Devotion

Read: John 6:41-42; 1 Corinthians 10:10

Earlier, Jesus claimed with reference to Himself that “my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” (vv.32a–33). He also said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (vv.38).

“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread, which came down from heaven” (v.41). The mention of “the Jews” here is another of John’s many uses of this expression in the specialised sense of “Jewish leaders...

Read: John 6:34-40; Hebrews 7:25

Just as Jesus had whetted the appetite of the woman of Samaria by His description of living water (Jn 4:10), He aroused the desire of the multitude for the “bread of life.” They appeared to desire it. They said, “Lord, evermore give us this bread” (v.34b).

But their eagerness was misplaced. Their asking revealed that they did not understand that He was really offering Himself to them. Therefore, Jesus explicitly stated: “I am the bread of life” (v.35). Receiving Him by faith as the Redeemer from sin and the Giver of eternal life would result in spiritual satisfaction that would never cease...

Read: John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8

Christ declared a comforting message lest any should fear. He promised them the special ministry of the Comforter, which would keep them in His truth and comfort that they may function as efficient ministers of the Gospel.

The world would disagree, alter, and even reject the truth of Christ. But the Spirit will enable the believers to know the truth and boldly testify, for they themselves have the Spirit’s testimony within them. Whenever and wherever enemy may rise, Christians will have the company of a divine Comforter. When there is earthly hostility, there will be heavenly consolation...

Read: John 15:22-25; 1 John 2:23

More reasons for the world’s hatred for Christians are mentioned in today’s text.

Because the world is ignorant of God (v.21): Jesus said that the world’s ignorance of God is the true cause of its enmity to Christ and His disciples (v. 21). They know not God as the One who sent our Lord Jesus, and authorized Him to be the great Redeemer. No one can rightly know God if he does not know Him in Christ; and those who persecute those whom He sends show that they know not that He was sent of God...

Read: John 15:17-21; Luke 6:22

The disciples needed to be told that the wonderful promises of the Lord would not mean that their life would be trouble-free. Christian ministry would not be easy in a rebellious, Christ-hating world. The world was going to treat them the same way it treated their Master; and they were going to be despised and persecuted even killed.

In verse 17, before He explains the hatred of the world, Jesus commanded “that you love one another.” In a hostile world, they desperately needed love from each other...

Read: John 1:19-28; 1 Peter 3:15

Verse 19 begins with the words, “And this is the record of John.” The word “record” indicates the certainty with which John the Baptiser witnessed. He would even give his life for the truth he declared. From his witnessing of Christ, we can glean some important principles for effective witnessing.

Readiness to Answer the Unbelievers: This spiritual preparedness was well evident in the life of John the Baptist...

Read: John 1:15-17;  Matthew 3:11-17

The author of this Gospel, John, recorded for us in this passage the testimony of John the Baptist concerning the Person of Jesus Christ. After establishing the deity of Christ by proving that He is the Word, the Life, the Light, and the incarnated God, the author once again reinforces the truth of Christ’s deity using John the Baptiser’s testimony. He testifies that Christ’s superiority above all the prophets points to Him as a divine prophet...

Read: John 3:22-28; 1 Peter 1:7

After the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus went with His disciples from Jerusalem into Judean land. John the Baptiser also was baptising in those days. In the Jewish mind, baptism was indicative of repentance and purification. Since two groups were baptising and more people began to go to Christ, a debate arose between John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. This question surfaced as people began to leave John to go to Christ (vv.25–26). When they came to John, they said, referring to the popularity of Jesus “Behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him” (v.26b). They were saying that John was no more popular as he was before. If he were to listen to their challenge and try to restore his popularity above Christ, he would have certainly fallen out of his calling to glorify Christ...

Read: John 10:34-39; Galatians 4:4

If the Jews who accused Jesus of blasphemy would not believe in Him, even for all the evidences that He gave them, then they should refer to the Old Testament Scriptures, which they possessed. (And they insisted that they were their divinely appointed interpreters.) So taking them at their word, Jesus referred to Psalm 82:6 to refute their charge of blasphemy.

The judges of Israel had been corrupt in their office. And God reproved them for it. Psalm 82:6 refers to God as calling the corrupt leaders “gods,” because they are His representatives. “I said, Ye are gods.” He did not say...

Read: John 13:2-5; 1 John 1:9

Though Jesus’ love is perfect, men do reject it. Judas did just that. We read in verse 2: “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.” Judas was constantly experiencing the love of Christ, yet hating Him at the same time. Such rejection of His perfect love only makes man’s wickedness all too plain.

The contrast between Jesus and Judas is striking. Set against the backdrop of Judas’ hatred, Jesus’ love shines even brighter. The words of love by which Jesus gradually drew the hearts of the other disciples...