John 6:39,40 - Losing none

6:39

And now we are told what the will of the Father is. First that He shall not lose any of those who the Father has given to Him. Again there is a little insight into how predestination works here. The Father has given some to Jesus. One might have thought that was the end of the matter, for if God has decided something is so then there can be no doubt about it. And at one level that it is the end of the matter, those whom the Father has given to the Son will not be lost. However, there is a reality to go through, Jesus needs to make sure He does not lose any of them. Now we can be completely confident that He will not lose any, but the process is real.

So it is true that I could never have come to know God unless He had graciously chosen that it should be so, but my faith and my love, imperfect as they are, are real. The events and circumstances and trials and victories we go through in life are real. The decisions, actions and attitudes that we make and have matter. That is the clear and consistent teaching of the Bible. How does all this work out on an intellectual level? I don’t know. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek to understand a little more, but we do need to realise the limits of our understanding and not rush ahead. Perhaps more importantly, we need to get on with life, loving, trusting and obeying God.

Then Jesus is going to raise us up on the last day. We might wonder what happens after death. We don’t know the details, but we do know that Jesus will raise us up on the last day. We can be completely confident in Him.

6:40

Now in this verse we see the Father’s will, our will and the Son’s will all working in complete harmony. The Father desires for us to have eternal life, we look to the Son and believe in Him, and the Son raises us up on the last day.

Do you realise that when you look to Jesus, when you believe in Him, when you trust in Him, you are working in harmony with the Lord of All, the creator of all things? That should be a thought of enormous encouragement to us.

Let’s go back to predestination. The parts of the Bible which speak of the sovereignty of God, predestination and the like were not given so that we could have pointless and endless theological debates. Rather they were given so for our encouragement and motivation, to help us live a life worthy of our calling. When we come to appreciate the truth of them we do not lose any freedom, rather we become truly free. What we do and think does not matter less, it matters more.

We can so often feel overwhelmed by circumstances, despairing at our own weakness and failings. We should look to the Son, knowing that this is what the Father wants us to do and that He is working with us, and we are working with Him.