Discussing Destiny: All the Father Gives Me Will Come

In "Unless the Father Draws Him," we discovered that in John 6:41-45 Jesus said that nobody can come to Him unless the Father "draws" him, using a word ἕλκω (helkuo) which carries a certain meaning. As Peter "drew" his sword, as fishermen "draw" their nets and as an archer "draws" a bowstring, so also does the Father "draw" people to His Son. It is not an invitation or a calling, it is a forced move. I pointed out that many people fail to recognize that there are some passages in Scripture, like this one, which are not easily "dealt with," and which must be taken seriously. Let's return to the text of John chapter 6 and take a look at another.

"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.'" (John 6:35-40, emphasis mine)

Looking back, perhaps I should have started with these verses, for they immediately precede the verses we looked at in "Unless the Father Draws Him" and are part of the same discussion between Jesus and His critics. Oh well, hindsight is, as they say, 20/20. In any case, though this is one dialogue in one chapter of one book--and in fact we may look later at another set of verses from this same chapter--these verses deserve special scrutiny apart from the verses we looked at earlier.

In verses 41-45 which we examined previously, Jesus spoke in terms of one's ability to "come" to Him being dependent upon the Father's choice to "draw" one to Him (though again, "draw" is a very forceful word). In the verses we're looking at now, Jesus also speaks of one's "coming" to Him. However, in this case He says it is dependent upon the Father "giving" one to Him. Let's walk through these verses one-by-one:

THE BREAD OF LIFE

"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.'" (John 6:35)

Let's place these words in their context. Jesus had miraculously multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish and fed a crowd of some 5,000 people which had followed Him because He had been healing the sick. Amazed, the people had recognized that Jesus was the fulfillment of some of their Messianic expectations, and had sought to try and make Him King, causing Jesus to withdraw to be alone. Overnight, He and His disciples had crossed the sea to Capernaum, and in the morning, the crowd He'd fed had crossed over to Capernaum looking for Him. (John 6:1-24)

When the crowd found Him, Jesus pointed out that their motivation in seeking Him was the satisfaction of their physical hunger, and He exhorted them to work for the satisfaction of their eternal hunger by believing in Him. They asked Him what sign He offered as evidence that they should believe in Him, pointing out that Moses had given their forefathers manna in the wilderness, and Jesus responded by saying it was the Father, not Moses, who gives the true bread from heaven which gives life to the world. The crowd then begged Him to give them this true bread. (John 6:25-34)

This is the context of the verses we're examining here. The crowd was under the mistaken impression that the true bread from heaven was an actual, edible bread like the manna their ancestors had eaten. Jesus, however, identifies Himself as this true bread, though not in a wooden literal sense. Rather, physical hunger satisfied by bread is a metaphor for spiritual hunger satisifed by Jesus through coming to Him and believing. Let's continue.

YOU DO NOT BELIEVE

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

It is easy to mistake the crowd's having sought out and followed Jesus as being an expression of saving belief in Him. Moments before, however, the crowd had asked Jesus for a sign as proof that they should believe in Him in the first place, and that was in response to His having told them they must believe in Him. Therefore, Jesus rightfully points out here that though they have seen Him with their eyes, indeed have followed Him because He had fed them, they didn't truly believe.

It is vital that we remember this as we proceed in our examination of these verses. Jesus is addressing the crowd's unbelief.

ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES ME

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

Remember that two verses earlier Jesus had likened "coming" to Him to believing in Him. Thus, since the crowd does not believe in Him, they have not "come" to Him. It is this unbelief, then, which Jesus is addressing in this verse, either by way of explaining it, or by way of dismissing it, or both. Allow me to, well, explain.

Jesus' words may be taken as answering an unasked question, namely, "Why don't we believe?" His answer, then, appears to be, "Because you may not be one of those whom the Father has given Me." Here is how Matthew Henry put it in his commentary on this passage:

"Christ had complained (v. 36) of those who, though they had seen him, yet would not believe on him; and then he adds this, a. For their conviction and awakening, plainly intimating that their not coming to him, and believing on him, if they persisted in it, would be a certain sign that they did not belong to the election of grace; for how can we think that God gave us to Christ if we give ourselves to the world and the flesh? 2 Pt. 1:10."

Another possibility is that Jesus is dismissing the crowd's unbelief, dispelling any notion that it reflects negatively upon God's plan and power. "Your unbelief notwithstanding, the Father's will is perfect and undeterred. ALL the Father gives Me WILL come to Me." Matthew Henry speaks of this as well:

"b. For his own comfort and encouragement: Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious. The election has obtained, and shall though multitudes be blinded, Rom. 11:7. Though he lose many of his creatures, yet none of his charge: All that the Father gives him shall come to him notwithstanding."

David Brown puts it similarly in his commentary:

"This comprehensive and very grand passage is expressed with a peculiar artistic precision...'ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME SHALL COME TO ME'--that is, 'Though ye, as I told you, have no faith in Me, My errand into the world shall in no wise be defeated; for all that the Father giveth Me shall infallibly come to Me.'...This 'shall' expresses the glorious certainty of it, the Father being pledged to see to it that the gift be no empty mockery."

Likely, both meanings are intended. In either case, note that one's belief in Jesus--that is, one's "coming" to Him--is dependent upon one's having been given to the Son by the Father. Why does one come to believe in Jesus? Because he was given by the Father to the Son. Conversely, some do not come to believe in Him because they were not given by the Father to the Son. The implications seem inescapable.

EVERYONE WHO BEHOLDS THE SON AND BELIEVES

"'For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.'" (John 6:38-40)

Wrapping up, in verse 37 Jesus had said He would not cast out anyone who comes to Him, and here we see that it is because He does His Father's will, which is that He raise to life everyone the Father has given Him. And who are those whom Jesus will raise to life at the end? Those who behold the Son and believe in Him. And why do they behold the Son and believe? Because they were given to Him by the Father.

At this point, consider reading (or re-reading as the case may be) the previous entry in this series, "Unless the Father Draws Him." The verses examined there immediately follow these ones, and speak similarly of some apparently being incapable of coming to Jesus because the Father has not chosen to "draw" them. Together, along with other verses in this chapter which we'll examine later, these verses seem to suggest very powerfully that although we humans do make a choice to come to Jesus Christ in belief, the reason we make that choice is because the Father first chose us. I'll ask again: Are you uncomfortable yet?