Epistle Emor

Epistle Emor

John 6:36-71

Joh 6:36  But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.

Joh 6:37  All those who the Father gives me will come to me. Him who comes to me I will in no way throw out.

Joh 6:38  For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

Joh 6:39  This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.

Joh 6:40  This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Our promise is resurrection from the dead.

John, continued:

Joh 6:41  The Judeans therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.”

Joh 6:42  They said, “Isn’t this Yeshua, the son of Yosef, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?‘”

This is still the question of those who deny that Yeshua is YHWH Incarnate, claiming instead that he is just a mortal human fulfilling the role of Messiah.

John, continued:

Joh 6:43  Therefore Yeshua answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves.

Joh 6:44  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.

We are taught by the sages that anything that is repeated 2 or 3 times in scripture has prophetic application.  In this case, we can see a clear analogy, Yom Teruah (the Parousia), Yom Kippur (Resurrection of the Tribulation Saints), and the Great White Throne Judgement.  These are the three times that people will be resurrected in the future.

John, continued:

Joh 6:45  It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by Elohim.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me.

This comes from prophecy:

1. Isa 54:14  In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not be afraid; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

John, continued:

Joh 6:46  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from Elohim. He has seen the Father.

Joh 6:47  Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.

Joh 6:48  I am the bread of life.

Joh 6:49  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

And they’re still dead, awaiting resurrection.

John, continued:

Joh 6:50  This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.

Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Joh 6:52  The Judeans therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?“

Yeshua is the Word made flesh – it is the Word we must ingest, so to speak.  Remember, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Elohim.

John, continued:

Joh 6:53  Yeshua therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves.

Joh 6:54  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

That is, those who participate in the covenant given at Passover, the kiddush we re-enact with the leftover half of the afikoman and Elijah’s cup – a covenant made when no uncircumcised men could participate.  This last “I will raise” probably refers to the New Heavens and the New Earth, the Olam Haba, when both Heaven and the Earth itself will be resurrected to a new form.

John, continued:

Joh 6:55  For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

Joh 6:56  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.

One body, as a marriage makes people “one flesh.”

John, continued:

Joh 6:57  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me.

Joh 6:58  This is the bread which came down out of heaven–not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Joh 6:59  These things he said in the synagogue, as he taught in Kefar-Nachum.

In the synagogue, where he taught every Shabbat.

John, continued:

Joh 6:60  Therefore many of his talmidim, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?“

Joh 6:61  But Yeshua knowing in himself that his talmidim murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?

Our skeptical and rational age says the same.

John, continued:

Joh 6:62  Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

It is somewhat ironic that what Yeshua is discussing in this chapter is the old argument of bread and circuses.  He must be quite sad that people continually insist on these in order to believe – knowing that the other team can and will mimic them and lead many astray.

John, continued:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.

Joh 6:64  But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Yeshua knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him.

Joh 6:65  He said, “For this cause have I said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”

Joh 6:66  At this, many of his talmidim went back, and walked no more with him.

Joh 6:67  Yeshua said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?”

Joh 6:68  Shim`on Kefa answered him, “Adonai, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Joh 6:69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Messiah, the Son of the living Elohim.”

No matter what protests, what “science,” skepticism, or rationalizations we are offered by the world, this is what it boils down to in the end.  To whom would we go?  Only Elohim has the truth, all other sources are suspect.

John, continued:

Joh 6:70  Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?“

Joh 6:71  Now he spoke of Yehudah, the son of Shim`on Iskriot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the Twelve.

We have free will to believe or not believe, and to continue in our belief or not continue in it.  It’s sad but many answer “to whom would we go?” with worldly answers, even after having professed faith.

Next:  Kollel Emor.