John 6:67-69 Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away? What are any of these life-giving words? Here are a few. "I am the Resurrection and the Life," etc. "Seek ye Me, and your soul shall live." "Whoso eateth My flesh," etc. "God so loved the world," etc. What "potential energy" slumbers in those wonderful words! They carry within them to the guilty and the dying a Divine message fraught with saving and life-giving power. They are simple that a child may read them, but they hold, as it were in solution, the deepest thoughts of God. The mere words are often compared to the casket containing the gem. To find the gem you have to open the casket. Even so, to get at the meaning of Christ's life-giving words, you need the spiritual discernment, the key that will unlock the gospel casket. The application of its contents to the heart will result in life eternal. Or take another similitude: The words are like the title-deeds of an inheritance. The possession of the title-deeds settles the ownership of the property. So the man who appropriates by faith the truths of the gospel makes good his claim to the inheritance which the gospel promises. Accept these truths, hold fast the title-deeds, and the inheritance is yours — not simply will be yours at some future time, but is yours now. The moment you receive the words of Christ you become possessor of the life of Christ. And this is what is here called "Eternal Life," which has been defined to be not simply endless being, but a life of perfect harmony with its environment, not subject to the changes and imperfections of this finite world. To be in harmony with Christ, otherwise called reconciliation with God — this is the aim of man's being, the noblest heritage of fallen humanity. Christ makes the offer of it to all His followers. In Him it is to be found, and those who are in Him have already entered into possession. But, so long as they are in this finite world, they are like the sons of Jacob in their possession of Canaan, surrounded by foes and exposed to changes, so that the circumstances are not favourable to undisturbed possession, the external harmony or environment not being perfect, but the time is coming when the harmony thus incomplete will be consummated in fairer worlds amid perfect and purer surroundings. (D. Merson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?WEB: Jesus said therefore to the twelve, "You don't also want to go away, do you?" |
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