Cheryl Schatz

and to continue….

First of all I should let you know that I will be spending about 5 days with family. I will try to keep up with the back and forth exegesis that we are doing, but if I should miss a day or so, that would be why.

I will only do 3 verses this time too.

John 6:36 (NASB) “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

Jesus said that the crowd had “seen” him (they had been a witness and experienced or caught sight of his miracles) yet they did not believe in Him. Now we are going to find out why.

John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

Jesus says that “all” (not some, but all) that the Father “gives” Him will (not maybe, but will) come to Him. He also assures them that the one who comes to Him will not be cast out as a rejected one.

John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Jesus also assures the crowd that this is the Father’s will and He came to do the Father’s will.

Now there are two important things about this passage that must be noted. Jesus said that “all that the Father gives me”. These are ones who belong to the Father. They are not unbelievers for God does not give anyone to Jesus who did not first belong to the Father. Jesus made it clear that the ones who have been given to Him first belonged to the Father and were ones who kept His word.

John 17:6 (NASB)
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

This is consistent with both the Old Testament and the New Testament where those who feared God were brought to Jesus. Now this doesn’t mean that only those who feared God could have faith and believe in Jesus, but only those who belonged to the Father were guaranteed that they would be given to the Son. We know that they had this guarantee because Jesus said that all those who belonged to the Father would come to Him. There was not a single person who feared God and who obeyed the light that the Father gave them who would be turned away and every single one of these would be brought to Jesus.

Psalm 25:12–14 (NASB)
12 Who is the man who fears the LORD?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
13 His soul will abide in prosperity,
And his descendants will inherit the land.
14 The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him,
And He will make them know His covenant..

In Psalm 25:12-14, all those who feard the LORD were promised that they would be made to know His covenant. Jesus is God’s covenant. All of them were brought to and given to Jesus because they first belonged to the Father.

We can confidently know that the crowd of unbelievers were not given to Jesus because they did not first belong to the Father. To belong to the Father one must believe the Father. They did not believe the Father so they did not believe Jesus.

The requirement then to be “given” to Jesus is that they believed the Father first.

John 5:24 (NASB)
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Now for a NT example of one who belonged to the Father and who was subsequently brought to Jesus.

Acts 10:1–2 (NASB)
1 Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort,
2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.

Acts 10:4 (NASB)
4 And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

Acts 10:11 (NASB)
11 and he (peter) saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,

Acts 10:22 (NASB)
22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.”

Acts 10:34–35 (NASB)
34 Opening his mouth, Peter said:
“I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,
35 but b>in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.

Acts 10:47–48 (NASB)
47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”
48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Those who belong to the Father are those who have heard and learned from the Father.

John 6:45 (NASB)
45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

All of these ones who first belong to the Father will be given to Jesus.