Labor not for the meat - That is, for that only, but also for the bread, etc. Our Lord wills every man to be active and diligent in that employment in which providence has placed him; but it is his will also that that employment, and all the concerns of life, should be subservient to the interest of his soul.

But for that meat, etc. - He who labors not, in the work of his salvation, is never likely to enter into the kingdom of God. Though our labor cannot purchase it, either in whole or in part, yet it is the way in which God chooses to give salvation; and he that will have heaven must strive for it. Every thing that can be possessed, except the salvation of God, is a perishing thing: this is its essential character: it can last to us no longer than the body lasts. But, when the earth and its produce are burnt up, this bread of Christ, his grace and salvation, will be found remaining unto eternal life. This is the portion after which an immortal spirit should seek.

Him hath God the Father sealed - By this expression, our Lord points out the commission which, as the Messiah, he received from the Father, to be prophet and priest to an ignorant, sinful world. As a person who wishes to communicate his mind to another who is at a distance writes a letter, seals it with his own seal, and sends it directed to the person for whom it was written, so Christ, who lay in the bosom of the Father, came to interpret the Divine will to man, bearing the image, superscription, and seal of God, in the immaculate holiness of his nature, unsullied truth of his doctrine, and in the astonishing evidence of his miracles. But he came also as a priest, to make an atonement for sin; and the bread which nourishes unto eternal life, he tells us, John 6:51, is his body, which he gives for the life of the world; and to this sacrifice of himself, the words, him hath God the Father sealed, seem especially to relate. It certainly was a custom, among nations contiguous to Judea, to set a seal upon the victim which was deemed proper for sacrifice. The following account of the method of providing white bulls among the Egyptians, for sacrifices to their god Apis, taken from Herodotus, Euterpe, b. ii. p. 117, casts much light upon this place. "They sacrifice white bulls to Apis; and for that reason make the following trial. If they find one black hair upon him, they consider him as unclean: that they may know this with certainty, the priest appointed for this purpose views every part of the animal, both standing and lying on the ground. After this, he draws out his tongue, to see if he be clean by certain signs: in the last place, he looks upon the hairs of his tail, that he may be sure they are as by nature they should be. If, after this search, the bull is found unblemished, he signifies it by tying a label to his horns; then, having applied wax, he seals it with his ring, and they lead him away: for it is death to sacrifice one of these animals, unless he have been marked with such a seal.

The Jews could not be unacquainted with the rites and ceremonies of the Egyptian worship; and it is possible that such precautions as these were in use among themselves, especially as they were so strictly enjoined to have their sacrifices without Spot, and without blemish. Infinite justice found Jesus Christ to be without spot or blemish, and therefore sealed, pointed out and accepted him, as a proper sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the whole world. Collate with this passage, Hebrews 7:26-28; Ephesians 5:27; 2 Peter 3:14; and especially Hebrews 9:13, Hebrews 9:14 : For if the blood of Bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth - how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself Without Spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works! The rabbins talk much of the seal of God, which they suppose to be אמת emeth, or truth; and that this is a representation of the unoriginated and endless perfections of God. This doctrine is just; but their method of proving it is not so satisfactory. Aleph א, say they, is the first letter of the alphabet; mem מ the middle; and tau ת the last: these three letters make אמת emeth, Truth, because God is the first - there was none before him; he is the middle - none mingles with him; and he is the last - there can be none after him. Hieros. Sanhed. fol. 18. See also 1 Peter 1:18, 1 Peter 1:19.

Labour not. or, Work not.

John 6:28,29 Then said they to him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God...

Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Colossians 1:29 Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ...

the meat.

John 4:13,14 Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again...

Ecclesiastes 5:11-16 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof...

Ecclesiastes 6:7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? listen diligently to me...

Habakkuk 2:13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire...

Matthew 6:19,31-33 Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal...

Luke 10:40-42 But Martha was encumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord...

1 Corinthians 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication...

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 But this I say, brothers, the time is short: it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none...

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain...

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal...

Colossians 2:22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Hebrews 4:11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Hebrews 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

James 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it wither the grass, and the flower thereof falls...

1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither, and the flower thereof falls away:

2 Peter 3:11-14 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness...

which endureth.

John 6:40,51,54,58,68 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life...

John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst...

Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name...

which the.

John 10:28 And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

John 11:25,26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live...

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.

John 17:2 As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.

Proverbs 2:2-6 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding...

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

for him.

John 1:33,34 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, On whom you shall see the Spirit descending...

John 5:36,37 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do...

John 8:18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me.

John 10:37,38 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not...

John 11:42 And I knew that you hear me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me.

John 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin...

Psalm 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.

Psalm 40:7 Then said I, See, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

Isaiah 11:1-3 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots...

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit on him...

Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek...

Matthew 3:17 And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 17:5 While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son...

Mark 1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Mark 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove on him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, You are my beloved Son...

Luke 4:18-21 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted...

Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

Acts 2:22 You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs...

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good...

2 Peter 1:17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory...

November 21 Morning
Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.--JOHN 6:37. It shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.--I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.--I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 22. "This is that Bread which came Down from Heaven" (John vi. 58).
"This is that bread which came down from heaven" (John vi. 58). We had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivereth us from so great a death, who doth deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. This was the supernatural secret of Paul's life; he drew continually in his body from the strength of Christ, his Risen Head. The body which rose from Joseph's tomb was to him a physical reality and the inexhaustible …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Fourth Miracle in John's Gospel
And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.'--JOHN vi. 11. This narrative of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand is introduced into John's Gospel with singular abruptness. We read in the first verse of the chapter: 'After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,' i.e. from the western to the eastern side. But the Evangelist does not tell …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture