John 6;40—51
"And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, "I have come down from heaven?"
Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God." Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
Not everyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
This is the bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Message: "I will raise him up on the last day."
Jesus speaks about the last day several times in this chapter (vv. 39, 40, 44, 54); it is an expression found only in John in the New Testament.
We saw when we were studying Chapter 5 that Jesus speaks of "that day in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation."
In the verse that commences our study today, Christ is sure of a day that will end this world and usher in the life to come. He is equally sure that the believer has nothing to fear when that day comes for

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he will be raised up, and he will go in to the fullness of the life of the world to come!
Far from salvation in this world being all that there is, John looks forward to the end of the world and to Jesus as the One who will raise the redeemed and bring them into life eternal.
When Jesus met Martha after the death of her brother, Lazarus, "Martha said to Him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection, and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." (John 11:24-25)
Paul writes these words to the Christians in Thessalonica:
"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)
In this passage, Paul is telling the Christians at Thessalonica that those alive and those who have fallen asleep will share in the last resurrection.
In the face of death, the pagan world stood in despair. They met it with grim resignation and bleak hopelessness.

Aeschulus wrote: "Once a man dies there is no resurrection."
Theocritus wrote: "There is hope for those who are alive, but those who have died are without hope."
Catullus wrote: "When once our brief light sets, there is one perpetual night through which we must sleep."
On their tombstones grim epitaphs were carved:
"I was not; I became, I am not; I care not."

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In this Thessalonian passage, Paul lays down a great principle. The man who has lived and died in Christ is still in Christ even in death and will rise with Him. Between Christ and the man who loves Him there is a relationship which nothing can break, a relationship which overpasses death. Because Christ died and rose again, so the man who is one with Christ will rise again.
The picture Paul draws of the day when Christ will come is poetry, an attempt to describe what is indescribable. At the Second Coming Christ will descend from heaven to earth. He will utter the word of command and thereupon the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God will awaken the dead; then the dead and the living alike will be caught up in the chariots of the clouds to meet Christ; and thereafter they will be forever with their Lord.
For the believers, the promise is that we will rise to meet the Lord, and that day is the day of glorification. When Christ redeemed us He did not redeem our spirits (or souls) only. He redeemed us as whole persons, and this includes the redemption of the body. Therefore the application of Christ's work of redemption to us will not be complete until our bodies are entirely set free from the effects of the fall and brought to that state of perfection for which God created them! This moment between time and eternity when this change takes place is called GLORIFICATION. Glorification is the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like His own.
Paul writes to the Corinthians these words:
"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.

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Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death."
(1 Corinthians 15:20-26)
Verse 47—
"The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Philippians 3:20
"But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him even to subject all things to Himself."
1 John 3:1-2
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
As for the beliefs of those living in the time of the Old Testament, Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham "looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10)
We also read that many Old Testament saints "all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth..."But as it is, they desire a better

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country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:13-16)
Job said: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God, I myself will see Him with my own eyes—I and not another." (Job 19:25-26)
In the Psalms we read: "But God will redeem my soul from the grave; He will surely take me to Himself" (Psalm 49:15).
Isaiah says: "Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise" (Isaiah 26:19).
Daniel has a very explicit prophecy that "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2).
An interesting question...What will our resurrection bodies be like?
In the Corinthian passage which we have just read, Paul, using the example of sowing a seed in the ground and then watching it grow into something much more wonderful, says this about our resurrection bodies: "What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body...Just as we have borne the image of the man of the dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven."
OUR RESURRECTION BODIES WILL BE IMPERISHABLE! They will not wear out or grow old or ever be subject to any kind of sickness or disease. Our resurrected bodies will have no sign of aging, but will have the characteristics of youthful but mature manhood or womanhood!
OUR RESURRECTION BODIES WILL BE RAISED "IN GLORY."
When this term is contrasted with "dishonor," as it is here in this verse, there is a suggestion of the beauty or the attractiveness of appearance that our bodies will have. They will no longer be "dishonorable or unattractive, but will look "glorious" in their beauty. Because the word "glory" is so frequently used in Scripture of the bright, shining radiance that surrounds the presence of God Himself, this term

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suggests that there will also be a kind of brightness or radiance surrounding our bodies that will be an appropriate outward evidence of the position of exaltation and rule over all creation that God has given to us. This is suggested in Matthew 13:43, where Jesus says, "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
We read in Daniel's vision, "And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3)
OUR RESURRECTION BODIES WILL BE RAISED IN POWER. This is in contrast to the "weakness" which we see in our bodies now. Our resurrection bodies will not only be free from disease and aging, they will also be given fullness of strength and power—-not infinite power like God, of course, and probably not what we would think of as "superhuman" power in the sense possessed by the "superheroes" in modern fictional writings...but full of strength to the degree that God intended human beings to have in their bodies when He created them. It will therefore be strength that is sufficient to do all that we desire to do in conformity with the will of God.
OUR RESURRECTION BODIES WILL BE RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY. It is sown a natural body subject to the characteristics and desires of this age, and governed by its own sinful will, but it is raised a spiritual body, completely subject to the will of the Holy Spirit and responsive to the Holy Spirit's guidance.
When Paul says, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," what he means by "flesh and blood" is our present human nature, particularly our physical bodies, as they are now existing, in the likeness of Adam after the fall.
As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven!
We have been speaking about the wonderful hope of believers concerning the day of resurrection...now think with me for a moment concerning the judgment and eternal doom that awaits the unbeliever.
"Do not marvel at this: for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth--those who have done good to the

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resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:28-29)
Revelation 20:11-15
"Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it; from His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Also another book was opened which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead in it, death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."
1 Thessalonians 1:6-10
"Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed."
THE NATURE OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT
(1) Jesus Christ will be the Judge. Paul speaks of "Jesus Christ who is to judge the living and the dead" (2 Timothy 4:1).
Peter says that Jesus Christ "is the one ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead" (Acts 10:42).
This right to act as judge over the whole universe is something that the Father has given to the Son: "The Father...has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." (John 5:26-27)
(2) Unbelievers will be judged.
In Romans 2:5-7, Paul says that "on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed", He will render to every man according to his works...for

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those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness...there will be wrath and fury."
The judgment of unbelievers will include degrees of punishment, for we read that the dead were judged "by what they had done" (Revelation 20:12). Jesus said: "And that servant who knew His master's will, but did not make ready and act according to His will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating" (Luke 12:47-48).
On the day of judgment, the secrets of people's hearts will be revealed and made public. Paul speaks of the day when "God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16).
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops" (Luke 12:2-3).
BELIEVERS WILL BE JUDGED.
In writing to Christians in Rome, Paul says, "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God...Each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:10).
He also tells the Corinthians, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10).
It is important to realize that this judgment of believers will be a judgment to evaluate and bestow various degrees of reward, but the fact that they will face such a judgment should never cause believers to fear that they will be eternally condemned. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
"Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood hay straw——each man's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."

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ANGELS WILL BE JUDGED!
Peter says that the rebellious angels have been committed to pits of nether gloom, "to be kept until the judgment." (2 Peter 2:4)
Jude says that rebellious angels have been kept by God "until the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6).
This means that at least the rebellious angels or demons will be subject to judgment on that last day as well.
YOU ASK...WHO ARE THESE REBELLIOUS ANGELS?
Revelation 12:7-9
"And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
2 Peter 2:4
"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment..."
We have taken much time and notes to enlarge upon the verse in our text:
"And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
In this verse, Jesus says that "everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life."
The saved person here is the one "who sees the Son and believes in Him." It is not common to have "seeing" connected with salvation. The Jews were earlier blamed for having "seen" Jesus and not having believed (v. 36). They saw Jesus but they did not appreciate the significance of Jesus. It may be something like this that is meant here. Jesus wants people to see Him for who He is, to have the heavenly vision that is inseparably linked to faith. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit." (1 Cor. 2:9)

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In following the events of Chapter 6 in John, we note the first verses describe the feeding of the multitude, and in vv. 14 and 15 we are shone what effect that miracle had upon the crowd. From verse 16 to the end of verse 21 we have studied the incident of the disciples in the storm; and the Lord walking on the sea and coming to their deliverance. In vv. 22 to 25, we see the people following Christ to Capernaum, and in vv. 26 to 40 we learn of the conversation which took place between them and our Lord most probably in the open air.
But at verse 41 there is a break in the chapter, and a new company is introduced, namely, "the Jews"; and from verse 59 it is clear that they were in the synagogue in Capernaum.
In this Gospel, "the Jews" are ever viewed as antagonistic to the Saviour. Here they are represented as "murmuring" because the Lord had said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
Verse 41 through verse 59 describes the conversation between Christ and the Jews in the synagogue, as the proceeding verses narrate what passed between the Saviour and the Galileans. The Holy Spirit has placed the two conversations side by side because of the similarity of their themes.
In John, "the Jews" are always distinguished from the multitude. They are the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea. It would, perhaps, be easier to understand this Gospel, if the words were rendered 'those of Judea', which is the true sense.
These Jews were "murmuring," and it is a significant thing that the same word is used here as in the Septuagint (the first Gentile translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) of Israel murmuring in the wilderness. In few things does the depravity of the human heart reveal itself so plainly and so frequently as in murmuring against God.
Jesus had said, "I am the bread come down from heaven," and they murmured! Why? They were, of course, completely blind to Christ's Divine glory, and so were ignorant that this very One whom some of them had seen grow up before their eyes in the humble home of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, and the One that some of them, perhaps, had seen working at the carpenter's

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bench, should make a claim which they quickly perceived avowed His Deity. It was the pride of the human heart disdaining to be indebted to One who had lain aside His glory, and had taken upon Him the form of a servant. They refused to be beholden to One so lowly. Moreover, they were far too self-satisfied and self-righteous to see any need for One to come down from heaven to them, much less for that One to die upon the Cross to meet their need and thus become their Saviour.
Ah! The human heart has never changed. Sinful man still reacts to the claims of Christ. Pride, the wicked pride of the self-righteous heart, is responsible for unbelief. Men despise and reject the Saviour because they feel not their deep need of Him. Feeding upon the husks which are fit food only for swine, they have no appetite for the true Bread! And when the claims of Christ are really pressed upon them, they still 'murmur.'
When Jesus said that He was the Bread that came down from heaven, His listeners knew that He was saying that He personally existed in heaven before He appeared among them, and, as His forerunner testified, "He that cometh from above is above all" (John 3:31). "So it is written: the first man Adam became a living being", the last Adam, is a life-giving Spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second Man from heaven." (Cor. 15:47).
But these Jews were in total ignorance of Christ's superhuman origin. They supposed Him to be the natural son of Joseph and Mary. His 'father and mother,' said they, "we know." But they did not! His Father, they knew not of, nor could they, unless the Father revealed Himself unto them. And it is so still.
It is one thing to receive, intellectually, as a religious dogma, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; it is altogether another to KNOW Him as such for ourselves. Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to us." (Matthew 16:17)
It is interesting that the objections of the Jewish leaders took the form of a criticism of Christ's person rather than a direct criticism of His teachings.

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They did not say, let us notice, "There are three reasons why we cannot agree with You, and why we consider Your views to be wrong." Christ's teaching was too consistent and too self-authenticating for that.
Instead, they attacked Him personally, saying, in effect, "Don't listen to Him. He is a nobody from the sticks of Galilee, the son of a carpenter named Joseph. Listen to us." In this they revealed their consummate snobbishness, demonstrated their pride, and revealed their ignorance.
And what did Jesus answer? It is important to notice that He did not answer by defending Himself on the personal level, as we might like to do. He could have done it, of course. But instead of this He returned to His teaching and restated it, giving two proofs. This was a challenge to His hearers to investigate His teaching for themselves.
Finally, after having restated His teachings and given His proofs, Jesus stated the doctrine again for the final time.
The verses that contain this read as follows: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, "They will all be taught of God." Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him come to Me. No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes in Me has everlasting life." (w. 44-47).
When Jesus said, "They will all be taught by God" He is making reference to a passage in Isaiah 54:13 which speaks of spiritual understanding being given to the children of God. When He said; "Everyone who listens to and learns from the Father comes to Me." He is confirming a truth that when a heart is open and responds to the call of the Gospel, God by the work of the Holy Spirit, removes the spiritual blindness and gives faith to believe and receive the message of His love and forgiveness.
May we not be like those people to whom He preached two thousand years ago who closed their hearts and minds to Jesus...but may we open our hearts, let God through His Spirit do a work in our spirit that will result in the receiving of everlasting life.