These sobering words were uttered by the Son of God in a moment of crisis. Many had believed in Him when they saw His miracles, and would gladly have made Him king, but their thoughts were on present things. He had provided bread for the multitude by miraculous power, and this appealed to them: they could have all their temporal needs met, and they would be free from trouble and anxiety. But Jesus told them that He was the Bread of God, and only by His death could they have eternal life. They were not prepared for this: a living Christ on earth using His divine power for their benefit they would follow, but they refused to follow One who was about to die.
To hear Jesus speak of His death was "an hard saying" for those who had not been drawn to Him by the Father, and who only sought the things of the flesh. But Jesus would not only die, the Son of Man would ascend up where He was before. What He offered to His disciples was not connected with this world, the eternal life of which He spoke belonged to heaven, from whence He came, and where He would soon again enter, passing through death that eternal life might be made available for those who truly believed in Him.
These words might offend those who only sought the things of the present life in which the flesh lives, but how attractive they were to those who were born of God. When the twelve were challenged by the Lord with the words. "Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Others might only be drawn by the loaves and fishes, but Simon Peter was held to Jesus by the charm of His Person, and by the wonderful words of eternal life that fell from His lips.
In coming into the world the Son of God brought to light the things of another world. Man naturally is only concerned with present things, but the whole of man's natural existence "profiteth nothing." The flesh, as spoken of by the Lord here has to do with the whole range of human life and activity. If the Lord only provided for their temporal needs it would profit nothing: He had come to meet their spiritual needs, to unfold what lay in the heart and mind of God for the spiritual and eternal blessing of the creature. In Him God was fully revealed, and the Name of the Father had been declared by Him; He spoke of things that belonged to heaven, and directed the thoughts of those who heard Him to what lay outside of material, earthly and temporal things.
Those who heard the wonderful words of the Son of God and turned from Him had not profited by their partaking of the loaves and fishes. Had they discerned in the miracle the glory of Jesus, how different it would have been. They were doubtless religious men, who kept the Feast of the Passover and other observances pertaining to the worship of Jehovah, but their thoughts were confined to present things, and their religious activities belonged to the flesh.
Unless our thoughts are influenced by the great truths that centre in the Son of God, all our activities will go for nothing. A man may be very self-righteous, very religious, and much given to human philanthropy, and all the while his mind be controlled by present things. The Jew thinks very highly of his sacrifices and religious exercises, and the professing Christian of his church attendance, ritual and ceremony, but it all belongs to man in the flesh, and in the estimation of the Son of God it "profiteth nothing."
But those who are drawn by the Father to the Son learn what does profit, even as Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." How very different in nature are the words of Jesus to the words of the men of this world. All the great thinkers, speakers and writers of this age are concerned with what belongs to man after the flesh, and these are the things that concern and attract the natural man.
Such are engaged with the thoughts, desires, feelings, activities and attainments of men on earth: they are not concerned with the revelation of God in the Son or with the heavenly secrets enfolded in the words of Jesus.
What is "spirit" in nature does not appeal to the man of this world: but it is attractive to those who are "born of the Spirit." Only those in whom God has wrought by His Spirit have the capacity for the things that are spirit. How true are the words of the Lord, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is the new nature, which is spirit, that is fed by the words of the Son of God; and how rich the spiritual nourishment brought to us from the Father. If the flesh is fed on the things of this world, the new nature is nourished in the things of heaven which were spoken by the Son of God.
The Christian has been brought into an entirely new order of things which are spiritual. They lie outside of this world, and belong to eternity, being divine in origin and heavenly in character. Only the Son of God could speak of them to men, for He alone of men knew them. being a Divine Person in Manhood, and come from the Father to make them known.
All that the natural man enjoys will come to an end in death. However much it may appear to profit him now, he will yet realise that it has brought no lasting gain. What is "really life" is eternal, and cannot be touched by death. Death has a claim on the life derived from Adam, and has power over it; but death has neither claim nor power over the life that has been communicated to the believer by the Son of God and is sustained by His words.
Natural life largely consists in eating and drinking, and in the fellowship enjoyed in these things: the practical enjoyment of divine life is in eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of Man. In the appropriation of the death of the Lord Jesus the Christian enters into the enjoyment of divine love, which has been fully told out in that death.
Very soon we shall leave this world behind for ever, and in God's presence we shall only have the things of spirit and life, for the flesh and all that belongs to it is connected with this world. How good for us then to realise here that the flesh profiteth nothing, so that we might seek only the eternal things in communion with the Father and the Son.