Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter (April 21, 2021) Joh 6:35-40

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them. ISA 49:10

Sanhedrin 92a:6

Rabbi Elazar says: Any communal leader who leads the community calmly, without anger and honestly, is privileged and leads them in the world to come, as it is stated: “For he who has pity upon them will lead them, and by springs of water shall guide them” (Isa 49:10). Just as he led them in this world, so too will he guide them in the world to come.

36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

John Gill

But I said to you—The substance of what follows in Joh 6:26 though the Persic and Ethiopic versions render it, “I say to you”; and so refers not to anything before said, but to what he was about to say:

That you have seen me and yet do not believe—That is, they had not only seen him in person, which many kings, prophets, and righteous men had desired, but not enjoyed, yet nevertheless believed; but they had seen his miracles, and had shared in the advantages of them, being healed, and fed corporeally by him, and yet believed not in him as the spiritual Saviour and Redeemer of their souls; nor did they come to him in a spiritual way, for eternal life and salvation.

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called from its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are my servant,

I have chosen you and not cast you off”; ISA 41:9

Rashi

Whom I took—I took you for my share. Comp. (Exo 4:4) “And he put out his hand and caught it.”

I . . . called . . . you by name for my share, “my firstborn son, Israel” (ibid. v. 22).

From the ends of the earth—From the other nations.

And . . . from its farthest corners—From the greatest of them.

And not cast you off like Esau, as it is said (Mal 1:3), “But Esau I have hated.”

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John Gill

For I have come down from heaven—By change of place, or local motion; for Christ is the immense, infinite, and omnipresent God, and cannot be said properly to move from place to place; for he fills all places, even heaven and earth, with his presence, and was in heaven as the Son of God, at the same time he was here on earth as the son of man: therefore this must be understood in a manner becoming his proper deity, his divine sonship, and personality: this descent was by the assumption of the human nature into union with his divine person, which was an instance of amazing grace and condescension. The Jew objects to this, and says,

“if this respects the descent of the soul, the soul of every man descended from thence; but if it respects the body, the rest of the evangelists contradict his words, particularly Luke, when he says (Luk 2:7), that his mother brought him forth at Bethlehem.”

But this descent regards neither his soul nor body, but his divine person, which always was in heaven, and not any local descent of that; but, as before observed, an assumption of human nature, which he took of the virgin on earth; and so there is no contradiction between the evangelists; nor is descent from heaven unsuitable to Christ as a divine person, since it is ascribed to God (Gen 11:7; 18:21); and if God may be said to go down from heaven by some display of his power, and intimation of his presence, Christ may be said to descend from heaven by that marvellous work of his, taking upon him our nature, and walking up and down on earth in the form of a servant; and which was done with this view, as he says,

Not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me—That is, not to do his own will, as separate from his Father’s, and much less as contrary to it; otherwise he did come to do his own will, which, as God, was the same with his Father’s, he being one with him in nature, and so in power and will; and though his will, as man, was distinct from his Father’s, yet not repugnant, but resigned to it: and this will he came to do, was to preach the gospel, fulfil the law, work miracles, and obtain the eternal redemption and salvation of his people. What the above Jewish writer objects to this part of the text is of very little moment: whose words are;

“moreover, what he says, ‘not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me,’ shows, that he that sent, is not one and the same with him that is sent, seeing the will of him that is sent, is not as the will of him that sends.”

It is readily granted that they are not one and the same person; they are two distinct persons, which sending, and being sent, do clearly show; but then they are one in nature, though distinct in person, and they agree in will and work. Christ came not to do any will of his own different from that of his Father’s; nor do these words imply a difference of wills in them, much less a contrariety in them, but rather the sameness of them.

8 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

John Gill

Then I said—As in the council and covenant of peace, when and where he declared his willingness to come into the world, and make satisfaction for the sins of his people; so when the fulness of time was come for his appearance in human nature he repeated the same; for of the time of his coming into the world are these words interpreted (Heb 10:5); when sacrifice and offering God would not have any longer continued, and when a body was prepared him, then he said,

Behold, I have come—O Father; as Apollinarius, in his metaphrase, adds; that is, freely, and without compulsion; immediately, at once, without any delay; and he himself, and not another; and this not by change of place, but by assumption of nature; taking the body, or human nature, prepared for him, and uniting it to himself; to which the word “behold” is prefixed as a note of attention and admiration; the incarnation of Christ being a wonderful affair, and of the utmost moment and importance;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me—Either in the book of divine predestination, in the purposes and decrees of God (Psa 139:16); or in the book of the Scriptures; either in general (Luk 24:27, 44; Joh 5:39); or particularly in the book of the Psalms (Psa 1:1-2; 2:2, 6-7); or rather in the book of the law, the five books of Moses, since these were the only books or volumes that were composed at the writing of this Psalm; and it has respect not to Exo 21:6; nor Deu 17:18; nor Deu 18:15; but rather Gen 3:15; and seeing the coming of Christ into the world was not only appointed of God, agreed to by Christ, but was prophesied of, and penned down in the sacred writings; therefore at the appointed time he came, freely and willingly. This book is called a volume, or roll, alluding to the manner of writing formerly; when what was written was finished, it was rolled about a stick in the manner of a cylinder; and in this form is the book of the law with the Jews to this day (see Gill on Luk 4:17).

Rashi

Then at the time of the giving of the law, behold I came to you to be bound in your covenant. (Exo 24:7): “We will do and be obedient,” and this matter is written as testimony concerning me in the scroll of the book, i.e., in the law of Moses.

9 I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.” PSA 40:8-9

John Gill

I delight to do your will, O my God—This he came down from heaven to do, and this he did do, by preaching the gospel, and working miracles; and above all by obtaining eternal redemption for his people, which he effected by fulfilling the law, becoming a sacrifice, and suffering and dying in their room; all which were the will of God, and grateful to him, and in doing which Christ took the utmost delight and pleasure (Luk 12:50; Joh 4:34);

Your law is within my heart—Either the whole moral law, under which he was, as man, and the surety of his people; and which was written upon his heart, and which he perfectly obeyed; or that particular law, injunction, and command laid upon him by his Father, to offer himself a sacrifice, and lay down his life for men; which he agreed to, had it in his mind, his heart was set upon it, and he cheerfully complied with it (Joh 10:18; 14:31).

Rashi

Your law is within my heart—Even my food is according to your law; I ate neither unclean beasts nor untithed produce.

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 1SA 25:29

Chagigah 12b:13

The souls of the righteous are found in heaven, as it is written: “And the life of my master shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God” (1Sa 25:29). Spirits and souls that are to be created are found there, as it is written: “For the spirit that enwraps itself is from me, and the breath of life that I made” (Isa 57:16), which indicates that the spirit to be released into the world, wrapped around a body, is located close to God. The dew that the Holy One, blessed be he, will use to revive the dead is found in heaven, as it is written: “Rain in abundance, God, you will shed abroad; you confirmed your inheritance as it languished” (Psa 68:10).

40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

21 Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the Lord?

And there is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none besides me.

Rashi

Who told this long ago—Who of your idols is it that told long ago that your God brought salvation, each one to its worshipers?

Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other—For I announce what I am destined to do for my people, and I fulfill My words.

22 Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other. ISA 45:21-22

Rashi

Turn to me and abandon your graven images, all the ends of the earth, and, thereby, you shall be saved.