The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the Sea of Galilee (John 6)
- Chapter 44 -
The Lord's mission on earth. The flesh and blood of the Lord
At this I turned back to the people again and said: "But what are you saying? Have I ever said that you have not seen Me?! But I know and I say and have said to you that you have seen Me and My signs and yet do not believe (John 6:36), that all and everything what the Father in heaven gives to Me shall come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.(John 6:37)
2
Remember what I say to you: I am not like you of this world. For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.(John 6:38)
3
Then they asked and said: "What is then the will of he who sent you from heaven to us into this world?"
4
I said: "For deaf ears it is hard to preach and for the blind it is difficult to write. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I lose nothing, but I bring it back and awaken it to life again on the youngest day. (John 6:39)
5
Then many said: "The man speaks strangely; it seems to us that he is crazy."
6
But others said: "Speak plainly and explain yourself clearly! What is it about the youngest day?"
7
I said: "If you recognize Me and believe in Me, then a youngest, true day will rise in your soul, in which I will awaken you all through the power of the truth of My teaching. But if you do not believe in Me and do not recognize Me, there hardly will ever be a youngest day in your soul."
8
The people said once again: "So tell us then clearly what the will is of the Father!"
9
I said: "Thus listen! For this is the will of My Father who sent Me, that every one who beholds the Son and believes in Him and acknowledges Him as the true Messiah of the world may have eternal life; and I Myself will awaken him on the youngest day. (John 6:40) But what the last day is, I have already shown to you."
10
At this the Jews began to grumble, particularly since I had said: 'I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven.' (John 6:41)
11
And they said: "Is he not the carpenter Jesus, the son of Joseph the carpenter?! We know him, his father and his mother only too well, don't we? How thus can he say that he has come down from heaven? (John 6:42) His reason and his otherwise rare characteristics could in any case have been given to him from heaven, since without a divine breath no great and famous man has ever existed anywhere; but he himself cannot claim before us firmly that he has come to us from heaven even as a truest bread for eternal life!"
12
I said to them: "Do not grumble among yourselves. (John 6:43) I tell you all once again: No one can come to Me (recognize Me) unless the Father (the love from God and for God) who sent Me draws him; and I (My word and My teaching) will awaken him on the youngest day. (John 6:44)
13
It is even written in the prophets: 'At that time which will come - and which is here now - they all will be taught by God!' And therefore I say to you now: Who has learned it from the Father (God's love), comes to Me (he will also recognize Me indeed). (John 6:45)
14
But I do not say that to you now as if any one of you has ever seen the Father except for Me, the One who is from God; I have seen the Father. (John 6:46) Therefore I say to you all despite your grumbling: Truly, truly, who believes in Me already has eternal life (thus My full resurrection on the youngest day) in himself. (John 6:47) I Myself am truly the bread of life! (John 6:48)
15
Your fathers indeed ate the manna in the wilderness (sensual fleshly life), and they died, many even in their souls. (Joh.6,49) However, this bread, which I represent in Myself, and which has truly came down out of the heaven of all being and life, effectuates, that everyone who eats from it (accepts the teaching in faith and acts accordingly) will never die. (Joh.6,50)
16
Truly, I have come down from heaven as the living bread! Whoever eats from this bread (accepts the teaching in practice) will live in eternity! And behold, the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the human lives of this world!" (John 6:51) (By this is to be understood the external, material clothing of My word, within which the living, spiritual word is found like the living seed in its dead shell.)
17
That was now too much for the Jews, who did not have the slightest conception of a spiritual sense, and they began to rather bicker among one another.
18
One group said: "Let's allow him to speak, and in the end we will indeed see what will come of it all!"
19
However, the less moderate said: "Oh, what! You can see and notice at first glance that the man is not in full possession of his senses! Previously he was still only bread from heaven that we should eat in order to receive eternal life; but now he even demands that we should eat his body! Craziness! How can this man give us His flesh to eat? (John 6:52) And how many will indeed be able to satiate themselves by eating his flesh to enter eternal life?! If that is the condition for attaining eternal life of the soul, then precious few will achieve it!"
20
I said: "You may fight and bicker as much as you like, nonetheless it is as I have said to you. And I now say to you even more than that: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in yourselves. (John 6:53) (What the body means has already been shown; the blood as the actual physical fluid of life which give life to the body, maintains it, feeds it and gives it the reproductive seed of life, is the actual inner spirit of life in the external letter words.)
21
Now some of the Jews were even more incensed.
22
Some of them even began to laugh, but the more moderate said: "Let him speak! Who knows what will come out of it all in the end! We indeed know that he has otherwise often spoken very wisely." And they turned to Me and said: "Dear master, we beg you to speak sensibly!"
23
I said: "How can I do that?! I am now speaking as He whom you recognized on the mountain; I speak before you all as a great prophet! But show Me a prophet who has ever spoken in any other way before the people! And thus I say to you all one more time: He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will awaken him on the youngest day. (Joh.6,54) For My flesh is true food, and My blood is the true animating drink. (John 6:55)
24
In addition I say to you all: He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:56) As the eternally living Father truly sent Me, and I live for the sake of the Father, likewise he who eats Me, will also live for the sake of Me. (John 6:57) And it is exactly that bread which has come from heaven, as has already been said, which does not have the effect of the manna in the desert which your fathers ate and then died, as I have already shown you, but instead whoever eats this bread will live in eternity. (John 6:58)