61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
In our verses for today, Jesus asks of His feigned followers if His Words were a stumbling block to them – the grumblings of the rabble being a sure sign even to the average onlooker. Yet Jesus’ penetrating view goes deeper still. Pristinely knowing the thoughts and hearts of all men as if they were in clear view, Jesus was well aware of the real infidels – their first grumble occurring over Jesus’ statement that He came down from heaven.
41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" John 6:41-42 (NIV)
Knowing this unbelief, Jesus continues by describing to them in interrogatory fashion the plan for His future miraculous ascension as if prodding them with an even greater feat. The unbelief of hypocrites always lies open and bare before the eyes of our Lord Jesus. Scripture tells us:
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Heb 4:13 (NIV)
The rabble’s complaints should come as no surprise as we should not expect regenerate belief and behavior out of an unregenerate – Jesus always considered the source of the action or word. Scripture tells us that spiritual things are not discernable to those without the Holy Spirit – they are as foolishness to them regardless of the intellectual abilities they perhaps possess. Spiritual things are simply senseless to the sensual mind. It would be likened to a deaf critic of Beethoven or a blind critic of Van Gough. Yet the man guided and strengthened by the Spirit understands, evaluates and applies what is revealed. That is why Jesus tells us that it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh counting for nothing. Paul states in 1 Corinthians:
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor 2:14 (NIV)
“You can scrub a pig, sprinkle Chanel No. 5 on him, put a ribbon around his neck, and take him into your living room. But when you turn him loose, he will jump into the first mud puddle he sees because his nature has never been changed. He is still a pig...The Bible teaches that when we come to Christ, we are spiritually born again. God’s Spirit comes to live within us and change us. Our motives change, our objectives change, our dispositions change, our eternal destiny changes...It begins now, as we open our hearts to Him. Is your life ‘being transformed...from glory to glory’?” Billy Graham
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor 5:17 (NIV)
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor 3:18 (NIV)
What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God. What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment, than anything else? Knowledge of God. What, of all the states God ever sees man in, gives Him most pleasure? Knowledge of Himself. J.I. Packer
Jesus tells His listeners that the Words He has spoken are both spirit and life - not the letter of the Mosaic Law bringing death because of our inability to keep it rather the Spirit which brings life because of Jesus’ ability to keep it perfectly. The Law was given to show us our need for a Savior – Jesus being the answer to our need for life. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians:
4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:4-6 (NIV)