© Eric M Schumacher – Preached June 1, 2008 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Audio will be made available here.
Introduction
I AM the Bread of Life
Verse 34 reflects two errors on the part of the Jews. First, they still understand Jesus to be speaking of physical bread and not of himself. Second, their response, “give us this bread always,” indicates they believe the bread must be offered repeatedly.
Jesus corrects both these errors in verse 35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” In this statement, we learn that Jesus is the bread, the bread that needs only be given once.
To correct the first error, regarding the identity of the bread, Jesus plainly says, “I am the bread of life.” He does more than identify himself as bread. The phrase “I AM” is the first of seven “I AM” statements in John’s Gospel, through which Jesus identifies himself. It is an implicit claim to divinity. Jesus is showing that he is the God who revealed himself to Moses on Mt Sinai. The one whom Moses saw was the Word who became flesh and tabernacled amongst us.
To correct the second error, which was thinking that this bread, like manna, needs to be given again and again (always). Jesus points us to the enduring quality of what God provides through him. He says that the one who partakes of this bread “shall not hunger” and “shall never thirst.”
What is supplied through Jesus is eternal. This bread does not need to be resupplied every morning as the manna had to be in the wilderness. Jesus will speak of “eternal life” and a resurrection on the “last day.”
This too has Old Testament allusions. The invitation extended in Isaiah 55:1-2 was “eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” And the day of salvation described in Isaiah 49:8-10 is a day in which “they shall not hunger or thirst” because the shepherd will feed them.
Jesus is claiming, with this offer of eternal satisfaction, that the day of salvation long promised has arrived in him. And, indeed, it has. For we read in Revelation 7:14-17 that those who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb…shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore” because “the Lamb…will be their shepherd.”
So how does one gain this satisfaction from this bread?
Jesus speaks of hunger and thirst, but not of eating and drinking. Rather, he speaks of coming to him and believing in him.
So what does it mean then to “come to” Jesus and “believe” in him? The idea of coming to Jesus means bringing your whole needy person to him, trusting that what he has to offer is sufficient to satisfy.
This is what Revelation 7 refers to as washing your robe and making it white in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus Christ came to have his blood shed as a sacrifice for sins, and to rise from the dead with sin removed. Those who trust in him have their sins “washed away” and are made “white as snow.” This forgiveness comes to those who “believe.”
This is a point that has been emphasized from the beginning of John’s Gospel—you must believe in Jesus to be saved. And, that is the point of John’s Gospel—he has written these things so that his readers might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and, believing, have life in his name.
Coming to Christ is motivated by a hunger for him. The one who comes to him and believes, who “eats” and “drinks,” is the one who has come to see their need for what is provided by God in him. The one who does not see and feel this need, who has no hunger, will never come.
Unbelief
In verse 36, Jesus, once again, charges his audience with unbelief. He says, “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” There is seeing and there is seeing. They have seen a man who has great power and multiplies bread. They have not see what that signifies. They have seen a man; but they have not seen the Son of Man. Christ has offered bread (himself) to them, and they reject it.
A Failure?
Their refusal to believe raises an important question. We have seen in verse 35 that salvation is dependant upon coming to and believing in Jesus. They, his hearers, have not fulfilled that condition. Does this mean that, at least to some degree, that Jesus’ mission is a failure?
Shouldn’t Jesus be getting nervous here, or at least discouraged and ready to quite? He is being rejected by the very people who were studying the Scriptures and waiting for him. If anyone would believe in him, shouldn’t it be them!
What’s more, in the two-thousand years that have followed, Jesus has been rejected by millions, if not billions, more!
This leads to some questions: How can a message rejected by such a great portion of the world be true? How can a ministry received by so few be deemed a success? Where does Jesus find confidence to press on in ministry, in the face of rising opposition, the rejection of many, and a decreasing number of those who believe?
The Doctrine of Election
Jesus’ words in verse 37 provide the answer to those questions. They demonstrate his confidence in the success of his mission. He says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
In other words, regardless of how many see and yet do not believe, it is inappropriate to think that God’s saving purposes have been frustrated or that they will finally fail to be brought to full fruition. Jesus is absolutely confident that everyone whom the Father has given to him will come to him. That is, they will believe in him, savingly. And, whoever believes in him, he will preserve until the end, which we find out is eternal life culminating in end-time resurrection.
Jesus’ simple but shocking answer to the problem of their unbelief is that there is no failure because they are not of those given to him by the Father; they are not numbered among those that he has come to give final salvation.
Jesus rests his confidence and assurance of success in his mission on the foundation of the doctrines of election and predestination.
I know that the doctrines of election and predestination are potentially controversial subjects. Nevertheless, they are doctrines that are clearly taught in Scripture. They are doctrines that are clearly taught from the lips of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And so, when we are in such passages, I teach them.
Many, upon mention of these doctrines, come out with their fists up, ready to fight and debate (and unfairly stereotype the other side), but slow to hear and study. The Arminians come out of one corner with their proof-texts in hand, ready to defend their system of theology. The Calvinists come out of the other corner with their proof-texts lined up, ready to defend their system of theology.
My goal this morning is not to argue for a system of theology, other than that preached by Jesus and his apostles. [I do think that all good students of Scripture systematize—that is, we put together the whole teaching of the Bible in a coherent and orderly fashion.] My goal is to tell you what Jesus Christ says. My goal is not to be an Arminian or a Calvinist, but a Biblicist—to reflect the mind of God as revealed in Scripture.
All that the Father gives me…
In the first half of this sentence, Jesus makes reference to a group of people. They are those who, he says, “will come to me.” We know what he means by “come to him.” He means that they will believe in him. Coming to him and believing in him are used as parallel synonyms in verse 35. The person who comes is the person who believes—and such a person has eternal life.
Who is it that will come to Jesus? “All that the Father gives me,” Jesus says, “will come to me.” There is a group of persons whom the Father has given to the Son. This is a theme in John’s Gospel. In verse 39, Jesus will say, essentially, that the Father’s will in sending him was that he save with finality those that the Father had given to him. “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
In John 10:27-29, those who the Father has given to Jesus are his sheep, who have hear his voice, are known by him and follow him, are given eternal life and are never snatched out of his hand. The Jews, in John 10:26, do not believe, Jesus says, because they are not part of his flock—they are not of his sheep.
In John 17:1-4, Jesus says that he, the Son, has been given “authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” And, Jesus adds in verse 6, he accomplished the work the Father gave him to do. That is, he manifested (made known) “your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept my word.”
In that cursory examination of the passages that speak of those “given” by the Father to the Son, we notice that this group, “the given,” always come to believe in Jesus Christ, they always receive eternal life, and they never fall away. And that is what is taught in this text—those the Father gives to Jesus will come to him and they will stay there and be raised on the last day.
The Elect—Defined
So who are these people that the Father will give to the Son? They are those the Bible refers to elsewhere as the “elect.” The word “elect” simply means to be “chosen.” These are the ones chosen by the Father to give to the Son.
They are those spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 1—those whom the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ blesses in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and blameless in Christ. They are those who, in love, the Father predestined for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he blesses them in Christ. They are those who have redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of their trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which God lavishes upon them. They are those who obtain an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
In other words, the elect are those persons whom the Father freely chose according to his own purposes before the foundation of the world to give to Jesus Christ to redeem and be his people. In consequence of that choice, Jesus Christ came down to redeem them through his ministry on earth in such a way that they will not be lost. The Father, we will see, acts in accord with his choice to draw these people in such a way that they will repent, believe and come to Jesus Christ and have eternal life. The Son receives these that the Father draws to him and keeps them so that they will persevere in that faith, even guaranteeing that they will be resurrected on the last day.
That is what this passage teaches about these people—the elect—that the Father gives to the Son. Those given by the Father to the Son are the elect--those particular individuals who are freely chosen by God the Father for salvation and given to the Son to save.
Four Observations about Election from this Passage
I want to offer four observations about the doctrine of election that we can make from this passage.
1) Election is certain and effectual.
By “certain” and “effectual,” I mean that what God ordains in election will certainly come to pass. God not only decrees the end, but he sees that it is effected; he brings it about. Everyone whom the Father gives to the Son will come to him.
The final fate of those given by the Father to the Son is not up in the air. Jesus can say with perfect certainty—“All that the Father gives me will come to me.” There will not be a single individual given to Jesus by the Father who will fail to come to Jesus, believe in him, have eternal life, and be raised to life in the resurrection on the last day.
The reason that the elect come to Jesus Christ is because they are given by the Father to him. That will be made very clear in verse 44 where Jesus will say, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” No one can come unless drawn. The one whom the Father draws, Jesus promises that he will raise on the last day.
So, why does the one who is given come to Jesus? Because the Father effectually draws him to Christ. This giving and drawing is effectual; it accomplishes its purpose. (And, why does the one who comes persevere in faith until the last day? Because Jesus Christ promises to keep him and not lose him.)
2) Election is corporate, but it is also personal, even on the level of particular individuals.
Jesus begins by speaking of a corporate group in general—“All that the Father gives me.” Then, he moves to the level of the individual in particular—“whoever comes to me.”
Again, in verse 39, he speaks very much on the personal, individual level—“I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.” “Nothing” has the force of “not one.”
Those “given” by the Father are not a numberless blob. They are numbered. And “not one” given to Jesus shall be unaccounted for in glory. The “all” is made up of particular individuals whom the Father has given, and Jesus will ensure that every one of them is raised to eternal life. This is why he speaks in verse 40 on the level of the individual—“I will raise him up on the last day.”
The way Jesus speaks later, in John 10:14, emphasizes this: “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father...” This is personal language. He says in John 10:3, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” He does not simply call the flock, but each individual sheep by name.
Not Only Corporate
It is not accurate then to teach that election is only corporate and does not include the choice of particular individuals. For example, some argue that God “elected” a group, such as the universal church, but that he does not know who specifically will be in that group.
It is often phrased this way: “God has elected a way of salvation—the cross and resurrection. He has determined that whoever chooses this way is predestined for salvation.”
But Scripture simply does not speak of election in this way. Scripture does not speak of God merely choosing a path, but a people, which consists of particular persons.
3) Election is not universal, but particular.
We also cannot take the other path of teaching that election is universal—that is, that God the Father has chosen every individual for salvation and intends for them to be redeemed. This argument presents itself, rather crudely, in the trite and unhelpful summary of those who say, “I believe in election. God casts his vote. Satan casts his vote. You break the tie.” In other words, God has “voted” in this “election” that every single individual be saved. You could rightly say to every and anyone, “You are among the elect.” Everyone is elect, but their choice may cancel out that election.
However, what implications would that have in this passage? On the one hand, it makes Satan’s “vote” equal to God’s vote, which is a dualistic heresy.
Moreover, if everyone is elect, if everyone is given by the Father to the Son, then what will become of all of them? It would necessitate that “everyone” come to Jesus, because that is what Jesus says here. Furthermore, Jesus says that he will lose none of these, but will raise them up on the last day. Therefore, if everyone is “given by God,” elect, then everyone must come to believe, have eternal life and be raised to a resurrection of life on the last day, which is universalism and is a heresy denied by the Bible.
Scripture does not speak of God choosing everyone for salvation, but particular people. These are the elect.
Some, but not others
Those truths—election as personal, certain, effectual and particular—are what makes the doctrine of election controversial. It is what makes this particular passage so difficult—difficult, not to understand, but to accept. The conclusion that is unavoidable is this: God has chosen some for salvation and not others.
Think about it—what is Jesus saying in this passage to these Jews? He says, “You have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me…” They do not come to Jesus. All that the Father has given to Jesus will come to him. Therefore, he implies that they are not of those given to Jesus by the Father, otherwise they would come.
Whatever the Father gives, comes to Jesus. Not all will come to Jesus. Therefore, not all are given.
4) Election is unconditional in the sense that it does not depend upon the person, but upon God.
Another popular explanation to election attempts to soften the blow of this doctrine by making God’s choice dependant upon something in the one chosen—typically faith.
It is argued, typically from Romans 8:29 (“those whom he foreknew he also predestined”) that God looked into the future or, standing outside of time looked on all of history, and he discovered who it was that would respond to the Gospel with faith, and then after having discovered their destiny, “predestined” them. I don’t have time this morning to deal with that verse. I hope to later.
In terms of our context here, John 6:44 would rule out such an explanation. Jesus plainly says, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.” We will look at that verse in more depth in a few weeks. But for now, what it means is that because of the radical depravity of our hearts, because we are dead in our trespasses and sins, no one will ever see what God offers us in Jesus and accept it. No one is capable of that, unless God does something to that person—unless he “draws” him.
Now some will say, “Yes, but God looks into the future and sees who will respond to his drawing and who will not. Then, he elects those who will respond.” However, that interpretation is not allowed, for Jesus immediately follows by saying, “And I will raise him up on the last day.” Everyone who is draw is raised up (and this resurrection is the resurrection of life).
The difference is in the drawing, not the person. All persons are the same—they cannot, will not come to Jesus. God makes the difference, he draws in such a way that they come and are saved. This is why Paul writes in Romans 9:16 “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
Therefore, election is not upon a condition met by that person. It is on the basis of God’s good pleasure.
Why?
Of course, this leads to the question, “Why?” Why is it that God chooses one and not the other? Why is it that God does not choose all? Why is it that God loved Jacob and hated Esau—before either one had done anything?
The answer, I am afraid, is that we are not told. Other than what Romans 9 says, that God prepares clay vessels for different purposes—some to display his grace, others to display his wrath, but all to display some aspect of his glory.
That is not a satisfying one to many. But, it is the biblical answer. We must remember that God is God and we are not. We have no right to demand of God that he give us a clear, accessible answer that is understandable and satisfying to us for everything that he decrees and does.
God is free to ordain things based upon reasons known only to him. He is under no obligation to make full disclosure to you and I of all the secret counsels of his will.
Questions and Objections
People certainly raise objections against this as well: This is not fair! This makes God unloving! This makes God unjust! This makes God arbitrary!
I don’t have time to respond to all those objections this morning. I hope to address many of them as we move through this passage in weeks to come. [I would invite you to hang out after the evening service or after this morning’s service, and I’d love to talk.]
Applications of Election.
Having made some observations about election from this passage, I want to close with a few applications of this doctrine.
Missions
The most commonly heard objection to the doctrine of election is that it makes missions and evangelism pointless. Therefore, my first point of application from this passage is:
1) The doctrine of election does not oppose and hinder evangelism and prayer, it undergirds them. Look at this passage. Jesus is out preaching the Gospel. He is revealing himself through signs and wonders. He is preaching about who he is and what he has come to bring. Jesus is offering them the bread of life and they are refusing to receive it.
And who is it in this passage that so confident that “all that the Father gives me will come to me.” It is Jesus! Why doesn’t someone say to Jesus, “Your preaching is pointless! If you are so sure that the elect are going to come to you, why do you preach? They’re going to be saved no matter what; God has ordained it! You don’t need to go through with the crucifixion; their destiny has been determined from before the foundation of the earth!”
Why doesn’t someone say in John 17, when Jesus is praying for those who will believe in him, “Your prayers are useless. You’ve said yourself that they will come to you, the Father will draw them, they will have eternal life, and you will raise them on the last day. It is already determined! Why waste your breath praying for it!”
But, look specifically at how this doctrine is working in this passage. It is not hindering Jesus from preaching the Gospel. Rather, the doctrine of election is Jesus’ basis for confidence in ministry, particularly for evangelism and missions, in the face of rejection and opposition. It is his confidence in prayer; he can pray according to the will of God, knowing that God will grant him what he asks for.
People are rejecting Jesus, and the number will soon grow. Yet, Jesus is not discouraged. He knows that the Father has given him a people—and all that the Father gives to him will come to him. And so, he presses on.
Jesus’ assurance of success in ministry does not rest on his ability to attract people and convince them to trust in him. It does not depend upon the probability of a positive response of a certain percentage of people. It does not depend upon surveying the crowd and adjusting himself to their preferences.
Jesus simply rests on the sovereignty of God. He presses on in faithfulness, trusting that all those given to him by the Father will come to him.
2) The doctrine of election does not eliminate human responsibility or the requirement that they come to Jesus and believe in him.
In this very passage, Jesus states that it is those—and only those—who come to him and believe that will have eternal life and a resurrection to life. People must come to Jesus. People must respond to the Gospel, and they will. That is what election is all about—those whom the Father gives to the Son will come to him.
And those who do not believe are rejecting Jesus Christ because they want to. It is their nature to do so. And, they are sinning.
3) The doctrine of election should give us great comfort in times of suffering and trial.
We should not think that ministry was easy for Jesus. It was incredibly difficult. He was a man. He faced persecution, hardship, and pain.
There are times in our lives—whether in ministry or otherwise—that life is so painful we fear whether we can press on in believing in Jesus Christ at all.
These verses provide an incredible foundation on which to rest and find security.
If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ, this passage teaches that it is because the Father gave you to Jesus Christ and, in keeping with that decision, drew you to Jesus Christ. Jesus, in his commitment to do his Father’s will, promises that he will never cast you out and never lose you. Rather, he will preserve you and raise you up on the last day to live with him forever.
Yes, there are many difficult question. And no, we will not have all the answers. We may not understand how this all works together, but we can know that it is God who saves us from first to last. We know that he who began a good work in us will be faithful to completion.
I know that the God who saved me chose me from before the foundation of the earth. I know that he gave me to his Son. I know that he drew me to his Son, regenerating me through the power of his Spirit. I know that the Son has received me and will never cast me, but will raise me up on the last day.
I know this sovereign God, and therefore I need never be discouraged in ministry nor fear death and hell. He has saved me.
