22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
Jesus the Bread of Life
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[a]”
32 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “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. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John MacArthur sums up these spiritual defectors this way....
They're drawn by the crowd, fascinated by the supernatural, think only of earthly things, have no desire for worship, seek personal prosperity, make demands on God, and aren't interested in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
They were just drawn by the crowd, by the miracles, by what Jesus could do for them not by what He could be to them. They didn't want to worship Him, instead they wanted Him to recreate the miracle over and over, like Moses did with manna in the desert. Only they got that wrong too - it wasn't Moses, it was God. They were spiritual defectors, not true believers.
Jesus gives us the offer of bread - of life and of relationship - but most will not receive it.
John Piper puts it this way....
the first section of the text ends with the gift of God rejected. God offers his bread—his Son—to his own people, and his own did not receive him. This is the way the saving purpose of God looks from the side of man and his responsibility. God offers his Son, and man is responsible to see and believe. But we don’t.
Has the saving purpose of God then failed?
No, it has not. And verses 37–40 make plain why. God is sovereign over the work of a person’s salvation, and he will not let his ultimate purposes for anyone fail....
God does not wait for his chosen ones to come to Jesus. If he did, they never would. He gives them to Jesus. He chooses them for his own. And he gives them to his Son....
Jesus does not say that because people come to Jesus and believe on Jesus, God therefore gives them to the Son. No. Those whom the Father gives to the Son, come to the Son. He secures their coming. He works their coming. He guarantees their coming. When you came to Christ, God brought you. When you believed, it was God opening your eyes. When Jesus was understandable to you, you didn’t make Jesus look all-satisfying to your heart. God did. And when he did, you came, freely, with all your resistance overcome....
Jesus will lose no one who comes to him. No one. If the Father gives us, and therefore we come to the Son, the Son will never lose us, or reject us....
Jesus will raise us from the dead on the last day...
Finally, the unshakeable foundation for all this sovereign work of God—his giving, our coming, his keeping, his raising—the unshakeable foundation of it all (mentioned three times lest we miss it!) is the will of God.....
Now we have seen both sections of this text. Verses 30–36, from the side of man and his responsibility, describe the offer of God to the world, and how the bread from heaven is rejected. Verses 37–40, from the side of God and his sovereignty, describe how God gives his chosen ones to Jesus so that they come, and how Jesus keeps them, and raises them from the dead according to God’s sovereign will. The first section describes an apparent failure, but the second section describes an invincible saving purpose.
And the basis of that invincible purpose is God’s sovereign will. It never, never, never fails.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 6:41-59
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