What does it mean that God draws us to salvation?

The Jews murmur because the Lord said that He had come down from heaven. They saw the Son, and did not believe in Him: they knew Him after the flesh; He was, for them, Joseph's son. The Lord then insists upon the fact, that no one can come unto Him unless the Father draw him; He insists upon the necessity of grace to be able to come, not that every one was not free, as people say, to come, for whosoever should see the Son, and believe on Him, would have eternal life; but He shews that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. There is the blinding of sin, of the flesh, and hatred of God, as far as He reveals Himself; there is none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God; so that the power of grace is needed to dispose the heart to receive Christ. Now when the Father draws to Jesus, it is by efficacious grace in the heart: the eyes are opened, one passes from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; one passes into a salvation assured by Christ, who will raise up such a soul at the last day. It is the revelation of Jesus to the soul by the grace of the Father: the soul sees the Son, it receives eternal life, it shall never be lost, but raised up at the last day. It is important to observe, that he who is drawn by the Father will never be lost, and that at the last day he will have his part with the redeemed in an entirely new world, in an entirely new state. Such a soul is taught of God to recognise the Son; the Father has spoken to it; it has learned of Him; it comes to Christ, and is saved; not that any one hath seen the Father, save Christ Himself. Christ had revealed Him, and he who believed in Christ had everlasting life (v. 47). Solemn but precious assurance! Eternal life has come down from heaven in the Person of the Son, and he who believes in Him, possesses it, according to the efficacious grace of the Father, who draws him to Christ, and according to the perfect salvation that Christ has accomplished: his faith lays hold, as to life, of this Son of God, who will manifest His power later on, in raising the redeemed one from among the dead.

"Jesus therefore† answered and said to them, Murmur not among yourselves. No one can come unto Me except the Father Who sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. (Isa. 54:13.) Every one that heard‡ from the Father and learned cometh unto Me. Not that any one hath seen the Father, except He Who is of God, He hath seen the Father" (verses 43, 44). Unbelief can only destroy and trouble; it cannot give life or comfort. Man under Satan is the source of unbelief, which ever leads from Christ, not to Him. But as the Father sent Christ, so He draws the believer to Christ, Who raises Him up at the last day. It is not man's worth or work or will, therefore, but the Father's grace, by which one comes to Christ. The whole blessing, in short, is of sovereign mercy, and so the prophets have written. All true teaching comes from God, and all are taught of God, Who never forgets what is due to Christ. "Every one that heard from the Father and learned" comes to Christ. Not that the Father has been seen by man. He is known in the Son. "He who is of God, He hath seen the Father"; it is Christ only Who has. Ἰησοῦς, omitted by most [so Blass], is read by ℵBLT, etc. † οὖν, "therefore," is read by ℵAD and ten uncials more, most cursives, etc.; but omitted by BCKLTΙΙ, ten cursives, and several ancient versions [Blass simply, "He said to them"]. ‡ The aorist participle has the preponderance of witnesses in age and number.

Moreover, the way the Father draws is by divine teaching, according to the word, "They shall be all taught of God". The Father enlightens the soul, convicting of the need of Christ on the one hand, and revealing the glory of Christ on the other. Thus the soul is driven by need and drawn by grace to Christ.

This is just as true today as it was then. None but those born of God receive Christ. The Lord says: “No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him” (John 6:44). I do not doubt this drawing is effected by the incorruptible seed being implanted in the soul. “They shall be all taught of God,” He says, and “Every man therefore that has heard and learned of the Father comes unto Me.” There is clearly a secret work of God wrought in the soul of man, which leads him to faith in Christ; that is, when he hears of Christ in the Gospel of the grace of God. Hence faith in Christ personally and in His work is the outcome of new birth.

“Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee.” It is not that we wanted to be in His presence; He wanted to have us in His presence. It is not that we wanted those new and eternal relationships. We only wanted to be saved from hell, but He had something better than that for us. His salvation included being brought to Himself, and being set in the person of His Son before His face, so that we might be in the end with Him and like Him to the satisfaction of the heart of the Father and the Son throughout eternity. So the Spirit of God has something more to say about our blessedness besides that we are forgiven, and that God will never look on us in any other way than as righteous before Him. “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee.” That is a very happy man. It is God who has advanced towards me. He has come out towards me, as the shepherd sought the sheep, as the woman sought the piece of silver, and as the father came out to the son. He wanted me. It is true of all the people of God, whether they have learned it or not. Perhaps we are long on the way of learning it, and perhaps some never learn it at all, and think that the movement was on their side first. God was dealing with us before we were dealing with Him. “Everyone that has heard and learned of the Father, comes unto Me.” We stayed away from Him as long as ever we were able, and did not want to have anything to do with Him, but as the hymn puts it— “And when was come the moment, Thou, calling by Thy grace, Didst gently, firmly lead us, Each from his hiding place.”

The Father has also wrought in us in having drawn us to Christ as sinners to a Saviour. It is only by the working of the Father's grace in our hearts that we have thus had to do with Him whom the Father sent. Unless the Father had specially wrought in us in this way, it is certain we should never have found our true place, as hell-deserving ones, at the feet of a gracious Saviour. It is well to have the sense of this fact constantly fresh in our souls; for Jesus said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw Him;" and again, "No man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father." (John 6:44, 65.) Thus we see that the Father's love has accomplished redemption for us, brought us into nearness to Himself, called us into the relationship of children given us the Spirit, revealed His Son to us, and drawn us to Him as our Saviour. How sweet to think of the various yet distinct actions of the Father's love! Well might an inspired servant cry out, "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us!"

Everyone that the Father has given to His Son will come to Him; and He has said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw Him”; also, “They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes unto Me.” It is to them the Father’s Name is made known by the Son. The Father draws to the Son, and the Son makes known the Father’s Name.

After such words that should have awakened interest and concern, the questioning of the Jews turns to murmuring. They resisted His claim to be the Bread sent down from heaven (v. 41). People want what He can give, but they do not want Him personally. They think of Him as merely Joseph's son: their eyes can see nothing more that what is natural, despite every spiritual evidence of His glory. But though their murmuring was among themselves, the Lord reproved it, an evidence in itself of His divine omniscience. He goes further, to declare the impossibility of one coming to Him apart from the drawing of the Father (v. 44). This refers to the Father's working by the Spirit to exercise people as regards their need of Christ. For human beings will never, of their own voluntary will, seek the Lord: the movement to produce this must be the work of God. Indeed, the Gospel itself comes from God: it is He Himself who sends the message of entreaty by His servants: it is He who produces by grace a response in hearts. All mankind needs to be reminded of this, that they may learn to depend, not on their own wisdom or ability, but on the grace of God. Notice that those spoken of three times as being raised up at the last day are those who (1) are given by the Father; (2) believe on the Son; and (3) are drawn by the Father (vv. 37, 40, 44).

All movement in relation to the accomplishment of the Father's will must essentially emanate from the Father Himself, hence the Father sent the Son, and it is the Father that draws to the Son. It is not in man or of man to come to the Son, it is the Father in absolute grace that draws to the Son. What a constraining power! That power draws from the distance and darkness into the light which exposes and into the love that dismisses all dread. "No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Thus drawn to Christ, the Son, the new centre, He must displace all that has gone before, whether place or system. Having been drawn to Him, we are also given to Him of the Father, i.e., the Father's love gift to the Son. Seven times over in John 17, we have the Lord addressing the Father about "those whom Thou hast given me," as such we are the objects of His interest and care, so much so that He prays for them. "I pray for them," what a place we have in His heart of infinite love; all that He has here are those who have been given to Him of the Father, and in this connection He says "all mine are thine and thine are mine." What oneness obtains between the Father, and the Son! This speaks of a divine capacity to be in accord with the Father's appreciation of the Son consequent upon His accomplished work. He has received from the Father a specific glory, this He shares with His own. "The glory which Thou hast given me I have given them" (John 17:22). That shall be seen by a redeemed universe, as presented in the precious stones in the foundation of the heavenly city, for they reflect that acquired and shared glory. The saints become the vessel of expression thereof.

It is at the conscience, therefore, that the Spirit aims His arrow of conviction, when publishing the gospel of the grace of God. To every human conscience there is addressed by God's ministers an intelligible message from above. God speaks to His creature as He knows him, and by the light of His word reveals him to himself in the naked helplessness of his condition, when confronted with the God who made him and with whom he has to do. Men are not humoured by the Spirit into an acceptance of the grace of God. They are warned, they are invited, and at the will of Him who bears effectual witness to His Son, as many as are pre-ordained to life eternal are drawn also, by the winning cords of love, to Jesus as the welcome refuge of their souls (John 6:44, 46). The saving grace of God is openly declared to all, and all who are willing to draw nigh to Him are welcomed in Christ with the cordiality of perfect love; but nature has neither heart nor eye for such a love as God commends to us in the cross of His own Son.