Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

John 6:53-56

What an unbelievably astonishing thing for Jesus to say! It certainly astounded and confused those listening to Him on that day and has continued to astound and confuse to the present day. How are we to understand these words of the Lord? Perhaps when you read them you are scratching your head in bewilderment thinking that we could not possibly be meant to take this literally, or even seriously.

There were those who listened to these words as they were originally spoken, and then walked away, turning their backs on this Man who obviously had lost His mind. Who, after all, in their right mind and with clarity of thought would ever utter such absurd words as these? Surely this is what must have been going through the minds of His listeners. The reaction of many shows their response to Jesus’ assertion.

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying: who can understand it?”… From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

John 6:60, 66

Even then, on that day, the people were saying that this was a hard saying and asked how they were to understand it. And that sentiment has not changed even to the present day. We still admit quickly that it is a very difficult and hard saying.

However, Jesus actually explained the statement as He continued speaking. The text tells us that Jesus knew that His disciples were complaining about these difficult words, so He gave a clarifying statement which would alleviate their confusion. Read carefully this next explanatory remark:

He [Jesus] said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

John 6:61b-64

Jesus was stating emphatically that there was a vital spiritual truth behind His words. Note carefully His statement concerning the flesh profiting nothing. In essence He was saying that even if they could, right then and there, turn to cannibalism, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, it would be of no profit to them. There is no benefit to that physical possibility. However, there is a spiritual power behind His words that shed light on this most profound and difficult saying.

Jesus said that the words He had spoken were spirit and life. There is a spiritual power behind the reality of His words. We actually observe this each time we participate in Communion. We are given a morsel of bread, and a cup of wine (or grape juice – according to our particular churches practice), and are told that we are partaking in the body and the blood of the Lord which was given for us. Symbolically we are remembering the Lord’s sacrificial death as we remember His body being bloodied and bruised, and His blood being poured out as He died for us. It is in that sacrifice that He ultimately gives life to those who believe.

Sadly, however, there are many today, just as there were on that day, who are offended by His words, and turn to follow Him no more. Genuine, sincere believers should never be offended at the words of Jesus, but should be ready, as Peter says, to bear testimony to His amazing, saving grace. And when, if ever, we are asked by an inquisitive person seeking the truth as to what Jesus meant when He said that we had to eat His flesh and drink His blood, then tell them quickly and excitedly that it was through the sacrifice of Jesus body, and the pouring out of His blood, that He secured our salvation. And it is through that sacrifice, and only through that sacrifice that we have the assurance of life.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

Another of those difficult to understand statements of Jesus is found in the verse quoted above. In this statement there are two extremely important words that need careful examination: fear, and hell. Both are used by Jesus in reference to a proper understanding of God, and for that reason we must strive to understand them correctly and be able to explain them clearly.

We will first focus attention on the subject of fear. The word is used twice in this statement of our Lord, the first of which is relative to fearing those who would do us harm. Jesus says that we should not fear those who can kill the body. In the context of this passage, it is clear that Jesus is speaking of those who are offended by the proclamation of the Gospel, and who respond by taking the life of the proclaimer of that good news. In the preceding verse Jesus says that we should proclaim loudly and publicly what we have heard, not fearing the ramifications of that proclamation – even if it cost us our lives. Thus, we are to be bold in our proclaiming the truth claims of the Gospel.

The second time Jesus uses the word “fear” in this verse is in reference to God. We are not to fear those who have the power to kill us, physically, but we are to fear Him who can kill us eternally. We are to fear God, who has the power of life and death, of heaven and hell.

This can be a rather confusing concept, to be sure. Some may take this to mean that salvation comes about as a result of a cringing fear of an angry God. It may be understood from this statement of the Lord that God is seething with anger against His human family, and He takes joy in sending people to hell. It could cause us to live in constant fear and anxiety of the possibility of doing something that would bring the wrath of God down upon us.

However, by understanding this verse in light of the overall teaching of Scripture would lead us to a different interpretation. The Bible does indeed speak of the judgment of God. We are to take seriously this aspect of God’s character. But at the same time, we are to understand that His wrath against sin was unleashed upon Jesus when He died on the cross. It was there that He paid the penalty for sin. Therefore, those who accept His gracious offer of salvation are no longer under the pronounced wrath of God but have experienced the saving grace of God. This should lead to the believer no longer living with fear and anxiety caused by the knowledge of God’s wrath and judgment.

The second word Jesus uses is one that has become offensive in our contemporary cultural setting: hell. Hell is seldom spoken of anymore, even in churches that are Biblically sound in other areas of doctrine and theology.

The Bible makes it abundantly clear that there are two places God has created for the eternal state: heaven and hell. Every human being ever born will spend eternity in one of these two places. There are no other alternatives. Jesus says that we should fear the One who has the power to destroy both body and soul in hell.

Hell is a place of eternal judgment against those who have rejected God’s offer of salvation that was made possible by the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross. It was there that the full weight of sin came crashing down upon Jesus, and it was there that salvation was secured for sinful man.

But hell is seldom spoken of anymore. And sadly, when it is spoken of it is oftentimes done so with the intended purpose of explaining that hell does not really exist. But to be true to the teachings of Scripture we must acknowledge the reality of hell, just as we do the reality of heaven.

Hell is a real place that will be eternally inhabited by real people. And Jesus states assertively that we should fear the One who has the power and the authority to destroy both body and soul in hell.

There are so many applications that could be made of this statement of the Lord. First is the truth that believers should not live in fear of death, even if it is a result of an act of aggression by someone else. Others have the power to kill – we see this happen all too often in mass shootings, murders, drunk drivers losing control of their vehicles and killing someone, etc. Those of us who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ have no need to live in fear of what others may do to us.

Second, we are to have a healthy fear of God. Before salvation, that fear should be caused by the knowledge of impending eternal judgment. Non-believers are under the judgment of God and are thus going to suffer the eternal pangs of hell if they never come to repentance and faith. But after one receives the saving grace of God, the fear of His judgment is no longer needed, because the judgment we rightly deserve was suffered by Jesus on the cross, in our place. However, after experiencing the saving grace of God, we are to have a healthy, reverential fear of God. This fear should lead the believer to live a life of worship, awe, praise and adoration of the One who loved us, and gave His life for us.

And third, hell is real. Hell was created, first and foremost, for the fallen angels who rebelled against God in Satan’s attempt to overthrow God’s rule. Then it came to be the place of eternal residence for anyone who rejects God’s offer of salvation. Hear once again the words of Jesus:

Then He will say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…”

Matthew 25:41

Let the words of Jesus be a warning: the judgment of God is a reality that must be taken seriously. Those who have rejected the offer of salvation are in danger of eternal damnation. God has graciously offered the means of escape from such an awful place of eternal anguish. My prayer is that each person who reads the words of our Lord will take the warning to heart, act accordingly, and be saved from the wrath to come.

“Then another of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'”

Matthew 8:21-22

At first glance, this seems to be an extremely harsh, cold, abrasive comment Jesus made to the would-be disciple. It sounds heartless and cruel for Jesus to make such a cutting remark as this. After all, it sounds as if the person making this request was sincere in his desire to follow Jesus – to be a true disciple. And it sounds as if he was simply wanting to take time to mourn his father’s death. What would cause Jesus to respond in such a way as this?

It is of great interest to note that this individual was already a disciple of Jesus. Matthew records: “another of His disciples…” So, in some sense this person was already following the Lord. Perhaps he was one who was following out of curiosity, having heard about Jesus and the remarkable things He was doing and saying, and was now following to learn more about this Man. Or it could be that he was genuinely striving to be a sincere follower and was now in a predicament that caused him to ask permission from Jesus to bury his father.

There are different ways this statement has been understood and interpreted, sometimes with the intent to soften the words of our Lord. One such approach views this as a request to be permitted to go home and bury his father, who has just passed away. He is only wanting enough time to go home and attend to the arrangements, and then go to the funeral, of his deceased father.

There are several reasons that this is probably not the intent of the would-be follower. It is very unlikely that he would be there, in that crowd, if his father had just died. He would have been there, by his father’s side, in those moments leading up to his death. He would have been tending to the needs of his family as they mourned the patriarchs passing. But here he is, amid the throng of people trying to get close to Jesus.

Many interpreters of Scripture believe that the man’s father was not dead but was perhaps at the point of death. If this is true then the request is not to go home and bury his father, but to go home and wait for his father to die. This could be in days, weeks, months, or even years.

However, at other times it is viewed as a stark demand of Jesus as He responds to this man’s request. He is simply, and profoundly, stating that this man’s concern should not be about burying his father, who was already dead and awaiting interment, but rather it should be about following Him. If this is the correct understanding, then Jesus was saying that this man should resolve to follow Him, and “let the dead bury the dead.”

So we see two distinct interpretations of this statement. Before attempting to make sense of it, we need to note a matter of extreme significance. Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their own dead.’ This is obviously a play on words Jesus used to make His point. How can someone who is already dead bury someone who has just died? It is obvious that Jesus’ words carried a specific meaning. Perhaps it would help us understand this confusing statement by inserting a couple of words (please note that I am not adding to the word of God, but rather giving an explanation of what Jesus’ intent may have been). Perhaps Jesus was saying, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own physically dead.”

There are actually two distinct “kingdoms” of God at work in this present era: the physical kingdom, and the spiritual kingdom. The emphasis of Jesus may have been that the would-be disciple was placing more emphasis on the physical kingdom than on the spiritual. Jesus would have detected this and may then have been responding to what He perceived to be an insincerity on the part of the man.

If this is the case, then Jesus was basically saying that total commitment to Him was the call of true discipleship, and nothing, even the death of a loved one. should take precedence over that. Perhaps we are to understand this as we did when discussing Jesus saying that our love for Him should be so great that all other relationships should seem as hatred in comparison. Here, He is instructing this man that His commitment to Jesus must be first priority in His life, or he cannot be a disciple at all.

The Bible instructs us to care for our loved ones, and to be there when difficulties arise. Yet, even in those adverse circumstances, our commitment to Him must come first. So, when it comes to every aspect and avenue of life, we must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Everything else will then fall in place in proper order of priority.

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Matthew 5:48

Me? Be perfect!? You can’t be serious! There is simply no way I could ever pull off being perfect. I could never even pull off being perfect one day, much less for the rest of my life. This is just too much to ask of me!

Perhaps you can relate to those sentiments. Perhaps when you read these demanding words of the Lord you think to yourself that there is no way to attain such a state of perfection – the perfection that is seen in the Father. And yet, that is what Jesus said: be perfect, just as your Father is perfect.

Is Jesus speaking here of sinless perfection? Of living a life free from any sinful actions, attitudes, or involvements? Is He speaking of living a totally sinless life – a life lived in absolute obedience to the standard of the Father’s perfection? If so, then let’s admit it: we all fall woefully short of attaining this standard of perfection.

God is perfect in every way. There is no wavering in God: He is the same today, yesterday, and forever. He is consistent in all His activities. Totally dependable, completely reliable, absolutely perfect. And we are here commanded by Jesus to attain that state of perfection?

But how are we to do this? The Bible makes it clear that we are not perfect, and that our best efforts to attain perfection are never up to the task. These verses illustrate that truth clearly, and painfully.

“There is none righteous, no, not one.”

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Romans 3:10; Philippians 3:12; 1 John 1:8

Therefore, if the Bible states assertively that we can’t be perfect, why would Jesus place such an overwhelming, unattainable demand on us? Was He placing on us a demand that is impossible to achieve? Would that not be an extremely unloving thing for Him to do? It would cause a life filled with unrelenting guilt and paralyzing anxiety.

In order to understand this seemingly impossible burden the Lord has placed on His disciples, let’s consider for a moment the context of the statement. The immediate context (Matt. 5:43-48) speaks of Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies as we do our neighbors. The extended context actually begins at Matthew 5:17, culminating with our focal verse, Matthew 5:48. Jesus speaks in those preceding verses about the fact that He had not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but rather He had come to fulfill them. He then says that if our righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees we would not enter the kingdom of heaven!

Jesus then gives a series of comparisons, each beginning with the formula, “You have heard that it was said to those of old… But I say to you…” He was drawing a comparison between an outward form of righteousness with a sincere inward righteousness. The statement in Matthew 5:48 could be viewed as a culmination of the entire discourse, which would lead us to understand that the call for perfection would be in relation to the topics He discussed in the passage: murder, adultery, divorce, taking oaths, retaliation, and love.

If that is the correct way of understanding His demand of perfection, then He is saying that we should be completely mature, fully developed spiritually so that we are living up to the standard set for us by the Father, and not just obeying outwardly (as were the scribes and Pharisees) while inwardly harboring a spirit of hatred, or lust, or the desire for revenge, etc.

We are exhorted here to be mature disciples, fully striving, as Paul states in the verse quoted above, to attain perfection – completeness, maturity – by pressing on to the fulfillment of that stature.

There is a Biblical illustration of this word that would probably shed some much needed light on this subject. In Matthew 4:21 we are told that James and John were “Mending their nets.” The word translated “mending” is a word which means to “make perfect” or “to restore.” They were “perfecting” their nets in preparation for another day of fishing. The nets would certainly not be perfect, but they would be ready, prepared.

Perhaps that is the way we are to understand this statement of Jesus, demanding of us perfection. We are to be restored, prepared, ready and alert at all times in service to our Lord. And it should be from a pure heart of love and devotion to the Lord Jesus.

Are we to strive for total perfection? Absolutely! But even when we fail to live up to that standard, we are to be restored and prepared for service and ministry. So the question we must ask ourselves is this: am I being perfected day by day in sincere spiritual development, or am I only displaying an outward form of righteousness while inwardly I am continuing to harbor feelings, desires, thoughts and schemes which completely and drastically contradict what I want people to think of me?

Our righteousness should be an outward manifestation of an inward reality – not mere show hoping I will cause others to think of me as being spiritually mature. So, when we look in the mirror of the Word of God it should be a reflection of true righteousness because of our total commitment to the Lord. Then, our Lord will be able to look at us and say, “Well done!” And that is the state of perfection we should all be striving to attain.

When reading through the New Testament, we don’t have to read very far into the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – before we come across some extremely difficult statements made by the Lord. When we come to one of these it is easy to stop and think to ourselves: Did Jesus really mean that?

There are actually quite a few of these difficult statements. In my next few blogs, we will give consideration to several of those statements with the desire to come to an understanding of what Jesus meant when He made some of these hard-to-understand assertions.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

Luke 14:26

This must certainly have been a shock to the people who heard Jesus make this assertion, and to all others who have read it as recorded in Scripture. We are commanded in the Bible to love one another. We are even to love our enemies and do good to them, returning good for evil. We are commanded to honor our fathers and mothers, and to love others as we love ourselves. The Bible teaches that we are to be known for our love for one another.

And yet here, Jesus tells us that we cannot be HIs disciple unless we hate our fathers and mothers, our wives and children, our brothers and sisters, and even our very lives! How are we to understand what appears to be a clear contradiction? How is it possible to hate and love at the same time?

Perhaps the best way to understand this difficult saying of Jesus is to think of His usage of the word “hate” in relative terms. It is not that we are to hate others in the literal sense of the word because the Bible forbids, even condemns, that kind of hatred. So we are not to think of this statement as a command to literally hate.

What we are to understand from this statement is the seriousness of being a sincere disciple of the Lord. In essence, Jesus is saying that our love for Him should be so great that it would appear that we “hate” everyone else. Jesus always comes first! We cannot put anyone or any other relationship before our relationship with Him.

My wife and I have discussed this topic on several occasions in the past. I love Teresa deeply, and that love has grown through the years. I love spending time with her, going places with her, taking a quiet walk with her: in short, living life with her. Paul commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church and gave Himself for her. In our discussions we have assured each other of our deep, abiding love.

But in our discussions on this topic, we acknowledge that our love for Jesus must be our first priority in life. He must come first, before our commitment to and our relationship with each other and anyone else.

So this statement of Jesus must be understood in the sense of comparison. When I compare my love for Teresa, or for anyone else, with my love for Jesus Christ, it should be crystal clear that my love for Jesus exceeds my love for all others. This is the type of disciple whose life will bear testimony to his/her relationship with the Lord. He will be the center of all they do. It will be obvious to everyone they meet that Jesus Christ is, indeed, Lord of their lives.

May it be so with all who read these words!

“The Bible says it – I believe it – that settles it!”

I’m sure you have heard it. Perhaps you have even made the assertion yourself. It may sound pretty good when we first hear it, and we might repeat it with the desire to show our settled belief in the Word of God. But when we look at it a little more closely, we might see that it is a not a solid statement of belief after all.

The statement places the emphasis on my belief in what the Bible says, not in the Bible itself. It sounds as if the authority of the Bible is based upon my acceptance of and belief in any passage under consideration. A much better statement would be: “The Bible says it – that settles it – whether I believe it or not.” The veracity of the truth presented in Scripture is not based upon my belief in it, it is based on the Author of it: God. God inspired the writers of Scripture to pen His message and oversaw the inspiration of the message and the transmission of the message.

This is such a crucial matter for us to consider. The message of the Bible is not open to debate. I realize that there are certain passages that are difficult to understand, and in our limited understanding and our faulty ability to translate and interpret those difficult passages, we sometimes debate the precise meaning of those passages. But the message itself is inspired by God and carries the full weight of His authority.

The reason I draw this to our attention is simply because it seems to me that we are witnessing a movement away from taking the Bible at face value. Instead of the Bible being objective truth, it now appears that it is subjective suggestion. It reminds me of an observation one of my professors made concerning the matter of proper Biblical application. Dr. Gary Galeotti said that most professing believers today seem to live by the Burger King hermeneutic: have it your way. Read the Bible, take what you like and leave the rest.

If I read in the Bible that it is sin to lie, steal, cheat, kill, commit fornication, bow down to other “gods”, etc. etc. etc., and yet decide to engage in such behavior, then I have embraced the mentality to take what I like and leave the rest. If the Bible’s teachings fit into my personal preferences, then I will abide by them, but if they in some way hinder my personal self-gratification, then I can just as easily discard them. The Bible becomes subjected to my desires instead of me subjecting myself to the BIble.

Believers are commanded to be doers of the Word of God, and not merely hearers of that Word. The Bible’s instructions are to be followed, not ignored. There are so many cultural and societal practices that run contrary to the teachings of the Bible. We are to stand against the tide of the shifting sands of culture and society by standing firmly on the teachings of the Bible.

To do so will most certainly result in being in an ever-decreasing minority. The number of Christians who stand for Biblical truth grows smaller and smaller. Far too many seem to have embraced culture over Biblical truth, and societal shifts over clear Scriptural instruction. To do so means that we cease to be the salt and light Jesus demanded that we be. We are to be a light on a hill, beckoning those who abide in the spiritual darkness of this world to come out of that darkness into the light of God’s love and grace.

When our lives are so compromised with the ways of the world, the light becomes nothing more than a mere shadow. It is time we stand up, speak up, and show up as representatives of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember: the Bible says it and that settles it. Whether or not I believe it has no bearing at all on the veracity and authority of the Bible. May God grant each of us the boldness to be His representatives in a world that desperately needs to see His light shining through us.