“A JOURNEY THROUGH THE GOSPEL OF JOHN” JOHN 6:60-71

Controversy Leads to Desertion

The passage before us deserves our careful attention.  Our blessed Lord has consummated His ministry in Galilee, the region of His upbringing.  In Galilee He had demonstrated several notable miracles namely – the miracle of changing water to wine; the miracle of healing the Nobleman’s son; and lastly, He had fed the hungry multitude with a meager substance of five barley loaves and two fish, and the miracle of walking on the water.  These miracles supported His claim that He was Deity – fully God.

To such marvelous miracles, the crowd that witnessed them had no excuse but to believe His mighty claims.  But such was not the case!  When our blessed Lord began to press His claims of being God, many of His followers began to murmur (John 6:41), even striving amongst themselves (John 6:52); moreover, this same excited and rabid crowd that followed Him across the lake (John 6:1-2), after hearing the conclusion of His Capernaum discourse, exclaimed:  “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” (v. 60)  In this discourse, Christ had presented Himself as the “Bread of Life” (John 6:35, 48), calling upon these followers to appropriate Him by faith to gain eternal life; moreover, He made this rather enigmatic statement – “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:53).  The crowd’s unbelief was further stirred by that enigmatic statement and confirmed the fact that they would not believe in Christ because they had not been drawn by the Father (6:44).

Having heard this convicting discourse, no wonder that the crowd exclaimed – “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60).  The crowd’s evident unbelief was no secret to Christ; He even knew that His words were offensive to them! (v. 61).

In verse 62, Christ makes an emphatic statement that indicated that prior to His birth in Bethlehem, He had a pre-existence in Heaven.  What a marvelous verse!  He made His descent, that we through faith in Him might make our ascent to Heaven!   Continuing to address this crowd, Christ stressed the importance of regeneration, for without it, mankind cannot understand nor discern spiritual things (v.63).  Having addressed the central issue in the crowd’s unbelief, Christ’s Deity is unveiled in that He knew the ones who didn’t believe and who would betray Him (v.64).  Christ went on to say that a Divine in-working was needed in order for mankind to respond to Him (v. 65).

In verse 66, we find a desertion on the part of these followers.  After Jesus’ emphatic statement in verse 65, this crowd had heard enough.  And as a result of their being offended by the claims of Christ, many of them deserted and followed Him no more.  Now our blessed Lord raised a poignant question to His disciples by saying – “Will ye also go away?” (v. 67)  This question served as a challenge to them, for this test question was given some six months before His crucifixion.  What a questio

Simon Peter, the avid spokesman for the group, answered by saying – “Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life” (v. 68).   Peter went on to say, “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 69).  In verse 70-71 of this concluding chapter and after such a powerful affirmation of faith by Peter, Jesus makes a correction by stating that Judas Iscariot is just a follower – He is not a true disciple of Christ.  May God bless!