“The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” – John 6:41-51
In John 6, the Apostle John begins by telling you the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. As you know, Jesus’ doing so wasn’t merely to bless the people by filling their bellies, but most importantly His purpose was to minister the Gospel, to change lives, to open eyes and ears to see who He truly is, for them to hear His wonderful words of life as He nourished the souls of many. For they would truly know, believe in, and feed upon the true bread of life. John then gives you the account of Christ walking three to four miles on the water and His encounter with His disciples in the boat at sea as He calmed their fears with His words and presence. The third account John gives you occurs the next day when people, including many Jews, found Him in Capernaum and questioned Him about His teaching that He is “the bread which came down from heaven”. Indeed, this chapter is rich with many glorious doctrines about Christ for you to feast upon. Praise the Lord!
In fact, this chapter reveals and teaches much about the doctrines of the incarnation, the hypo-static union of Jesus being the God-man (John 1:14). John also teaches you about the doctrines of predestination, effectual calling, and regeneration here. As you can see clearly in our focus text above, though Jesus transformed the hearts and opened the eyes of many, He also continued to baffle the blind. This baffling didn’t stir up thoughts of, “I just can’t figure this out. I know the answer is right in front of me.” Though the answer was right in front of them, they couldn’t see as was evident in the Jews’ complaint. How could Jesus justly make such a claim?
It’s true that His words fell in deaf ears and on dead hearts. As we focus our attention on verses 43-45 today, notice Christ’s response as He gives them a command, along with the reason for it considering their spiritual condition and God’s divine decrees and actions. See that Jesus first tells them to stop murmuring, lit. to stop grumbling among themselves. These people weren’t just processing their own thoughts in their own minds. They weren’t stewing over Christ’s words in their own minds either. No, they were grumbling, sinfully stirring themselves and others up. Such a response was nothing new. It was similar to what the Israelites did in the wilderness as they complained against Moses and Aaron. (Exodus 16:7, Exodus 17:3, Numbers 11:1)
For the Jews who listened to Jesus, the call went forth in their ears (v. 32-40), but it wasn’t made effectual in their hearts. As Christ goes on to explain, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” The claims that men and women can come to Christ on their own, by their own choice, apart from the work of grace, falls so clearly flat here. The heart is naturally hard and will not come to Christ unless a special work of saving grace takes place and they are drawn by God the Father as one of His chosen people. (Philippians 1:29) An amazing promise that needs to sit in your heart today is that Christ will raise up all who have been drawn to and believe on Him at the last Day to be with Him, the Father, and the Spirit in full communion, for all eternity.
Speaking more to this, Jesus also presses to you the awesome truth that those who are drawn by the Father to Christ, those who are transformed, turning to Christ in true faith and repentance, don’t only know Him, but are taught by God. In saying this, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” (Isaiah 54:13) This verse teaches you the promise of final redemption. Christ is the One in whom final redemption comes. Because this is true, whoever comes to Christ, does so because they have both heard and learned from the Father, who draws them. Do you see the wonderful lessons here? Ears and heart of faith, growth in grace. Consider this- If you are a child of God, you can take joy in being taught and truly learning from Him. You can also rightly say that as you know and have learned from Him that gives you comfort and confidence that you are His child who will experience great peace in Christ now and forever. Soli Deo Gloria!
For your further study, I commend Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 10 “Of Effectual Calling”, especially the first two sections, as well as the two eBooks linked below.
Of Communion with God (John Owen) https://www.monergism.com/communion-god-father-son-and-holy-ghost-ebook
The Soul’s Vocation, or Effectual Calling to Christ (Thomas Hooker) https://www.monergism.com/soul%E2%80%99s-vocation-or-effectual-call-christ-ebook