God. They thought themselves capable of satisfying God with their works, and by working obtain life and favour with God. What the human heart was then it is now. It has not changed in the least, but is still as blind and corrupt as it always has been. It is the “Cain-heart” and though there may be a religious profession, a form of godliness, as Cain had it, yet it is solemnly true of the natural man as it was of Cain, ‘‘the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes”? (Romans ii:17-18). The natural man thinks he can do something and by doing he will make himself acceptable with God. And thus they speak of “the golden rule,” as if man had inherent capacity to practice it. Or someone else says *‘do some good deed every day”’; as if good deeds are the way to peace and glory. Even pagans have done this, as it is

*The word “work” is the same in the Greek as “labor” in the preceding verse.

said of Emperor Titus that he declared when a day passed without a good deed, “I have lost a day.”

Without laying bare the delusion of their hearts or condemning their presumption, the Lord told them what they were to do. ‘Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” It is the same as in the previous chapter. ‘He that heareth my words and believeth Him that sent Me hath eternal life’? (v:24). The only thing they could do was to believe on Him, and this faith in Him is the work of God, while the object of faith is He whom the Father sent, the Son of God. This is the common starting point for every sinner; there cannot, nor ever will be, another. ‘Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans iv:4-5). Later when an awakened sinner cried out ““What must I do to be saved?” the answer was given at once by the Spirit of God,“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts xvi:31). This is still the answer to the most momentous question of human existence. Faith may therefore well be termed the greatest work of all works; the one work which pleaseth God, for without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Verses 30-40. The words of the Lord to believe brought forth a manifestation of their unbelief. While He has said that the work of God is to believe on Him whom the Father hath sent, they demanded a sign, which they could see and then believe, not on Him, but believe Him. Is spite of having witnessed that great sign, the feeding of the multitude on the previous day, they ask for a sign, and the question “What dost thou work?” It has always been so with the Jews; only when they saw the signs which Moses and Aaron did in their presence they believed. ‘This tendency is stated by Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthians, “The Jews require a sign” (1 Corinthians i:22). Their reasoning must have been something like this — ‘‘He did a miracle in feeding the multitudes, but what is this in comparison with what happened in the history of our fathers? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; he, that is Moses, gave them bread from heaven. Moses fed a far greater number than this man fed; his miracle is not as great as the miracle Moses did. What sign showest thou us, that we may see, and believe Thee?”

But they were mistaken and the Lord corrects their mistake. Not Moses gave them that bread from heaven, “but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.” From the words of the unbelieving Jews we learn that they at least believed in the historical fact that their forefathers were miraculously fed in the wilderness. The modern Bible Criticism rejects this and denies the truthfulness of the record in Exodus. What evil such a denial involves we learn from this passage, for our Lord confirms the miracle in the wilderness; a denial therefore impeaches His knowledge and His veracity. But while our Lord confirmed the truthfulness of the event, He speaks of the true bread from heaven, which the Father giveth, the bread which is come down from heaven, that is, He Himself. “For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.”” He is more than that manna which was given; He has come from heaven, not to sustain physical life, but to give eternal life, not for Israel alone, but for the world.

Then they answered Him, ‘‘Lord, evermore give us this bread.” Like the Samaritan woman, who had said when the Lord spoke of living water “‘give me this water,” they felt that He spoke of something higher and better which they were not able to grasp. Then He spoke, as only He could speak, yet to ears which would not hear nor understand. ‘I am the Bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.” Even so He had spoken to the Samaritan at Jacob’s well, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” Both water and bread are necessary for human existence, and as such indispensable. But man’s spiritual need is life, and the Son of Man who came from heaven is that life, and sustains it; apart from Him, there is no life for sinful man.

As we follow the wonderful words of our Lord concerning Himself as the bread of life, we shall see the blessed way in which He leads on in the true and full meaning of this term. Here he states the fact that he is the bread of life, and that “He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” Man must come to Him and believe on Him in order not te hunger and not to thirst, but to be satisfied. The words “Come” and “Believe” mean practically the same thing. What He is and what He gives must be appropriated, and that is accomplished by coming to Him, and believing on Him. To come to Christ is to believe on Him, and to believe on Him is to come to Him. Both expressions mean that act of the soul whereby, under a sense of its sins and necessity, it flees to Christ, lays hold on Christ, trusts in Christ and casts itself on Christ. “Coming” is the soul’s movement towards Christ. ‘Believing’ is the soul’s venture on Christ. And He assures us that He will satisfy. He satisfies the soul to the full, and the soul who trusteth in Him, though weak and erring, shall never hunger nor thirst in all eternity; believers in Christ can never be cast off nor can they ever be forsaken.* But he knew their unbelieving hearts; they had seen Him, yet believed not. They would not believe and come to Him to have life, to receive the true bread. Such is the unbelieving heart of man.

Who then will come unto Him? He gives the answer. “All that the Father giveth Me shall come unto Me; and him that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out.” Blessed and most precious as these words are they have occasioned a great deal of controversy. What is known as “Calvinism”? has made much of the first clause, while the system called ‘‘“Arminianism” has used the second part of the statement of our Lord. The first question which confronts us is touching the word “all.”” The literal meaning of the Greek is not all persons, but “everything,” for it is a neuter singular, and not a masculine plural. It means therefore the whole company of His elect people whom the Father has given to the Son. This gift was made to the Son by the Father before the foundation of the world (Ephesians i:4); it is the election of God in His own Sovereignty.

*The better translation is “shall in nowise hunger”?... “shall in nowise thirst.” It is the same as in John x,“shall in nowise perish”; words which speak of the assurance of salvation, that believers in Christ are saved and safe.

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THE GOSPEL OF JOHN R27

There is an elect body, and of this body our Lord speaks, that it is given to Him and that each member of that elect body will come to Him. This is a blessed and-most comforting truth for God’s people. They are the gift of the Father to the Son, a gift He made when there was no world and no human being. Often the question has been asked by those who do not believe in God’s electing grace — how can I know that I really belong to that elect company? Every believer who has accepted Christ and belongs to Him can rest assured that he belongs to this elect body, and is given to the Son by the Father. Beza said, “‘Faith in Christ is a certain testimony of our election, and consequently of our future glorification.” And all who are given to Christ will also come to Him; no power can keep them from coming. Of course here are mysteries which our poor finite minds cannot solve nor fully understand. We believe the plain statements of Scripture as to election, but we also believe that the Gospel message is for all and knows nothing of election. In “The Gospel and its Ministry” the late Sir Robert Anderson gives valuable light on the question which has puzzled so many Christians.

‘‘When the gift of life was proffered us, we were conscious

in accepting it that we did so freely, voluntarily. But now that we have received the message, and are come within the scene of joy and blessing to which it bid us, we have to learn that, in a deeper sense and fuller still, grace is sovereign. ‘The Gospel of our salvation spanned the open door of grace as we approached it; above the inner portal, we now read the words, ‘Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.’

“And surely this mystery of election is both fitted and intended to bring deep blessing to the believing heart; but the sad fact is too patent to be ignored, that with a vast majority of Christians it is so inseparably linked with controversy as to be removed from blessing altogether. Upon one side, the plain testimony of Scripture is tampered with, if not rejected; upon the other, the doctrine of election is asserted with a narrowness which is uncongenial, if not absolutely incompatible with truth — How can grace be compatible with election? The Gospel proclaims reconciliation for all and grace is ‘salvation-bringing to all men.’ Election on the other hand, assumes that the believer’s blessings are the result of a divine decree. These, it is objected, are wholly inconsistent, and one or the other of them must be explained away. Doubtless they may appear to be incompatible, but to maintain that therefore they are so in fact, is to put reason above revelation, or in other words to place man above God.”

That God wants all men to be saved and is not willing that any should perish shows that hyper-Calvinism, which claims that God has foreordained a part of the human race to eternal damnation, cannot be true. And here our Lord adds another statement, “Him that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out.” Here then is His own gracious assurance that He will receive every one who cometh unto Him; He will in nowise cast out those who have believed on Him. All may come to Him; all are invited to come and those who do come are received and kept by Him. Whatever may happen they can never be cast out. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father’s will who hath sent Me, that of all He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”” He came down from heaven (another great witness to His pre-existence) and He came to do the will of God, the will which concerns the salvation of those given to Him, and none of them can be lost, and that body will be raised up when the consummation comes. The fuller revelation as to the first resurrection, the resurrection of those who died having believed on Him, and the changing of those who live and believe on Him when He comes for His Saints (1 Thessalonians iv:13-18) was not given by our Lord while on earth, but this blessed Hope in its full revelation was made known in a special way to the Apostle Paul. It belongs to the “many things” which the Lord promised to reveal “afterwards,” that is after His death and resurrection.

Then once more the blessed and assuring statement, which should fill the heart of every child of God with joy, and his lips with praises — “‘every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have eternal life.”

Verses 41-46. The Lord had finished His testimony concerning Himself as the bread come down from heaven. They had listened to Him and it may have been at this point, when He had arrived at the synagogue, where He continued to speak the words which follow. Then the Jews murmured at Him, like their fathers did in the wilderness. They objected to what He had said as to being “‘the bread of life which came down from heaven,” and the reason why they objected was because they thought Him to be the son of Joseph. ‘Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He saith, I came down from heaven?” And their murmurings would have been fully justified, if what they said was true. If He was “the son of Joseph,” if Joseph was His father, and if He was therefore born like any other man was born, then His claim to be the bread come down from heaven was not true. And what the Jews said at that time we hear today throughout the camp of Christendom, a brazen denial of His Virgin birth. If this denial were true then He would not be the Saviour of man, nor the bread of life. Thus the Virgin birth is the great foundation rock of our faith.

The Jews might have known from their own Scripture that the Messiah had to be born of a Virgin (Isaiah vii:14). The blessed facts of His birth, as found in the first chapter of Matthew and in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, were not known to the Jews at that time. And the Lord answered them, “Murmur not among yourselves.” From this we may conclude that the murmuring was done secretly. They must have formed small groups standing around and reasoning in secret about Him. He knew their thoughts. But in answering them He did not explain the mystery of His Virgin birth. He knew He was surrounded by unbelievers, enemies who would before long deliver Him into the hands of the Gentiles. To tell such that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that Joseph was not His father, would have been that against which He warned, “Cast not pearls before swine.” He goes deeper in His words than a refutal of their erroneous belief and rejection of Hisyclaim. In His answer the Lord Jesus utters the same truth, as in verses 37-40. ‘‘No man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him.” But while in the former passage He had spoken of the Father giving Him those which constitute the elect company, here He speaks of the Father drawing. Those who are given to Him by the Father cannot come to Him and really believe on Him, unless the Father draws them to come. ‘The nature of man,” it has been well said, ‘since the fall is so corrupt and depraved, that even when Christ is made known and preached to him, he will not come to Him and believe on Him without the special grace of God inclining his will, and giving him a disposition to come. Moral suasion and advice alone will not bring him. He must be ‘drawn.’ This is no doubt a very humbling truth, and one which in every age has called forth the hatred and opposition of man. The favorite notion of man is that he can do what he likes, repent or not repent, believe or not believe, come to Christ or not come,entirely at his own discretion. In fact man likes to think that his salvation is in his own power. Such notions are flatly contradictory to the text before us. The words of our Lord are clear and unmistakable and cannot be explained away.” And what about the modern methods in big evangelistic campaigns, where every possible device is used to have men and women take a stand, and then join some religious affiliation.* Cards are signed, there is handshaking, “‘hitting the trail,” a rather unsuited term for the blessed Gospel, and there are other schemes to bring men and women to decision. To the writer it has always appeared as if such methods need not to be applied, if we believe that the Father will draw every soul, whom He has given to the Son, and that He will draw them to Him, to believe on Him, in His own wonderful way. The great business of the Evangelist is to preach the Gospel in a plain and simple way, and leave the drawing to the Spirit of God. Some remarks on this important statement of our Lord by Bishop Ryle of Liverpool are helpful. He says the following:

“(a) We must never suppose that the doctrine of this

*We have seen reports of some of these “card-system revivals,” in which it was stated that hundreds of these man-made converts joined Romish, Unitarian, Christian Science churches, and even Synagogues. What a farce!

verse takes away man’s responsibility and accountableness to God for his soul. On the contrary, the Bible always distinctly declares that if any man is lost, it is his own fault. ‘He loses his own soul’ (Mark viii:36). If we can not reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility now, we need not doubt that it will be all plain at the last day.

“(b) We must not allow the doctrine of this verse to make us limit or narrow the offer of salvation to sinners. On the contrary, we must hold firmly that pardon and peace are to be offered freely through Christ to every man and woman without exception. We never know who they are that God will draw, and have nothing to do with it. Our duty is to invite all, and leave it to God to choose the vessels of mercy.

““(c) We must not suppose that we, or anybody else, are drawn, unless we come to Christ by faith. This is the grand mark and evidence of any one being the subject of the Father’s drawing work. If ‘drawn,’ he comes to Christ, believes, and loves. Where there is no faith and love, there may be talk, self-conceit, and high profession. But there is no ‘drawing’ of the Father.”

Then the Lord refers to Scripture, when He says “It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore who hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me.” ‘The words He quotes are found in Isaiah liv:13, and similar words elsewhere, as in Jeremiah xxxi:33-34. Those who come to Christ and are His shall be taught of God; but every man that comes to Christ hath first heard from the Father, and learned, so that all is of God and of sovereign grace. And God hath spoken in His Word and spoken concerning His Son, but no one hath seen the Father except the Son.

Verse 47-59. With another “Verily, verily” the Lord takes up the interrupted teaching as to Himself. In verse 40 He stated that he who believeth on Him should have eternal life, and now He speaks still more positively, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath eternal life.” And to this He adds “I am that bread of life.” These are blessed words, words of life and words of peace. He the Son of God having come down from heaven, is the object of faith and assures the sinner who believes on Him that he hath eternal life. He is that bread of life — not His words, not His doctrines, but He Himself. They had spoken to Him about their fathers eating manna in the wilderness and He tells them the contrast. ‘‘Your fathers (not our fathers, as the Apostles wrote later) did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” Their fathers had been unbelieving; they could not enter the promised land; they died in the wilderness, and though they ate the manna it did not save them. Then He speaks of Himself as the bread from heaven, so that man may eat thereof and not die, but have life.

For the third time He mentions Himself as the bread of life, and adds that He is the living bread. Up to this point incarnation is in view; He came as the bread of life from heaven, and if man eats of this bread he shall live and not die. But now He tells us that the bread He gives is His flesh, which He will give for the life of the world. The flesh is His body, and that body He came to offer up in sacrifice on the cross. It is His great sacrificial work, which He now unfolds, when He says “the bread which I will give (not which I have given) is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” He looked forward to the cross, where He would pay the redemption price by which eternal life was purchased for a lost world.

Those who deny the sacrificial work of our Lord, His vicarious suffering and death, must pass by these words. They cannot be explained in any other way. No other explanation is possible. So clear and plain are these words of our Lord that no other meaning can be read into them. The bread which He gives is His flesh, and this, His body, He gives for the life of the world.

It is interesting to read what Dr. Lyman Abbott wrote in 1875 in his exposition of these verses. It is well known that this prominent “religious leader” so-called, denied as an old man, this faith. The words he wrote forty-six years ago condemn him and the rest of the Congregational Unitarians. We quote from his commentary:

““And the bread which I will give’ — note the future tense. He speaks therefore of a gift yet to be perfected by ee His passion and death — ‘is my flesh, which I will give for the sake of the life of the world.’ Compare with John ii:16. It seems to me that these enigmatical words are added to guard the Church from falling into the error of supposing that Christ’s doctrine is the bread of life, and that to hear and believe His words as a Divine teacher is to secure the life eternal of which He speaks. This bread is not merely the teaching nor the example of Christ. The Sacrifice is an essential principle of that spiritual food which He has provided for the world’s life.” But that is exactly what this man taught later, that the teachings and the example of Christ are to be followed, while the sacrificial death of Christ is denied. What an illustration of the warning given by our Lord in the sermon on the Mount, “If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”’

When the Jews heard that He spoke of His flesh they at once began to contend one with the other, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” The question reveals once more, as it was in the case of Nicodemus and the woman at the well of Samaria, the darkened heart of the natural man.

He answers by another “Verily, verily.” He speaks of eating the flesh of the Son of Man, and drinking His blood, and except they do this they possess not life in them. “He that feedeth on my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He that feedeth on my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me and I in him.’ That these words cannot mean the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood in the literal sense of the word is apparent. It is figurative language. Ritualistic Christendom teaches that our Lord means, what is called “the sacrament” of the Lord’s supper, that the flesh and the blood mean the bread and wine. But He does no more mean “the Lord’s supper” than He meant to teach “Baptism” when He speaks of “born of the water and the Spirit” in the third chapter. The finest refutal of this obnoxious and unscriptual, as well as unreasonable theory, that our Lord meant “the Lord’s supper,” which has appeared in print, is the one which Bishop Ryle of the “Church of England” has furnished. It is not out of order to quote it in full, for ritualistic “Protestantism,” especially in Great Britain, is again accepting the old Romish heresy.

“(1) To say that our Lord meant the Lord’s supper in this text is a most cruel and uncharitable opinion. It cuts off from eternal life all who do not receive the communion. At this rate all who die in infancy and childhood, — all who die of full age without coming to the communion, — the whole body of the Quakers in modern times, — the penitent thief on the cross, all — all are lost for ever in hell! Our Lord’s words are stringent and exclusive. Such an opinion is too monstrous to be true. In fact, it was to avoid this painful conclusion that many early Christians, in Cyprian’s time, held the doctrine of infant communion.

(2) To say that our Lord meant the Lord’s supper in this text, opens a wide door to formalism and superstition. Thousands would wish nothing better than to hear, — ‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, — that is, eats the sacramental bread and drinks the sacramental wine, — has eternal life.’ Here is precisely what the natural heart of man likes! He likes to go to heaven by formally using ordinances. ‘This is the very way in which millions in the Romish Church are making shipwreck of their souls.

“(3) ‘To say that our Lord meant the Lord’s supper in the text, is to make a thing absolutely necessary to salvation which Christ never intended to be so. Our Lord commanded us to use the Lord’s supper, but He never said that all who did use it would be saved, and all who did not use it would be lost. How many hundreds repent and are converted on their death-beds, far away from ministers and sacraments, and never receive the Lord’s supper! And will any one dare to say they are all lost? A new heart and an interest in Christ’s cleansing blood are the two things neeful to salvation. We must have the Blood and the Spirit, or we have no life in us. Without them no heaven! But the Scripture never puts between a sinner and salvation an outward ordinance, over which the poor sinner may have no control, and may be unable to receive it, without any fault of his own.”

But what do His words mean? By flesh and blood, He meant the sacrifice of Himself on the Cross of Calvary. By eating and drinking He meant the act of faith, by which the soul participates in the most blessed and precious results of His substitutionary sacrifice. It is by faith we partake of it. Without it there is no life. In verse 53 He speaks of those who have accepted Him, partaken of His redemption purchased by the shedding of His blood, and therefore have life. In verses 54-56 He speaks of continuing in eating and drinking of Him. The believer must feed on Him. The eternal life we have can only be sustained, nourished and kept by Himself; hence must continue feeding on His dying love. Of this the Apostle speaks in His great confessions: “The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 11:20). Eating and drinking of Him, we become one with Him — ‘‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me and I in him.”

Verses 60-66. The Lord had finished His great synagogue address. ‘The final word reminded them once more of the great truth He had taught them, and also of the contrast between the manna given in the wilderness, and Himself, the living bread from heaven. ‘This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.”

And now we have before us the results which followed this wonderful teaching as to eternal life, as given and sustained by His sacrificial death. It is obvious that the “many disciples” who murmured and turned away from Him were not the twelve disciples. These did not murmur, though Judas, who betrayed Him, down in his heart, unbelieving as he was, probably also murmured. The disciples, not a few but many, were those who had followed Him, expecting that He would, as the Messiah, set up His kingdom of power and glory. With their carnal expectations they called themselves “‘his disciples” and followed in mass. They were of the same stamp as those mentioned in the closing verses of the second chapter. They are those who tried to take Him by force and make Him King (verse 15). Judas, with his covetous heart, followed with carnal expectations, but when it became evident that the Lord would not be King then, to satisfy his lust, he betrayed Him.

They said ‘This is a hard saying.” Hard, they meant, because it shattered their hopes; hard because it was repellent. They did not believe what He said as to the need of receiving eternal life; they were stumbled by His declaration that this life can only be received and nourished by eating and drinking of Him. Instead of bowing to His teaching, and they had followed Him as a teacher, they refused to accept it. It was so contrary to their natural opinions and carnal hope. And our Lord, the omniscient One, knew in Himself all about their thoughts and murmurings. He did not need to listen to their excited utterances amongst themselves for “He knew what was in man.”

If they were offended at His teaching, what would they say, if finally they should see the Son of Man ascending into heaven, where He was before He came to earth? This is an important statement which we must not lightly pass over. They had murmured when He declared that He came down from heaven. Then they had murmured when He spoke about eating His flesh. And now He speaks of the same body which He had taken on in incarnation as Son of Man, the same body which He would give for the life of the world on the cross. And in this body, as Son of Man, He would in time ascend into heaven. ‘This anticipates both His physical resurrection, and His bodily ascension into glory. It answers the deniers of a physical resurrection and a physical ascension of our Lord. The body the Son of God took on in incarnation, that prepared body, called into existence by a creative act of the Holy Spirit, the body which hung on the cross, which died and was buried — that same body is now at the right hand of God. He is there as the glorified Son of Man, and in that body He will some day return to earth. Nor must we overlook the strong testimony our Lord bears once more as to His Deity. He declares that the place where He goes after His passion is the place where He was before. No Unitarian, Russellite nor others can explain this word of our Lord, for it is His unanswerable testimony as to His pre-existence.

When next our Lord says “it is the Spirit that quickeneth” He means the Holy Spirit. Inasmuch as His words are spiritual, the Spirit of God uses them to quicken the spiritually dead and thus He gives life. The flesh profiteth nothing. Much has been written on these statements of our Lord which is incorrect. That He means the Holy Spirit, and His work in imparting the eternal life to the believer, is in full harmony with the rest of the teachings of our Lord in this Gospel. Eternal Life and the Holy Spirit cannot be separated.

And while He spoke He read every heart. He knew that some believed not; as He looked upon the twelve, He knew that Judas would soon betray Him. But their unbelief, rejecting Him and His words, was but a confirmation of the words He had spoken before unto them, that “no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” And this was more than a confirmation, it was His comfort and His joy, as they turned away from Him, and no longer followed Him, that all whom the Father had given to Him would come to Him and be His own.

Verses 67-71. They are all gone. What a scene it must have been, as they left with murmuring lips that synagogue in Capernaum, and then formed, probably, their groups to continue their heated discussion outside. He is alone with the twelve. What loving look He must have given them as He asked “‘Will ye also go away?” He knew, of course, what they would do; for His own information He needed not to ask the question. But His loving heart yearned even then for an expression of their trust in Him. And Peter answered for the rest. His impulsive nature, so sympathetic and aggressive, bursts forth in the blessed question, which thousands upon thousands of the Saints of God have repeated — “To whom shall we go?” He expressed thus in deepest feeling his conviction that if they left Him too, there would not be another One like Him to go to. To know Him, to believe on Him, to trust Him, to follow Him, to walk in His fellowship is the most blessed experience of human life. And if Christ were given up to whom can the hungry soul of man go to find its need supplied? There are many who offer something apart from Christ. But “there is none but Christ that satisfies.” There is nothing in the wide world which satisfies, but Christ only.

Once more we quote Dr. Lyman Abbott’s words. He says in his comment on Peter’s question — “To go away from Christ is to go out even here into the darkness; unto loneliness, hopelessness, despair.”” How unspeakably sad it is! The man who wrote these words which ring true has gone away from Christ and “gone out even here into the darkness,” for in the closing pages of his autobiography he bears witness to this fact.

Peter’s confession which follows his question is twofold. First a confession that He has words of eternal life, and then the confession of His person, ‘““Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” No other lips had ever spoken of eternal life as the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ did. Peter, believing on Him, had believed His words and he knew that eternal life, of which the Lord had spoken. Then follows the noble confession of his faith in Him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But while Peter was the spokesman for the twelve, the Lord knew that in the little company there was one who was a devil. He spoke of Judas Iscariot. He had chosen him, as He had chosen the others. But this does not mean ‘“‘unto salvation.”? Some have argued that the betrayer of our Lord was also a gift of the Father to the Son, and that the Lord Jesus chose him for salvation. ‘Those who give this view argue “‘that Christ’s selecting, and the Father’s giving and drawing, do not exclude final falling away.” If this were true there would be an irreconcilable clash between the Lord’s actions and His words, for later He teaches that His sheep, those given to Him by the Father, shall in no wise perish.

The choosing of Judas means that the Lord had chosen him for the office of an apostle. He had selected him for that office, knowing at the same time that this man would do the work which the prophetic Word in the Old Testament had foreseen and announced. Judas never was a true disciple; he had never believed on Jesus as Peter believed, “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord called him “a devil,” for he was an unsaved man, and as such linked with the author of sin and death.