THE BREAD OF LIFE
THE BREAD OF LIFE
JT It is important, that we should see that food is essential to entering into eternal life. The moral constitution has to be built up and sustained, and the food that will do this is supplied here. What man is naturally, as God’s creature, suggests what he is spiritually. God having opened up His mind as to man in the third chapter of John, the following chapters are intended to meet him in the varied elements (so to speak) of his constitution. Man has affections. John 4, I think, meets that side; the affections are taken account of. Men had ample opportunity to satisfy themselves in the world if there, were satisfaction to be found there. The woman of Samaria shows that there was no satisfaction there; and hence the Lord proposes that which would satisfy permanently, for the living water would become a fountain within her springing up into everlasting life. Then, I think, chapter 5 sets forth man’s weakness, and the weakness of the law in meeting his need. So that that chapter shows us the power, side; and also it opens up the sphere of life; the believer is passed from death into life. But such an one requires spiritual food, and chapter 6 supplies this. The question raised is as to what we feed upon, so as to have eternal life as an enjoyed blessing now.
Ques Does chapter 6 contemplate the wilderness?
JT Yes, it contemplates wilderness conditions, but the thought is that we might pass out of wilderness conditions, and for that, food is essential. So the subject is opened up in this way. The crowd really followed Him because of the loaves and fishes. It was a question of food; hence the Lord says,
“[p. 54] Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life; which the Son of man shall give unto you”. Bear in mind that the Lord adds at the close, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life”. We have to be prepared for spiritual thoughts in a very exalted degree in this chapter.
Rem There is a peculiar significance in the fact that the Father has set His seal on this One.
JT I think so. He is sealed here in view of giving “the food which abides unto life eternal”; (John 6:27)
Rem That is very important to have in mind, that the divine seal was upon that blessed One who in His humiliation was to become the food to sustain the life of His people.
Ques Is this food in contrast to the manna?
JT Yes, it is. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead, but here is food that you eat and you live. There is a remarkable similarity, however, in one respect between the manna and this food, in that both come down from heaven; but the manna was for sustenance for the wilderness; this food is for sustenance for eternal life.
Ques I would like something to be said with regard to the way John introduces the brazen serpent here as in view of Canaan; What is the distinction, or what does Canaan convey to your mind? If eternal life is not for heaven, what does Canaan convey to your mind?
JT Well, it has, on the one hand, reference to the entire sphere to which the purpose of God applies, and according to the book of Joshua and the epistle to the Ephesians, that would include heaven or the heavenlies; but whilst the heavenly side is necessarily the greatest, Canaan also includes the whole millennial order of things. On the other hand, it has reference to a spiritual order of things existing during the [p. 55] Christian period, and that for the moment is the most important. Types have more reference to the present time than they have to the world to come; they are more intended to show how we as believers now enter into the good of divine things. So that Canaan, in that sense, would be the spiritual sphere which lies outside of the conditions established in connection with man in flesh and blood. It is a sphere and order of things wholly spiritual, and really lies outside of the distinctions that belong to us as in the flesh. Eternal life is also really outside of the relationships which belong to us here as in flesh and blood. It is practically enjoyed in the circle of the saints viewed as born of God.
Ques But that spiritual order belongs to the present?
JT Yes. It is a spiritual order of things into which we enter, and it is outside the relationships we stand in here, but it has an influence upon those relationships, and gives character to them.
Ques Is that what was meant when it was said that it was an out-of-the-world order of things?
JT Yes; I think so.
Ques Do you mean that Canaan would typify fully the sphere of heavenly blessing and eternal life? What is the distinction between the sphere of eternal life?
JT Well, it has been well described as being indicated in the Lord’s sojourn here between His resurrection, and ascension. That was an out-of-the- world condition of things.
Ques You refer to the forty days?
JT Yes. The Lord was outside the sphere of the world clearly; “the world sees me no more” (and neither did it), “but ye see me”. (John 14:9) Now, I think that in some sense conveys the idea of the platform, so to speak, on which eternal life stands; it is outside of the world, and necessitates resurrection.
[p. 56] But this chapter shows that it does not necessarily refer to the time when we shall be raised literally. The Lord says, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up at the last day”, (John 6:54). So that the chapter contemplates eternal life now.
Ques He gives it now in a spiritual way?
JT Yes. I think it is very important to remember that Christianity is established as a provisional state of things. It is not final; nor is it a perfect state of things. It is a provisional state of things pending the coming of the Lord, when we shall have the final state of things.
Ques How would you distinguish between the thought of eternal life and the purely heavenly state of things?
JT I was thinking only today, that if you take the most exalted personage in the land, there is one thing in which he is on a common platform with everybody, the lowest as well as the highest, and that one thing is life. In order that this should be sustained he has to eat, sleep, etc. But then, whilst he is compelled to do certain things in common with everybody else, his exalted rank, and all that goes with it, necessarily give character to every detail that he has in common with all others. Well now that is how I understand the manner in which we have what is common to every family that comes into the blessing of God. Whether in the present age or coming age, all have eternal life. This is undeniable. But we have something more excellent than they; we have a heavenly place in Christ, which is peculiar to ourselves, and that is what we boast in specially, and therefore this gives character in us to what we may have in common with all others. The dignity of the position, and the relationship that goes with the position, tend to give colour to what we enjoy in common with all other families.
[p. 57] Rem Then if such an exalted privilege is ours, our walk, in every detail, should be affected by it.
JT Quite so. You remember that when the Israelites passed over Jordan, twelve stones were taken out of Jordan and placed in Gilgal. Those twelve stones represented the twelve tribes, but in the subsequent development of things, the tribe of Levi was taken apart from the other twelve and given an inheritance. They had the Lord God of Israel, they were to dwell in cities, and they had the priesthood and the offerings as their inheritance. Typically they had a heavenly position in contrast to the others. But they were on common ground. There was something they had in common with all the other tribes at Gilgal; they were represented in the twelve stones. Now, I think that indicates our portion; that whilst abstractly you must place eternal life by itself, and think of it by itself, yet when you come to the entrance into it, it is enjoyed along with the relationships that are special to us, and these relationships, being greater, must give character to the lesser.
Ques You are referring to sonship?
JT Yes, and our position in the heavenlies. If the king entered into the poorest house in the realm, he would carry into it his kingly dignity. I would use that as illustrating eternal life, but only to show that there is something really greater, although depending on it; for obviously everything depends on life; and that greater thing gives character to all we enjoy, whatever it be. But in one sense nothing can be morally greater than eternal life, for the introduction of it where death had been is the great triumph of God. Besides, in Psalm 133, it is specially called “the blessing”. Romans 6:23, reads: “the act of favour of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 6:23)
Rem It is helpful to see that eternal life is God’s [p. 58] thought for every family, but then there is the special place, and you connect that with sonship.
Ques The heavenlies are in heaven?
JT Well, the heavenlies in Scripture are more the sphere of rule and light, but they include “the third heaven”, which would he the most exalted. The assembly comes down from God out of heaven.
Ques Will you explain what you mean by Christianity being provisional?
JT Well, it is an order of things established here by God in view of the maintenance of the testimony until the coming of the Lord. It is not the final state of things.
Rem It fills up the interval between the rejection of Christ and His appearing, but He takes His seat on the Father’s throne now. The house of God is a provisional thing here, whereas the Father’s house is a permanent thing.
Ques I suppose what is effected in us during the present time is everlasting?
JT The work of God in our souls is abiding; and we have access to what is eternal. Eternal life is eternal, and we have access to it by the power of the Spirit. In one sense we may say it is within the reach of the spiritual. The apostle Paul entered into it a great deal more than we do; but with all that the present conditions are provisional.
Ques I suppose when what is final and perfect is come, there will be no need for testimony?
JT Quite so; the tabernacle, in one respect, contemplated a provisional state of things, it was movable. The temple indicates a permanent state of things.
Ques Do you consider eternal life as heavenly life?
JT Well, you have to take account of it by itself, because the blessing is enjoyed in your soul at the same time as you enjoyed the special relationships [p. 59] with the Father and the Son in which we are set. Eternal life in our souls has reference to our knowledge of the true God; of God revealed here in Christ, and of the Man who came out here to do God’s will. The moral thought underlying John 17:3 is of immense importance to lay hold of.
Rem “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. (John 3:16) God is presented to the soul in His love.
JT God is to be rightly apprehended in man’s soul, and the result is to be that men turn from idols to serve the living and true God, and wait for His Son from heaven. What a great thing it is to have in your soul light as to the true God in the midst of an idolatrous world!
Rem I am afraid we are very defective as to the revelation of the true God.
Ques “As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father;” is that the key to the thought?
JT One word in John’s writings that helps us in the understanding of his gospel is the word sent.
Ques Do you mean to convey by that that the Lord was here as man?
JT Yes, in a world where all is lawless He was here carrying out God’s will, and in that position the idea of God is brought to man. He has revealed God to us. But then He is also the eternal life. That is what He was as man before God.
Ques I suppose if we had been brought up in the midst of idolatry we should have understood the knowledge of the true God better?
JT I think that is important. We have not seen the moral thought in the true God and the true Man, but if you do see it, it is a safeguard in the midst of the world; it keeps you. Take Psalm 119; only fully seen in Christ, but it gives us the experience of a man who has learned to love the law. The whole [p. 60] of the Psalm is, devoted to the expression of the exercises of a man who has learned to love God’s law; and when that point is reached in the soul then you can go up: so the songs of degrees follow. It is morally due to God that His will should be carried out down here where He has been dishonoured.
Rem I have been struck with that word sent in the gospel of John, which you emphasise.
JT The force of it really is that the Lord was here carrying out the will of God. He was sent by God. He loved the law, but then when you come to the gospel of John it goes far beyond that, because it meant the carrying out of the divine purpose. John says, the Father sent the Son that we might live through Him.
Ques “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God”, (John 3:34). How do you understand that?
JT It is the idea of apostleship. Apostleship is that the person has been with God, and as with Him he is sent out to communicate God’s mind. The Lord was that in an infinite way; He spoke only the words of God.
Rem What you have said makes that very clear: “He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting”, (John 12:49).
JT Yes, that is very beautiful; that is His last word to the Jews. I think that passage opens up the point of the gospel very largely; that is, as taken in connection with what the apostle says at the end of chapter 20, “these are written ... that believing ye might have life through his name”. (John 20:31)
What has been suggested already is important to take account of; that He was sealed as Son of man; “him hath God the Father sealed”. There was one marked off by the Spirit to give food to the world. Joseph was the preserver of life in the world. Now, the Lord is here sealed by God for [p. 61] that purpose, so that the world, instead of remaining under death, might live; hence the point of view is very wide. It is not the life of the saints simply, it is the life of the world.
Rem He is spoken of here as the bread of life and the bread of God.
JT Another point in the chapter to recognise is that the Lord emphasises that He came down from heaven. There is a similarity in that respect, in regard to the manna, for both came from heaven. “Man did eat angels’ food”, (Psalm 78:25); the food of those who are marked by obedience. It is a food that gives you a constitution which enables you to carry out God’s will in the wilderness. But the bread here in John 6 is to enable us to enter into eternal life, but this food has to be appropriated. The Lord has opened up the position, and He gave His flesh for the life of the world. The title to eternal life has been made good for man, and the bread provided; but all has to be appropriated. This is our side.
Ques So that although eternal life is for the world, only those who eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood have it?
JT It is limited to those who appropriate it, although available for all.
Rem I suppose John 6:53 makes that plain: “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you”.
Rem This bread would not be applicable to the time to come.
JT No; it is in view of the scene of death. It contemplates that we are in the scene of death, and that the only way out of it into life is by eating this bread.
Rem It gives us the moral constitution of an overcomer.
JT It gives power to pass out of the natural [p. 62] into the spiritual. It is all very well to have the light of eternal life, but it requires power to pass over into it, and the eating of this food gives you strength. Often it has been pointed out, that there are two tenses of the verb to eat in verses 53 and 54: that is, the past and the present. “Eats”, verse 54, is present and continuous.
Rem “I will raise him up at the last day”. I always think of this chapter when one of the saints dies. You have the comforting thought that the last day is the last day, and the Lord will raise you up then. It shows how the Lord has charged Himself as to us. The Father has given us to Him, and He takes charge of us to the very end.
Ques What about the drinking?
JT Well, it is an allusion to what man requires for sustenance.
Rem “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him”, (John 6:56)
JT I think that means the soul’s appropriation of the Lord’s death in its full bearing. It involves the end of what I am as a man born after the flesh.
Ques Has the Spirit of God any place in connection with this appropriation?
JT The Spirit underlies all the teaching from chapter 4. The Spirit enables us to go down.
Ques In what way? Would the Spirit keep Christ before your soul as that on which you feed?
JT We are in a world where everybody is seeking to get up.
Rem That is the tendency at the present time, and we are affected by it.
JT Yes, it is the spirit of the world to get to the top of the ladder. That is where the test comes; the Lord was going down. He never exalted Himself. “The bread of God is he who comes down out of heaven” (John 6:33)
Ques How many of us really wish to diminish,
[p. 63] to become less to play the losing game in this present world?
Rem If this is not our food it is impossible for us to take such a course.
JT Under God’s government we may prosper in things here; but the danger is of living in our prosperity. Of course, we have to live in righteousness in the world and “provide things honest”, and all that; but the question is where one lives, and what are one’s hopes and aspirations? What do we regard as life? “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”. (1 John 2:15) You see here that the Lord is going down, and He loses every advantage that a man could have in this world. That is a test for us if we are eating that food.
Ques Is the thought of growth here?
JT I think this food is that by which we grow; and growth in Christianity signifies that you are more lowly, more simple, and you have more affection. That was what Christ was here. The gospels present to us what Christ was here; a Man among men; now, that is the divine thought; and God will never recede from it. That is what He looks for from believers in Christ.
Rem Colossians speaks of kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. The saints were to put on these.
JT If you do not feed on Christ you are afraid of death; the wise man sees the evil and hides himself. What I understand by hiding yourself is, that you feed on Christ, you accept His death, and therefore you are prepared for the evil. If dissolution overtakes you, you have already anticipated it.
Ques Have not the affections a great part in all this appropriation?
JT Surely. Christ has gone over before you.
Rem I suppose chapter 4 established the capacity for the enjoyment of [p. 64] it?
JT I think so, and then chapter 5 is power, lifting man outside the legal system.
Ques Will you say a little on chapter 10? “I give unto them eternal life”. (John 10:28) In what way does He give eternal life?
JT There it is collective. It is to the flock. Eternal life was in God’s mind for Israel, and it was made available for them in Christ; but they would not come to Him that they might have it. But the thought did not lapse, hence it was given to the sheep. The flock, given to Christ by the Father has it now instead of the nation. God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Thus the blessing is now connected with the flock, composed of Jews and Gentiles. In chapter 7 we have the feast of tabernacles, and this is superseded by Christianity; that is, a glorified Christ, and believers on Him indwelt by the Holy Spirit here on earth. Then, in chapter 8, there is the thought of following Christ, as the Light of the world, and this is exemplified in chapter 9. This leads up to the flock in chapter 10, with whom, in a collective way, eternal life is connected.