Who is this Jesus Christ

Who is Jesus Christ

In the beginning Genesis I:1, God, in the Hebrew picture language is shown a yoked ox for strength (. ( AL) ac: Yoke co: Ox ab: Strength) or the Triune God as being one, from which we get Elohim meaning: God the Father, God the Son and Holy Spirit. Upon further study we get Yeshua or more correctly Jesus.  Yeshua is God the Son’s proper name and is found to be the main person speaking or quoted throughout all the Old Testament. His name 'EHYEH' means  ‘the ever revealing one, “I am” to be revealed and “I am” who is to be more and more revealed’. It was revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14 but not repeated but rather masked by LORD, Lord or Adonai. This name is held in highest place and not to be written or spoken by a Jew.
[ Exodus 3:14  And God said unto Moses, (EHYEH asher EHYEH) I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.The I AM may even be fictitious as the true language and manuscript's are to date no where to be found. However the dead sea scrolls have offered clues to the secret so far hidden because of the blinding of the Pileo-Hebrew writings after Israel's first captivity in Egypt and Babylon.  
Exodus 6:3  And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty (Elohim-ADONAI), but by my name 'EHYEH' was I not known to them.] Most all Bibles have this covered because of the fear to write this name in some fashion, such as Adonai or Lord. Some have Jehovah which is not the true name of God. As the "ah" is actually a reference to a pagan god or possibly a series of gods from per Egyptian time that may go as far back as the tower of Babel.


When John’s gospel account found in the first chapter is paralleled here we get the picture.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Now then we can turn to Proverbs chapter eight and find:

Pro 8:22-32 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. "And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.

This is spoken of as wisdom in most commentaries and rightly so as in Paul’s gospel we find that in Christ is
found all wisdom. Jesus even gives a parable of the pearl of great price, which those who find the gate, door,
unleavened bread of life by the Spirit and in the spirit enters and partakes of.
Now to tie this with where we are under the Gospel of God’s Grace and Paul’s revealing of who Jesus
of Nazareth, Israel’s Messieh or in Greek the anointed one Christ is we’ll turn to Ephesians and
Colossians letters.

Eph 3:8-10 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Col 1:16-18 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

From what we have presented so far we see Jesus Christ found in both the Old and New Testaments.

From here on we’ll be looking at mostly the person of Christ Jesus as Lord and federal head of His
Church. The mystical Body of Christ is revealed in “Paul’s Mystery Revealed.

Christ Messieh

Rom 16:25-27 Now to Him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept in silence through times eternal,[before Adam was created] but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known to all the nations to obedience of faith: to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever.

[My Gospel is the preaching of the cross and faith in His death, burial for the three days and three nights in the earth, and His resurrection and our being in Christ during His suffering as the Lord’s Table tells us. We share in His cup of affliction and are members of His body. See 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 11:23-27 the cup and the bread as found in Matthew 26:26-30, Luke 22:15-20.]

2Pe 3:15-16 Count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you[the letter to the Hebrews] according to the wisdom (knowledge) given him, as he does in all his letters [Romans through Philemon] when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, [the mysteries] which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

[The old testament, Genesis through Acts 13:2, the religious Jew had nothing to do with a Gentile and for God to have turned to the Gentiles with the message of Grace and Faith a lone was totally beyond them and their mind set or comprehension.]

Eph 3:2-7 Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship [dispensation, or administration is given for a period of time] of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations [dispensations of time] as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of His power.

[These are not the Prophets of the Old Testament but rather the followers of Christ’s discipline as Paul was and imitators of Paul as he was of Christ. As Paul had stated and required of his followers in order for them to be a pastor or teacher of the mysteries. This is a study of the “Leader’s Requirements” found in “Paul’s Mystery Revealed”.]

[1Co 14:1 Follow after LOVE; yet desire earnestly spiritual gift, but rather that you may prophesy.
This is the proclaiming of the Gospel of the Grace of God revealed in the mysteries, which only the apostles and prophets of Paul knew and understood, such as Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18 and can be found in “Paul’s Mystery Revealed” in the “Secrets Revealed” study.]

Rom 8:9-13 You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life [quickened or bring to life, alive] because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you. So then, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: for if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.

[The body is dead or counted as dead when the discipline of the cross has had its perfect work in you. Those who mind the things of the flesh and do these things are not part of the mystical Body of Christ and will not be part of those of the departure. These will see the white throne judgment and the second death the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his comrades. To live by the Spirit this is to follow the Lord through the discipline of the cross, to take up your cross daily and put to death the lusts of the flesh. See our study in ‘Paul’s Mystery Revealed’ in the “Body” section for more insight. ]

Rom 8:14-18 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you received not the spirit of bondage again to fear; [This is the death of the earthy and their judgment.] but you received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, [sons] then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him [the word 'with' is a relationship word denoting union, in Him, may be also glorified, this is the taking out of the Body of Christ a mystery.] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.

[That is His death, burial and resurrection and for our faith in the revealed understanding of all that was finished on the cross. This is not by works but rather by faith in the finished work of the cross and our being a part of Him on that tree. See the study on “Christ in You” and the out line of “Redemption’ found in ‘Paul’s Mystery Revealed’.]

Rom 15:8-9 I say that Christ has been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm [fulfill, that is of His coming as prophesied] the promises given to the fathers [Israel], and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, therefore will I give praise to you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.

[The confirming of the promises is Christ’s ministry work and assignment before the cross. Peter in 2 Peter 3:15-16 is saying that Paul has a similar authority as shown here that Moses carried in his ministry. Paul says a similar thing in Ephesians 3:8.] Why is Moses' ministry so important? Because his name holds a key that has been shrouded or hidden. Mo or Mu means water and sheh to draw out in Egyptians and sheh means Iesus means Jesus which means salvation (Exodus 3:10), when put together it says through water comes our salvation and Moses was the fore runner of this truth. Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 18: 15 and 18 tells Israel that God is going to raise upon a prophet like himself and this fits Jesus Christ to a tee. Isaiah says that his name will be called Immanuel in chapters 7:14 and 8:8, which is then repeated in Matthew chapter 1:23. We are saved through water and the blood of Christ Jesus.

Eph 3:8-12 To me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the [fellowship of this] dispensation of the mystery which for ages had been hid in God who created all things; to the intent that now to the principalities and the powers in the heaven lies might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in Him.

[The principalities and powers are not the fallen angels that are being held in the bowls of the earth in thickness and darkness waiting for the final judgment. The church here is the Body of Christ that is not in division or denominationalized as we see in the church of the world today. There is no power or presence of God or the working of the Kingdom of God in such institutions. They do not fit the requirements revealed for the Body of Christ. They have nothing to do with the mysteries or the teachings of Paul and because of this as Paul and Peter said they bring destruction on themselves. They follow another gospel and anti-Christ in their practices.]

1Co 4:1-2 Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards [an overseer or an administrator] of the mysteries of God. Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

[This is what each member of the true Body of Christ is to be doing in their daily life; it is their conversation or life style. We are required to have a full working knowledge of these secrets. And the maxims or principles that they generate.]

1Co 4:16 I beseech you therefore, be imitators of me.
[Learn from me, be a carbon copy of me as I am of Christ]

1Co 11:1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
[Paul in Acts 22:19-21 had direct communications with the risen who was in glory Lord.]

John 1:6-8 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. [John the Baptist] The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, [John the Baptist] but came that he might bear witness of the light.

[Jesus Christ is the light that passed through the earth in creation as recorded in Genesis the light that gave life to man. See Genesis the Untold Story.]

John 1:9 There was the true light, the light which lights every man, [how many?] coming into the world.

Rom 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; [The spiritual seed deposited in them as found in Genesis] for God manifested it to them. [All of nature bears witness to this fact.] For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, His everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasoning’s, and their senseless heart was darkened.

[All ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth here we see the institutions of religious ceremony that fall under the form of the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes of the Jewish religion of Jesus’ day. There’s no room for debate salvation is available to all for God is no respecter of persons all mankind carries this seed in themselves, it is our free will choice to except or reject His Grace.
The whole of humanity from Cain on; all earthy, natural, carnal mankind will experience this wrath with a few exceptions: the spiritual man or woman who have turned from the vain things of the world. Who chose to not partake of the customs of Men and the vile religions or religious holidays of the world’s religious systems.]

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.

[The works of love, when done as He directs, in love and obedience according to His will as a loving son obeys his father. Will deny all worldly lusts and rebellion of men as directed because he knows what the Father requires of him is for his good. For more detail see the outline on” Redemption” and the study on the removal of the mystical “Body of Christ” in ‘Paul’s Mystery Revealed’.]

Eph 3:3-5 How that by revelation was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, whereby, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit.

[These prophets are the men that followed Paul’s teachings and that are imitators of him as he was of Christ, i.e. Timothy, Barnabas etc.. These are not of the twelve original disciples or their group, as found after the council in Jerusalem found in Acts 15:1-29, with Paul's version is found in Galatians 2:1-10.]

1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, [writing] to the elect who are sojourners [the scattered Jews] of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
[This dispersion group is of both that which took place 600 years prior to Jesus’ coming and when Saul was hunting down the followers of 'the way' that ran from Jerusalem but before the Romans under Titus destroyed the Temple and carried off and scattered the Jews in 70 AD.]

1Peter 1:9-11 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come to you: searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point to, when He testified beforehand [from Genesis up through Malachi] the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them.
[The Holy Spirit or the angel of the Lord as He was called in the Old Testament is who Peter is addressing here.]

[The sufferings of Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and the Heaven on earth or the Gospel the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus taught and spoke of in Matthew through Acts 2. The promises that had been given to the fathers starting with Abraham and the things that the prophets saw and spoke of and wrote of by the spirit. Though veiled to Israel and all natural humanity. See Isaiah 53:1-9 is just one example.]

Isa 53:1-9 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Adonai been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: [this is in reference to Bethlehem] he had neither form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. [You do not know that He is a King.] He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our grief, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, [He was the Supreme SIN sacrifice.] he was bruised for our iniquities; [First for Israel then for the whole human race.] the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. [Set at one with God again, redeemed into salvation.] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Adonai has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off [put to death] out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

[He was despised and rejected, they did not know who He was even after three years of proof they did not know Him. He bore our grief and sorrows He carried the full load not only for Israel but for the whole world, He was the sacrifice for all. Him stricken and smitten the whipping and the betting given Him for all. And afflicted the work of the cross that was required by all He took upon Himself in love for all. With His stripes we are healed this is not dealing with the physical nature of man but rather mans spiritual aspect. We have turned every one to his own way they choose not to except Him because He was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, worked the works of God for three years and they still did not know Him. He was oppressed speaking of the finished work of the cross. Now Israel had no understanding that this was speaking about their Messieh because their eyes were veiled to it. This is what Peter is making reference to, this and other passages.]

1Pe 1:12 To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, did they minister these things, which now have been announced to you through them that preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.(Hear what he says as found in Acts chapter2 listen closely.)

[Remember to whom Peter is, and to who he is writing, [the believing Jews that are scattered] that he is a religious Jew under the Law. In his second letter he refers to Paul’s writings and tells these Jews that they are to study Paul’s letters to gain the spiritual understanding and full knowledge of God and His will as revealed in Jesus Christ.]

Col 1:12-17 Giving thanks to the Father, who made us meet [prepared us] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: who is the image of the invisible God, [Adonai, Yeshua, Immanuel, Jesus] the firstborn of all creation;[Ehyeh-Yeshua] for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and to Him; and He is before all things, [the pre-existent one] and in Him all things consist.

[We are in the Kingdom, if in deed we follow Him in the discipline of His cross.Which is required in order to enter into the finished work of His cross, the narrow way of the regeneration. As Isaiah said by His stripes we are healed, that is to receive redemption leading to salvation. He is the Elohim of creation, the Christ that was in Adam prior to the fall, that Christ whom Adam crucified by his action of rejection or disobedience. Genesis 1-3 see Genesis the untold story.]

Col 1:18-19 He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. It was the good pleasure of the Father [The Godhead Elohim] that in Him [Jesus Christ, Elohim of creation and more.] should all the fullness dwell.

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning God. [Elohim]

John 1:14 The Word [promised by God, Adonai, as the Immanuel] became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

Heb 1:1-2 God, [Elohim] having of old time spoken to the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, has at the end of these days spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

[Christ’s first advent is the last days of Old Testament scripture because His coming was the end of the dispensation or the completion of the promises of His coming given to Israel. The people through whom God had chosen to bring in the redeemer, the seed of woman, who would introduce salvation in His grace and truth.]

To Paul a lone was this revelation given who God the Son is. No one else in human history could have taken
upon himself all that Paul reveals about the Son. When you realize that on Him was laid all Sin and that He was made to be Sin and that all the wrath and chastisement of God [Elohim] was laid upon Him. Had He been any less than who He was He could not have handled it. God [El, Elohim-Adonai] Himself took upon Himself what was ours.

The following is taken from Robertson’s Word Picture commentary:

In the beginning (en archēi). Archē is definite, though anarthrous like our at home, in town, and the similar Hebrew be reshith in Genesis 1:1. But Westcott notes that here John carries our thoughts beyond the beginning of creation in time to eternity. There is no argument here to prove the existence of God any more than in Genesis. It is simply assumed. Either God exists and is the Creator of the universe as scientists like Eddington and Jeans assume or matter is eternal or it has come out of nothing.
Was (ēn). Three times in this sentence John uses this imperfect of eimi to be which conveys no idea of origin for God or for the Logos, simply continuous existence. Quite a different verb (egeneto, became) appears in John 1:14 for the beginning of the Incarnation of the Logos. See the distinction sharply drawn in John 8:58 “before Abraham came (genesthai) I am” YEH (eimi, timeless existence).
The Word (ho logos). Logos is from legō, old word in Homer to lay by, to collect, to put words side by side, to speak, to express an opinion. Logos is common for reason as well as speech. Heraclitus used it for the principle which controls the universe. The Stoics employed it for the soul of the world (anima mundi) and Marcus Aurelius used spermatikos logos for the generative principle in nature. The Hebrew memra was used in the Targums for the manifestation of God like the Angel of Jeh or Yeh and the Wisdom of God in Pro 8:23. Dr. J. Rendel Harris thinks that there was a lost wisdom book that combined phrases in Proverbs and in the Wisdom of Solomon which John used for his Prologue (The Origin of the Prologue to St. John, p. 43) which he has undertaken to reproduce. At any rate John’s standpoint is that of the Old Testament and not that of the Stoics nor even of Philo who uses the term Logos, but not John’s conception of personal pre-existence. The term Logos is applied to Christ only in John 1:1, 14; Rev 19:13; 1John 1:1 “concerning the Word of life” (an incidental argument for identity of authorship as EHYEH or YEH). There is a possible personification of “the Word of God” in Heb 4:12. But the personal pre-existence of Christ is taught by Paul (2Cor 8:9; Phi 2:6.; Col 1:17) and in Heb 1:2. and in John 17:5. This term suits John’s purpose better than sophia (wisdom) and is his answer to the Gnostics who either denied the actual humanity of Christ (Docetic Gnostics) or who separated the aeon Christ from the man Jesus (Cerinthian Gnostics) as Jah or iah. The pre-existent Logos “became flesh” (sarx egeneto, John1:14) and by this phrase John answered both heresies at once.

With God (pros ton theon). Though existing eternally with God the Logos was in perfect fellowship with God. Pros with the accusative presents a plane of equality and intimacy, face to face with each other. In 1John 2:1 we have a like use of pros: “We have a Paraclete with the Father” (paraklēton echomen pros ton patera). See prosōpon pros prosōpon (face to face, 1Cor 13:12), a triple use of pros. There is a papyrus example of pros in this sense to gnōston tēs pros allēlous sunētheias, “the knowledge of our intimacy with one another” (M.&M., Vocabulary) which answers the claim of Rendel Harris, Origin of Prologue, p. 8) that the use of pros here and in Mark 6:3 is a mere Aramaism. It is not a classic idiom, but this is Koiné, not old Attic. In John 17:5 John has para soi the more common idiom.

And the Word was God (kai theos ēn ho logos). By exact and careful language John denied Sabellianism by not saying ho theos ēn ho logos. That would mean that all of God was expressed in ho logos and the terms would be interchangeable, each having the article. The subject is made plain by the article (ho logos) and the predicate without it (theos) just as in John 4:24 pneuma ho theos can only mean “God is spirit,” not “spirit is God.” So in 1John 4:16 ho theos agapē estin can only mean “God is love,” not “love is God” as a so-called Christian scientist would confusedly say. For the article with the predicate see Robertson, Grammar, pp. 767f. So in John 1:14 ho Logos sarx egeneto, “the Word became flesh,” not “the flesh became Word.” Luther argues that here John disposes of Arianism also because the Logos was eternally God, fellowship of Father and Son, what Origen called the Eternal Generation of the Son (each necessary to the other). Thus in the Trinity we see personal fellowship on an equality.

Jamieson,Fausset and Brown Word study:

Word, The
(See JOHN; JESUS.) Christ's title, as the personal Revealer in Himself  [ EHYEH given to Moses at the burning bush. Exodus 3:14]of the Godhead, even before His incarnation, involving personality (not merely the Intelligence of God) and Divinity. In the introduction of John's Gospel and that of his Epistle, and in his Rev 19:13, at once with God and Himself God, by whom God made all things. Philo's Logos ("word") on the contrary excludes personality, and is identical at times with God, at other times with the world. By word man, who is in God's image, makes known his mind; so the Word is the outcome of God's essence (Heb 4:12-13; 1Pet 1:25; Gen 1:3); by the Word He made the universe (Psa 33:6). The Medium of every external act of God (Heb 1:1-3) in the physical and spiritual creations.

    From what we've seen and heard Jesus Christ was and is the very Essence of God in Spirit or known as the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. That He was in man from the very on set of time as found in Genesis 1:1 and continues throughout scripture revealing to the elect who He is both by word and revelation by inspiration from within His receptive ones. This mystery that had been hidden from the lost, consisting of Jew and gentiles/nation but made known to the elect of God. Those who are willing to submit to God's rule and authority freely. For great is the mystery of Godliness.

What Others said about Christ

What Others said about Christ

    Now that we have heard what Jesus Christ said about Himself let us turn our attentions to what eye witnesses said about Him. Remembering that we are taking quotes from His ministry to Israel which is foundational to Gods plan of salvation or the bringing of mankind back to a virginal relational relationship with God and how that is to be accomplished through Christ Jesus. Remember that Israel was to be a holy nation set a part unto God as His special people and they were to be a royal priesthood through whom God would reach the nations. Jesus’ ‘gospel of the kingdom of heaven’ was in fulfillment to the promises, in the psalms and the prophets and was only for the nation of Israel. This kingdom has been put on hold if you will by God because of Israels refusal of His offer of it to them.

    Our view is through the cross and its finished work, for it is on that tree that the mystery of God can be found having its perfect work upon us and in us, if we will but accept it. For us to see the reason or purpose of that tree we must have knowledge or true understanding of what man lost or rather God lost as recorded in the first three chapters of Genesis. This is seen in the study “Genesis the Untold Story” and in “Paul’s Mysteries Revealed”, where this study can be found.
No notes, footnotes or commentaries are here added. We'll let scripture speak for its self, for scripture agrees with scripture and reveals all truth.

Mat 3:1-3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'"

Mat 3:11-12 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (see also Luke 3:16-17; Mat. 3:10-11; Mark 1:7-8; John 1:26, 33; and reference to Moses and Jesus Christ in our study "Who is Christ".)

Mat 3:16-17 When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Mat 4:13-17 Leaving Nazareth he (Jesus) went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned." From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Mar 1:9-11 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

Mark 3:7-12 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." He strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Luke 2:22-35 When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. He came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law,
he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." His father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."

Luke 4:31-37 He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, "Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God." Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!" Reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

John 1:1-13 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:14-16 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
[Paul reveals the Gospel of Grace and the New Covenant of God's Grace as we when born from above are birthed into Christ Jesus and into this New Covenant of Grace.]

John 1:28-34 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

Part 2 What Jesus Christ reveals about Himself

John. 6:51-58 The bread

Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

He informs them concerning the true manna, of which that was a type: But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven; that which is truly and properly the bread from heaven, of which the manna was but a shadow and figure, is now given, not to your fathers, who are dead and gone, but to you of this present age, for whom the better things were reserved: he is now giving you that bread from heaven, which is truly so called. As much as the throne of God's glory is above the clouds of the air, so much does the spiritual bread of the everlasting gospel excel the manna. In calling God his Father, he proclaims himself greater than Moses; for Moses was faithful but as a servant, Christ as a Son, Heb 3:5, 6.

III. Christ, having replied to their inquiries, takes further occasion from their objection concerning the manna to discourse of himself under the similitude of bread, and of believing under the similitude of eating and drinking; to which, together with his putting both together in the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, and with the remarks made upon it by the hearers, the rest of this conference may be reduced.

1. Christ having spoken of himself as the great gift of God, and the true bread (John 6:32), largely explains and confirms this, that we may rightly know him.

(1.) He here shows that he is the true bread; this he repeats again and again, John 6:33, 35, 48-51. Observe, [1.] That Christ is bread is that to the soul which bread is to the body, nourishes and supports the spiritual life (is the staff of it) as bread does the bodily life; it is the staff of life. The doctrines of the gospel concerning Christ - that he is the mediator between God and man, that he is our peace, our righteousness, our Redeemer; by these things do men live. Our bodies could better live without food than our souls without Christ. Bread-corn is bruised (Isa 28:28), so was Christ; he was born at Bethlehem, the house of bread, and typified by the show-bread.
[2.] That he is the bread of God (John 6:33), divine bread; it is he that is of God (John 6:46), bread which my Father gives (John 6:32), which he has made to be the food of our souls; the bread of God's family, his childrens bread. The Levitical sacrifices are called the bread of God (Lev 21:21, 22), and Christ is the great sacrifice; Christ, in his word and ordinances, the feast upon the sacrifice.
[3.] That he is the bread of life (John 6:35, and again, John 6:48), that bread of life, alluding to the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden, which was to Adam the seal of that part of the covenant, Do this and live, of which he might eat and live. Christ is the bread of life, for he is the fruit of the tree of life. First, He is the living bread (so he explains himself, John 6:51): I am the living bread. Bread is itself a dead thing, and nourishes not but by the help of the faculties of a living body; but Christ is himself living bread, and nourishes by his own power. Manna was a dead thing; if kept but one night, it putrefied and bred worms; but Christ is ever living, everlasting bread, that never molds, nor waxes old. The doctrine of Christ crucified is now as strengthening and comforting to a believer as ever it was, and his mediation still of as much value and efficacy as ever. Secondly, He gives life unto the world (John 6:33), spiritual and eternal life; the life of the soul in union and communion with God here, and in the vision and fruition of him hereafter; a life that includes in it all happiness. The manna did only reserve and support life, did not preserve and perpetuate life, much less restore it; but Christ gives life to those that were dead in sin. The manna was ordained only for the life of the Israelites, but Christ is given for the life of the world; none are excluded from the benefit of this bread, but such as exclude themselves. Christ came to put life into the minds of men, principles productive of acceptable performances.
[4.] That he is the bread which came down from heaven; this is often repeated here, John 6:33, 50-51, 58. This denotes, First, The divinity of Christ's person. As God, he had a being in heaven, whence he came to take our nature upon him: I came down from heaven, whence we may infer his antiquity, he was in the beginning with God; his ability, for heaven is the firmament of power; and his authority, he came with a divine commission. Secondly, The divine original of all that good which flows to us through him. He comes, not only katabas - that came down (John 6:51), but katabainōi - that comes down; he is descending, denoting a constant communication of light, life, and love, from God to believers through Christ, as the manna descended daily; see Eph 1:3. Omnia desuper - All things from above.
 [5.] That he is that bread of which the manna was a type and figure (John 6:58), that bread, the true bread, John 6:32. As the rock that they drank of was Christ, so was the manna they ate of spiritual bread, 1Cor 10:3, 4. Manna was given to Israel; so Christ to the spiritual Israel. There was manna enough for them all; so in Christ a fulness of grace for all believers; he that gathers much of this manna will have none to spare when he comes to use it; and he that gathers little, when his grace comes to be perfected in glory, shall find that he has no lack. Manna was to be gathered in the morning; and those that would find Christ must seek him early. Manna was sweet, and, as the author of the Wisdom of Solomon tells us (Wisdom 16:20), was agreeable to every palate; and to those that believe Christ is precious. Israel lived upon manna till they came to Canaan; and Christ is our life. There was a memorial of the manna preserved in the ark; so of Christ in the Lord's supper, as the food of souls.

(2.) He here shows what his undertaking was, and what his errand into the world. Laying aside the metaphor, he speaks plainly, and speaks no proverb, giving us an account of his business among men, John 6:38-40.

[1.] He assures us, in general, that he came from heaven upon his Father's business (John 6:38), not do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. He came from heaven, which bespeaks him an intelligent active being, who voluntarily descended to this lower world, a long journey, and a great step downward, considering the glories of the world he came from and the calamities of the world he came to; we may well ask with wonder, “What moved him to such an expedition?” Here he tells that he came to do, not his own will, but the will of his Father; not that he had any will that stood in competition with the will of his Father, but those to whom he spoke suspected he might. “No,” saith he, “my own will is not the spring I act from. nor the rule I go by, but I am come to do the will of him that sent me.” That is, First, Christ did not come into the world as a private person, that acts for himself only, but under a public character, to act for others as an ambassador, or plenipotentiary, authorized by a public commission; he came into the world as God's great agent and the world's great physician. It was not any private business that brought him hither, but he came to settle affairs between parties no less considerable than the great Creator and the whole creation. Secondly, Christ, when he was in the world, did not carry on any private design, nor had any separate interest at all, distinct from theirs for whom he acted. The scope of his whole life was to glorify God and do good to men. He therefore never consulted his own ease, safety, or quiet; but, when he was to lay down his life, though he had a human nature which startled at it, he set aside the consideration of that, and resolved his will as man into the will of God: Not as I will, but as thou wilt.

[2.] He acquaints us, in particular, with that will of the Father which he came to do; he here declares the decree, the instructions he was to pursue.

First, The private instructions given to Christ, that he should be sure to save all the chosen remnant; and this is the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son (John 6:38): “This is the Father's will, who hath sent me; this is the charge I am entrusted with, that of all whom he hath given me I should lose none.” Note, 1. There is a certain number of the children of men given by the Father to Jesus Christ, to be his care, and so to be to him for a name and a praise; given him for an inheritance, for a possession. Let him do all that for them which their case requires; teach them, and heal them, pay their debt, and plead their cause, prepare them for, and preserve them to, eternal life, and then let him make his best of them. The Father might dispose of them as he pleased: as creatures, their lives and beings were derived from him; as sinners, their lives and beings were forfeited to him. He might have sold them for the satisfaction of his justice, and delivered them to the tormentors; but he pitched upon them to be the monuments of his mercy, and delivered them to the Saviour. Those whom God chose to be the objects of his special love he lodged as a trust in the hands of Christ.

2. Jesus Christ has undertaken that he will lose none of those that were thus given him of the Father. The many sons whom he was to bring to glory shall all be forth-coming, and none of them missing, Mat 18:14. None of them shall be lost, for want of a sufficient grace to sanctify them. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever, Gen 43:9.

3. Christ's undertaking for those that are given him extends to the resurrection of their bodies. I will raise it up again at the last day, which supposes all that goes before, but this is to crown and complete the undertaking. The body is a part of the man, and therefore a part of Christ's purchase and charge; it pertains to the promises, and therefore it shall not be lost. The undertaking is not only that he shall lose none, no person, but that he shall lose nothing, no part of the person, and therefore not the body. Christ's undertaking will never be accomplished till the resurrection, when the souls and bodies of the saints shall be re-united and gathered to Christ, that he may present them to the Father: Behold I, and the children that thou has given me, Heb 2:13; 2Tim 1:12.

4. The spring and original of all this is the sovereign will of God, the counsels of his will, according to which he works all this. This was the commandment he gave to his Son, when he sent him into the world, and to which the Son always had an eye.

Secondly, The public instructions which were to be given to the children of men, in what way, and upon what terms, they might obtain salvation by Christ; and this is the covenant of grace between God and man. Who the particular persons were that were given to Christ is a secret: The Lord knows them that are his, we do not, nor is it fit we should; but, though their names are concealed, their characters are published. An offer is made of life and happiness upon gospel terms, that by it those that were given to Christ might be brought to him, and others left inexcusable (John 6:40): “This is the will, the revealed will, of him that sent me, the method agreed upon, upon which to proceed with the children of men, that every one, Jew or Gentile, that sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up.” This is gospel indeed, good news. Is it now reviving to hear this?

1. That eternal life may be had, if it be not our own fault; that whereas, upon the sin of the first Adam, the way of the tree of life was blocked up, by the grace of the second Adam it is laid upon again. The crown of glory is set before us as the prize of our high calling, which we may run for and obtain.

2. Every one may have it. This gospel is to be preached, this offer made, to all, and none can say, “It belongs not to me,” Rev 22:17.

3. This everlasting life is sure to all those who believe in Christ, and to them only. He that sees the Son, and believes on him, shall be saved. Some understand this seeing as a limitation of this condition of salvation to those only that have the revelation of Christ and his grace made to them. Every one that has the opportunity of being acquainted with Christ, and improves this so well as to believe in him, shall have everlasting life, so that none shall be condemned for unbelief (however they maybe for other sins) but those who have had the gospel preached to them, who, like these Jews here (John6:36), have seen, and yet have not believed; have known Christ, and yet not trusted in him. But I rather understand seeing here to mean the same thing with believing, for it is theōrōn, which signifies not so much the sight of the eye (as John 6:36, heōrakate me - ye have seen me) as the contemplation of the mind. Every one that sees the Son, that is, believes on him, sees him with an eye of faith, by which we come to be duly acquainted and affected with the doctrine of the gospel concerning him. It is to look upon him, as the stung Israelites upon the brazen serpent. It is not a blind faith that Christ requires, that we should be willing to have our eyes put out, and then follow him, but that we should see him, and see what ground we go upon in our faith. It is then right when it is not taken up upon hearsay (believing as the church believes), but is the result of a due consideration of, and insight into, the motives of credibility: Now mine eye sees thee. We have heard him ourselves.

4. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, in order to their having everlasting life, shall be raised up by his power at the last day. He had it in charge as his Father's will (John 6:39), and here he solemnly makes it his own undertaking: I will raise him up, which signifies not only the return of the body to life, but the putting of the whole man into a full possession of the eternal life promised.

2. Now Christ discoursing thus concerning himself, as the bread of life that came down from heaven, let us see what remarks his hearers made upon it.

(1.) When they heard of such a thing as the bread of God, which gives life, they heartily prayed for it (John 6:34): Lord, evermore give us this bread. I cannot think that this is spoken scoffingly, and in a way of derision, as most interpreters understand it: “Give us such bread as this, if thou canst; let us be fed with it, not for one meal, as with the five loaves, but evermore;” as if this were no better a prayer than that of the impenitent thief: If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. But I take this request to be made, though ignorantly, yet honestly, and to be well meant; for they call him Lord, and desire a share in what he gives, whatever he means by it. General and confused notions of divine things produce in carnal hearts some kind of desires towards them, and wishes of them; like Balaam's wish, to die the death of the righteous. Those who have an indistinct knowledge of the things of God, who see men as trees walking, make, as I may call them, inarticulate prayers for spiritual blessings. They think the favor of God a good thing, and heaven a fine place, and cannot but wish them their own, while they have no value nor desire at all for that holiness which is necessary both to the one and to the other. Let this be the desire of our souls; have we tasted that the Lord is gracious, been feasted with the word of God, and Christ in the word? Let us say, “Lord, evermore give us this bread; let the bread of life be our daily bread, the heavenly manna our continual feast, and let us never know the want of it.”

(2.) But, when they understood that by this bread of life Jesus meant himself, then they despised it. Whether they were the same persons that had prayed for it (John 6:34), or some others of the company, does not appear; it seems to be some others, for they are called Jews. Now it is said (John 6:41), They murmured at him. This comes in immediately after that solemn declaration which Christ had made of God's will and his own undertaking concerning man's salvation (John6:39-40), which certainly were some of the most weighty and gracious words that ever proceeded out of the mouth of our Lord Jesus, the most faithful, and best worthy of all acceptation. One would think that, like Israel in Egypt, when they heard that God had thus visited them, they should have bowed their heads and worshiped; but on the contrary, instead of closing with the offer made them, they murmured, quarreled with what Christ said, and, though they did not openly oppose and contradict it, yet they privately whispered among themselves in contempt of it, and instilled into one anothers minds prejudices against it. Many that will not professedly contradict the doctrine of Christ (their cavils are so weak and groundless that they are either ashamed to own them or afraid to have them silenced), yet say in their hearts that they do not like it. Now,
[1.] That which offended them was Christ's asserting his origin to be from heaven, John 6:41-42. How is it that he saith, I came down from heaven? They had heard of angels coming down from heaven, but never of a man, overlooking the proofs he had given them of his being more than a man.
[2.] That which they thought justified them herein was that they knew his extraction on earth: Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? They took it amiss that he should say that he came down from heaven, when he was one of them. They speak slightly of his blessed name, Jesus: Is not this Jesus. They take it for granted that Joseph was really his father, though he was only reputed to be so. Note, Mistakes concerning the person of Christ, as if he were a mere man, conceived and born by ordinary generation, occasion the offense that is taken at his doctrine and offices. Those who set him on a level with the other sons of men, whose father and mother we know, no wonder if they derogate from the honor of his satisfaction and the mysteries of his undertaking, and, like the Jews here, murmur at his promise to raise us up at the last day.

3. Christ, having spoken of faith as the great work of God (John 6:29), discourses largely concerning this work, instructing and encouraging us in it.

(1.) He shows what it is to believe in Christ. [1.] To believe in Christ is to come to Christ. He that comes to me is the same with him that believes in me (John 6:35), and again (John 6:37): He that comes unto me; so John 6:44-45. Repentance towards God is coming to him (Jer 3:22) as our chief good and highest end; and so faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ is coming to him as our prince and Saviour, and our way to the Father. It denotes the out-goings of our affection towards him, for these are the motions of the soul, and actions agreeable; it is to come off from all those things that stand in opposition to him or competition with him, and to come up to those terms upon which life and salvation are offered to us through him. When he was here on earth it was more that barely coming where he was; so it is now more than coming to his word and ordinances.
[2.] It is to feed upon Christ (John 6:51): If any man eat of this bread. The former denotes applying ourselves to Christ; this denotes applying Christ to ourselves, with appetite and delight, that we may receive life, and strength, and comfort from him. To feed on him as the Israelites on the manna, having quited the fleshpots of Egypt, and not depending on the labor of their hands (to eat of that), but living purely on the bread given them from heaven.

(2.) He shows what is to be got by believing in Christ. What will he give us if we come to him? What shall we be the better of we feed upon him? Want and death are the chief things we dread; may we but be assured of the comforts of our being, and the continuance of it in the midst of these comforts, we have enough; now these two are here secured to true believers.

[1.] They shall never want, never hunger, never thirst, John 6:35. Desires they have, earnest desires, but these so suitably, so seasonably, so abundantly satisfied, that they cannot be called hunger and thirst, which are uneasy and painful. Those that did eat manna, and drink of the rock, hungered and thirsted afterwards. Manna surfeited them; water out of the rock failed them. But there is such an over-flowing fulness in Christ as can never be exhausted, and there are such ever-flowing communications from him as can never be interrupted.

[2.] They shall never die, not die eternally; for, First, He that believes on Christ has everlasting life (John 6:47); he has the assurance of it, the grant of it, the earnest of it; he has it in the promise and first-fruits. Union with Christ and communion with God in Christ are everlasting life begun. Secondly, Whereas they that did eat manna died, Christ is such bread as a man may eat of and never die, John 6:49-50. Observe here, That the insufficiency of the typical manna: Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. There may be much good use made of the death of our fathers; their graves speak to us, and their monuments are our memorials, particularly of this, that the greatest plenty of the most dainty food will neither prolong the thread of life nor avert the stroke of death. Those that did eat manna, angel's food, died like other men. There could be nothing amiss in their diet, to shorten their days, nor could their deaths be hastened by the toils and fatigues of life (for they neither sowed nor reaped), and yet they died.
(1.) Many of them died by the immediate strokes of God's vengeance for their unbelief and murmurings; for, though they did eat that spiritual meat, yet with many of them God was not well-pleased, but they were overthrown in the wilderness, 1Cor 10:3-5. Their eating manna was no security to them from the wrath of God, as believing in Christ is to us.
(2.) The rest of them died in a course of nature, and their carcasses fell, under a divine sentence, in that wilderness where they did eat manna. In that very age when miracles were daily bread was the life of man reduced to the stint it now stands at, as appears, Psa 90:10. Let them not then boast so much of manna.

2. The all-sufficiency of the true manna, of which the other was a type: This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that truly divine and heavenly food, that a man may eat thereof and not die; that is, not fall under the wrath of God, which is killing to the soul; not die the second death; no, nor the first death finally and irrecoverably. Not die, that is, not perish, not come short of the heavenly Canaan, as the Israelites did of the earthly, for want of faith, though they had manna. This is further explained by that promise in the next words: If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, John 6:51. This is the meaning of this never dying: though he go down to death, he shall pass through it to that world where there shall be no more death. To live for ever is not to be for ever (the damned in hell shall be for ever, the soul of man was made for an endless state), but to be happy for ever. And because the body must needs die, and be as water spilled upon the ground, Christ here undertakes for the gathering of that up too (as before, John 6:44, I will raise him up at the last day); and even that shall live for ever.

(3.) He shows what encouragements we have to believe in Christ. Christ here speaks of some who had seen him and yet believed not, John 6:36. They saw his person and miracles, and heard him preach, and yet were not wrought upon to believe in him. Faith is not always the effect of sight; the soldiers were eye-witnesses of his resurrection, and yet, instead of believing in him, they belied him; so that it is a difficult thing to bring people to believe in Christ: and, by the operation of the Spirit of grace, those that have not seen have yet believed. Two things we are here assured of, to encourage our faith: -

[1.] That the Son will bid all those welcome that come to him (John 6:37): Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. How welcome should this word be to our souls which bids us welcome to Christ! Him that cometh; it is in the singular number, denoting favor, not only to the body of believers in general, but to every particular soul that applies itself to Christ. Here, First, The duty required is a pure gospel duty: to come to Christ, that we may come to God by him. His beauty and love, those great attractions, must draw us to him; sense of need and fear of danger must drive us to him; any thing to bring us to Christ. Secondly, The promise is a pure gospel promise: I will in no wise cast out - ou mē ekbagō exō. There are two negatives: I will not, no, I will not.
1. Much favor is expressed here. We have reason to fear that he should cast us out. Considering our meanness, our vileness, our unworthiness to come, our weakness in coming, we may justly expect that he should frown upon us, and shut his doors against us; but he obviates these fears with this assurance, he will not do it; will not disdain us though we are mean, will not reject us though we are sinful. Do poor scholars come to him to be taught? Though they be dull and slow, he will not cast them out. Do poor patients come to him to be cured, poor clients come to him to be advised? Though their case be bad, and though they come empty-handed, he will in no wise cast them out.
But, 2. More favor is implied than is expressed; when it is said that he will no cast them out the meaning is, He will receive them, and entertain them, and give them all that which they come to him for. As he will not refuse them at their first coming, so he will not afterwards, upon every displeasure, cast them out. His gifts and callings are without repentance.

[2.] That the Father will, without fail, bring all those to him in due time that were given him. In the federal transactions between the Father and the Son, relating to man's redemption, as the Son undertook for the justification, sanctification, and salvation, of all that should come to him (“Let me have them put into my hands, and then leave the management of them to me”), so the Father, the fountain and original of being, life, and grace, undertook to put into his hand all that were given him, and bring them to him. Now,

First, He here assures us that this shall be done: All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, John 6:37. Christ had complained (John 6:36) of those who, though they had seen him, yet would not believe on him; and then he adds this,

a. For their conviction and awakening, plainly intimating that their not coming to him, and believing on him, if they persisted in it, would be a certain sign that they did not belong to the election of grace; for how can we think that God gave us to Christ if we give ourselves to the world and the flesh? 2Pet 1:10.

b. For his own comfort and encouragement: Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious. The election has obtained, and shall though multitudes be blinded, Rom 11:7. Though he lose many of his creatures, yet none of his charge: All that the Father gives him shall come to him notwithstanding. Here we have,
(a.) The election described: All that the father giveth me, pan ho didōsi - every thing which the Father giveth to me; the persons of the elect, and all that belongs to them; all their services, all their interests. As all that he has is theirs, so all that they have is his, and he speaks of them as his all: they were given him in full recompense of his undertaking. Not only all persons, but all things, are gathered together in Christ (Eph 1:10) and reconciled, Col 1:20. The giving of the chosen remnant to Christ is spoken of (John 6:39) as a thing done; he hath given them. Here it is spoken of as a thing in the doing; he giveth them; because, when the first begotten was brought into the world, it should seem, there was a renewal of the grant; see Heb 10:5, etc. God was now about to give him the heathen for his inheritance (Psa 2:8), to put him in possession of the desolate heritages (Isa 49:8), to divide him a portion with the great, Isa 53:12. And though the Jews, who saw him, believed not on him, yet these (saith he) shall come to me; the other sheep, which are not of this fold, shall be brought, John 10:15-16. See Acts 13:45-48.
(b.) The effect of it secured: They shall come to me. This is not in the nature of a promise, but a prediction, that as many as were in the counsel of God ordained to life shall be brought to life by being brought to Christ. They are scattered, are mingled among the nations, yet none of them shall be forgotten; not a grain of God's corn shall be lost, as is promised, Amos 9:9. They are by nature alienated from Christ, and averse to him, and yet they shall come. As God's omniscience is engaged for the finding of them all out, so is his omnipotence for the bringing of them all in. Not, They shall be driven, to me, but, They shall come freely, shall be made willing.

Secondly, He here acquaints us how it shall be done. How shall those who are given to Christ be brought to him? Two things are to be done in order to it: -

a. Their understandings shall be enlightened; this is promised, John 6:45-46. It is written in the prophets, who spoke of these things before, And they shall be all taught of God; this we find, Isa 54:13, and Jer 31:34. They shall all know me. Note,

(a.) In order to our believing in Jesus Christ, it is necessary that we be taught of God; that is,
[a.] That there be a divine revelation made to us, discovering to us both what we are to believe concerning Christ and why we are to believe it. There are some things which even nature teaches, but to bring us to Christ there is need of a higher light.
[b.] That there be a divine work wrought in us, enabling us to understand and receive these revealed truths and the evidence of them. God, in giving us reason, teaches us more than the beasts of the earth; but in giving us faith he teaches more than the natural man. Thus all the church's children, all that are genuine, are taught of God; he hath undertaken their education.

(b.) It follows then, by way of inference from this, that every man that has heard and learned of the Father comes to Christ, John 6:45.
 [a.] It is here implied that none will come to Christ but those that have heard and learned of the Father. We shall never be brought to Christ but under a divine conduct; except God by his grace enlighten our minds, inform our judgments, and rectify our mistakes, and not only tell us that we may hear, but teach us, that we may learn the truth as it is in Jesus, we shall never be brought to believe in Christ.
[b.] That this divine teaching does so necessarily produce the faith of God's elect that we may conclude that those who do not come to Christ have never heard nor learned of the Father; for, if they had, doubtless they would have come to Christ. In vain do men pretend to be taught of God if they believe not in Christ, for he teaches no other lesson, Gal 1:8-9. See how God deals with men as reasonable creatures, draws them with the cords of a man, opens the understanding first, and then by that, in a regular way, influences the inferior faculties; thus he comes in by the door, but Satan, as a robber, climbs up another way. But lest any should dream of a visible appearance of God the Father to the children of men (to teach them these things), and entertain any gross conceptions about hearing and learning of the Father, he adds (John 6:46): Not that any man hath seen the Father; it is implied, nor can see him, with bodily eyes, or may expect to learn of him as Moses did, to whom he spoke face to face; but God, in enlightening men's eyes and teaching them, works in a spiritual way. The Father of spirits has access to, and influence upon, men's spirits, undiscerned. Those that have not seen his face have felt his power. And yet there is one intimately acquainted with the Father, he who is of God, Christ himself, he has seen the Father, John 1:18. Note, First, Jesus Christ is of God in a peculiar manner, God of God, light of light; not only sent of God, but begotten of God before all worlds. Secondly, It is the prerogative of Christ to have seen the Father, perfectly to know him and his counsels. Thirdly, Even that illumination which is preparative to faith is conveyed to us through Christ. Those that learn of the Father, forasmuch as they cannot see him themselves, must learn of Christ, who alone has seen him. As all divine discoveries are made through Christ, so through him all divine powers are exerted.

b. Their wills shall be bowed. If the soul of man had now its original rectitude there needed no more to influence the will than the illumination of the understanding; but in the depraved soul of fallen man there is a rebellion of the will against the right dictates of the understanding; a carnal mind, which is enmity itself to the divine light and law. It is therefore requisite that there be a work of grace wrought upon the will, which is here called drawing, (John6:44): No man can come to me except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him. The Jews murmured at the doctrine of Christ; not only would not receive it themselves, but were angry that others did. Christ overheard their secret whisperings, and said (John 6:43), “Murmur not among yourselves; lay not the fault of your dislike of my doctrine one upon another, as if it were because you find it generally distasteful; no, it is owing to yourselves, and your own corrupt dispositions, which are such as amount to a moral impotency; your antipathies to the truths of God, and prejudices against them, are so strong that nothing less than a divine power can conquer them.” And this is the case of all mankind: “No man can come to me, can persuade himself to come up to the terms of the gospel, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him,” John 6:44. Observe,
(a.) The nature of the work: It is drawing, which denotes not a force put upon the will, whereby of unwilling we are made willing, and a new bias is given to the soul, by which it inclines to God. This seems to be more than a moral suasion, for by that it is in the power to draw; yet it is not to be called a physical impulse, for it lies out of the road of nature; but he that formed the spirit of man within him by his creating power, and fashions the hearts of men by his providential influence, knows how to new-mold the soul, and to alter its bent and temper, and make it conformable to himself and his own will, without doing any wrong to its natural liberty. It is such a drawing as works not only a compliance, but a cheerful compliance, a complacency: Draw us, and we will run after thee.
 (b.) The necessity of it: No man, in this weak and helpless state, can come to Christ without it. As we cannot do any natural action without the concurrence of common providence, so we cannot do any action morally good without the influence of special grace, in which the new man lives, and moves, and has its being, as much as the mere man has in the divine providence.
(c.) The author of it: The Father who hath sent me. The Father, having sent Christ, will succeed him, for he would not send him on a fruitless errand. Christ having undertaken to bring souls to glory, God promised him, in order thereunto, to bring them to him, and so to give him possession of those to whom he had given him a right. God, having by promise given the kingdom of Israel to David, did at length draw the hearts of the people to him; so, having sent Christ to save souls, he sends souls to him to be saved by him.
(d.) The crown and perfection of this work: And I will raise him up at the last day. This is four times mentioned in this discourse, and doubtless it includes all the intermediate and preparatory workings of divine grace. When he raises them up at the last day, he will put the last hand to his undertaking, will bring forth the capstone. If he undertakes this, surely he can do any thing, and will do every thing that is necessary in order to do it. Let our expectations be carried out towards a happiness reserved for the last day, when all the years of time shall be fully complete and ended.

4. Christ, having thus spoken of himself as the bread of life, and of faith as the work of God, comes more particularly to show what of himself is this bread, namely, his flesh, and that to believe is to eat of that, John 6:51-58, where he still prosecutes the metaphor of food. Observe, here, the preparation of this food: The bread that I will give is my flesh (John 6:51), the flesh of the Son of man and his blood, John 6:53. His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, John 6:55. observe, also, the participation of this food: We must eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood (John 6:53); and again (John 6:54), Whoso eats my flesh and drinks my blood; and the same words (John 6:56-57), he that eats me. This is certainly a parable or figurative discourse, wherein the acting of the soul upon things spiritual and divine are represented by bodily actions about things sensible, which made the truths of Christ more intelligible to some, and less so to others, Mark 4:11-12. Now,

(1.) Let us see how this discourse of Christ was liable to mistake and misconstruction, that men might see, and not perceive.
[1.] It was misconstrued by the carnal Jews, to whom it was first delivered (John 6:52): They strove among themselves; they whispered in each others ears their dissatisfaction: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Christ spoke (John 6:51) of giving his flesh for us, to suffer and die; but they, without due consideration, understood it of his giving it to us, to be eaten, which gave occasion to Christ to tell them that, however what he said was otherwise intended, yet even that also of eating of his flesh was no such absurd thing (if rightly understood) as prima facie - in the first instance, they took it to be.
[2.] It has been wretchedly misconstrued by the church of Rome for the support of their monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation, which gives the lie to our senses, contradicts the nature of a sacrament, and overthrows all convincing evidence. They, like these Jews here, understand it of a corporal and carnal eating of Christ's body, like Nicodemus, ch. 3, 4. The Lord's supper was not yet instituted, and therefore it could have no reference to that; it is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a sacramental.
[3.] It is misunderstood by many ignorant carnal people, who hence infer that, if they take the sacraments when they die, they shall certainly go to heaven, which, as it makes many that are weak causelessly uneasy if they want it, so it makes many that are wicked causelessly easy if they have it. Therefore,

(2.) Let us see how this discourse of Christ is to be understood.

[1.] What is meant by the flesh and blood of Christ. It is called (John 6:53), The flesh of the Son of man, and his blood, his as Messiah and Mediator: the flesh and blood which he assumed in his incarnation (Heb 2:14), and which he gave up in his death and suffering: my flesh which I will give to be crucified and slain. It is said to be given for the life of the world, that is, First, Instead of the life of the world, which was forfeited by sin, Christ gives his own flesh as a ransom or counterprice. Christ was our bail, bound body for body (as we say), and therefore his life must go for ours, that ours may be spared. Here am I, let these go their way. Secondly, In order to the life of the world, to purchase a general offer of eternal life to all the world, and the special assurances of it to all believers. So that the flesh and blood of the Son of man denote the Redeemer incarnate and dying; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption: pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the adoption of sons, access to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life; these are called the flesh and blood of Christ,
 1. Because they are purchased by his flesh and blood, by the breaking of his body, and shedding of his blood. Well may the purchased privileges be denominated from the price that was paid for them, for it puts a value upon them; write upon them pretium sanguinis - the price of blood.
2. Because they are meat and drink to our souls. Flesh with the blood was prohibited (Gen 9:4), but the privileges of the gospel are as flesh and blood to us, prepared for the nourishment of our souls. He had before compared himself to bread, which is necessary food; here to flesh, which is delicious. It is a feast of fat things, Isa 25:6. The soul is satisfied with Christ as with marrow and fatness, Psa 63:5. It is meat indeed, and drink indeed; truly so, that is spiritually; so Dr. Whitby; as Christ is called the true vine; or truly meat, in opposition to the shows and shadows with which the world shams off those that feed upon it. In Christ and his gospel there is real supply, solid satisfaction; that is meat indeed, and drink indeed, which satiates and replenishes, Jer 31:25-26.

[2.] What is meant by eating this flesh and drinking this blood, which is so necessary and beneficial; it is certain that is means neither more nor less than believing in Christ. As we partake of meat and drink by eating and drinking, so we partake of Christ and his benefits by faith: and believing in Christ includes these four things, which eating and drinking do: - First, It implies an appetite to Christ. This spiritual eating and drinking begins with hungering and thirsting (Mat 5:6), earnest and importunate desires after Christ, not willing to take up with any thing short of an interest in him: “Give me Christ or else I die.” Secondly, An application of Christ to ourselves. Meat looked upon will not nourish us, but meat fed upon, and so made our own, and as it were one with us. We must so accept of Christ as to appropriate him to ourselves: my Lord, and my God, John 20:28. Thirdly, A delight in Christ and his salvation. The doctrine of Christ crucified must be meat and drink to us, most pleasant and delightful. We must feast upon the dainties of the New Testament in the blood of Christ, taking as great a complacency in the methods which Infinite Wisdom has taken to redeem and save us as ever we did in the most needful supplies or grateful delights of nature. Fourthly, A derivation of nourishment from him and a dependence upon him for the support and comfort of our spiritual life, and the strength, growth, and vigor of the new man. To feed upon Christ is to do all in his name, in union with him, and by virtue drawn from him; it is to live upon him as we do upon our meat. How our bodies are nourished by our food we cannot describe, but that they are so we know and find; so it is with this spiritual nourishment. Our Saviour was so well pleased with this metaphor (as very significant and expressive) that, when afterwards he would institute some outward sensible signs, by which to represent our communicating of the benefits of his death, he chose those of eating and drinking, and made them sacramental actions.

(3.) Having thus explained the general meaning of this part of Christ's discourse, the particulars are reducible to two heads: -

[1.] The necessity of our feeding upon Christ (John 6:53): Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. That is, First, “It is a certain sign that you have no spiritual life in you if you have no desire towards Christ, nor delight in him.” If the soul does not hunger and thirst, certainly it does not live: it is a sign that we are dead indeed if we are dead to such meat and drink as this. When artificial bees, that by curious springs were made to move to and fro, were to be distinguished from natural ones (they say), it was done by putting honey among them, which the natural bees only flocked to, but the artificial ones minded not, for they had no life in them. Secondly, “It is certain that you can have no spiritual life, unless you derive it from Christ by faith; separated from him you can do nothing.” Faith in Christ is the primum vivens - the first living principle of grace; without it we have not the truth of spiritual life, nor any title to eternal life: our bodies may as well live without meat as our souls without Christ.

[2.] The benefit and advantage of it, in two things: -

First, We shall be one with Christ, as our bodies are with our food when it is digested (John 6:56): He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, that lives by faith in Christ crucified (it is spoken of as a continued act), he dwelleth in me, and I in him. By faith we have a close and intimate union with Christ; he is in us, and we in him, John 17:21-23; 1John 3:24. Believers dwell in Christ as their stronghold or city of refuge; Christ dwells in them as the master of the house, to rule it and provide for it. Such is the union between Christ and believers that he shares in their griefs, and they share in his graces and joys; he sups with them upon their bitter herbs, and they with him upon his rich dainties. It is an inseparable union, like that between the body and digested food, Rom 8:35; 1John 4:13.

Secondly, We shall live, shall live eternally, by him, as our bodies live by our food.

a. We shall live by him (John 6:57): As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall live by me. We have here the series and order of the divine life.
(a.) God is the living Father, hath life in and of himself. I am that I am is his name for ever.
(b.) Jesus Christ, as Mediator, lives by the Father; he has life in himself (John 5:26), but he has it of the Father. He that sent him, not only qualified him with that life which was necessary to so great an undertaking, but constituted him the treasury of divine life to us; he breathed into the second Adam the breath of spiritual lives, as into the first Adam the breath of natural lives.
(c.) True believers receive this divine life by virtue of their union with Christ, which is inferred from the union between the Father and the Son, as it is compared to it, John 17:21. For therefore he that eats me, or feeds on me, even he shall live by me: those that live upon Christ shall live by him. The life of believers is had from Christ (John 1:16); it is hid with Christ (Col 3:4), we live by him as the members by the head, the branches by the root; because he lives, we shall live also.

b. We shall live eternally by him (John 6:54): Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, as prepared in the gospel to be the food of souls, he has eternal life, he has it now, as John 6:40. He has that in him which is eternal life begun; he has the earnest and foretaste of it, and the hope of it; he shall live for ever, John 6:58. His happiness shall run parallel with the longest line of eternity itself.


Robertson’s Word Pictures:

The living bread (ho artos ho zōn). “The bread the living.” Repetition of the claim in John 6:35, John 6:41, John 6:48, but with a slight change from zōēs to zōn (present active participle of zaō). It is alive and can give life. See John 4:10 for living water. In Rev 1:17 Jesus calls himself the Living One (ho zōn).

For ever (eis ton aiōna). Eternally like aiōnion with zōēn in John 6:47.

I shall give (egō dōsō). Emphasis on egō (I). Superior so to Moses.

Is my flesh (hē sarx mou estin). See note on John 1:14 for sarx the Incarnation. This new idea creates far more difficulty to the hearers who cannot grasp Christ’s idea of self-sacrifice.

For the life of the world (huper tēs tou kosmou zōēs). Over, in behalf of, huper means, and in some connections instead of as in John11:50. See John 1:30 for the Baptist’s picture of Christ as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. See also John 3:17; 4:42; 1John 3:16; Mat 20:28; Gal 3:13; 2Cor 5:14.; Rom 5:8. Jesus has here presented to this Galilean multitude the central fact of his atoning death for the spiritual life of the world.


Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary:

I am, etc. — Understand, it is of MYSELF I now speak as the Bread from heaven; of ME if a man eat he shall live for ever; and “THE BREAD WHICH I WILL GIVE IS MY FLESH, WHICH I WILL GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD.” Here, for the first time in this high discourse, our Lord explicitly introduces His sacrificial death - for only rationalists can doubt this not only as that which constitutes Him the Bread of life to men, but as THAT very element IN HIM WHICH POSSESSES THE LIFE-GIVING VIRTUE. - “From this time we hear no more (in this discourse) of “Bread”; this figure is dropped, and the reality takes its place” [Stier]. The words “I will give” may be compared with the words of institution at the Supper, “This is My body which is given for you” (Luke 22:19), or in Paul’s report of it, “broken for you” (1Cor 11:24).


John 12:24 the seed that dies

Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

Christ's acceptance of this honor paid him, signified by what he said to the people hereupon, John 12:23, etc., where he foretells both the honor which he himself should have in being followed (John 12:23, John 12:24) and the honor which those should have that followed him, John 12:25-26. This was intended for the direction and encouragement of these Greeks, and all others that desired acquaintance with him.

1. He foresees that plentiful harvest, in the conversion of the Gentiles, of which this was as it were the first-fruits, John 12:23. Christ said to the two disciples who spoke a good word for these Greeks, but doubted whether they should speed or no, The hour is come when the Son of Man shall be glorified, by the accession of the Gentiles to the church, and in order to that he must be rejected of the Jews. Observe,

(1.) The end designed hereby, and that is the glorifying of the Redeemer: “And is it so? Do the Gentiles begin to inquire after me? Does the morning-star appear to them? and that blessed day-spring, which knows its place and time too, does that begin to take hold of the ends of the earth? Then the hour is come for the glorifying of the Son of man.” This was no surprise to Christ, but a paradox to those about him.
Note, [1.] The calling, the effectual calling, of the Gentiles into the church of God greatly redounded to the glory of the Son of man. The multiplying of the redeemed was the magnifying of the Redeemer.
[2.] there was a time, a set time, an hour, a certain hour, for the glorifying of the Son of man, which did come at last, when the days of his humiliation were numbered and finished, and he speaks of the approach of it with exultation and triumph: The hour is come.

(2.) The strange way in which this end was to be attained, and that was by the death of Christ, intimated in that similitude (John 12:24): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, you to whom I have spoken of my death and sufferings, except a corn of wheat fall not only to, but into, the ground, and die, and be buried and lost, it abideth alone, and you never see any more of it; but if it die according to the course of nature (otherwise it would be a miracle) it brings forth much fruit, God giving to every seed its own body.” Christ is the corn of wheat, the most valuable and useful grain. Now here is,

[1.] The necessity of Christ's humiliation intimated. He would never have been the living quickening head and root of the church if he had not descended from heaven to this accursed earth and ascended from earth to the accursed tree, and so accomplished our redemption. He must pour out his soul unto death, else he cannot divide a portion with the great, Isa 53:12. He shall have a seed given him, but he must shed his blood to purchase them and purify, must win them and wear them. It was necessary likewise as a qualification for that glory which he was to have by the accession of multitudes to his church; for if he had not by his sufferings made satisfaction for sin, and so brought in an everlasting righteousness, he would not have been sufficiently provided for the entertainment of those that should come to him, and therefore must abide alone.

[2.] The advantage of Christ's humiliation illustrated. He fell to the ground in his incarnation, seemed to be buried alive in this earth, so much was his glory veiled; but this was not all: he died. This immortal seed submitted to the laws of mortality, he lay in the grave like seed under the clods; but as the seed comes up again green, and fresh, and flourishing, and with a great increase, so one dying Christ gathered to himself thousands of living Christians, and he became their root. The salvation of souls hitherto, and henceforward to the end of time, is all owing to the dying of this corn of wheat. Hereby the Father and the Son are glorified, the church is replenished, the mystical body is kept up, and will at length be completed; and, when time shall be no more, the Captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory by the virtue of his death, and being so made perfect by sufferings, shall be celebrated for ever with the admiring praises of saints and angels, Heb 2:10, 13.

2. He foretells and promises an abundant recompense to those who should cordially embrace him and his gospel and interest, and should make it appear that they do so by their faithfulness in suffering for him or in serving him.

(1.) In suffering for him (John 12:25): He that loves his life better than Christ shall lose it; but he that hates his life in this world, and prefers the favor of God and an interest in Christ before it, shall keep it unto life eternal. This doctrine Christ much insisted on, it being the great design of his religion to wean us from this world, by setting before us another world.

[1.] See here the fatal consequences of an inordinate love of life; many a man hugs himself to death, and loses his life by over-loving it. He that so loves his animal life as to indulge his appetite, and make provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof, shall thereby shorten his days, shall lose the life he is so fond of, and another infinitely better. He that is so much in love with the life of the body, and the ornaments and delights of it, as, for fear of exposing it or them, to deny Christ, he shall lose it, that is, lose a real happiness in the other world, while he thinks to secure an imaginary one in this. Skin for skin a man may give for his life, and make a good bargain, but he that gives his soul, his God, his heaven, for it, buys life too dear, and is guilty of the folly of him who sold a birth-right for a mess of pottage.

[2.] See also the blessed recompense of a holy contempt of life. He that so hates the life of the body as to venture it for the preserving of the life of his soul shall find both, with unspeakable advantage, in eternal life. Note, First, It is required of the disciples of Christ that they hate their life in this world; a life in this world supposes a life in the other world, and this is hated when it is loved less than that. Our life in this world includes all the enjoyments of our present state, riches, honors, pleasures, and long life in the possession of them; these we must hate, that is, despise them as vain and insufficient to make us happy, dread the temptations that are in them, and cheerfully part with them whenever they come in competition with the service of Christ, Acts 20:24; Acts 21:13; Rev 12:11. See here much of the power of godliness - that it conquers the strongest natural affections; and much of the mystery of godliness - that it is the greatest wisdom, and yet makes men hate their own lives. Secondly, Those who, in love to Christ, hate their own lives in this world, shall be abundantly recompensed in the resurrection of the just. He that hates his life shall keep it; he puts it into the hands of one that will keep it to life eternal, and restore it with as great an improvement as the heavenly life can make of the earthly one.

(2.) In serving him (John 12:26): If any man profess to serve me, let him follow me, as a servant follows his master; and where I am, ekei kai ho diakonos ho emos estai - there let my servant be; so some read it, as part of the duty, there let him be, to attend upon me; we read it as part of the promise, there shall he be in happiness with me. And, lest this should seem a small matter, he adds, If any man serve me, him will my Father honor; and that is enough, more than enough. The Greeks desired to see Jesus (John 12:21), but Christ lets them know that it was not enough to see him, they must serve him. He did not come into the world, to be a show for us to gaze at, but a king to be ruled by. And he says this for the encouragement of those who inquired after him to become his servants. In taking servants it is usual to fix both the work and the wages; Christ does both here.

[1.] Here is the work which Christ expects from his servants; and it is very easy and reasonable, and such as becomes them.

First, Let them attend their Master's movements: If any man serve me, let him follow me. Christians must follow Christ, follow his methods and prescriptions, do the things that he says, follow his example and pattern, walk as he also walked, follow his conduct by his providence and Spirit. We must go whither he leads us, and in the way he leads us; must follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes before us. “If any man serve me, if he put himself into that relation to me, let him apply himself to the business of my service, and be always ready at my call.” Or, “If any man do indeed serve me, let him make an open and public profession of his relation to me, by following me, as the servant owns his Master by following him in the streets.”

Secondly, Let them attend their Master's repose: Where I am, there let my servant be, to wait upon me. Christ is where his church is, in the assemblies of his saints, where his ordinances are administered; and there let his servants be, to present themselves before him, and receive instructions from him. Or, “Where I am to be in heaven, whither I am now going, there let the thoughts and affections of my servants be, there let their conversation be, where Christ sitteth.” Col 3:1-2.

[2.] Here are the wages which Christ promises to his servants; and they are very rich and noble.

First, They shall be happy with him: Where I am, there shall also my servant be. To be with him, when he was here in poverty and disgrace, would seem but poor preferment, and therefore, doubtless, he means being with him in paradise, sitting with him at his table above, on his throne there; it is the happiness of heaven to be with Christ there, John 17:24. Christ speaks of heaven's happiness as if he were already in it: Where I am; because he was sure of it, and near to it, and it was still upon his heart, and in his eye. And the same joy and glory which he thought recompense enough for all his services and sufferings are proposed to his servants as the recompense of theirs. Those that follow him in the way shall be with him in the end.

Secondly, They shall be honored by his Father; he will make them amends for all their pains and loss, by conferring an honor upon them, such as becomes a great God to give, but far beyond what such worthless worms of the earth could expect to receive. The rewarder is God himself, who takes the services done to the Lord Jesus as done to himself. The reward is honor, true lasting honor, the highest honor; it is the honor that comes from God. It is said (Pro 27:18), He that waits on his Master (humbly and diligently) shall be honored. Those that wait on Christ God will put honor upon, such as will be taken notice of another day, though now under a veil. Those that serve Christ must humble themselves, and are commonly vilified by the world, in recompense of both which they shall be exalted in due time.

Thus far Christ's discourse has reference to those Greeks who desired to see him, encouraging them to serve him. What became of those Greeks we are not told, but are willing to hope that those who thus asked the way to heaven with their faces looking forward, found it, and walked in it.


Robertson’s Word Pictures:

Except (ean mē). Negative condition of third class (undetermined, supposable case) with second aorist active participle pesōn (from piptō, to fall) and the second aorist active subjunctive of apothnēskō, to die.

A grain of wheat (ho kokkos tou sitou). Rather, “the grain of wheat.”

By itself alone (autos monos). Both predicate nominatives after menei. It is not necessary to think (nor likely) that Jesus has in mind the Eleusinian mysteries which became a symbol of the mystery of spring. Paul in 1Cor 15:36 uses the same illustration of the resurrection that Jesus does here. Jesus shows here the paradox that life comes through death. Whether the Greeks heard him or not we do not know. If so, they heard something not in Greek philosophy, the Christian ideal of sacrifice, “and this was foreign to the philosophy of Greece” (Bernard). Jesus had already spoken of himself as the bread of life (6:35-65).

But if it die (ean de apothanēi). Parallel condition of the third class. Grains of wheat have been found in Egyptian tombs three or four thousand years old, but they are now dead. They bore no fruit.


Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary:

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it brings forth much fruit — The necessity of His death is here brightly expressed, and its proper operation and fruit - life springing forth out of death - imaged forth by a beautiful and deeply significant law of the vegetable kingdom. For a double reason, no doubt, this was uttered - to explain what he had said of His death, as the hour of His own glorification, and to sustain His own Spirit under the agitation which was mysteriously coming over it in the view of that death.


Geneva Bible Translation Notes:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and (b) die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.

(5) The death of Christ is as it were a sowing, which seems to be a dying of the corn, but indeed is the cause of a much greater harvest: and such as is the condition of the head, so will be the condition of the members.
(b) A wheat corn dies when it is changed in the ground, and becomes the root of a fruitful new plant.

The symbolism of the seed of wheat to the body of Jesus coupled with the bread, water, oil and heat caused by the passion of those who have the Spirit of Christ within them brings about the witness of Christ as He wells up from within His people.