Jesus took on flesh and gave His flesh so that we might have life. In Him was life (John 1:4). John wrote his gospel so that we might behold the glory of Jesus, believe in Him and have life in His name (John 20:31). Our study in the Gospel of John has brought us to chapter 6 and John’s account of Jesus offering Himself to men as the bread of life. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). He is living bread.

Jesus offered “living water” to the woman at the well in Sychar (John 4:10). Now He’s offering “living bread” (verse 51). Living water would quench a forever thirst, living bread satisfies a forever hunger.

But Jesus’ audience wasn’t buying, or eating or believing. It started for most of this crowd the day before on the other side of the Sea when Jesus turned a little snack into a 10,000+ person meal with leftovers (John 6:1-15). Many of the bread eaters followed Him back to Capernaum and were seeking more provisions (John 6:22ff).

They didn’t like Jesus’ answers so much that they “grumbled about him” (verse 41). After this round of complaining (verses 41-51) they will start quarreling (verses 52-59). Nevertheless, Jesus is offering them something good, something vital, and they don’t want it.

In verse 43 we saw that Jesus gave them an odd imperative. The command seems odd since He knew why they couldn’t believe, which He explained in verse 44. Why did He tell them to stop grumbling when He knew that they needed outside help in order to understand what He was saying? I think it’s because they weren’t paying attention. Jesus wasn’t telling them to calm down as much as He was telling them to wake up and deal with Him.

Then He explained the irresistible attraction in verse 44. It is an expanded version of verse 37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” The point is that God must initiate or no man will come.

Men don’t have a knowing problem. The truth is out there, especially in the case of this group of grumblers, since the Truth was standing right in front of them. Men have a wanting problem. They are hungry but have no taste for Jesus. They don’t want Him. Only the Father, by the work of the Spirit (think new birth from chapter 3) can give men a taste. Then they will want Jesus, then they will come to Him.

God draws men and His drawing is:

• active, not passive
• initiating, not merely inviting
• decisive, not dependent on men

God’s work is the decisive difference between a man who eats the bread and a man who won’t. Both are hungry but only one has a taste. The other grumbles.

Divine want-changing is an old promise. Jesus refers to the “Prophets” and then paraphrases Isaiah 54:13 in verse 45 and it’s an idea found in numerous Old Testament passages. The Jews had God’s law but could not perform it all. They had the sacrifices God prescribed but that couldn’t keep them from sinning. They saw God’s miraculous deliverances and provisions but that didn’t make them faithful. They needed new hearts. The New Covenant promised just that.

And we saw in the second half of verse 45 and into verse 46 that the new hearts always recognize Jesus and His Father. Men can’t claim that God is directly working in their hearts if disconnected from the Son because only the Son “has seen the Father” and can bring us to the Father.

An Implicit Invitation (verse 47)

All along, even with their grumbling, everything they needed was right in front of them.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (John 6:47, ESV)

Jesus told them “Truly, truly” (verse 26) and then to “work for the food that endures to eternal life” (verse 27). He offered to give them “true bread from heaven” (verse 32) and the He explained the bread was a who, “I am the bread of life” (verse 35). “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life” (verse 40). This is what set them off.

Their fussing doesn’t stop Jesus. The fact that God must initiate does not mean that God doesn’t use invitations as instruments to draw men. He says again, ἀμὴν ἀμὴν, the one believing has life eternal . So, believe! Look that you get!

It seems to be a common misunderstanding about God’s sovereignty, namely that God plans the end apart from any means. But He never does. He plans the way and the tools and the people as well as the destination. If God predestined you to go to St. Louis, He also planned the car, gas, the Interstates, GPS, and so on. He also planned for you to want to go.

So, He plans (ordains, destines, predetermines) eternal life for His people. He will give them to His Son (verse 37). He will draw them to His Son (verse 44). He will also use invitations to believe proclaimed (here by Jesus Himself). He will use the powerful, but initially unobservable Spirit to bring men to believing (John 3:8). No man has eternal life who doesn’t believe. No man believes who hasn’t been “born of God” (John 1:13), and all the drawn are marked by believing.

And everyone who believes, no matter whoever believes, will have eternal life. “Whoever believes” (which is more truly “the one believing”) is only indefinite to us, from our perspective.

We don’t ask if you’ve been drawn, we ask if you believe. If you do believe we know you’ve been drawn. God has “taught” you (verse 45). We know that you wouldn’t behold and believe without God making the bread of life seem tasty. If you don’t believe, we point out Jesus’ invitation. He may use that to draw you.

A Repeated Contrast (verses 48-50)

Jesus makes His point again.

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. (John 6:48-50, ESV)

He said, “I am the bread of life” already in verse 35. He already told them that His Father gave “true bread from heaven” that was better than the manna their fathers ate in the wilderness (verse 31). As miraculous (and genuinely helpful) as the manna was, it was limited. He presses home their need for more, their need for Him.

Verse 49 is a concessive idea: Even though your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, they still died . The manna wasn’t a bread that could keep them from the worst kind of dying. That food was temporary and it was for their physical bodies. Jesus is offering a bread for the soul, a bread that keeps one from eternal death.

A Transitional Summary (verse 51)

Jesus summarizes and makes a significant addition while preparing us for the following section (verses 52-59).

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51, ESV)

Now He says He is the living bread rather than “the bread of life.” He is a food characterized by life. The bread gives life because He is life. Then He reads the package: the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh . The ingredients: His flesh. Distributed from: heaven. The effects of eating: eternal life.

First He said He would give bread (verse 27). Then He said He was the bread (verses 35 and 48 and 51). Now He says His flesh is the bread. This is the most intense, and personal, declaration yet.

When He says He will give He’s talking about His sacrifice. And this giving is voluntary (no one will require or force Him into it) and vicarious (it is on behalf of others) (Carson, 295). This giving is future tense, I will and the flesh means He would die. Not only did “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14), the Word will give His flesh for sake of life.

Conclusion

Commenting on verse 51, John Calvin wrote,

We all desire life, but in seeking it, we foolishly and improperly wander about in circuitous roads; and when it is offered, the greater part disdainfully reject it. For who is there that does not contrive for himself life out of Christ? And how few are there who are satisfied with Christ alone! (Calvin, 261)

Men don’t naturally want the bread of life. They are hungry, but being hungry is not spiritual death. Having no taste for Jesus is spiritual death. This is why it’s good news not only that those who come to Jesus will never die, but also that God will bring men to Jesus who otherwise would have remained forever in their death. It is good news that God changes hearts.

It’s important to keep repeating the truth to someone who keeps refusing to believe because God may use it to draw someone else within earshot to His Son. So, John believes this story will be used by God to draw men to Christ. It also reminds us who have been drawn that our life is in Him.