JOHN 6:67-69
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
What an incriminating indictment upon a soul who would “want to go away” from their Maker? What deformity of mind and spirit would cause anyone to desire to depart from the One Who created us, to the One Who redeemed us on the basis of His grace, totally apart from any merit we could (vainly) attempt to muster?
I can tell you what it is that would cause a soul to desire such a horrendous thing in one word: sin. Or perhaps more accurately with two words: sin nature. Sin nature is a spiritual leaven that brings a flourishing growth of pride and false doctrine that rejects the truth of GOD in favor of fallen man's vain beliefs.
A perverted nature that marred the nobility of man when he was fresh breathed by GOD’s Spirit into the nefarious monstrosity that he’s been ever since the Fall.
I grieve with a deep felt agony for the lost of this world: humanity limps defiantly through life with open, bleeding sores spiritually speaking from head to toe, with nothing to bind those wounds, much less heal them (ISA 1:4-7). Yet humanity proceeds as though all is well, nothing at all is amiss. Few there are who begin to understand their depravity (JER 17:9) and utter poverty of spirit (MATT 5:3), and of these, many despair of life, never hearing the Gospel, the singular spiritual solution of salvation to the devilish dilemma of sin nature!
In the days in which the LORD Jesus walked this Earth, bringing healing, wholeness, and hope to this forlorn world, there were those who followed Him while there were such healings, and miracles, and bread plentiful enough, but when our precious LORD began to speak of the Cross, and the need of any disciple who would want to follow Him, to carry theirs (MATT 16:24-25).
And the alarming declarations of the LORD to His followers to eat His flesh and drink His blood, apart from which they would have no life also astounded and perplexed them.
Then it was that the numbers dwindled.
Then it was that He asked the twelve this sad question:
“Do you also want to go away?”
Sheep are prone to wander; it’s in their nature. It’s why they truly need a shepherd. And the LORD Jesus Christ is the very, very Good and faithful Shepherd. He leaves the 99 and goes after the 1 (MATT 18:12-13) and doesn’t return until He finds them and brings them back into the fold rejoicing.
Peter strayed and “followed afar off” when His LORD was being led away and likely crucified (MATT 26:58). He ended up denying the LORD that he swore he would never deny. Scripture states that when he realized what he’d done, “he wept bitterly” (MATT 26:75). But the LORD drew him back and prayed for his restoration, and the apostle was indeed restored (LUKE 22:31-32; JOHN 21:15-19)!
I believe any true child of GOD will draw back to the LORD, the Good Shepherd by the power of the Spirit convicting and admonishing them.
This same apostle answered the LORD’s question in vs. 68-69:
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Souls blinded by sin can’t perceive the truth of GOD, and only the Light of GOD’s truth can pierce that blindness (2 COR 4:6) that all too often pains the rebel who spurns that Light in favor of their comfortable darkness (JOHN 3:19).
But I would much rather be pained by truth, than comforted by lies!
Yet the truth that Peter proclaimed is a glorious comfort to the souls of the righteous!
“You have the words of eternal life” – to the exclusion of all others!
In a sense, the LORD Jesus is “Mr. Truth”.
We often think of truth in abstract terms and concepts, but the reality is, the One Who created reality is Himself the truth. Reality serves Truth. There is no other religious or philosophical leader that can make the claim that they are “truth”. They might claim to show the way to truth or to exhibit truth, but none can claim (rightfully) to be the very embodiment of truth as the LORD Jesus does:
JOHN 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Yet our LORD doesn’t merely hold the monopoly on truth, He also holds all the grants on grace!
JOHN 1:17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
There is none like our LORD Who not only is the fullest and complete expression of truth and grace but operates in both with exquisitely perfect balance.
I’m too often lopsided. I’m either leaning too far on the side of truth and lacking in grace, or vice versa! Not so with our LORD!
Elsewhere Peter rightly identifies Jesus for Who He is and declares this just as he did in JOHN 6:69:
MATTHEW 16:16
Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
He holds all authority in every sphere of reality that exists in both heaven and earth.
Up to the point when Jesus Christ shed His blood for the atonement for sin, Satan was the legal regent of this world (2 COR 4:4; JOHN 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). He rules still, but illegally since all power and authority in Heaven and on Earth are now under the jurisdiction of the Messiah of Israel (MATT 28:18), the Christ Who is the only begotten Son of GOD (JOHN 1:18; 3:16), and thus is truly GOD made flesh (JOHN 1:1-3,14).
Read The KINSMAN REDEEMER
Thus, when one bows before JESUS as LORD and Savior, they receive all of Who He is to govern, counsel, care and provide for, guide and instruct and bless their lives. These Divine resources are found nowhere else in all creation. Nowhere in any realm of reality can one find these precious treasures, except by those who belong to the LORD Jesus and then exclusively in the Person of Christ!
Why would one ever want to leave such a Precious One as this? Only those who, due to their sin nature and pride, refuse to submit to His LORDship and will then allow their sin to destroy themselves – and sadly, such will be the case for any and all who reject the LORD Jesus Christ and the abundant life He has to offer!
EXODUS 34:6-7
6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.
1 PETER 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
JOHN 10:10-11
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
DEUTERONOMY 30:19-20
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
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