“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”—John 6:35.

After partaking of the miraculously provided supper, the multitude, evidently according to their habit, lay down in the fields, wrapping themselves in their outer garments. Indeed, this is even today a prevailing custom in Palestine with the poorer people when on a journey. In the morning they looked about for their benefactor, evidently expecting to find Jesus in the same vicinity, and no doubt also expecting that he would miraculously provide for their breakfast. However, not finding him nor the boat in which the disciples had come they journeyed onward towards Jerusalem, but still on the lookout for the reputed Messiah. When finally they came upon the Lord and his company they told of their search-and our lesson for today begins with our Lord’s reply, You seek me not because of the miracle, but because of the satisfactory and free supper which you received. Here we perceive the wisdom of the Lord in not pressing matters too earnestly. He preached no sermon when he performed the miracle, but allowed it to have its effect; now instead of working another miracle, he preached a sermon, using his miracle as a text.

His reproof was not harsh, although it was quite pointed: Strive not for the food which perisheth, but for that kind which will produce everlasting life . This is the kind which the Son of man is preparing to give unto you, for Him the Father, even God, hath sealed, indicated, marked as his appointed channel for blessing. The lesson contained in these words is obvious, it is as applicable today as then…

Our Lord would have his hearers, including all his followers down through the age, note this message from his lips: that although the meat that perisheth is necessary under present conditions, those who are his followers will remember that their heavenly Father knoweth that they have need of these and will not suffer them to come to serious want. Thus being without anxious care for  the  bread that perisheth they might turn their entire attention not to earthly  but heavenly ambitions-the noblest, the grandest of all they might aspire to; because such blessed children come within the range of divine blessing of life everlasting. The meat, the food that would develop in them such an ambition and lead to its satisfaction, would be food indeed and well worthy of every exertion to obtain it.

What Shall We Do?

The discourse had its effect; the people realized that they were leading comparatively aimless lives, or that their aims were earthly and therefore would perish with their dying, and they asked the Lord what kind of work or labor he meant they should perform to secure the food that would bring the divine favor and gain them eternal life. What do you mean by works that would please God? This is just the point that Jesus wished to bring them to and that he wished to answer. He replied that the work for them to do at once was to exercise faith in him as the Sent of God-the Messiah. They replied, What reason have we to think of you as the Messiah? Work for us some conclusive sign that will prove that you are Messiah and we will believe. The fact that you fed five thousand of us last evening with five loaves and two small fishes does not prove your Messia hshi p. Messiah is to be like Moses, only greater than Moses, and the miracle you performed is not as great as some that Moses performed. You furnished five thousand one meal and had the loaves and fishes to start with, but Moses fed our fathers for years in the wilderness without any bread as a start. The manna which he provided came down from heaven; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” They were good reasoners in some respects—they were not going to be too easily converted, they wished to be thoroughly convinced before they would believe Jesus to be the Messiah; they had heard of others who had been deceived by false Messiahs; they were intending to stick close to the Scriptural record and to see that the one they would accept as Messiah must be greater than Moses, able to feed them and all the people every day—and with bread superior to that which Moses gave in the wilderness.

Then it was Jesus’ turn to expound his teaching and to show that the comparison as between himself and Moses was not as to who would give a finer kind of earthly food and more of it, but that he would give a heavenly food, a spiritual food,  which  would  secure  to them  a heavenly life. He therefore called attention first of all to their  mistake in thinking the giving of the  manna to be the work of Moses, saying plainly, It was not Moses that gave the bread from  heaven,  but my Father; do not  credit that to the  wrong source.  Moses was  indeed  an  honored  servant of the Lord as the Lawgiver of Israel, but he neither gave the  manna  nor  sent  it. My  Father who sent the manna in the wilderness has now sent another kind of bread, another kind of food, another kind of manna from heaven —not literal but symbolical. The bread which God is now about to send to his people, also comes down from heaven and  is intended  to  be the  Bread  of life for the whole world—not merely day by day for a few years, but for life everlasting.

“Evermore Give Us This Bread”

The lessons were going home to their hearts, as we know by their reply, “Lord, evermore give  us this Bread.” We  note the similarity of expression  here with that used  by the Samaritan woman to whom the Lord mentioned the gift of life under the figure of the water of life— “Evermore give me this water.” The answers in both  cases  show us the  longings  of the  people of that time, both Jews and Samaritans, for something superior to what they  had.  As the  poet has declared, “There are longings infinite in the human mind” —longings for life eternal. From remote times history tells us of how people in every clime have sought for health-springs and health-foods that thus they might have a longer continuance of the present life and,  if possible, an annulment of death entirely. All realize that this has not yet been attained, and the war still goes on. It is on the strength of such  longings of the  soul  for continued  life that  patent medicines thrive. We are glad that there  is such a longing  in the  human  mind  for a perpetuation of life; it becomes, as in this case and in the case of the Samaritan woman,  a basis for further investigation for the eternal life which the Lord proffered.

Our Lord replied, “I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Again our Lord’s words would undoubtedly be beyond the depth of the people’s understanding. We can imagine their consternation, and to assist us in sympathizing with them we should remember that they were not Spirit begotten, because Pentecost had not yet come, “the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”—John 7:39. Indeed, we find that this question is a very abstruse one [hard to understand] with many of the Lord’s people today, and few comprehend it with any clearness except the Spirit-begotten. Let us make the matter as plain as possible by continuing the investigation of the context. Therein Jesus explains that he himself had come down from heaven—not merely like the manna from the clouds, but from heaven itself,  having  laid  aside the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, having humbled himself to an exchange of his previous spirit nature for the earthly nature in which he was then addressing them—the man Christ Jesus. However, they could not eat  him while he was  alive,  nor could they even understand what he meant when he said, “My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed,”—John 6:55, and they reasoned Will this man  give  us  his flesh  to eat?  Is that what he means? The lesson was too  deep for them;  but, thank God,  not too  deep for us.  As then some of the disciples forsook Jesus and walked no more with him, saying, “This is a hard saying, who can receive it?” so today here are some who cannot receive this teaching, which is the fundamental one of the Gospel of Christ. Whoever  cannot  receive this lesson  cannot receive the other lessons which are built upon it. Our  Lord further explained,  “My flesh  I will give for the life of the world.” He had not yet given his flesh, though he was in the process of giving it; he was drawing out its vitality, its strength, in their service, but would complete the work of his sacrifice by surrendering his all to death—even the death of the cross. This he did later.

“We Eat His Flesh”

We do not eat the flesh of Jesus literally—we eat it by faith; that is to say, we appropriate by faith to ourselves the merit, the efficacy which was in his flesh and which he  surrendered  to death on our behalf. Why was this, and what did he surrender, and how do we partake of it?

We answer that Adam as the head of the race had forfeited his life through disobedience and hence, instead of being able to propagate a race of perfect beings in harmony with God and privileged to have eternal life, his offspring was like himself, dying, unworthy of eternal life. In God’s arrangement a redemptive sacrifice was necessary—someone must take Adam’s place, suffer death for him in order to release him and  to justify  his  race from  the  original  sentence. No human being could be found who was perfect and who could give to justice a ransom for his brother—for all were sinners, coming short of the glory,  the  perfection,  which  God  recognizes as essential to eternal life. It was to meet these requirements that God made the arrangement with his Son by which the latter freely, gladly, for the joy set before him, died, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. —1 Peter 3:18. So, then, it was our Lord’s flesh or human nature that was given for Adam and his race, and hence given for the life of the world, that the world of mankind might be recovered from under the sentence  of death.  Thus Jesus,  by the grace of God, tasted death for every man and we are all redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood (life) of Christ, as a lamb without spot or blemish.—1 Peter 1:18, 19.

We see, says one, how it was necessary for Christ to be made flesh and how it was  necessary for him to give his flesh for the life of the world by going into death, but how shall we eat  his flesh? is the question. Ah, we answer, the matter, as put in the figurative form is beautifully simple and meaningful when we understand it. The eating of the Lord’s flesh  must  be an individual matter on the part of all those who would benefit by his sacrifice. The eating represents the appropriating by faith. Thus, when one comes to an understanding of the fact of the redemption and believes therein and goes to God in prayer and by faith accepts the forgiveness of his sins and reconciliation with God,  he  in so  doing  is eating the flesh  of the Son of man; he is partaking of those benefits or advantages which our  Lord’s flesh  or sacrifice secured.

Justified By Our “Eating”

The result of such eating by faith signifies the appropriation to one’s self of all the blessings and privileges which our Lord possessed as a perfect man; it implies our justification  on the human plane, our relationship to God as those whose sins are graciously overlooked or covered and who have joy and peace and fellowship with God through faith in the precious  blood. We  are to continue to eat that we may grow stronger and stronger—that we may be able to appropriate more and more the wonderful blessings and privileges, (relationships), and divine favors that belonged to our Lord, but which he surrendered on our  behalf and  on  behalf of all the members of Adam’s race. Additionally, those who are rightly influenced by the eating— those who are drawn nearer to the Lord and led to a full consecration of their all to him—these receive a special invitation during this Gospel age to drink of his blood. The blood is the life in Scriptural language, and hence ordinarily the Jews were  not to drink  blood;  to  do so would make them guilty or responsible for the death of the person or creature. Thus the Jews  said of our Lord, “His blood be upon us”—we assume the responsibility of his death.

The Apostle also explains that those who partake of the blood of Christ symbolically in the communion cup are symbolically representing themselves as being guilty of the blood of Christ, guilty of the death of Christ—unless they partake of it with the  proper, the  intended signification.  What is that intended  signification?  We answer that our  Lord  stated the matter   at the Last Supper, saying to his disciples, “This is the cup of the New Covenant in my  blood- drink ye all of it.”—Matthew26:27. This cup of the fruit of the vine represents my blood,  my death; by it the New Covenant will eventually be sealed, and I invite you who believe on me to partake of this with me, to partake of this not as those who caused my death, but as those who voluntarily gave up their own lives and joined with me in this death, in this self-sacrifice. As you partake of this cup with me it signifies that you lay down your lives as I laid down mine and that you become participants with me in this cup which speaks, which means the great sacrifice, the great life given through which the  New Covenant will  be established,  under which all  the families of the earth will be blessed.

So then, under the guidance of the  Holy Spirit through the words of the Apostle,  we  may see a depth of meaning in our Lord’s words which the people whom he addressed did not comprehend. Indeed, we believe that while our Lord addressed these words to the Jews he intended them more particularly for us to whom they have been communicated and by whom they have been more fully understood. We rejoice, then, in the justification which we have through partaking of his flesh—through being justified by the sacrifice of his humanity—our appropriation of our share of human justification. We rejoice also that eventually the whole world shall be privileged to eat of that flesh—to accept the grace of God in the cancellation of their human sins and weaknesses, and to realize that all those blessings of restitution times, the blessings of the Millennium, will come to them because  Christ died for their sins,  because  he gave to them his flesh to eat. The whole world is to eat of that Bread  and,  as the Apostle intimates, the church is now privileged to be a part  with  the  Lord  in the  Loaf that  is being broken, as well as to be participants in the cup of ignominy and self-sacrifice which the Father poured for him and which he permits us to share with him—for if we suffer with  him,  we  shall also reign with him, if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him, if we drink of his cup we shall also share in his joys in the kingdom by and by.—2 Timothy 2:12.

Whom the Father Giveth Shall Come

The multitude who had eaten of the bread the night before, and who now had received the explanation respecting the higher food necessary to eternal life, did not believe, although they recognized Jesus as a very wonderful personage indeed, and probably, like another multitude, were ready to declare, “Never man spake like this man.”—John  7:46.  Was  our  Lord disconcerted and disappointed because these thousands of Israel, heirs of the  promises, received him not, heeded not his message? Nay, verily!  Nor  should  we  his followers think strange of it that in this harvest time the divine message should be incomprehensible to the great majority of the household of faith of our time. We read nothing of our Lord’s becoming excited to a frenzy and appealing to the people and teaching them that they were about to fall into an eternity of torture if they did not receive  him. We  read  nothing about the  apostles going out amongst them and urging them to a mourner’s  bench.  Quite to the  contrary of all this. Jesus evidently expected that few would believe; he even turned to his disciples and said, “Will ye also go away?” They answered, No, to whom should we go? From you we have the message of eternal life which comes from nowhere  else.  Master,  we will  stand  by you;  we could not do otherwise, our every interest is bound up in this glorious message which we have heard from your lips. We are ready to die with you, to drink of your cup.

Instead of manifesting any disturbance our Lord said to the multitude, This is what I told you before; ye have seen me, ye have believed not. Why? Because ye are not of the flock of sheep whom  my  Father hath given  me to lead  at the present time.  Other sheep  I have which  are  not of this flock; by and by I will attend to them. But now “All that the  Father  hath given  me shall come to me; and him that cometh  to  me  I will  in no wise  cast out” —reject.  What  is this  if not an election, a selection? How much in harmony it is with what our Lord  uttered  in his prayer on the night before his crucifixion, “I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me…that they all may be one; as thou, Father art  in  me and  I in thee, that they also  may be one in us; that the world may [then later] believe that thou  hast sent  me!”—John  17:9,  21.  As our Lord was not expecting all to come to him and to accept of his gracious offer and God’s gracious provision in him and thus to be justified through eating his flesh, so he could not  expect either that many would go on still further and make the  consecration  to walk  in  his  steps  in the narrow way and thus be partakers of his cup and prospective joint-heirs with him. These in all, from first to last, are but a little flock, but a very blessed little flock to whom, as the Master declared, the Father will give the kingdom.—Luke 12:32.  When they shall  be changed  and  are like their Master and shall receive the kingdom power and glory and dominion—then will come through that kingdom the overthrow of the prince of darkness, the prince of this world; the overthrow of sin and the work of blessing, enlightening, and uplifting all the poor world of mankind who are not now called and drawn by the Father!

Note our Lord’s words in this connection “No man can  come  unto  me  except the  Father which sent me draw him.”—John 6:44. There is an exclusiveness  about this:  the time  had  not yet come, mentioned in Revelation, when the water of life shall flow freely, and whosoever will may come.—Revelation 22:17. That glorious time belongs to the Millennial Kingdom and not to the present time, which is devoted to the election or selection of the Bride class of joint-heirs which the Father is now drawing, calling, and sealing.  Mark the distinctive difference  between this drawing of the present time by the Father and that later drawing  of the  Millennial  age, which will not be by the Father but by the Son, and which will not be exclusive but inclusive, including all mankind. Fiearken to our Master’s words to this effect, that “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men  unto  me.”—John  12:32. All  men  are  not yet drawn to the  Lord.  Why?  Because the lifting up is not yet complete. The Flead was lifted up not  only at  Calvary  but was subsequently highly exalted as a reward, and the members of his body,  the  members  of the Bride class who follow in his steps, must finish their course and also be highly exalted as his joint-heirs before the lifting-up process will be complete.

With that glorious “change” of the first resurrection, the Millennial  Kingdom will  be ushered in and during that wonderful reign of righteousness, that shining forth of the sun of light and truth for the blessing of the world, all mankind will be drawn away from sin  and  selfishness, away from sickness, pain and sorrow, away from everything that is evil, toward the lord,  that they may partake of his flesh indeed and have eternal life with all the blessings of restitution which God has provided through the great  Redeemer.  We  are  not  in this teaching Universalism, for as many of those who are called and drawn now to be of the Bride class can, and many do, resist the drawings, or as the Apostle says “receive the grace of God in vain,” so it will be possible to resist the drawings of the Millennial age, as is pointed out in the Scriptures in various statements, of which this may suffice: “It shall come to pass that the soul  that will  not hear [obey] that Prophet, shall be destroyed from amongst the people” —in the second death, without hope of any recovery—Acts 3:23. Note again the Lord’s promise to these  Elect ones whom the Father now draws and who now come and feed upon  our  Lord’s flesh  and who  drink of his cup, his blood, and participate with  him  in his  sacrifice.  Their hope  is stated  in these words, “I will raise him up at the last day.”  The  last  day the great  seventh  day,  the  Millennial day. Ah, yes! We remember it is written  respecting the church, the  bride class,  “God shall  help her right early in the morning” —Psalms 46:5—the morning of that Millennial day. The six days, epochs of one-thousand years each, from Adam have passed,  the  seventh  is already dawning and the time is near at hand when the bride,  all  glorious,  shall  be  presented to the great King, the Father, by the great King, his Son, our Lord—”with gladness and  rejoicing shall  she  be brought: they shall enter into the King’s palace.”—Psalms 45:15.

“I Will In No Wise Cast Out”

How glad we are that our dear Master added these words. Without them we might have doubted the efficacy of the calling and drawing which we receive; and  some  might  have  said, Yes, I was indeed drawn, but evidently the Lord Jesus did not count  me  worthy of a place amongst his followers. He here  assures  us that the  drawing  of the  Father which  brings  us to him with a desire to be his disciples will insure for us his aid, his succor, his assistance, his acceptance. Thus we may know that  if we fail  of the grace of God  now provided for  us  in the high calling, it will be our own fault, because of failure to give heed to the voice of the Shepherd and to walk  in his steps. R 4146 (1908)