But
I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:36-40
John 6 [32.] Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” They said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
John 6 [35.] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6 [41.] The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”
Meaning:
Jesus had just declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). In these verses he explains why some come to him and others do not, what he will do for those who come, and what the Father’s purpose is in sending him.
- “you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe”
The crowd had seen Jesus feed five thousand people, and still they asked for a sign (John 6:30). Seeing is not the same as believing. Many saw Jesus in the flesh and walked away; later he would say to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed” (John 20:29).
- “All those whom the Father gives me will come to me”
Jesus speaks of believers as the Father’s gift to the Son. Their coming is not an accident; it is the outworking of the Father’s purpose. Later he prays, “Those whom you have given me I have kept” (John 17:12). Christians have long discussed how God’s choosing relates to human choice. Some stress that God’s gift makes the coming certain; others stress that the invitation is open to all and that people are responsible for their response. Jesus holds both together: the Father gives, and “everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him” receives eternal life. No one who wants to come needs to fear being excluded.
- “He who comes to me I will in no way throw out”
This is one of the most comforting promises in the Gospels. The wording is emphatic: Jesus will never turn away anyone who comes to him. No sin is too great, no past too dark, no faith too weak. It echoes his invitation in Matthew: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
- “not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me”
Jesus came down from heaven on a mission. His whole life was obedience to the Father, as he said in Samaria: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). In Gethsemane he prayed, “not what I desire, but what you desire” (Mark 14:36). Receiving and keeping those the Father gives him is part of that obedience.
- “that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing”
The Father’s will is that none of Christ’s people be lost. Jesus had just told the disciples to gather the leftover bread “that nothing be lost” (John 6:12). If he cared for broken pieces of bread, how much more will he keep every person entrusted to him? Elsewhere he says of his sheep, “They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
- “I will raise him up at the last day”
Four times in this chapter Jesus promises to raise his people “at the last day” (verses 39, 40, 44 and 54). Eternal life begins now for those who believe, but it reaches its fulness in the resurrection of the body. Martha knew this hope: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
The Significance of John 6:36-40
- Assurance for the believer
Those who come to Christ are held by the Father’s will and the Son’s promise. Their security rests not on the strength of their grip on him but on his grip on them, and the same promise is an open invitation to anyone who will come. Paul was “persuaded” that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Cross-References:
Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest." Jesus welcomes all who come.
John 10:28: "I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." The security of Christ’s sheep.
Philippians 1:6: "he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." God finishes what he begins.
John 5:28: "the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out" The coming resurrection.
Conclusion: Though the crowd had seen Jesus and still did not believe, he promised that all whom the Father gives him will come, and that he will never throw out anyone who comes. He came from heaven to do the Father’s will, which is that he lose none of those given to him and raise them up at the last day. Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him has eternal life now and the sure hope of resurrection.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible