Will I Continue To Follow?

John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Our Actions Reveal Our Response To Jesus

John 6:60 Therefore, when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?”

As we grow, we are learning, causing us to make decisions in response to new information.

Many are called followers and believe they are followers, but in reality they are not.

John 2:24 Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them, since He knew them all and because He did not need anyone to testify about man; for He Himself knew what was in man.

At the most elementary level, a disciple is someone who is at that point following Jesus: either literally, by joining the group that pursued him from place to place, or metaphorically, in regarding Him as the authoritative teacher. Such a “disciple” is not necessarily a true “Christian.”

God’s Word Can Offend Us

John 6:60b, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?” The adjective ‘hard’ does not mean ‘hard to understand,’ but ‘harsh’, and ‘offensive’. These followers will not long remain disciples, because they find Jesus’ word intolerable.

They were offended by His teaching about Himself. God’s Word is His powerful self-expression in creation, revelation and salvation, and the personification of that ‘Word’ makes it suitable for John to apply it as a title to God’s ultimate self-disclosure, the person of his own Son.

The Reasons For The Offense Then & Now

There is often more interest in what Jesus can do for us, than in our relationship to Him.

John 6:26b Jesus answered, “I assure you: You are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

People are usually offended when their religious agenda is challenged.

John 6:15 Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

Most people are not prepared to relinquish their own sovereign authority in religious matters.

John 6:42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, “I have come down from heaven’?”

People are offended when they cannot manipulate Jesus to do their will.

John 6:30 “What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?,” they asked. “What are You going to perform?”

However offensive the linguistic expression ‘eating flesh and drinking blood’ may seem, how much more offensive is the crucifixion of an alleged Messiah! The very idea is outrageous, a blasphemous obscenity, “a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Cor. 1:23) Yet this stands at the very heart of the Divine self-disclosure.

How Will We Respond To Jesus’ Revelation?

John 6:66 From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him.

That is why the condition of this verse is left open. How men and women respond to this supreme scandal determines their destiny. If the disciples find Jesus’ claims, authority, and even his language offensive, what will they think when they see Jesus on the cross—His way of “ascending” to the place where He was before?

Will We Continue To Follow Jesus?

John 6:68 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!”

If the words of Jesus in this discourse are rightly grasped, then instead of rejecting Jesus, people will see Him as the bread from heaven, the one who gives His flesh for the life of the world, who alone provides eternal life. They will receive Him and believe in Him, taste eternal life, even now, and enjoy the promise of resurrection on the last day.

All the points that had offended shallow disciples find their answer here—a critically divisive answer.

Here is sharp insistence on the priority of spiritual life, unrelenting stress on Jesus’ authority and superiority over Moses, and above all, the promise of eternal life.

This eternal life comes through the work of the Spirit and a commitment to the Word (Jesus), made possible because of His work and His ascension,
validating the work He accomplished.

Wherever life take you, continue to follow. Remember the priority of your spiritual life, always.