41---Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
42---They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”
43---Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
44---“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
45---“It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
46---“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47---“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48---“I am the bread of life.
49---“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50---“This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51---“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52---Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53---So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54---“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55---“For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56---“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57---“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58---“This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
59---These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
60---Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
61---But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?
62---“What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
63---“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
64---“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
65---And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
66---As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
67---So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”
68---Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
69---“We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
70---Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
71---Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
No one will come, till Divine grace has subdued, and in part changed his heart; therefore no one who comes will ever be cast out. The gospel finds none willing to be saved in the humbling, holy manner, made known therein; but God draws with his word and the Holy Ghost; and man's duty is to hear and learn; that is to say, to receive the grace offered, and consent to the promise. None had seen the Father but his beloved Son; and the Jews must expect to be taught by his inward power upon their minds, and by his word, and the ministers whom he sent among them.
The advantage of the manna was small, it only referred to this life; but the living Bread is so excellent, that the man who feedeth on it shall never die. This bread is Christ's human nature, which he took to present to the Father, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world; to purchase all things pertaining to life and godliness, for sinners of every nation, who repent and believe in him.
The flesh and blood of the Son of man, denote the Redeemer in the nature of man; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption; pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the way to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life. These are called the flesh and blood of Christ, because they are purchased by the breaking his body, and the shedding of his blood. Also, because they are meat and drink to our souls. Eating this flesh and drinking this blood mean believing in Christ.
We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith. The soul that rightly knows its state and wants, finds whatever can calm the conscience, and promote true holiness, in the redeemer, God manifest in the flesh. Meditating upon the cross of Christ gives life to our repentance, love, and gratitude. We live by him, as our bodies live by our food. We live by him, as the members by the head, the branches by the root: because he lives we shall live also.
The human nature of Christ had not before been in heaven, but being God and man, that wondrous Person was truly said to have come down from heaven. The Messiah's kingdom was not of this world; and they were to understand by faith, what he had said of a spiritual living upon him, and his fulness. As without the soul of man the flesh is of no value, so without the quickening Spirit of God all forms of religion are dead and worthless. He who made this provision for our souls, alone can teach us these things, and draw us unto Christ, that we may live by faith in him. Let us apply to Christ, thankful that it is declared that every one who is willing to come unto him shall be made welcome.
When we admit into our minds hard thoughts of the words and works of Jesus, we enter into temptation, which, if the Lord in mercy prevent not, will end in drawing back. The corrupt and wicked heart of man often makes that an occasion for offence, which is matter of the greatest comfort.
Our Lord had, in the foregoing discourse, promised eternal life to his followers; the disciples fastened on that plain saying, and resolved to cleave to him, when others fastened on hard sayings, and forsook him.
Christ's doctrine is the word of eternal life, therefore we must live and die by it. If we forsake Christ, we forsake our own mercies.
They believed that this Jesus was the Messiah promised to their fathers, the Son of the living God. When we are tempted to backslide or turn away, it is good to remember first principles, and to keep to them. And let us ever remember our Lord's searching question; Shall we go away and forsake our Redeemer? To whom can we go? He alone can give salvation by the forgiveness of sins. And this alone brings confidence, comfort, and joy, and bids fear and despondency flee away. It gains the only solid happiness in this world, and opens a way to the happiness of the next.
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