Unless the Father Draws; John 6:41-47

 

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Introduction

 

As we go through our passage today we will do so recognizing verse 44 as the center point of this section. Verse 44 is used to describe some of the things before it, and the following verses defend what is said in verse 44. Indeed, John 6:44 is one of those strong Calvinistic statements that breaks the pride of man and exalts the power of God. That is ultimately what I pray is done here today. For this is what the Biblical gospel does: it breaks the pride and arrogance of finite rebel creatures and exalts the justice and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. It humbles man to his proper place before a holy and omnipotent God, which is a place of humility and submission before Him.

 

The Jews don’t like what Jesus said, v. 41

 

We begin by looking at verse 41 where the Jews are grumbling about Jesus because He said that He is the bread of life that came down from heaven. So basically they are offended by something Jesus said. Of course they understand that these are divine claims of authority and messiahship which they despise.

Isn’t it interesting how even in our day, simply talking about Jesus can make people so upset? Who knew that a first century Jew who was crucified and resurrected could have such an effect on people today? It is clear there is a real power to the words of Jesus, an inescapable reality and demand placed upon the hearers, and they know it. So they do the only thing they can do: grumble against it. Truly the word of God is sharper than any double edged sword, living and active, and it cuts to the quick, offending our sinful proclivities and creaturely arrogance. The natural man does not like this.

So the Jews here are grumbling because Jesus said that He is the bread that came down from heaven. One of the conversation points going on in John 6, as we have seen and will continue to see, is a contrast between the manna that their fathers ate in the wilderness and Jesus who is the bread of life. As I’m sure you can recall, one of the sins of the Israelites in the wilderness was their grumbling against the Lord and against Moses. They grumbled because they didn’t have food to eat, like they did back in Egypt. So God gave them Manna. Then they grumbled because they got tired of the manna. Among other things, this displayed a great lack of faith and trust in God. Here we have the descendants of the wilderness-wandering Israelites standing here in front of the very Bread of Life Himself, having just experienced the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves of bread and two fish, and instead of amazement and gratitude and faith, they grumble, just like their fathers. They don’t like that Jesus is the bread of Life come down from heaven who gives life to the world.

Their grumbling shows them to be of the same spirit of their fathers who grumbled before the manna, then they received manna, then grumbled from growing tired of manna. Now these Jews have the Bread of Life in front of them, they ate his miraculous bread, and they too grumble. We’ve talked previously about how Jesus of course is the greater Bread of Heaven, being greater than the manna in the wilderness. Because of that we also see, that the sin of the unbelieving Jews in Jesus’ day is greater than that of their fathers in the wilderness. It was not just the promises or the law they rejected, but they rejected the very Son of God himself, who stood literally in front of them. They rejected the fulfillment of all those promises. They rejected the substance of all those signs and shadows. He came to His own and His own received Him not. And if it was such a great sin for them that God visited them with great tribulation and judgement, destroying Jerusalem and the temple during that generation, as He did in 70 AD, how evil then is rejection of Christ in our day, when we have the completed written Word of God all around us, and a couple thousand years of the solidification of Church doctrine and practice, as we are well into the New Covenant era? Let us not grumble against the Lord and His providence and provision

The grumbling done by the Jews, just like their fathers, brings up a great point of practical application for us today: sin is so often and so easily passed down from father to son. How often do you see your own sin in the sins of your children? I think that’s one of many reasons God gives us children: to show us our sins that we maybe didn’t see before, so that we would be confronted with them and repent of them. It is generally true that our sins are more easily passed on to our children than our good – especially un-dealt-with sin. Out of love for your children’s souls, deal with your sin.

Note as well how far down the line the sin was passed on. Sin can weave a deep and lasting effect should it go unchecked. Unconfessed sin leads to more sin; not just in yourself, but in your children, and in your home.

 

The Jews try to Discredit Jesus, v. 42

 

As the Jews grumble against Jesus, they then begin to try and discredit Him in verse 42. They are basically saying, “How can this guy say He has come down from heaven? Don’t we know who His parents are? He was born a man just like the rest of us.” They are clearly in unbelief, and obviously in a state of ignorance as to the miraculous virgin birth. Nevertheless, this is clearly an attempt to discredit the man, so that they can discredit what He says, or so they think. You see, if they can discredit Jesus, they can justify their sin and unbelief, in their own minds, that is. 

How often do we yet see this same old tactic today? “No way could Jesus have been born of a virgin. He’s just a man. He’s just a prophet. He’s just a teacher.” All an attempt to justify their sin.

 

Jesus Rebukes Them, v. 43

 

In verse 43, Jesus then promptly rebukes them. “Do not grumble amongst yourselves.” Jesus is of course speaking directly into a specific conversation. Nevertheless we would do well to remember these words of our Lord. Grumbling has hurt many families, weakened many fellowships, and sapped much joy and contentedness. “Do not grumble amongst yourselves.”

 

Jesus explains the difficulty with their inability, v. 44

 

Then in verse 44 Jesus begins to essentially explain why it is so difficult for them to believe Him. He explains their grumbling and disbelief by essentially saying, “Yes, I am the bread of life that has come down from heaven, and you don’t believe because no one can come to me unless He who sent me draws him.” And really verse 44 is sort of the flip side to verse 37. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. And no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” It’s basically two different ways of saying the same thing.

So what we see is that John 6:44 presents us with two major gospel themes that go hand in hand: Man’s inability, and Christ’s ability.

So first, man’s inability: No one can “come” to Jesus – that is, spiritually, or in other words, believe in Him… No one can believe in Jesus unless the Father “draws him.” The natural man is not able, upon his own willpower or state, to come to Jesus Christ. He is dead in trespasses and sins, unable toward spiritual inclinations. Fallen man is not only unable to come to Jesus Christ, but he is unwilling. The natural man is not kept back from doing anything he doesn’t already want to do. He wants to sin and nothing else, and so he does. He doesn’t want Christ or the things of God. Man’s free will is free to act according to its nature. It can pick this sin or that sin. But it cannot come to Jesus Christ on its own, nor does it want to. It gets what it wants.

Oh how man’s inability highlights our need for someone outside of ourselves to rescue us and save us from ourselves. We need a power greater than the chains of sin enslaving our will. We need a redeemer to go all the way and save us monergistically. We need God to draw us to His Son, or else we’ll look right into His Son’s face and grumble. 

So what is this drawing? A. W. Pink puts it thus, “What is this ‘drawing?’ We answer, it is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the self-righteousness of the sinner, and convicting him of his lost condition. It is the Holy Spirit awakening him with a sense of need. It is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the pride of the natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as an empty-handed beggar. It is the Holy Spirit creating within him an hunger for the bread of life.”

So, the drawing is not an unwilling hostage, but rather they are made to come, made willing. I like this short John Gill comment on the drawing, “He draws with the bands of love.”

You see, if these are hard doctrines, and we begin to think God unfair, we must remember who human beings are: vile rebel sinners who hate God and are dead in trespasses and sins unable to do spiritual things with no desire for God, His Christ, or salvation, and who are totally deserving of the wrath of God and the eternal lake of fire. Yet, God in His mercy, makes them alive, makes them new creations in Christ Jesus, and grants them faith to come to Jesus, effectually drawing them. He draws with the bands of love. Our problem is not simply that we are grumblers and sinners, but that we won’t and can’t believe in Christ, unless He first acts upon us, drawing us to Himself. We are in utter need of a rescuer.

We also note that this drawing is not some kind of mere prevenient grace, that goes and prepares the way in the heart of sinner, giving the sinner then the ability to come or not come to Christ. For Jesus just said in verse 37, “all those the Father gives to me will come to me and I will raise them up on the last day.” Those who are given to the Son, do indeed come to the Son, and are thus raised up – this is why Jesus does not cast them out. And again He is reiterating that in verse 44. No one can come to the Son unless the Father draws them, and those who are drawn, are also those who are raised up. There are none drawn that do not come. In order to say that the drawing merely provides a choice, you have to insert that into the text. It’s not there. Those who are drawn, are raised up. It’s the same “him” in verse 44. So who does the Father draw? Those whom He has given to the Son, who are perfectly saved. So the drawing is an effectual drawing. It perfectly draws that which it intends to draw, as we discussed last week the fact that Christ loses nothing of all that has been given to Him.

And so we can say with A. W. Pink, “Man’s only hope lies outside of himself, in Divine help.” This is our great need: for salvation to come from outside of ourselves. It is not within us or achievable by us. It’s something we need done to us. The good news of the gospel is that there is salvation outside of ourselves. There is one who came to us, when we could not and would not come to Him. There is one who rescued us from sin, death, and hell. There is one who gave us life and resurrected us from the grave. A Calvinist is simply someone who believes that God is totally sovereign, man is totally sinful, and Jesus totally saves. We have a Savior who totally saves. He does not partially save, or somewhat save, or attempt to save; but He totally saves. We need total saving, He does total saving. Our inability highlights Christ’s ability and thus gives Him all the glory and honor for our redemption. 

This teaching does not close or shrink the door to salvation, but rather it points to the door, declares that there is salvation, and indeed actually widens the way. Without the sovereign drawing of God, none would come. This is indeed a glorious message of salvation to a people who are more numerous than the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. God loves to totally save. And since we’re all in the same position of being unable to come to Him, unless we are drawn by Him, there is then no one who is too far beyond the strong and saving arm of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus asserts his authority/credibility, v. 45-46

 

After the Jews tried to undermine the authority and credibility of Christ, Christ rebukes them, then asserts His authority. First He gives a Scriptural authority. Quoting from Isaiah 54:13. But not only is He asserting His authority, He is giving a Scriptural defense of His assertion in verse 44.

 

Jesus quotes from Isaiah 54:13, “And they will all be taught by God.” Then comments on Isaiah 54:13 saying, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” This of course is the type of language we’ve been hearing through John 6. In verse 46, Jesus clarifies that He does not mean one is physically going to sit and be taught by God like a teacher in a classroom, but it is the Spirit’s work upon the heart.

Let us consider the phrase here for a moment and how it relates to what we have seen in John 6, “taught by God.”

• • • • • One, it is not by one’s own knowledge and understanding that one receives eternal life.
        • Two, It is not on the basis of being a Jew that one receives eternal life, but by being taught of God.
        • Three, salvation has divine origins.
        • From all this, we see that this backs up verse 44; which of course is what Jesus was doing. He made an assertion and he gives a Scriptural defense.

 

 

Consider again the connection between verse 44 and verse 45. In verse 44 it is stated that no one comes to the Son unless they are drawn by the Father. In verse 45 it is stated that everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Jesus. Well, how is it that one hears and learns from the Father? Only in and through the Son. As Hebrews 1 tells us, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”

In this, Jesus is also establishing His authority, in contradiction to the claims of the Jews that He couldn’t be from heaven because they knew His parents. Jesus here says that he was sent from God, and only the one sent from God has seen God.

 

Jesus presents himself as a gracious Savior, 47

 

While Jesus’ statement in verse 47 is a descriptive statement, He nevertheless is presented as a gracious Savior. Because of this connection between those given and drawn to those who are raised up – because those are the same people, we can truly say that those who believe have eternal life. It is something they currently possess, because that connection and guarantee is sure in the strong, perfect, saving hands of our gracious Savior, Jesus Christ.