John 6:60-71 English Standard Version The Words of Eternal Life 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. The focus now turns from the crows and the religious leaders to Jesus' disciples who had remained by His side after the hard words that He just said. In fact, they say to Him, "This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?" They are saying this among themselves and Jesus knows it This again shows us His divinity as He was able to perceive their private thoughts and conversations--nothing was hidden from Him except that which the Father chose not to reveal to Him at that time (the only thing we know about in that particular category is the specific time which He would return).
He then asks the disciples if their mind would change if they saw Him, the Son of Man, ascending to where He was before (if they would see Him being taken up into heaven). All except Judas Iscariot would see this following the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is already pointing forward to the resurrection to say that it is the Spirit who gives life, both our life that came when God made us and breathed His Spirit into us in Genesis 1 and 2, and like The Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel where it is the wind/breath/spirit that gives life to that which was dead, which is a picture of what happens with regeneration in the New Covenant. God takes a people that were dead in their trespasses and sins and His Spirit makes them alive in Christ. To add to this, Jesus says, "The flesh is no help at all," as our flesh is corrupted by sin and leads us only to physical death and those who die in their "natural" state "in the flesh" or "in Adam" will die a double death where they will also experience "the second death" that is hell--an eternal "death" that is separation from God. This is the opposite of the "eternal life" that Jesus is promising to those who believe in Him and His words. Jesus says that the words that He has been speaking to them are both spirit and life--they are as necessary to life as the air we breathe. You have to go back to Genesis to understand this, but for Jews, the concept of "breath" and "spirit" are deeply connected. Anyone who stopped breathing was dead and their spirit had left them. The breath of God being breathed into man is what made him alive. But we also see the idea of the spirit and the breath of God being associated with the wind from Genesis 1 as the Jews imagined that when the Spirit of God hovered/brooded over the waters in Genesis 1:1-2 that this somehow was like the wind blowing and making everything live and move and breathe and we've already seen this association in John 3 where Nicodemus asks about the spirit and Jesus says that Nicodemus should understand that just like the wind is known by what how it affects things as it moves through them, so the Spirit of God is seen and known by what He does in people even though He is invisible. John (or someone after John) adds a note here that Jesus knew from the very beginning who would believe Jesus and who would betray Jesus. This probably is a bit of foreshadowing by John to keep our eyes on the lookout for someone within Jesus' disciples who could possibly be a traitor--someone who thinks they are pulling a fast one on Jesus, but Jesus knows full well who this person is and what they were up to--in fact, that person was chosen by God the Father and God the Son from the beginning for the very purpose of the role that he was fulfilling--it will become more and more clear as we go throughout is the "devil" in their midst. This is why Jesus said to them that no one could come to Him unless the Father draws Him because there was going to be some who were close to Him (at least one that we know of) that would not be drawn to Him and would not be saved, and Jesus knew that person was there to betray Him. Now, let's clear up some confusion. Don't think that Jesus only had 12 disciples. There were 12 that were "called out" and chosen from among a much larger group and those who were "called out" were later called apostles, but Jesus had and still has many disciples. To be a disciple is to be a follower of someone who is your Master and Teacher. I am a disciple of Jesus, some of you may consider yourself my disciples as you are following along with me and walking in my footsteps and letting me teach you--which is okay as long as you are following me as I follow Christ, but don't follow me if I stop following Him. Learn to follow Him no matter what anyone else does. The crowd of followers had many turn away from Jesus that day--many of whom may never have returned. In fact, it seemed like only the Twelve remained from the sound of things as Jesus would turn to those who were closest to Him and ask if they too where going to desert and abandon Him when He asked, "Do you want to go away as well?." I've always seen Simon Peter's answer as not very convincing, but the more and more that I study it, the more I see that it's a very strong confession of faith based completely on everything that Jesus has been saying in the past chapter. Peter says they have nowhere else to go because only Jesus has the words of life that they really need. This is a great confession! Even when the words of Christ are hard and don't make sense to us, we can still believe that they are both spirit and life and that they are exactly what we need, and we should not run away from them, but should believe them. We don't have to understand something to believe it, and when it comes to Jesus, we know who He is, so we know that everything He says is true. The confession goes even further though! Peter continues by saying, "...and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God." This is a bold and decisive statement. Peter is like a designated hitter that always swings for the fences--sometimes he hits a home run and sometimes he strikes out, but he always is giving it his all. This time he hits a home run because God the Father has chosen Him and the Spirit of God has revealed this truth to Him and open his eyes and mind and heart. Peter thinks he is speaking for the entire group of Twelve and that they are all in agreement, but Jesus responds back that though there were twelve that were chosen, one of them is a devil. John then reveals the identity of the traitor within as Judas Iscariot. The other disciples did not have the advantage of this knowledge, but Jesus knew this from the beginning. We can now start to keep an eye on Judas and how his response is different from that of the other disciples in certain situations and see that it's because Judas has not believed in who Jesus is or believed in His words that Judas walks a path that leads to to his own destruction. This is not the only betrayal that Jesus will have to deal with though as all who called Him Lord would turn away from Him that night and only one would return and would seem to remain a faithful friend. Only one of His disciples would stand at the foot of the cross next to Jesus' mother--the one writing this gospel.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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