Unable to Believe

Lesson #103

In the last lesson Jesus told the people that his Father gives them true bread from heaven. Jesus continued by saying, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33 ESV). The bread of God is a person just like in John1:1 and 14, the Word is a person and he was sent by the Father and comes down from heaven. Jesus stands before them to give life to them and to all in the world who would come to him in faith, but those standing before him did not understand. They were like the woman at the well who responded to the offer of living water with, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water” (John 4:15 ESV). These responded with, “Sir, give us this bread always.” They expected Jesus to be like Moses and daily provide them with bread.

Jesus then makes it very clear to them by saying, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 ESV). This hunger and thirst is not physical, but represents the needs of our soul. It is that which the soul longs for and occurs on a regular basis. Jesus said that by coming to him their soul would not hunger and by believing in him their soul would not thirst. As we spend time with him daily the needs of our soul are met; we are nourished. Whatever longing our soul has it is met in Jesus as he is the all satisfying provider. But like Nicodemus and the woman at the well, these people are blind to the spiritual dimension of what Jesus is presenting because they are spiritually dead.

Jesus continues by saying, “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe” (John 6:36 ESV). These people who have been following Jesus have seen the signs he has performed and heard the words he has spoken, but they still can’t see or understand. Jesus has come to this point of presenting who he is, where he is from, and why he is here, but the people don’t get it. One might be thinking that through Jesus the saving purpose of God has failed because no one seems to truly understand and believe.

These people standing before Jesus are unsaved and as he speaks words of life no one is able, on their own to choose him as their source of eternal life. If you have made a decision how did you come to the point of being able to understand and believe? What made you different than these people that gave you the ability to truly believe? We will begin to look at this in our next section covering John 6:37 – 40.

Prayer

Father, it appears we have come to a place in our study where unsaved, spiritually dead people are unable to understand spiritual things and believe. It appears that a spiritually dead person is unable to come to Jesus by faith on their own. Father, as I look ahead to the next lesson I am thankful there is a solution to this apparent dilemma. Thank you that I have experienced the needed gift of grace in my life.