Look to the Son and Believe

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LOOK TO THE SON AND BELIEVE

John 6:35-40

35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 

NIV

Having considered the fact that Jesus is the bread of life and the difference between wanting the temporal things of life verses the eternal bread of life, we should deal with this concept of all that the Father gives me will come to me. It almost sounds a bit like what the Calvinists thinking that only a select few are chosen by God to be saved. The idea is that the Father has decided who to give to Jesus. We don’t have a choice in the matter, if the Father does not select us to give to Jesus, then we are doomed no matter what we do. The problem with all that type of thinking is that one has to stop right there at the end of that verse. However, the need to take all things in context requires us to continue on to verse 40. The will of the Father is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. Now we have to consider that anyone has to be included in the “everyone” who looks to the Son and believes in him. The reason we have to believe this is because of the “everyone” and the “anyone” is included in the “whosoever” stated in John 3:16. So then because we looked, which is an action of our heart, separate from the predetermination of God, and we believed, which is a determination of our mind, by the predetermination of God that he has given us the freedom to make that choice. This does not mean the Father has nothing to do with our wanting to look to Jesus or that he gives us to Jesus. The point being that if we were to get into the finer concepts, the Father does not give us eternal life, Jesus does. The Father has given all authority to Jesus, therefore in order for us to be saved, for us to say we believe in God is not completely accurate for salvation. We have to say we believe in Jesus, for the Father has given us to Jesus in order to be saved. If we come to God, who is the Father, Son, and the Spirit, only Jesus has to power of eternal life. However, in another sense, Jesus has sent the Spirit to convict all men of their sin and need for repentance. So in that sense, all three persons of the Trinity are involved in our salvation. However, that still does not remove our freedom, given by the Father, to make our own choice to eat of the bread of life and live, or refuse and by doing so condemn ourselves to death, whatever that consists of. The joyous thing is that because we have eaten of the bread of life and have eternal life, Jesus will raise us up on the last day. There is a whole other concept that needs to be considered. When are we raised up? Are we asleep in the grave until that day? What about being absent from the body and present with the Lord? We better leave that for next time, so, for now, let us simply rejoice because we have already started our eternal life because we looked to the Son and believed.