“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.’” John 6:26-27.
“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” John 6:28-29.
The passage from John 6:26-27 has been included to maintain context.
Once again the Jews revert to works to get to heaven. While it is obscure as yet, the Lord had already told them that salvation was a gift, “…everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you”, salvation is a gift.
“But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6.
“…not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit…” Titus 3:5.
In order to receive a gift you take it and say thank you, you do not work for it, nor do you pay for it, just take it with a thankful heart.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
“…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 2:16.
The Jews ask Jesus what work they must do for God; ironically He tells them that the work is faith. The faith to believe in Him whom God sent.
The faith that is required is to believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is; that is the Messiah, God incarnate, not the Prophet like Moses a man, rather the Prophet who is God Himself.
“For thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.’” Ezekiel 34:11.
“You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.’” Ezekiel 34:31.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:11.
The Jews now begin to bait the Lord and their already transparent motive becomes clearer, if that is possible.
“Therefore they said to Him, ‘What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?’” John 6:30.
Is that not an amazing question? What sign will You do to convince us to believe Your statements about Yourself?
At the very beginning of this chapter it is stated that the multitude followed Him because they saw the signs which He performed on the diseased. Then being fed themselves, another sign, just where does belief begin?
“Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.’” Mark 8:11-12.
“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness…” 1 Corinthians 1:22-23.
The truth is that you cannot convince someone who is unwilling to believe.
This brings us back to something you need to know, if you do not know already; once you find a heart this hard, the only thing left for you to do is pray, and always use Scripture when discussing Christ.
This is better than following extraneous arguments, which are nothing more than rabbit trails, and lastly you will need to show them Christ by example.
We might beat their brains out with our cleverness in discussing history, science, evolution, or the Bible. But when we have brought them to nothing but smoking scorched earth, and they are stammering for a retort, the final answer will be, “I will not believe!”
“Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” John 6:31.
Knowingly, or unknowingly, these folks now use a tactic of the Devil, which is the misquoting of Scripture to gain their own end.
The following passage is the correct quote depicting the appearance of manna as explained by Moses and shown in Scripture.
“So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.’” Exodus 16:15.
It was to correct this error of omission that Jesus made note that Moses did not give them the manna, but His Father did.
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’” John 6:32-33.
Bread of Life, John 6:28-33 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-26-12, updated on 8-21-17.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.