16 Mar Have You Ever Heard God Wrong?

It could be one of the most stunning moments in the Bible. John 6: Jesus calls Himself the true bread from heaven… “that gives life to the world.”  Those in the audience (beyond His 12 apostles) reply with: “always give us this bread.” Others grumbled because He dared to call Himself bread from Heaven. If that surprised them, what Jesus says next should have shocked them to their core:

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. John 6:54-59 (NIV)

Not surprisingly, this was the tipping point for many followers in what I call Jesus’ “outer circle:”

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. John 6:60,66 (NIV)

The Believer’s Bible Commentary explains what Jesus’ audience got wrong by taking His words literally:

6:54 By comparing this verse with verse 47, it can be definitely shown that to eat His flesh and to drink His blood means to believe on Him. In verse 47 we read that “He who believes in Me has everlasting life.” In verse 54, we learn that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life. Now things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. To eat His flesh and to drink His blood is to believe on Him. All who believe on Him will be raised up at the last day. This refers, of course, to the bodies of those who have died trusting in the Lord Jesus.

Later in John 6 Jesus asks the 12 Apostles if they too want to turn back. Peter replies: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Has this ever happened to you? Has Jesus said one thing and you heard another? Did you respond like the “outer circle,” or like Peter. Were you tempted to “turn back and no longer follow Him” because the teaching was hard? In commenting on this passage, Oswald Chambers said the key to hearing clearly and correctly is oneness with Christ:

If God gives you a clear and emphatic message about something he wants you to accomplish, let oneness be your guide in how to pursue it. Don’t struggle to find any particular method; don’t create a plan that isn’t his. Simply live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ, and God will bring about the thing he wants. (My Utmost for His Highest).

A life of absolute dependence on Jesus makes it easier to answer as Peter did. (Actually, it makes everything easier.) God’s words to you will always be “clear and emphatic.” Any confusion about God is always on our end. May oneness and clarity be yours today.

Pastor Jerry Bader