And this is the will of him that has sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up in the last day.
In John 6 the crowd wanted Jesus as their king on earth. He answers by pointing to the Father's will: no one given to Him is lost, and resurrection will prove it.
The verse starts with the Father's will, not with what the believer does. Christ presents Himself as the One who carries that will out, and His service reaches even into the grave:
The Father has given souls to the Lord Jesus. His will is that the Lord should lose not one, but should raise it up at the last day. He cares for those given to Him. He guards them, so that the enemy does not destroy them and their own folly does not lose them. He keeps even the body that lies in the grave, so as to raise it up again at the last day. In doing all this the Lord Jesus is the Servant doing the Father's will.
Two dangers appear there: the enemy outside and our own folly inside. Christ has taken responsibility for every member of the flock:
The Lord Jesus has His own personal love for the sheep, proved in life and in death. Apart from that love, in this memorable passage He presents Himself as responsible to the Father — willingly so, no doubt. He is responsible to keep every member of the loved and valued flock through all the changing circumstances of this life, and to present them in resurrection glory at the last day.
Two things people often set against each other stand together here. God keeps His own, and He turns away no one who comes:
It is beautiful to see how perfectly the Son of the Most High becomes His Servant, now to save, as later to administer the glory. He chooses none for saving; He leaves all with Him Who sent Him. "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." One side is the security of the children. The other is the free grace of the gospel.
Verse 39 speaks of a company as one thing. Verse 40 turns to the single person.
In John 6:39-40 the main difference, I think, is between the negative and the full positive. The negative says of "all that he has given me" that "I should lose nothing, but raise it up" — the "it" agrees with the "all" looked at as one whole. In the positive He brings in the person: "everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him." There the question is not about being lost, but about the present possession of eternal life.
What about believers who died long ago and are now forgotten?
It might seem that as generation after generation of God's people pass away, and are forgotten by men, that they are forgotten by God. The Lord's words assure us that it is not so. Not one is lost or forgotten. They will appear again at the last day. The resurrection power exercised by the Lord will be the final proof that He has lost nothing.
Christ does not merely delay the kingdom hope. He puts something else in its place:
In John 6, as I see it, the Lord is putting a blessing in resurrection in place of any royal Jewish blessing... He does not come and set up the Jews. The Father draws, and a man comes to Him. He blesses that man in the power of eternal life, raising him up when this busy and rebellious scene comes to its close.
Two questions remain: whose resurrection is this, and what is "the last day"?
In John 6 our Lord refers to the resurrection no fewer than four times, and each time it is the resurrection of His people. The way He speaks shows that this resurrection is their own distinctive privilege. The "last day" is not, as people commonly suppose, a day of twenty-four hours right at the close of all things. It is the great closing period. In it God makes clear the character and results of what man and Satan have done, of His own eternal purposes, and of His gracious workings throughout the periods before it.
- Given — the believer is first a gift from the Father to the Son. Salvation starts on God's side, not ours.
- Guarded — Christ takes responsibility for the gift. He guards it from the enemy outside and from our folly inside.
- Whole and single — verse 39 holds the whole company. Verse 40 holds each single person. Neither hides the other.
- Not forgotten — generations pass and people forget them. Nothing given to Christ drops out of His keeping.
- Raised — the proof comes at the last day. Resurrection will show that He lost nothing.
For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son, and believes on him, should have life eternal; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jesus has just spoken of the will of the One who sent Him. Now He states that will again — this time as an open offer to anyone who looks at the Son and believes. The verse holds together two things people often set apart: God's settled purpose and real human responsibility.
Verse 39 and verse 40 say "this is the will" of the Father, but they say it from different directions. One commentator sets the pair side by side.
Before, it was the Father's purposes that could not fail. Here it is the Son of God held out as the object of faith. If someone looked through the Lord's lowliness, saw the Son and believed on Him, that person would have everlasting life, and the result would be the same. In the first case it is a matter of the Father's purposes and His acts, and of what Jesus does in raising them: the Father gives them, Jesus raises them, not one of them is lost. Next comes the Son held out to people, along with man's responsibility.
The word "looks on" (older translations read "sees") is not about eyesight. Crowds looked straight at Jesus and saw only an ordinary man.
The first thing is the doorway into eternal life, which is seeing the Son and believing on Him. By "seeing" we mean discernment. It means God has opened a person's eyes, as He opened the eyes of the blind man in chapter 9, to see that Jesus of Nazareth, the Man Christ Jesus, is the Son — the Son of God. Not everyone who met the Son in human form saw this, for the natural eye saw only a lowly Man. The one who saw was the one who received the testimony that Jesus truly was God's Son.
Where does such sight come from? Another writer traces it back to the Father.
There were many who looked at Jesus and did not discern that He was the Son… It was the Father's revelation to Simon Peter that enabled him to say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." That was a special revelation, no doubt. But in anyone at all, only the Father's work can enable him to see the Son and to discern the glory of Christ's Person, so that he believes on Him.
John's Gospel keeps using words like "everyone," "whoever," "he who." One writer refuses to limit these words to Israel.
Do these words apply only to people of the family of Jacob? Or do they rightly reach as far as the whole human race?… "Whoever" means whoever. We must take "Every man," "he that," and the like in the widest sense. The Lord Jesus, we now understand, used language that foretold how far-reaching the thoughts of God and His purposes of grace were.
The believer is not promised eternal life some day. He has it now, and the closing promise guards it.
He has everlasting life. Someone may say he could lose it. But the Lord shuts out that way of dodging the truth by adding, "I will raise him up on the last day." That is, He ties the final blessing to having eternal life now.
John 6 repeats this promise four times. One writer points out who is in view, and what the phrase does not mean.
In John 6 our Lord speaks of the resurrection four times, and each time it is the resurrection of His people. The way He speaks shows that this resurrection belongs to them as their own privilege… The "last day" is not, as many suppose, a day of twenty-four hours right at the close of all things. It is the great closing period, when God brings to light the character and results of what man and Satan have done, and of His own eternal purposes.
If the believer already has eternal life, why must anything more happen? Because that life belongs somewhere else.
Eternal life does not belong to this world. Its home is in heaven, in the Father's house, so its full enjoyment, according to the thoughts of God, is still future… Even now we have the well that springs up inside us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we can enter into the joy of eternal life and taste it in our measure. But to know it as the Father purposed, we must wait until the Lord Jesus Christ returns as Saviour and changes our lowly bodies.
- Will. The Father's will appears twice: first as a purpose that cannot fail, then as the Son held out to all. Grace and responsibility stand together, not opposed.
- Sight. "Seeing" is discernment, not eyesight. The crowds saw only a lowly Man. Only the Father's work opens eyes to recognise the Son.
- Reach. "Everyone" is not narrowed to one nation — whoever means whoever, as wide as the human race.
- Life. The believer has eternal life now. The promise of resurrection shuts out the fear of losing it later.
- Raising. The "last day" is the closing period, and in John 6 it concerns His own people only. Then the Saviour changes our lowly bodies, and the life already given is enjoyed in full.