John 6:67-69 Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away?… I. GOD HAS SET BEFORE US A DESTINY. "Eternal life." 1. The idea of a future world in the abstract is probably present to every man. 2. It is impossible for any one to entertain this idea without being haunted by the tremendous possibilities of its truth. A man may lose sight of it, or rush to escape it, but let it once have a lodgment within, and he cannot refuse it acknowledgment. 3. It does not require any argument to prove a future world — you know that there is one. 4. It is equally impressed upon the human consciousness that this future life (1) is one of conscious immortal existence; (2) has a retributive connection with the doings of the present life. II. HE HAS REVEALED TO US THE METHOD BY WHICH THIS DESTINY MAY BE ACHIEVED AND REALIZED. 1. The revelation of God's mercy in the gospel proceeds on the assumption of this conscious immortal existence, and has furnished appliances by which the happiest conditions of that existence may be brought within the reach of all. It is not merely a manual of precept for this world; it is a treasury of hope and comfort for the world to come. Point- ing to the Saviour, whose suretyship it announces, and from whose death it receives its validity and power, it says, "This is the true God and eternal life," and it proclaims to the troubled spirit that in Christ's possession are the words of eternal life. 2. Those words were never spoken in their fulness till Christ came. There were broken utterances about it, but He brought life and immortality to light. III. HE HAS LIMITED AN EXCLUSIVE SAVIOUR. "Neither is there salvation in any other." 1. To have allowed a plurality of Saviours would have indicated a falter- ing confidence or an unsatisfied claim. 2. There needs no other Saviour, so there is no other. 3. This conviction will force itself on all some day. 4. The experience of the past proves that none other has the words of eternal life. All ancient religion and philosophy are empty of information on eternal life. 5. The re. searches of the present can find no other Saviour. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.) 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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