JOHN 6:25-27
25 And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea they said unto Him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. 27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for Him that GOD the Father sealed.
Naomi had left Israel and fled to Moab to escape the horrible famine in her native land; things went from bad to tragically worse when her sons died, leaving their wives as widows. She implored them to return to their own people as she would not have the means to care for them. One of them did just that, the other didn’t.
Her name was Ruth – and Naomi’s people would be her people, and her GOD would be Ruth’s GOD. It was sometime thereafter that the word came: there was bread once again in Bethlehem (“the house of bread”) where there ought to have been all along, but for the rebellion of Israel and GOD’s chastening hand upon His people.
More than thousand years later the Bread of Life was born in that same town of Bethlehem, this Bread that would give His life for His sheep and for the sins of the world (JOHN 6:53-58; 10:11-18; 1 JOHN 2:2).
In our text we see that there are those who are seeking Jesus – but for the wrong reasons: they were hungry and wanted to be fed.
The LORD emphatically (“Verily, verily”) rebukes them for it, stating that this was their carnal motivation in seeking Him, rather than acknowledging Him as the Messiah and Lamb of GOD Who would lay down His life for sinners, so that His life would transform them into saints, empowered to live a resurrection life by He Who rose from the dead and dies no more (ROM 6:8-10)! It was evident that Jesus is the Messiah because of the miracles He did – all foretold in Messianic prophecies. Yet they didn’t recognize Him as the Messiah, but simply a heaven-sent Baker to feed their bellies!
He admonishes them to labor for that food that endures to everlasting life, not the temporary that is eaten one day and expelled the next. He said as much in the Gospel of Matthew:
MATTHEW 6:25
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
As for our physical needs, we ought to be content with just the basics (1 TIM 6:8), as we pray to the Father Who knows all our needs, and provides, them – (LUKE 12:22-31) because we can’t take anything of our material wealth or prized possessions out of this world when we go (1 TIM 6:7)! You never see a hearse towing a U-Haul!
The old motto, ‘He who dies with the most toys wins’ is so wrong in its perspective and objectives – because win or lose, one still dies! And such are like the rich man who accumulated so much wealth that he had to tear down his barns to build others large enough to contain the mass of material possessions, but what he didn’t realize, was that in the hour when he said to his soul “take your ease and enjoy!” GOD said, “You fool, tonight is the time of your death – what good is your wealth now which will be left to others?” (LUKE 12:15-21).
The LORD Jesus stated that He Himself will give to those of us who seek the food He is offering, this eternal and spiritual sustenance that will ensure everlasting life for all who receive it, namely the LORD Jesus Christ Himself, the LAMB of GOD, the Bread of Life, the Living Waters! At the same time, He tells us to labor for this spiritual food. Yet isn’t salvation by grace and not of works (EPH 2:8-9)? Absolutely!
Then what can it mean “to labor . . . for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life?”
This word ‘labor’ in the Greek (“ergozomai”) can mean to be active, to toil in as a task, occupation, engaged in or with, commit, to earn by working”. What sort of work then are we talking about? What’s this laboring all about?
HEBREWS 4:11 states,
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief (spoudazo: to make an effort; to use speed, be prompt, earnest, endeavor, diligence…).
In the chapter we’re looking at, Jesus was asked what’s the sort of work people should do, “to work the works of GOD” and His response to that inquiry was:
“…This is the work of GOD, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.” (JOHN 6:29). The fruit of such belief, of such faith, is love toward GOD (MARK 12:29) which is what faith operates by (GAL 5:6).
This isn’t the sort of work that earns salvation, but rather the work that leads to salvation. We understand that godly sorrow leads to repentance and that repentance leads to salvation (2 COR 7:10). Simply by entering into the rest from our own works (to obtain salvation) and believing in Christ’s work on the Cross for salvation!
We are to earnestly engage in our part in seeking this eternal, spiritual food that is JESUS HIMSELF: repentance (of sin: changing our minds about the nature of sin: it’s not fun, but evil, and an offense to GOD! Changing our mind about the Person of JESUS – not merely the best Teacher Who ever lived, but GOD made flesh, LORD and Savior! Changing our mind about the Bible – not just another religious book but the very Word of GOD)!
When we labor to enter into this rest spoken of in Hebrews, it’s an entering in to refrain from our own works and work the works of GOD – believing by faith in Christ, receiving His salvation by obedience to the Gospel, then surrendering to His Lordship as a result of believing the Gospel.
These earthly bodies will one day perish, and any food we eat certainly perishes; the water we drink will satisfy for only a brief time, whereupon we will need to drink more because we will thirst again (See JOHN 4).
We need to have eternal objectives: These are found in the eternal Son of GOD, Who offers eternal life that will grant us eternal, glorified bodies that will never perish and endure throughout the epochs of eternity, outlasting the sun, moon and stars, forever dwelling in the presence of our Abba Father, worshiping GOD at His Holy Throne along with the saints and angels.
The Father has “sealed” His Son; that is to say, He has made a sacred and holy transaction in securing in the Person of His Son all of the blessings, offerings, provisions; enabling us in the Spirit all of the Life that infuses the repentant who believe in Christ, to walk as He walked among us (JOHN 1:14; 1 JOHN 2:6) because they have been redeemed by the blood of the LAMB!
We therefore desire JESUS our chiefest love and prize, the Author and Finisher of our faith (HEB 12:1-2) and consider HIM and HIS WORD more than our necessary food (JOB 23:12)!
Next time, we’ll check out JOHN 6:28-29 – The Work of GOD!
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