John 6:28 - Meaning and Application

Whether this conversation was with the people of Capernaum, where Christ was then in the synagogue, or with those who had come from across the sea, is not certain, and it does not matter much. Still, it shows Christ’s kindness that he let them ask questions and did not take offense at the interruption, even from ordinary hearers, not just his close followers. Those who want to teach should be quick to listen and careful to answer. Wise teachers know how to use even careless or unhelpful questions as a chance to give a useful answer, so the question may be set aside, but the request itself is not rejected.

I. After Christ had told them that they must work for the food he was speaking about, they asked what work they must do, and he answered them in John 6:28, John 6:29. Their question was fitting enough, “What must we do, that we may do the works of God?” Some take this as a proud question, as if they meant, “What works of God can we do better than the works required by Moses?” But I think it was a humble, serious question. It shows that, at least for the moment, they were in a good frame of mind and wanted to know and do their duty. I also think that those who asked this question, “How?” and “What?” (John 6:30), and made the request (John 6:34), were not the same as those who later grumbled (John 6:41, John 6:42) and argued (John 6:52). Those later people are clearly called the Jews, meaning the Judeans who came to argue, while these men were from Galilee and came to be taught.

Their question shows that they understood something important. Those who want to receive this lasting food must aim at something great. If people hope for God’s glory, they must set high aims and seek to do the works of God, meaning the works he commands and accepts, as different from the works of people chasing worldly things. It is not enough to speak God’s words, we must do God’s works. They also show willingness to obey whatever God requires: “What shall we do?” That is like saying, “Lord, I am ready to do whatever you appoint, even if it is hard for my flesh and blood” (Acts 9:6).

Christ’s answer was plain enough in John 6:29: “This is the work of God, that you believe.” The work of faith is God’s work. They had asked about the works of God, in the plural, because they were thinking about many duties. Christ points them to one work that includes all the rest, the one necessary thing: believe. This stands in place of all the works of the ceremonial law, and it is necessary for all other works to be accepted, because without faith no one can please God. It is God’s work because God works it in us, makes the soul yield to his working on us, and gives life to the soul so it can work for him.

This faith is the work of God because it comes to Christ and rests on him. It means believing in him as the one whom God has sent, God’s chosen messenger in the great matter of peace between God and man. To believe this way is to rest on him and give ourselves to him. See John 14:1.

II. After Christ told them that the Son of Man would give them this food, they asked about him, and he answered them. They asked for a sign in John 6:30: “What sign will you show?” So far, they were right. Since he asked them to trust him, he should show his credentials and prove by a miracle that he came from God. Moses had confirmed his mission with signs, so it was fitting that Christ, who came to put aside the ceremonial law, should confirm his mission in the same way. They were asking, “What are you doing? What are you aiming at? What lasting marks of divine power do you intend to leave on your teaching?”

But they were wrong in two ways. First, they ignored the many miracles they had already seen him do, which gave full proof of his divine mission. Was this really the time to ask, “What sign will you show?” especially in Capernaum, a place full of miracles, where he had done so many mighty works, signs that clearly showed his office and mission? Had he not just fed these very people miraculously? No one is so blind as the person who refuses to see, and such a person can even question whether it is day when the sun is shining in his face.

Second, they preferred the miracle of manna in the wilderness to all the miracles Christ had done, as John 6:31 says: “Our fathers ate manna in the desert.” To support this objection, they quote Scripture: “He gave them bread from heaven” from Psalm 78:24, meaning he gave them grain from heaven. This story could have been used well. It was a striking display of God’s power and goodness, often mentioned to honor him (Nehemiah 9:20, Nehemiah 9:21). But these people twisted it and used it badly.

Christ had warned them not to set their hearts on food that perishes, but they answered as if the great blessing God gave their ancestors in the wilderness was simply food for the stomach. As if they were saying, “If God made much of them, why should we not follow those who make much of us?” Christ had fed five thousand men with five loaves, and that was one sign proving that he was sent by God. Yet, while they praised Moses, they quietly lessened Christ’s miracle and tried to avoid its force. They acted as if Christ had fed only a few thousand, only once, and then turned people away by speaking about spiritual food. Moses, they said, fed his followers for forty years, and miracles were common for them, like daily bread. Christ, they said, gave bread from the earth, barley bread, and fish from the sea. Moses gave Israel bread from heaven, the food of angels.

That is how proudly these Jews talked about the manna their fathers ate. Yet their fathers had also despised it just as much as they now despised the barley loaves, calling it worthless food (Numbers 21:5). We are very ready to overlook God’s power and grace in our own day while we praise the wonders our fathers told us about. Even if Christ’s miracle had been less striking than Moses’ manna, Christ had many other miracles that were greater. Besides, every true miracle proves a divine message, even if the outward details are not equally impressive, because those details always fit the need of the moment. As much as the manna was better than barley loaves, Christ’s teaching was far better than Moses’ law, and his heavenly commands were far greater than the outward rules of that old covenant.

In John 6:29, Christ answers their question by correcting their mistake about the manna. It was true that their fathers did eat manna in the desert.

But it was not Moses who gave them the manna, and they did not owe it to him. He was only the instrument, so they had to look past him to God. We do not even read that Moses prayed to God for the manna. He also spoke wrongly when he said, “Must we bring water out of this rock?” Moses did not give them either the bread or the water.

It was also not given to them, as they thought, from heaven in the highest sense, but only from the clouds. So it was not as far above earthly food as they imagined. When Scripture says, “He gave them bread from heaven,” that does not mean it was heavenly bread in itself, or that it was meant to feed the soul. Misreading Scripture language causes many mistakes about the things of God.

Jesus then tells them about the true manna, the one that the old manna pointed to: “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” The manna was only a shadow and picture of this better bread. That true bread is now being given, not to their fathers, who had died, but to them, the people of that time, because better things were kept for them. He is now giving them the bread from heaven that deserves that name in the fullest sense.

Just as God’s throne is above the clouds, so spiritual bread from the everlasting gospel is far better than the manna. By calling God his Father, Christ shows that he is greater than Moses. Moses was faithful only as a servant, but Christ is faithful as a Son (Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6).

Christ had answered their question, and now he uses their concern about the manna to speak further about himself as bread, and about believing as eating and drinking. This leads into the rest of the discussion, including his words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and the remarks made by those who heard him.

Christ had spoken of himself as the great gift of God and the true bread (John 6:32), and he now explains and confirms that truth more fully, so we may know him rightly. He repeats again and again that he is the true bread (John 6:33, John 6:35, John 6:48-51). Christ is to the soul what bread is to the body. He nourishes and supports spiritual life, just as bread supports bodily life. The gospel truths about Christ, that he is the mediator, the one who brings God and people together, that he is our peace, our righteousness, and our Redeemer, are the things by which people live. Our bodies could live longer without food than our souls could live without Christ.

Bread grain is crushed (Isaiah 28:28), and Christ also was bruised. He was born in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread,” and the bread of the presence in the tabernacle pointed to him. He is the bread of God, divine bread. He is from God (John 6:46), the bread my Father gives (John 6:32), the food God has appointed for our souls. He is the bread for God’s family, the children’s bread. The Levitical sacrifices, that is, the sacrifices connected to the law of Levi, are called the bread of God (Leviticus 21:21, Leviticus 21:22), and Christ is the great sacrifice. In his word and ordinances, his appointed acts of worship, God gives a feast on that sacrifice.

Christ is also the bread of life (John 6:35, John 6:48), the bread that gives life. This points to the tree of life in Eden, which was a sign that if Adam obeyed, he would live. Christ is the bread of life because he is the fruit of that tree of life. He explains this by saying, “I am the living bread” (John 6:51). Bread by itself is a dead thing, and it only nourishes because a living body uses it. But Christ is living bread in himself, and he gives nourishment by his own power.

Manna was a dead thing. If it was kept overnight, it spoiled and bred worms. Christ, by contrast, is always living, everlasting bread. He never molds, rots, or grows old. The teaching about Christ crucified is just as strengthening and comforting to a believer now as ever, and his mediation, his work as the one who stands between God and man, still has the same worth and power.

He also gives life to the world (John 6:33), spiritual and eternal life. This is the life of the soul in union and fellowship with God now, and in seeing and enjoying him afterward. It is a life that includes all happiness. The manna only kept life going and supported it for a time, but it did not preserve life forever, and it certainly did not restore life. Christ gives life to those who were dead in sin. The manna was only for Israel’s life, but Christ is given for the life of the world. No one is shut out from this bread except those who shut themselves out. Christ came to put life into human minds, giving principles that lead to acceptable obedience.

He is the bread that came down from heaven, and this is repeated many times here (John 6:33, John 6:50, John 6:51, John 6:58). This shows, first, the divine nature of Christ’s person. As God, he already had his being in heaven, and from there he came to take our nature. “I came down from heaven” tells us of his ancient being, for he was with God in the beginning; of his power, because heaven is the place of God’s power; and of his authority, because he came with a divine commission.

Second, it shows the divine source of all the good that comes to us through him. He is not only one who came down, but one who keeps coming down, meaning there is a steady flow of light, life, and love from God to believers through Christ, just as manna came down each day. All blessings are from above (Ephesians 1:3).

He is also the bread of which the manna was a type and figure (John 6:58), that true bread (John 6:32). Just as the rock they drank from was Christ, so the manna they ate was spiritual bread (1 Corinthians 10:3, 1 Corinthians 10:4). Manna was given to Israel, and Christ is given to spiritual Israel. There was enough manna for all of them, and in Christ there is a fullness of grace for all believers. Whoever gathers much of this manna will have no extra left when it is time to use it, and whoever gathers little will find no lack when grace is perfected in glory.

Manna had to be gathered in the morning, and those who would find Christ must seek him early. Manna was sweet and, as the author of Wisdom says, suited to every taste (Wisdom 16:20). In the same way, Christ is precious to those who believe. Israel lived on manna until they reached Canaan, and Christ is our life. A memorial of the manna was kept in the ark, and in the same way Christ is remembered in the Lord’s Supper as the food of souls.

Christ then shows what his work was and why he came into the world. Leaving the figure of bread behind, he speaks plainly and without a proverb, and tells us what he came to do (John 6:38-40). In general, he says he came from heaven to do his Father’s business (John 6:38), not his own will, but the will of the one who sent him.

He came from heaven. That shows he was a living, active, wise person who willingly came down into this lower world. It was a long journey and a great step downward, if you think of the glory he left and the misery he entered. We may well ask with wonder, What moved him to such a mission?

He answers that he came to do, not his own will, but the will of his Father. He does not mean that his own will was against his Father’s will, as if there were a conflict between them. He means that the people hearing him may have suspected such a conflict, and he clears it up. “No,” he says, “my own will is not the source I act from, nor the rule I follow. I have come to do the will of the one who sent me.”

This means, first, that Christ did not come into the world as a private person acting only for himself. He came with a public role, like an ambassador or authorized agent, sent with full authority. He came as God’s great agent and the world’s great healer. He was not here on some private errand. He came to settle matters between the great Creator and the whole creation.

Second, when Christ was in the world, he did not carry out any private plan or separate interest of his own. The aim of his whole life was to glorify God and do good to people. He never put his own ease, safety, or comfort first. Even when he had to lay down his life, and his human nature shrank from it, he set that fear aside and brought his human will into line with God’s will: not as I will, but as you will.

He also tells us, in a special way, what the Father’s will was that he came to do. Here he gives the plan, the commission, and the instructions he followed. First, there were the private instructions given to Christ, that he should be sure to save all the chosen remnant. This is the covenant of redemption, the agreement between the Father and the Son (John 6:38). “This is the Father’s will, who sent me: I must not lose any of all he has given me.”

Notice four things here. First, there is a certain number of human beings whom the Father gave to Jesus Christ to care for. They were given to him so that he might be his honor and joy, his inheritance and possession. He is to do all that their case requires, teach them, heal them, pay their debt, defend their cause, prepare them for eternal life, and keep them for it. The Father could have done with them as he pleased. As creatures, their life came from him. As sinners, they had already forfeited that life to him. He might have handed them over to justice, but instead he chose them as objects of mercy and gave them to the Savior.

Second, Jesus Christ promised that he would lose none of those given to him by the Father. All the many sons he was to bring to glory will be brought in, and none will be missing (Matthew 18:14). None of them will be lost because grace was too weak to make them holy. As Jacob’s son said, “If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will bear the blame forever” (Genesis 43:9).

Third, Christ’s promise for those given to him reaches even to the raising of their bodies. “I will raise them up at the last day.” That includes all that comes before, but it finishes and crowns the whole work. The body is part of the person, and so it is part of Christ’s purchase and care. It belongs to the promises, so it will not be lost. Christ’s work is not finished until the resurrection, when the souls and bodies of believers are joined again and gathered to Christ, so that he may present them to the Father: “Here am I, and the children you have given me” (Hebrews 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:12).

Fourth, the source of all this is the sovereign will of God, the wise plan by which he works all things. This was the command he gave his Son when he sent him into the world, and the Son always kept it in view.

Second, there are the public instructions given to all people, showing how and on what terms they may receive salvation through Christ. This is the covenant of grace, God’s gracious agreement with sinners. We are not told who the specific people are that were given to Christ. “The Lord knows those who are his.” We do not know, and it is not for us to know. But while their names are hidden, their character is made known.

The offer of life and happiness is made on gospel terms, so that those given to Christ may be brought to him, and others may be left without excuse (John 6:40). “This is the will, the revealed will, of the one who sent me, the agreed way of dealing with human beings: that everyone, Jew or Gentile, who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up.” This is true gospel, truly good news.

Is it not refreshing to hear this? Eternal life may be had, if it is not our own fault. When the first Adam sinned, the way to the tree of life was shut, but by the grace of the second Adam it is opened again. The crown of glory stands before us as the prize of our calling, and we may run for it and receive it.

Every person may have this life. This gospel is to be preached, and this offer is to be made, to all. No one can say, “It does not belong to me” (Revelation 22:17). This everlasting life is certain for all who believe in Christ, and for them only. Whoever sees the Son and believes in him will be saved.

Some understand this “seeing” as meaning that eternal life is offered only to those who have been given a clear revelation of Christ and his grace. In that sense, anyone who has the chance to know Christ and uses that chance well by believing in him will have everlasting life. Then no one would be condemned for unbelief, except those who have heard the gospel and still refuse to believe, like these Jews here (John 6:36), who had seen Christ yet did not believe, knew him yet did not trust him.

But I take “seeing” here to mean the same as believing. The word used points more to the mind’s sight than the eye’s sight. It means not merely looking at Christ with the eyes, but considering him with the heart. Whoever sees the Son, that is, believes in him, sees him with the eye of faith. By faith we come to know the gospel about him rightly and feel its power. It is like looking at the bronze serpent when the Israelites had been bitten. Christ does not ask for a blind faith, as if we should shut our eyes and follow him without reason. He asks us to see him and to see the ground on which our faith rests.

It is right when faith is not based only on hearsay, as if one simply believes what the church believes. Real faith comes from careful thought and true understanding of the reasons that support belief. Then a person can say, “Now I see you with my own eyes. We have heard him ourselves.”

Those who believe in Jesus Christ and receive everlasting life will be raised by his power at the last day. He had already received this as his Father’s will (John 6:39), and here he solemnly makes it his own promise: “I will raise him up.” This means more than the body returning to life. It means bringing the whole person into full possession of the eternal life promised.

Now Christ had spoken of himself as the bread of life that came down from heaven, and we should notice how his hearers responded. When they heard of the bread of God that gives life, they earnestly prayed for it (John 6:34): “Lord, give us this bread always.” I do not think they said this as a joke or in scorn, as many interpreters think. They called him Lord and wanted a share in what he gave, even if they did not fully understand what he meant.

General and unclear ideas about divine things can stir up some desire for them, even in worldly hearts. Such people may admire the favor of God and think heaven is a wonderful place, yet they do not care for the holiness needed to enjoy either. In that sense, they make prayer without clear words or clear understanding. We should instead make this the desire of our souls. If we have tasted that the Lord is good and have been fed with the word of God and with Christ in that word, let us say, “Lord, give us this bread always.” Let the bread of life be our daily bread, and the heavenly manna our constant feast.

But when they understood that Jesus himself was the bread of life, they despised the idea. It is not clear whether these were the same people who had asked for the bread, or others in the crowd. The text calls them Jews, and it says they grumbled against him. This came right after Christ’s solemn statement about God’s will and his own work in saving people (John 6:39, John 6:40). These were surely among the weightiest and kindest words ever spoken by our Lord Jesus, words most worthy of trust and acceptance.

One would think they would have bowed down and worshiped, as Israel did when God visited them in Egypt. Instead, they murmured. They argued with what Christ said. They did not openly deny it, but they whispered against it and spread doubts among one another. Many people will not openly contradict Christ’s teaching, because their objections are weak and flimsy. They are ashamed to say them, or afraid they will be answered. Yet in their hearts they still say they do not like it.

What offended them was Christ’s claim that he came from heaven (John 6:41, John 6:42). They had heard of angels coming down from heaven, but not of a man. They ignored the proof he had already given that he was more than an ordinary man. What they thought justified them was that they knew his earthly family: “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” They spoke lightly of his holy name, Jesus. They assumed Joseph was truly his father, though he was only thought to be so.

Mistakes about Christ’s person, as though he were only a mere man born in the usual way, lead people to reject his teaching and his work. If men see him as only one of themselves, whose father and mother they know, they will not be surprised to downplay the value of his saving work. Then, like these Jews, they will grumble at his promise to raise us up at the last day.

Christ had spoken of faith as the great work God requires (John 6:29), and now he explains that work at length, both to teach and encourage us. To believe in Christ is to come to Christ. The one who comes to him is the same as the one who believes in him (John 6:35), and again (John 6:37), “The one who comes to me.” So it is also in (John 6:44, John 6:45). Repentance toward God is coming to him (Jeremiah 3:22), as our highest good and final goal. In the same way, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is coming to him as our Prince and Savior, and as our path to the Father.

This “coming” means the movement of the soul toward him, with desire and love. It means turning away from all that stands against him or competes with him, and coming on the terms on which life and salvation are offered through him. When Jesus was on earth, coming to him meant more than simply going where he was. In the same way now, it is more than coming to his word and his ordinances.

To believe in Christ is also to feed on Christ (John 6:51): “If anyone eats of this bread.” Coming to him means applying ourselves to him. Feeding on him means applying him to ourselves, with hunger and delight, so that we receive life, strength, and comfort from him. It is like the Israelites eating manna after leaving the food of Egypt, no longer depending on the work of their own hands, but living on bread given from heaven.

Christ also shows what believers gain by believing in him. What will he give us if we come to him? What do we receive if we feed on him? We mainly fear lack and death. If we can be sure of the comfort of life, and that life will continue in the midst of that comfort, we have enough. Here both are promised to true believers. They will never lack, never hunger, and never thirst (John 6:35). They do have desires, and strong ones, but those desires are so fittingly, so timely, and so fully satisfied that they cannot be called hunger and thirst in the painful sense.

Those who ate manna and drank water from the rock still hungered and thirsted afterward. Manna upset them, and the water from the rock ran out.

But there is such overflowing fullness in Christ that it can never be used up, and such steady streams of grace from him that they can never stop.

They will never die, meaning they will not die forever. First, the one who believes in Christ has everlasting life (John 6:47). He has the promise of it, the guarantee of it, and the first taste of it already. Union with Christ, and fellowship with God through Christ, are everlasting life beginning now.

Second, unlike those who ate the manna and still died, Christ is bread a person may eat and never die (John 6:49-50). Think of the weakness of the manna. "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died." The graves of our fathers teach us much, and their monuments remind us of this especially, that even the greatest abundance of the richest food cannot lengthen life or keep back death. Those who ate manna, food from heaven, died like everyone else.

Nothing in their food could be blamed for shortening their lives, and the hardships of life could not be blamed either, since they neither sowed nor reaped. Yet they still died. Many of them died by God’s direct judgment because of their unbelief and complaining. Though they ate that spiritual food, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:3-5). Their eating manna did not protect them from God’s wrath, as believing in Christ protects us.

The rest died in the ordinary course of nature, and their bodies fell in that same wilderness where they had eaten manna, under God’s sentence. In that age, when miracles were daily bread, human life was already reduced to the short span it has now (Psalm 90:10). So they should not boast so much about manna.

Christ, the true manna, is fully enough. The manna was only a picture of him. Christ is the bread that comes down from heaven, truly divine and heavenly food, and a person who eats it will not die. That means he will not fall under God’s wrath, which kills the soul. He will not die the second death, and he will not finally and forever perish in the first death either. He will not miss the heavenly land, as Israel missed the earthly land because of unbelief, even though they had manna.

This promise is explained in the next words, "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (John 6:51). To live forever does not mean simply to keep existing, for the damned in hell will also exist forever. Human beings were made for an endless state. To live forever means to be happy forever. And because the body must die and be like water poured out on the ground, Christ also promises to gather it up again, as he said earlier, "I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). Even the body will live forever.

He also shows what reasons we have to believe in Christ. He had already spoken of some who had seen him and still did not believe (John 6:36). They saw his person and miracles, and heard him preach, yet they were not moved to faith. Faith is not always produced by seeing. The soldiers saw his resurrection, and instead of believing in him, they tried to deny it. So it is hard to bring people to faith in Christ. Still, by the work of the Holy Spirit, some who have not seen yet believe.

Here we are given two things to encourage our faith. First, the Son will welcome everyone who comes to him (John 6:37): "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away." How welcome this word should be to our souls, since it calls us to Christ with open arms. "Whoever comes," in the singular, shows kindness not only to believers as a whole, but to each person who comes to Christ.

The duty here is a pure gospel duty, to come to Christ so that we may come to God through him. His beauty and his love, the great things that draw us, must bring us to him. A sense of need and fear of danger must push us to him. Anything that brings us to Christ is welcome. The promise is just as pure and gracious: "I will never drive out" uses two negatives in the original, which makes the promise especially strong.