Jesus tells them. No one can know God unless they know him first. Period. End of story. Jesus explains again that he is the bread of life. Lets try to grasp that! If a person eats the bread, they'll live forever with God. Actually, the bread he'll give to the world is his own body. Of course, this upsets the religious authorities even more. Now, they grumble, Jesus is saying that he wants people to eat—actually, physically eat—his body in order to become closer to God. Jesus tells them. Unless a person eats his flesh and drinks his blood, they won't be able to have a life with God. His body is the true food and his blood is the true drink. By eating them, a person will remain with him forever. Whoever eats his body will live forever with God, too. It's just like the bread from heaven that God gave the people in the wilderness. But this bread will sustain the person who eats it forever.
Now some of the disciples are starting to get a little bit freaked out. They think it's pretty hard to believe that they have to eat Jesus's body and drink his blood in order to live forever with God. But Jesus isn't worried. Are his disciples offended? Sure, but what's true is true. Jesus knows, though, that some of the disciples still don't believe him. In fact, after he tells them all this, a few of his followers decide to pack their things and head back home. When he sees that twelve of his disciples remain, he asks them if they want to leave him, too. This is getting sad. Peter tells him they have nowhere else to go because Jesus is everything they want and need in life. He tells Jesus that he believes he is holy and from God. Jesus informs them that there is evil in their midst. He tells them that even though he chose these twelve disciples, one of them will betray him in the end. The Gospel writers tells us that this person is going to be Judas Iscariot, but the disciples really didn’t know who.
How do you labor for the food that endures to eternal life? Believe in me! (John 6:27, 29) “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me [in faith] shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” (John 6:47)
So do you get it........ Eating Is Believing
For Jesus, eating is believing; drinking is believing. He promises eternal life to those who believe in him. Believe what?
Believe that his death — the breaking of his body and spilling of his blood — pays in full the penalty for our sin, and that his perfect righteousness is freely given to us in exchange for our unrighteousness.
“Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper because he did not want us to forget the very core of what we believe.” Believing this is how we “eat” Jesus’s flesh and “drink” his blood. This is why he instituted the Lord’s Supper: he did not want us to forget the very core of what we believe.
When the crowd took offense at his gruesome talk, Jesus exposed their unbelief: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63–64).
Let’s you and I be like Peter. He didn’t walk away, but instead said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68–69).
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