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fishes, and the subsequent teaching given by the Lord concerning Himself. Rebuking the
people because they followed Him merely because of "loaves and fishes", He said,
"Work not for the meat that perisheth". They reply: "What shall we do that we may
work the works of God?" to which the Lord answers:--
"This (great miracle) is the work of God, with the object that ye believe on Him
Whom He hath sent" (John 6: 26-35).
Here Christ is set forth as the Bread of Life. Again the Lord testifies that He came to
do the will of Him that sent Him, and explains that will as comprising the eternal security
of everyone given to Him, and their resurrection at the last day (John 6: 38-47). In these
verses the Lord uses the word "sent" five times, and emphasizes the "will of Him that
sent Him" as issuing in Resurrection Life, the manward side being expressed by
"believing" and "eating", believing the Sent One being symbolically expressed as eating
the sent bread from heaven.
In chapter 7: we find the Jews marvelling at the knowledge exhibited by the Lord,
and to this the Lord replies, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me", and declares
that He sought only the glory of Him that sent Him (John 7: 16-18). Here we have the
source of the Lord's Doctrine. The fact of His rejection becomes patent, and the Lord
cries out in the temple:--
"I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, Whom ye know not . . . . .yet a
little while . . . . . and I go unto Him that sent Me" (John 7: 28-33).
Here, in spite of all opposition and rejection, the Lord rests His claim and His
Commission. We will not pursue this throughout the book. The reader can continue the
study for himself. To help all to do so we give the remaining occurrences of both
apostello and pempo:--
Apostello.--John 8: 42; 9: 7; 10: 36; 11: 3, 42; 17: 3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20: 21.
Pempo.--John 8: 16, 18, 26, 29;
9: 4;
12: 44, 45, 49; 13: 16, 20; 14: 24;
15: 21, 26; 16: 5.
Two passages perhaps demand notice by reason of their importance. The first is a
note in chapter 9: It speaks of the healing of the man born blind, and in verse 7 at the
command, "Go, wash in the pool in Siloam", the writer adds the suggestive comment,
"Which is by interpretation, Sent". Even the pool of Siloam is made to yield its typical
teaching. John 17: is the other chapter that demands attention. The Lord is here about
to enter into the second phase of His great work. His work as the apostle is seen as
drawing to a close, and His High Priestly work is about to begin. The standpoint of the
great prayer of this chapter is expressed in the words of verses 4 and 11:--
"I have glorified Thee on earth: I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do . . . . . I
am no more in the world, and I come to Thee."