This is a Hard Saying, Who Can Understand It?

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

Moed Ministries International

The video version of this teaching is available at:

https://youtu.be/MQmPNxp6npI

Yeshua had sent out twelve apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to proclaim the kingdom of God, heal the sick, and cast out demons. After their return, the crowds of people that followed Yeshua wherever He went increased dramatically. Some followed Him to for healing or deliverance; others followed Him to see signs and wonders. Some followed Him because they wanted to be His disciples. They wanted to study and learn from this new Rabbi who taught with such authority and did miraculous signs. However, being a disciple wasn’t for the faint of heart; not only was the journey that Yeshua described for His disciples difficult, the teaching would stretch their thinking and understanding of the God and the Messiah. Until, one day when Yeshua was teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum, some of His disciples couldn’t accept what Yeshua was teaching.

John 6:60 NKJV 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"

What was it that Yeshua was teaching that was so hard to understand? What was it that they couldn’t accept and caused many to turn back? How important is this same concept for those of us who would follow Yeshua today?

The concept that many of Yeshua’s disciples had trouble accepting was that He came down from heaven.

John 6:61-62 NKJV 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 "What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?

In order to understand the magnitude of this revelation, let’s follow Yeshua’s actions as He transforms His disciples’ world. Yeshua had just performed the miraculous act of feeding five thousand men in addition to any women and children who were also present with five loaves of barley and two fish.

John 6:8-10 NKJV 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" 10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

The time was the early spring nearing the time of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of the Firstfruits of the barley harvest. This was one of two major holiday seasons in the year. These feast in the spring celebrated their deliverance from Egypt and leaving their old lives behind to enter into a new life of service to God. The children of Israel would have had thoughts of these events upper most in their minds as they began preparations to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate these feasts!

Yeshua feeding the five thousand would have brought those thoughts to their minds. The time of year was the catalyst; it was the time of deliverance and Yeshua delivered many from the oppression of demons and healed the sick of their diseases. The barley loaves would have reminded them of the Feast of Firstfruits and that deliverance was in the month of the barley harvest. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt they were hungry and God miraculously provided food for them. Yeshua miraculously provided food for the five thousand when they were hungry! Like with the manna, they all ate until they were satisfied! To top it off there were twelve baskets of barley loaves left over after feeding all the people.

John 6:12-13 NKJV 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

The twelve baskets would remind them of the twelve tribes of Egypt that God brought out of captivity and the twelve loaves of the showbread that were always kept in the presence of God.

Leviticus 24:5-9 NKJV 5 "And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6 "You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. 7 "And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 8 "Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 "And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the LORD made by fire, by a perpetual statute."

The reaction of the people demonstrated that they understood these connections. They determined to immediately make Yeshua their king!

John 6:14-15 NKJV 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

The people may have made the connection that Yeshua wanted them to make with the Passover, but they didn’t quite understand the full message. They didn’t know exactly who it was they wanted to make king. They thought that Yeshua was a man like Moses sent by God to bring deliverance.

Exodus 3:7-8a NKJV 7 And the LORD said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 "So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey,

Skipping down to verse 10:

Exodus 3:10 NKJV 10 "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

They thought Yeshua was a man sent by God to deliver them from the hand of Rome. However, Yeshua was now ready to begin to reveal His full identity and purpose. Before He did that for the masses, He first had one more sign to show His twelve closest disciples.

Yeshua had gone away by Himself when the people tried to take Him and make Him king. When evening came and Yeshua didn’t return, the disciples got in a boat to head back to their home base at Capernaum.

John 6:18-21 NKJV 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

Yeshua calmed the waves, walked on water, and miraculously transported them to their destination. Wow! These are actions that the Psalmist attributes directly to God.

Psalms 107:28-30 NKJV 28 Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses. 29 He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. 30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.

Yeshua established a strong connection between His abilities and the attributes of God. Through feeding the five thousand, He established His connection with the Passover.

Yeshua had hinted at His identity in the past making statements without explanation. For example, in an earlier trip to Jerusalem, Yeshua claimed a closer relationship to God than other people had.

John 5:17-18 NKJV 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Yeshua is now ready to explain His connection to God more clearly. The next day, the people sought out Yeshua in Capernaum. He begins to shape their thinking to get them to see that He was not only sent by God, but that He came down from heaven, and that this was the only way to receive eternal life. Yeshua began by making a deliberate connection between His providing the food for the five thousand, the manna that God provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness, and eternal life.

John 6:26-27 NKJV 26 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. 27 "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."

Yeshua’s listeners understood that He was referring to labors or works of God as opposed to physical labor that provided food for the table. They ask Him what works of God they should do. Yeshua’s answer continues to lead them towards His divine nature.

John 6:29 NKJV 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

This part is not new; Yeshua has already said that the Father had sent Him, but the people are ready to question Him as to what He was sent to do. They are still thinking about Moses and deliverance from Egypt.

John 6:30-31 NKJV 30 Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 "Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

This is the opening Yeshua was waiting for! They are connecting Yeshua with Moses, but He wants them to connect Him with God the Father.

John 6:32-33 NKJV 32 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. 33 "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

This is where His teaching gets difficult, but they don’t quite get it. They still think Yeshua is talking about physical bread. They ask Yeshua to provide it always as if they need to physically eat it every day. This is very similar to how the Samaritan woman acted when Yeshua promised her Living Water.

John 4:13-15 NKJV 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." 15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

But Yeshua went on to explain to the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah they were waiting for.

John 4:25-26 NKJV 25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

He explains to those gathered at Capernaum just before the Passover that He was not only sent by the Father, but that He was sent by the Father from heaven, and like the manna, His purpose is to bring life!

John 6:38-40 NKJV 38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 "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 people focus in on the fact that Yeshua states that He came from heaven, not on the statement that He is the bread of life!

John 6:41-42 NKJV 41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." 42 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'?"

This is not the first time that the people have questioned Yeshua’s identity. When Yeshua was teaching in His hometown of Nazareth, the people marveled at the wisdom of His teachings and the miraculous signs that He had done. They couldn’t get over the fact that Yeshua was a man born in their town.

Mark 6:1-3 NKJV 1 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" And they were offended at Him.

These followers at Capernaum had trouble accepting Yeshua’s statement that He came down from heaven when they knew that He was born in Nazareth. They grumbled at His teaching just like the children of Israel grumbled in the wilderness and demanded food to eat! Yeshua responds by repeating that He came down from heaven and continues to explain.

John 6:47-51 NKJV 47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 "I am the bread of life. 49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 "I am the living bread which came 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."

We think that this is the difficult teaching that the disciples rejected, but this metaphor of drinking His blood is similar to the metaphor of the “blood of grapes.” The idea of eating the flesh of the Messiah is contained in the Talmud. First Fruits of Zion in their work The Chronicles of the Messiah explain:

Even the Talmud speaks of eating the Messiah, and by this it means enjoying the blessings of the Messianic King.[1]

A few people question what Yeshua means by eating His flesh.

John 6:52 NKJV 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"

In view of the writings of the Torah that eating the Messiah is to receive the blessings of the King, we can understand this as grumbling, but Yeshua answers this emphasizing that accepting Him is necessary for receiving eternal life.

John 6:53 NKJV 53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

He concludes by repeating once again that He came down from heaven.

John 6:58 NKJV 58 "This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."

This is the hard teaching! That He came down from heaven. Who is the one who comes down from heaven? Yeshua told Nicodemus that only the Son has come down from heaven.

John 3:13 NKJV 13 "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

The writings in the book of Proverbs explain who is the one who comes down from heaven.

Proverbs 30:4 NKJV 4 Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is  His name, and what is His Son's name, If you know?

Moses was sent by God to bring deliverance to the children of Israel, but he was only a servant of God. Yeshua was sent by God to bring deliverance to all mankind as the Son of God. Yeshua explained that it takes more than flesh to bring eternal life; it takes the Spirit.

John 6:63 NKJV 63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Yeshua turns and questions His twelve closest disciples about what they will do.

John 6:67-69 NKJV 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

This is a hard teaching. Yeshua, although born of Mary, came down from heaven to give His flesh for the life of the world. Yeshua is the Son of man and only the death and resurrection of the Son of God will bring life. Will you accept that Yeshua came down from heaven to bring life to man? Will you accept that He is more than Moses, that He is the Son of God, and that no other can accomplish what He has accomplished—eternal life for all who see the Son and believe in Him?

Discussion Questions:

1. John 6:14-15 tells us that the people wanted to make Yeshua king. What has Yeshua done to convince the people that He is the rightful King of Israel?

2. How were Yeshua’s words in John 6:62 about seeing Him ascend into heaven fulfilled in Acts 1:9?

3. Yeshua draw a comparison between Himself and Moses. How does Hebrews 3:1-6 describe this comparison?

4. Yeshua states that it is the “Spirit who gives life, the flash profits nothing.” In John 6:63. What is the connection between Yeshua’s flesh in John 6:53-58 and the Spirit?

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[1] The Chronicles of the Messiah, Volume 3. D.Thomas Lancaster. First Fruits of Zion. ©2014. Page 725