"As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore."  (John 6:66)

I've studied this passage so many times before and heard so many people say various reasons why they think the disciples withdrew from Christ.  Most of what I hear is that they left because they had such a hard time with His teachings in John 6:26-58, about eating His flesh and living forever.  In fact, this is the core stance of many who believe that the bread and wine, partaken of at communion, become the actual body and blood of Jesus, to be literally and physically consumed.  I would purport that this interpretation makes the grave mistake of skipping 7 very important verses of Scripture.  To say that the disciples withdrew from Jesus because they couldn't accept the notion of physically eating His flesh would be to completely neglect and ignore John 6:59-65, and a another key truth, which I will outline in the rest of this blog.

Indeed, the notion of "eating" Jesus' body was difficult for those sitting under His teaching.  The difficulties were with their attempt to make His reference literal, rather than spiritual, and with the fact that they had not been granted from the Father to understand or believe.  Clearly, from the beginning of this particular teaching in John 6:26, Jesus speaks in spiritual terms.  The grumbling disciples were looking for physical signs from Jesus and for physical things they could do in order to earn salvation. (John 6:28, 30-31)   They gravely misunderstood the gospel!  Their eyes were focused on the world rather than God.  They were listening with physical ears rather than ears enlightened by the Spirit.

"Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, 'I am the Bread that came down out of heaven.' (John 6:41)

We know that Jesus certainly didn't come down out of heaven as a literal loaf of bread.  He came down as He who would spiritually nurture and "feed" His flock, as their their Bread.  Jesus was speaking in spiritual terms.  Those who were grumbling were those without ears to hear what He was saying.  Jesus referenced that fact when He said, "Do not grumble among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me."  By this, Jesus explains why they do not understand His teaching.  They are not part of the group of "everyone who has heard and learned from the Father".  Therefore, they deny His teaching, distort its meaning, and they walk away, completely rejecting the perfect spiritual nourishment Christ alone can provide.  They will never believe unless the Father draws them and gives them understanding that Jesus is the only source of nourishment for their souls.

The disciples also continually referred to God's having provided manna for their ancestors to eat in the wilderness, again proving their focus on the earthly.  Jesus corrected them in John 6:49-51 when He said, "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."  Here, Jesus was clearly teaching them to focus on Him with a heavenly-minded view, not with an earthly-minded, worldy view.  He drew the contrast between physical eating/physical death and spiritual eating/spiritual life, which, when nourished by Christ is eternal in God's presence.  When Jesus said "one may eat of it and not die", he could not have meant they would live eternally in the flesh.  We know that this would not be true, for all physically die.  Therefore, it is clear that He spoke in spiritual terms here as well.  Christ also taught here that He is the glorious fulfillment of the manna in the desert of Moses' time.  God sent the Israelites bread from heaven to sustain their bodies.  God sent Christ (Bread) out of heaven to sustain our souls in redemptive grace. 

The reaction to this teaching on the Bread of Life was grumbling from the unbelieving disciples, and they said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"  (John 6:60)    The reaction was not departure or withdrawal. 

So, what made these same grumbling disciples later withdraw in John 6:66?

It was the doctrine of Limited Atonement, my friend.  Immediately after the disciples said Jesus' teaching on the Bread of Life was "difficult", He said, "Does this cause you to stumble?  What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe." (John 6:61-64)  "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."  (John 6:65)  What do you think these unbelieving disciples thought about this statement?  What did they do?  "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore."  (John 6:66)

So, why did they leave?  Because of what He said to them in the previous verse.  Because He told them they did not believe and that they could not ever believe unless it was granted them from the Father.  He told them that salvation was not of them, not of the flesh.  He took glory away from them and gave it all to His Father!  He told them that His teaching was spiritual and the source for eternal life.  Because of this, they left.

"Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."  (Colossians 3:2)