Daily Devotions
John
The perseverance of Jesus
Text: John 6:22-71
THE PERSEVERANCE OF JESUS
Jesus did not have to deny that He had earthly parents! It was true that his earthly father was called Joseph. It was likely that some of The Jews actually knew His parents! But had they done their research carefully enough? Had they also learned that He was virgin born? Had they considered the whole truth? To select bits and pieces of information of someone’s life and then use that to slur the character of the person was nothing short of defamation!
It was useless trying to explain to them the doctrine of Incarnation. He was Man! But He was God too! He was both Son of God and Son of Man! He had indeed come from His Father in heaven to give everlasting life to those who would believe in Him.
Jesus was unfazed by the doubts that The Jews raised. He persevered in proclaiming an important evangelistic message. Thus He said,
“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.”
John 6:43-44
A lesser person would have been discouraged by seeing what The Jews were trying to do. They had become hecklers. They were out to ridicule Him. They were determined to find fault with what He said. They were out to disrupt His ministry in every way. They had no regard for Him or for the God He represented! Jesus had assessed them correctly. They were steeped in unbelief, despite the fact that they had the privilege of having had a good religious upbringing as Jews!
Were there some who hesitated in coming to Jesus? He refused to be discouraged by the vile attempts of The Jews in preventing people from coming to faith in Jesus. His theology of God’s Will, and of His involvement in bringing people to come and believe in Jesus, held Him and made Him strong.
If the multitude were to fall prey to the wicked attempts of The Jews, then they would be among those whom the Father did not send to Jesus. The focus of Jesus at all times was faith and trust in His Father’s hand.
To those who decided that they would believe in Him, despite the disparaging remarks of The Jews, Jesus gave them this solemn promise. He would raise him up at the last day. The reference to “The Last Day” harked back to what He had taught earlier. This was a reference to the Judgment Day.
A REFERENCE TO THE NEW COVENANT MENTIONED BY THE PROPHETS
The way Jesus practised evangelism was to boldly proclaim the whole truth. He did not attempt to over-simplify things, for then that would have “watered down” vital truths that needed to be taught. Yes, Jesus taught what would seem like difficult truths. Nevertheless, He knew that He could not but proclaim all that the Father had given Him to proclaim. He must trust His Father’s leading in every matter!
He had a responsibility to proclaim salvation. But His hearers also had the responsibility to learn as much as they could concerning the doctrine of salvation. Some of His teachings were indeed profound, but had not God promised that He would personally teach people in the context of the New Covenant?
“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.”
John 6:45
Even as Jesus was proclaiming the Gospel and explaining it to the Multitude, He stressed an important truth. There was Someone else who was in their midst. God Himself was speaking to the hearts of all the hearers. Did the Multitude know this truth? Jesus cited the Scriptures as His source of authority for this truth-statement. The passage Jesus had in mind was taken from the Book of Jeremiah.
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah…
But this is the Covenant that I will make…
I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
No more shall every man teach his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest
of them, says the LORD…”
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Isaiah the prophet also wrote about this New Covenant. We read,
“For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My Covenant of Peace be removed,
Says the LORD who has mercy on you…All your children shall be taught by the LORD…”
Isaiah 54:10, 13
Though Jesus quoted freely from the Old Testament texts, those who were familiar with the Scriptures would know that He was making a reference to the New Covenant. Not many of the scholars in those days fully understood how to interpret the New Covenant of Peace. Jesus did and applied its truth to the hearers.
The Multitude need not listen to The Jews and their wicked insinuations. If they were to exercise their faith and listen hard to Jesus, they would actually be able to recognize that God Himself was teaching them. God was their Divine Teacher, and He was leading them to listen to Jesus and to believe in Him. Could they comprehend that?