John 6:41-51
41 At this the Jews 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.
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. 45 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'[Isa 54:13] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 I tell you the truth; he who believes has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Observations for Living Today:
The crowd saw and heard amazing things the last two days. They were impressed enough to try and make Jesus a king; nothing could keep them from following Him where ever He went, because they knew God was doing something incredible. And yet they called into question the truth of what He said when He referenced His origins—the place He came from. All they could hear and see was a man, the son of a couple they all knew, saying and doing things no one has ever done, telling them a truth they could not or did not want to understand. What was so hard to reconcile? Why was understanding the truth so elusive?
Specifically, they were confused by, “it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:32, 33, 51). Jesus is moving from known to unknown, from understanding human things of this world to comprehending spiritual things of the heavenly realm. Remember, the crowd was asking for a sign, suggesting He feed them like their forefather’s had been fed with manna.
So He told them plainly, that’s what He was doing! He was not suggesting he was going to turn into a loaf of bread, or they were going to actually eat his flesh, or He was going to institute a magic ritual where bread turns into the flesh of a man to be eaten. He simply told them He came from God in Heaven and He was giving them the living food/bread God provides so they would be able to live forever. Jesus feeds the world the truth in a way anyone looking for truth can understand.
Jesus came from God, was with God in the beginning, being Himself the same as God with an equality we cannot understand, and in accordance with God’s plan, gave up whatever that equality was to reveal God’s purpose to the world and restore those who really believe what God says (Jn 1:1; Phil 2:6). Jesus made visible to the world the unseen/invisible part of God in a way everyone could understand (Ro 1:18-20; Col 1:15-20); He was, is and will be forever, “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3). Jesus, the son of the heavenly Father, to become the living bread of God from heaven, gave up the glory of God that overwhelms the human senses of man when he comes into God’s presence and begins to comprehend the awesome reality that is God. Just as the manna of God sustained physically the Israelites in their wilderness journey, so we are now fed spiritually by Jesus during our wilderness journey—if we only accept what God said is true.
While this teaching was hard to follow when delivered by Jesus, it was then and is now not impossible to believe. The hardening of Israel’s heart spoken of by Jesus (Mt 13:10-17; Mk 4:9-13; Isa 6:10) and Paul (Ro 11:7, 25) happened according to God’s plan, but so did the fact that each man who had the opportunity to see and hear Jesus could have believed He was the Son of God. Examples of some who did believe: Nicodemus and Joseph both dissenting members of the Sanhedrin (Jn 7:50-52; 19:38-42; Mt 27:57-61; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-54); many people from the crowd in the Temple court in Jerusalem (Jn 8:28-32); a man born blind (Jn 9:29-34); as well many of the Jews at Lazarus’ funeral (Jn 11:45-46); and the Apostles and disciples who followed Jesus everywhere He went, who like Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha (Jn 11:27) confessed they believed He was who He said He was.
What confused the crowd? A man’s mindset or cognitive bias plays an important part in every decision he makes. When trusting one’s own judgment on spiritual matters, one must recognize the reality understood by Jesus and Paul. Jesus said a man’s refusal to come into the light of His truth was due to fear his evil deeds would be exposed (Jn 3:20). Paul wrote God’s wrath was being reveal to the world due to man’s suppression of truth, which brought with it a natural result of darkened/futile thinking (Ro 1:18; Eph 4:18). Those who argue (disagree/interpret incorrectly) with God do so at great risk. They face the same peril Adam, Eve and Cain experienced: if you do not believe God, you will lose much more than you are trying to gain. There is only one reality and it is based on absolute truth—everything not of God will disappear when evil is exposed and rebellion is removed from our experience. There is only one reality and it is found in God’s truth, which is revealed in His Son.
Reality in Christ:
Here are some believable facts spoken by God to a large crowd of mostly uneducated people, which means they required no special ability or additional training to believe what was being said. And just as when God spoke to Adam and Eve saying, “If you eat of the tree I command you not too eat you will die,” these words of Jesus are also absolute facts:
< No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. >
God is actively providing mankind a path back to a full relationship with Him (Eze 34; 37; Rv 7).
< It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' >
God is the only effective teacher (Isa 54:13; Jer 31:30-34; Heb 8-10).
< Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. >
Only those who listen and learn from God will recognize the truth and follow Jesus (Mt 7:21; Jn 10:3).
< No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.>
There is only one who has seen God (Jn 1:18; Heb 1).
< I tell you the truth; he who believes [what I tell you] has everlasting life. >
Adam did not believe the word God spoke, so he ate and began to die immediately; those who believe Jesus have already begun to live forever and will avoid the second death (Rv 2:8-11; 20:4-21:8).
< I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. >
God is feeding those He is leading through the wilderness and out of captivity (I Cor 10:11; Isa 55).
< This bread is my flesh [body], which I will give for the life of the world. >
God’s purpose is being accomplished through the body of Christ (Heb 10:5, 10, 20); those who believe what He said, participate in His sacrifice, His suffering, His nature, and His glory (1 Cor 10:18; 1 Pe 4:13; 2 Pe 1:4; Jn 17:22
As you consider the reality of the facts above, do not forget what Paul and Peter wrote telling us about who we are and in whom our reality is based.
Hebrews 12:25-29
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire.”
2 Peter 3:1-16
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
41 At this the Jews 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.
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. 45 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'[Isa 54:13] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 I tell you the truth; he who believes has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Observations for Living Today:
The crowd saw and heard amazing things the last two days. They were impressed enough to try and make Jesus a king; nothing could keep them from following Him where ever He went, because they knew God was doing something incredible. And yet they called into question the truth of what He said when He referenced His origins—the place He came from. All they could hear and see was a man, the son of a couple they all knew, saying and doing things no one has ever done, telling them a truth they could not or did not want to understand. What was so hard to reconcile? Why was understanding the truth so elusive?
Specifically, they were confused by, “it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:32, 33, 51). Jesus is moving from known to unknown, from understanding human things of this world to comprehending spiritual things of the heavenly realm. Remember, the crowd was asking for a sign, suggesting He feed them like their forefather’s had been fed with manna.
So He told them plainly, that’s what He was doing! He was not suggesting he was going to turn into a loaf of bread, or they were going to actually eat his flesh, or He was going to institute a magic ritual where bread turns into the flesh of a man to be eaten. He simply told them He came from God in Heaven and He was giving them the living food/bread God provides so they would be able to live forever. Jesus feeds the world the truth in a way anyone looking for truth can understand.
Jesus came from God, was with God in the beginning, being Himself the same as God with an equality we cannot understand, and in accordance with God’s plan, gave up whatever that equality was to reveal God’s purpose to the world and restore those who really believe what God says (Jn 1:1; Phil 2:6). Jesus made visible to the world the unseen/invisible part of God in a way everyone could understand (Ro 1:18-20; Col 1:15-20); He was, is and will be forever, “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3). Jesus, the son of the heavenly Father, to become the living bread of God from heaven, gave up the glory of God that overwhelms the human senses of man when he comes into God’s presence and begins to comprehend the awesome reality that is God. Just as the manna of God sustained physically the Israelites in their wilderness journey, so we are now fed spiritually by Jesus during our wilderness journey—if we only accept what God said is true.
While this teaching was hard to follow when delivered by Jesus, it was then and is now not impossible to believe. The hardening of Israel’s heart spoken of by Jesus (Mt 13:10-17; Mk 4:9-13; Isa 6:10) and Paul (Ro 11:7, 25) happened according to God’s plan, but so did the fact that each man who had the opportunity to see and hear Jesus could have believed He was the Son of God. Examples of some who did believe: Nicodemus and Joseph both dissenting members of the Sanhedrin (Jn 7:50-52; 19:38-42; Mt 27:57-61; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-54); many people from the crowd in the Temple court in Jerusalem (Jn 8:28-32); a man born blind (Jn 9:29-34); as well many of the Jews at Lazarus’ funeral (Jn 11:45-46); and the Apostles and disciples who followed Jesus everywhere He went, who like Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha (Jn 11:27) confessed they believed He was who He said He was.
What confused the crowd? A man’s mindset or cognitive bias plays an important part in every decision he makes. When trusting one’s own judgment on spiritual matters, one must recognize the reality understood by Jesus and Paul. Jesus said a man’s refusal to come into the light of His truth was due to fear his evil deeds would be exposed (Jn 3:20). Paul wrote God’s wrath was being reveal to the world due to man’s suppression of truth, which brought with it a natural result of darkened/futile thinking (Ro 1:18; Eph 4:18). Those who argue (disagree/interpret incorrectly) with God do so at great risk. They face the same peril Adam, Eve and Cain experienced: if you do not believe God, you will lose much more than you are trying to gain. There is only one reality and it is based on absolute truth—everything not of God will disappear when evil is exposed and rebellion is removed from our experience. There is only one reality and it is found in God’s truth, which is revealed in His Son.
Reality in Christ:
Here are some believable facts spoken by God to a large crowd of mostly uneducated people, which means they required no special ability or additional training to believe what was being said. And just as when God spoke to Adam and Eve saying, “If you eat of the tree I command you not too eat you will die,” these words of Jesus are also absolute facts:
< No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. >
God is actively providing mankind a path back to a full relationship with Him (Eze 34; 37; Rv 7).
< It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' >
God is the only effective teacher (Isa 54:13; Jer 31:30-34; Heb 8-10).
< Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. >
Only those who listen and learn from God will recognize the truth and follow Jesus (Mt 7:21; Jn 10:3).
< No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.>
There is only one who has seen God (Jn 1:18; Heb 1).
< I tell you the truth; he who believes [what I tell you] has everlasting life. >
Adam did not believe the word God spoke, so he ate and began to die immediately; those who believe Jesus have already begun to live forever and will avoid the second death (Rv 2:8-11; 20:4-21:8).
< I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. >
God is feeding those He is leading through the wilderness and out of captivity (I Cor 10:11; Isa 55).
< This bread is my flesh [body], which I will give for the life of the world. >
God’s purpose is being accomplished through the body of Christ (Heb 10:5, 10, 20); those who believe what He said, participate in His sacrifice, His suffering, His nature, and His glory (1 Cor 10:18; 1 Pe 4:13; 2 Pe 1:4; Jn 17:22
As you consider the reality of the facts above, do not forget what Paul and Peter wrote telling us about who we are and in whom our reality is based.
Hebrews 12:25-29
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire.”
2 Peter 3:1-16
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
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