Skeptics & the Sovereign Saviour – John’s Gospel chapter 6, verses 41 to 59
Who Do Some Believe and Others Don’t?
Hearing the same message – “I am the bread of life”? Yet God’s plan cannot be thwarted.
Grumbling Skeptics
41 At this the Jews [that is, the Jewish religious leaders] there began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42 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”?’ 43 ‘Stop grumbling among yourselves,’ Jesus answered.
John 6:41-43
“We know who you [really] are!” He did not match their expectations. Jesus tells them to stop grumbling.
The Sovereignty of God in Salvation
4 ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 6:44
A condition must be met. God does the drawing; He must take the first step. Without this we would all still be grumbling skeptics, blind by nature, wanting the gifts but not the Giver. “His compulsion is our liberation” C.S. Lewis, “Surprised by Joy.
The Hard Saying
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’
John 6:46-51
He makes the matter of controversy greater. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” He repeats this over and over, that there be no mistake of His identify. ‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood, and I will raise him up at the last day’, His metaphor for looking to Jesus and believing in Him.
So stop grumbling and start praying
Pray for Him to open your eyes to see and understand. Then to …
- Live humbly
- Live confidently
- Live thankfully and joyfully
