Jesus Received and Held Onto All The Father Gave Him

What Did Jesus Do?

“All the Father gives me will come to me,
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
John 6.37

Jesus supplied food that didn't perish (see WDJD for 2/23/11), and he brought what he had to give to where the people were (see WDJD for 2/24/11). But unless those who hunger and thirst come to him, they will remain hungry and thirsty. The good thing, for all of us who are perishing, is that the Father leaves nothing to chance. The Father delivers into the hands of the Son all those whom he has predestined, and the Son is sure-handed—he holds onto all the Father gives him.

The thing is, regardless of how much “horse sense,” or any other kind of smarts, any of us has, not one of us is any better than a horse that is led to water yet refuses to drink. On our own we would stand right beside the watering trough and die of thirst. On our own we could sit at the banquet table and starve to death. Thankfully, the Father gives all who will be saved eyes of faith with which to look upon the Son and to see, and to believe, that in the Son alone is there food and drink to sustain us unto eternal life (John 6.40).

For the Father gave the Son a mortal body, which would be the Bread of Life. The Son came into the world, and said to those perishing from hunger, “Take, eat; this is my body.” (Matthew 26.26). To those dying of thirst the Son said, “Drink of this, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26.27-28) And all who the Father has given to the Son hear the Son's invitation, and see in him true food and true drink, and they come to him. And not one who comes to the Son will ever be cast out, but rather, on the last day, they shall all be raised up to eternal life (John 6.39-40).

The world is yet filled with people perishing of a spiritual hunger and thirst that only Jesus can satisfy. But people today can nor more be forced to eat or drink than they could twenty-one centuries ago. As Jesus freely offered to the world that which he had received from the Father, his body and his blood, in order that he would receive from the world all those whom the Father would give to him, so too we, who have received, are to freely offer what we have received to the world, trusting that all those whom the Father has given to the Son will come to him. The apostle Paul understood well the business of passing on what we have received (see 1 Corinthians 11.23-26).

In the end, it is not our doctrine, or our traditions, that bind us to Christ and make us one in his body (the Church). Rather, it is the fact that the Father charged the Son to receive all whom he would give to him, and then hold onto them. We are part of the Body of Christ, individually and corporately, because that's what Jesus did—he received us from the Father, and holds onto us forever.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4