“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” Hebrews 11:3.
Regarding practical matters, Jesus would often teach, by using metaphors of things familiar to the people He was addressing.
In one instance, Jesus used familiar agrarian terms to warn the early Church not to uproot the ‘tares’ in the Church, since the ‘tares’ so closely resembled the ‘wheat’. His Father would separate the ‘tares from the wheat’ at Judgment. The ‘wheat’ were the true Believers and the ‘tares’ were imposters.
But, when it came to Spiritual matters, “doing the Work of the Father” or “doing the greater Works”, Jesus taught from The Spiritual Basis.
The failure to correctly understand and to practice the Truth of God’s Words is as prevalent today as it was in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. We are hearers of the Word only and not Doers of the Word. Impotent and to be pitied.
WARNING: These verses contain powerful and profound Spiritual Truth. If they are correctly understood and personally consumed, your earthbound life will be finished.
Again, learn these things, and receive these things, and see these thing in Jesus, then practice these things, and God will be with you.
(Jesus begins by explaining and teaching using a mixture of metaphor and Spiritual Truth. In this instance, the people were seeing Jesus’ miracles as a means to obtain earthly gain)
John 6:26 “Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
(Next, Jesus teaches on The Spiritual Basis, The Eternal Truth)
27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
(The people still respond with an incorrect understanding and the wrong motives, which was for gain to be consumed)
28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
(Now, Jesus answers their question and reveals an oracle of God)
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
(The people persist in working from the natural to the supernatural, or “OUTSIDE – IN”. They ask to see it so they can believe it. But Jesus is teaching that they must believe it in order to see it)
30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?
(Next, the people express their understanding of scriptures to Jesus. It is as if they mgiht teach Him a thing or two! This time they get the order right, Higher to Lower, but their understanding is still earthbound.)
31 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’”
(NOTE: “All matters” originate from above can be found in the idea of “binding and loosing” in the Bible in Matthew 16:19: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Jesus’ words meant that believers would have the right to enter the kingdom themselves, that they would have general authority symbolized by the possession of the keys, and that preaching the gospel would be the means of opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers and shutting it against unbelievers.
(Again, Jesus corrects their understanding by explaining the prophetic event of “manna from heaven” as the foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah)
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.
33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
(Now, it would seem, the people understand this teaching and desire the “Bread from Heaven”)
34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
(Jesus takes them to the fullness of His teaching, the Truth)
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.
37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
(And, tragically, we see the inability of the people to take the final steps toward Jesus. They have completely missed The Truth and are moribund to the earth.)
41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”
43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48 “I am the bread of life.
49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
(Group dynamics at work. Unbelief is contagious.)
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
(Again, Jesus uses similes to explain the Greatest of Truth so they might understand)
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58 “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
60 ¶ Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?
Jesus seems to be saying that if the fundamentals of the Gospel cause you to stumble then you cannot hear The Truth nor understand what is to come.
62 “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
(This time, Jesus separates metaphor (the natural) from the Spiritual (Eternal Truth))
63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Focus on His Word: These seem to contradict James’ teaching on Faith and Works. But, it is not a contradiction. Jesus is teaching about The Eternal, The Cause, Creation of all things. James teaches on the outcome of the Spiritual, that is, what is made is from that which is not seen with the natural eye.
64 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
(Now we see an application of teaching the Gospel (evangelism) and Truth. Jesus knows from the beginning, the “wheat” and the “tares” and He knows no one can come to Him except those to those whom it has been granted by the Father.
Thousands came to hear Jesus and His teachings. But, at the end of His earthly ministry, only 120 disciples remained – and the world has never been the same. Learn from this.)
Philippians 4:9 “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
TIME IS RUNNING OUT.
WE MUST TURN AWAY FROM WESTERN POST-MODERN RELIGION,
AND RETURN TO JESUS AND HIS GOSPEL
AND PRACTICE THESE THINGS
Come and join us in the harvest, as we go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that He commanded; and lo, He is with us always, even to the end of this age. Contact me below for further instructions.
Your Brother and Co-Laborer,
Mike Young
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