Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 38 - Predestination - Beholding God's glory.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 38 - Predestination - Beholding God's glory.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

Joh 6:47 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

 

Joh 6:48 "I am the bread of life.

 

Joh 6:49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

 

Joh 6:50 "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

 

Now you thought that Him coming from heaven was hard to take, hold on for this.

 

Joh 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh."

 

Eat and drink: take in to yourself or consume by faith.

Flesh: the crosssacrifice of spiritual death

Blood: New covenant in Him.

 

Joh 6:52 The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

 

Joh 6:53 Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.

 

Joh 6:54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

 

Joh 6:55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

 

Joh 6:56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

 

Joh 6:57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

 

Joh 6:58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever." 

 

Joh 6:59 These things He said in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum.

 

And so, the truth of the matter of God's glory being given to fallen man is too much for their worldly minds.

 

It would be silly for us to suppose that they didn't know that He was speaking figuratively when He talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, yet the language was more than they could endure. This was not simply because they thought the metaphor outrageous but because the whole tenor of His argument implied a claim to be greater than Moses - to be, in fact, uniquely associated with God.

 

They found His language offensive and so they will run off in search of a "safe zone."

 

Again, it is important to understand that it isn't the cannibalistic language that He used that drove them off, as if they were simply grossed out, but that He claimed to come from heaven and that life was only found through faith in Him.

 

Joh 6:60 Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"

 

These professed to be His disciples while it was somewhat fashionable and fun to do so. But for some of them we see that they were disciples in name and not in truth. Those who were disciples in truth didn't know what He was teaching either, but they don't leave Him, the source of truth.

 

Joh 6:61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?

 

Joh 6:62 "What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before?

 

What if you see Him going back to heaven? Will you still stumble over the truth? Will you still reject His glory?

 

Joh 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

 

Earthly glory (the flesh) is of no profit. The Spirit teaches the truth to those with faith and this is life - God's glory.

 

Joh 6:64 "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.

 

Joh 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father."

 

Vv. 64-65 clearly show that believing is the connection to being granted from the Father to come to Christ Jesus.

 

Joh 6:66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore.

 

Joh 6:67 Jesus said therefore to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"

 

He doesn't say, "Oh, please, please stay!" Rather, He challenges them and shows them that if they are going to follow Him it must be by their own choice. They can leave if they want to. "Do you want to leave as well?"

 

Joh 6:68 Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

 

Joh 6:69 "And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."

 

"I don't know what eat My flesh and drink My blood means, but one thing I do know, You are the holy one of God and You alone have the words of eternal life, so it would be ridiculous for me to leave."

 

2Co 3:7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

 

2Co 3:8 how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

 

The baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs the moment anyone believes in Christ. The Spirit enters him into union with Christ and into His glory.

 

The believer thus entered into this glory has the high honor or participating in the Spirit's ministry. He is invited to reveal the glory of Christ that he now possesses. It is designed to secure the salvation of people by his agency; and it is through the ministry that the Holy Spirit is imparted, the heart renewed, and the soul saved. The work of the ministry of revealing Christ's glory, a calling on all Christians, is, therefore, the most important and honorable in which man can engage.

 

That of Moses tended to death; this to life.

 

The law was engraved on stone; this is engraved on the heart.

 

Moses' ministry was the mere giving of a law; this is connected with the renovating influences of the Holy Spirit.

 

The law was soon to pass away. All the magnificence of the scene at Sinai was soon to vanish. But this is to remain. Its influence and effect are to be everlasting. It is to stretch into eternity; and its main glory is to be witnessed in souls renewed and saved; and amidst the splendors of heaven. The work of the Spirit of God on the heart of man, is much more important than any characters which can be engraved on insensible stones.

 

2Co 3:9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness [justification] abound in glory.

 

2Co 3:10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it.

 

The glory of the law has been overwhelmingly eclipsed by Christ. The stars cannot be seen in the sky during the day because of the brilliance of the sun and so is the law in contrast to Christ.

 

2Co 3:11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

 

The shining face of Moses and the ritual institutions were done away with or abolished. The ethics of the law were fulfilled in Christ.

 

2Co 3:12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

 

Knowing the glory that has been given to us and its permanency, we have hope and therefore confidence to speak it in the midst of both those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

 

2Co 3:13 and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

 

The veil hid the glory and also its fading. This veil is akin to all types in the OT which were shadows of the coming Christ (ark, tabernacle, candlestick, etc.).