On this past Lord's Day in which we more particularly celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, we saw that the biblical teaching about the covenantal relationship between God and His people also bears directly on both the Savior's and our resurrection. In our text we saw how the promise of resurrection is as absolutely sure as God's covenant with us.
First, all who see the Son will be raised. In fact, everyone who the Father gave to Him will not be lost and will be raised because it is the purpose of the Father for this to be the case. When our Lord spoke these words, there was a large crowd around Him and they saw Him. But we know from their reaction that many of them did not truly see Him for who He was. And this leads us to the next point of our Lord's discourse: He says that faith is also necessary. That is, we not only must see Him, we must believe in Him. Even those who saw Him in the flesh needed to believe that He was (and is) who He claimed to be, and that He was (and is) the promised Messiah. But why do some truly see and believe, and others do not? This directs us to the next point.
All Who the Father draws will be raised. After the Savior told the crowd that He was the bread that came down from heaven, the crowd began to murmur. They were dissatisfied with this message. So, the Lord tells them that there is an absolute necessity of a spiritual work in them in order for them to receive His message. He uses the word "draw" to describe this work. This word describes a strong impelling, even irresistible, force. (See, Acts 16:19; 21:30, James 2:6) So those who are lovingly drawn by the Father will receive the message, and will receive the blessing of being raised at the last day. This must be the case because of what we see next.
All who are united to Christ will be raised. The savior repeats at this point in the conversation what he said earlier in verse 35: "I am the bread of life." The grammar of this phrase indicates that The Lord is claiming that He alone is this bread and that if you eat this bread you will live forever. He further emphatically claims that He is referring to His own living flesh which will be given so that we may live. That is why He says in verse 54 that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. We must be united with Him (that is, eat His flesh and drink His blood) in His death on the cross if we want to live. The crowd was deeply offended by this, but those who were offended did not understand what He said and what He was offering. The preaching of the gospel - The Lord Jesus Christ come to save sinners by His death and resurrection - will always offend those who do not see Him, and are not drawn by the Father. But for those who see, believe and are united with Him, we will be raised at the last day.
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