When Jesus knew the people were murmuring against him, he warned them against doing that (John 6:41-43). Murmuring expresses disbelief, and once one decides a person isn’t telling the truth, there is little that person can say that would change his listener’s mind and believe him. ‘We know this man, and we know his family, so how could he try to tell us he came out of heaven?’ Once one takes this attitude, why would he believe anything Jesus claimed? Once one believes he has identified a falsehood, it makes no difference what truth he may hear from the speaker, he won’t consider it, because he believes the man is a liar.
The people thought they could decide who Jesus was (John 6:41-42) and, if they approve of him, make him king (John 6:14-15). However, they had no power to determine if Jesus was of God or not by using physical data. Only God could show who Jesus is, because being sent by God is a spiritual matter not a physical one (cp. 1Corinthians 2:9-11). Hence, only the folks that the Father would draw to Jesus could believe and trust him (John 6:43). This doesn’t mean God was picking some and rejecting others. Rather, it means that men must decide to place themselves in a position, whereby they could be drawn by God and believe Jesus. It means that they must, first, admit that their five senses are powerless to identify the Messiah (cp. John 1:31, 33). Once this is done, they need to allow God to show them the truth, expecting God would do so. If one trusts God, the Father would draw them to believe Jesus.
As proof of what he claimed, Jesus mentioned to his listeners that even the prophets foretold that the people of God would be taught by the Lord, their God (Isaiah 54:13; cp. Micah 4:2). For this to be true, it necessitates a New Covenant, because under the Old Covenant every child, who was born into the community of Israel, had to be taught by men to know who God was (Exodus 13:8, 14). Men understood the Lord’s identity, because other men taught them, so knowing the Lord was left to the faithfulness of other men. However, this didn’t work out very well, because men weren’t faithful and lied about God’s character (cp. Genesis 3:1-3; cp. 2:16-17). Thus, a new and different covenant was necessitated (Jeremiah 31:31-32). Instead of coming to know the Lord by the word of men, under the New Covenant, men came to know the Lord before they committed to the covenant (Jeremiah 31:33-34). In other words, every believer under the New Covenant had already come to be in fellowship with God, before he committed himself to Jesus. That is, the New Covenant is a covenant made in the heart of men, not according to what he was physically able to see, hear, taste, smell or touch. According to this covenant, understanding doesn’t come through the five senses but through the sense within his heart.
This, of course, couldn’t be done physically, for not even the prophets were able to literally see God. Only Jesus who came out of heaven from God could say he had literally seen God (John 6:46, cp. 6:38). Heart knowledge comes through the spirit, and for the spirit to hear God, it must be reborn (John 3:3; cp Ephesians 2:1-10), because it is was the spirit in man that died in Eden, when the rebellion occurred (Genesis 2:16-17; cp. 3:7, 22-24).
Therefore, what Jesus is saying, in that he is the Bread of Life (John 6:48), is that he is able to restore that spiritual life that was lost in Eden (John 6:47). In other words, by believing him one is then able to fellowship with God, and in doing so, one would be taught by God (John 6:45).
The manna which Moses gave to Israel in the wilderness was for physical sustenance. So, although one ate of that bread, he eventually died (John 6:49). Nothing physical is eternal. However, what the life Jesus offers is spiritual life. He is Bread for the spirit, and, if man’s spirit is raised up and partakes of that spiritual Bread, it cannot die (John 6:50). Jesus claimed to be that spiritual food that has come out of heaven from God (John 6:51), and the flesh he gave was the flesh he had taken (John 1:14), which men later crucified, but God raised up. So, anyone who embraces Jesus is in him who was crucified and raised to eternal life. Our life in the flesh dies with Jesus’ life in the flesh, but our life in the spirit is raised up in his resurrection (Romans 6:3-9).
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