Humanity and God
John 6-7 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewPart one will exam the parallels between the days of Moses and the time of Jesus.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Jesus has just taught the people that he is the bread of life.
John has emphasized the blindness of humanity to their own creator.
“He came unto His own” Jn. 1.
This continues to be stressed in this passage.
Remember all of the previous focus on why the crowd followed Jesus.
Complaints have parallels with the days of Moses.
Blindness to Reality
Blindness to Reality
The people now continue to miss the point of everything that has happened.
References to murmuring by the Israelites:
Ex. 17:3
Nu. 11:1, 14:27-29.
So much appears to be consistent with Exodus, Isaiah, and within John itself. John stresses the unique opportunity that Jesus’ presence represents for hearing directly from God himself. He alone can explain the Father and the Father’s will because he came from the Father. In addition, Jewishness alone has no purchase on eternal life.
Instead, those with eternal life are those who believe that Jesus is the bread of life, the bread descending from heaven.
That places a premium on listening to Jesus combined with the witness of the signs. The direct correlation with Sinai may be two fold: first the evidence of Jehovah’s person in the thunderings and lightenings on the mountain top. Second, the insistence that the proper relationship between the people and Jehovah is one of obedience.
In the end, then, it isn’t the sign that Jesus is the promised Moses. It is that he is the one on Sinai.
Another important point to raise is that the arguments among the people put the lie, again, to their earlier declaration. They would not see and believe.
They no longer found the 5k event adequate, and now they insist that Jesus must be thought of as they know to think of him. Quite a departure from the initial reasons they came.
People who aren’t looking for truth can often be fickle.
Introduction Part 2:
Introduction Part 2:
We must exercise caution as we proceed.
As best we can, we should permit Jesus to be consistent in his teaching and avoid imposing meaning on him.
In Part 2, we will see Jesus drawing a line, so to speak, for the benefit of his audience.
We’ve already thought about how difficult it is to get people to believe the evidence in front of them.
Jesus will, in a sense, address that as he continues to teach the crowd about eternal life.
We should back up and take notice how he brings ideas forward but advances them in different language.
Jn. 6:35-40.
Jesus Wants Obedience
Jesus Wants Obedience
Jesus, in response, commands that the crowd, “stop complaining with one another.”
Truth demands thought. Belief, that is saving trust, requires consideration and contemplation. What we did with “easy believism” opposed the biblical example.
Jesus isn’t talking about “asking him into your heart.” He is talking about listening to his teaching closely and detecting from the signs his true origins.
The Role of the Father
The Role of the Father
Jesus now uses a common statement and a new statement.
Common: “come toward me.”
New: emphatic (“not even one”) and “except the Father who sent me might draw him.”
Draw = “to drag or to pull.” This term does not get used in such a way in the rest of the New Testament.
Coming to Jesus, then, involves the work of the Father.
It is the individual drawn/dragged by the Father to Jesus whom Jesus will raise in the last day.
Tie this back to the earlier statement.
We can see that believing, coming to Jesus, and being drawn by the Father are be used interchangeably.
Jesus’ Biblical Foundation
Jesus’ Biblical Foundation
In a manner befitting the context, Jesus bases his claim on the prophets.
He uses a partial quote from Is. 54:13.
God promises a restoration to Israel.
We can see from the full context that there are a series of things he promises that He will “set” or cause.
This follows from Is. 54:12.
Jesus may be suggesting that those who will participate in this promised time of restoration will be those who have God as teacher.
At a minimum, he explains: “everyone who hears from the Father and learns is coming toward me.”
So, he is not talking about some mystical drawing by God.
He draws through instruction.
“Learns” would imply gaining understanding.
The Broader Teaching
The Broader Teaching
Jesus teaches regularly that God, the Father, has given a witness to Jesus’ generation.
Passages Where Jesus Says the Father Testifies About Him:
Jn. 5:31-37.
Jn. 8:16-18.
Jn. 10:25-30.
Jn. 12:27-30.
Passages where Jesus says he speaks the words of the Father/God:
Jn. 3:34.
Jn. 7:16-17.
Jn. 8:26-28.
Jn. 12:49-50.
Jn. 14:10.
Jn. 17:8.
From the context, how do we understand the “drawing” by the Father?
How is this not consistent with Mt. 16:13-18?
What Jesus seems to have in mind in such contexts is the person being persuaded by God’s evidence.
In other words, what they hear from Jesus and what they see him do, in terms of signs, must be seen as, in some way, the witness of the Father himself.
Jesus, so it seems, points the crowd to his equality with the Father.
Those who participate in the resurrection will be those who come to Jesus, who are brought belief in him, based on the weight of the evidence provided by the Father and carried out or manifested by the Son.
So, participation in the resurrection is not a matter of Jewishness or fidelity to the Torah, but a matter of believing Jesus. Jesus is also, most likely, pointing them to the reality that what he teaches is the very word of God.
