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The Irresistible Call of the Gospel (6)

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.  Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.  John 6:44, 45.

We are nearing the end of our consideration of John 6:44, 45.  But we must say something about verse 45, which we have not mentioned as yet.  Why are these words added here?


By His reference to "the prophets," Jesus is referring specifically to Isaiah 54:13.  We ought to have the text before us.  It reads as follows: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children."  The Lord's words are: "And they shall be all taught of God."

The Lord rewords the passage in Isaiah, not because by doing so He gives all of us the right to do the same, but because He gives us here an explanation of the passage in Isaiah, an explanation which He alone is able to give because He is the Author of the passage in Isaiah, and He is, of course, the Author of these words in John 6.  He refers to His own writing.

But there is good reason why the Lord refers to Isaiah 54:13 in the way that He does.

Without going into detail about the passage in Isaiah, it is clear that this verse belongs to a section in which Isaiah is not only predicting the coming captivity, but is also preparing a Word of comfort to the elect remnant of the captivity while they are in Babylon when all they can do is hang their harps upon the willows, because they cannot sing the songs of Zion in a strange land (Psalm 137).

God's Word is that He will rebuild again Jerusalem -- not in the way in which pre-mils speak of it being built in Palestine, like the old temple; but spiritually in the gathering of the church and the saving of the elect in the new dispensation.

Part of that salvation is described in the passage which Jesus quotes.  God Himself will teach Jerusalem's children.

In the Old Testament times God did not "teach" His people directly as the text says He will do to Jerusalem's children.  He taught them, indeed, but He did so through prophets, priests, and kings.  This was necessary because the Spirit of the glorified and exalted Christ had not yet been poured out on the church.  That happened on Pentecost.

But the children of these Old Testament saints would be taught directly by the Lord.  That is, the Lord would teach them directly by means of His Holy Spirit in their hearts.  He is the Spirit to Whom Christ refers as the Spirit of Truth whom Christ will send to the church that the Spirit may lead the church into all truth (John 14-16).


The Lord refers to this passage in Isaiah, therefore, in order to explain to the people how the Father draws His own elect to Christ.  The Father draws them by teaching them the truth.  This teaching is not the kind of eaching which a teacher does in a classroom where only some of the students are paying any close attention to what the teacher says -- and even they will probably forget what they learned unless they do a great deal of revising.

But our heavenly Father teaches us in such a way that the Holy Spirit impresses the truth upon our hearts and minds so that we love that truth, find in it our great delight, and make that truth a part of our lives.

At the very center of that truth is Christ Himself through Whom God reveals all His truth.  And so one taught by the Father through the Spirit of Christ, goes to Christ.  He cannot and will not go elsewhere.  He has found in Christ His all.  He rests in the arms of Christ.


The promise in Isaiah is that of peace for Jerusalem's children.  Jesus speaks of being raised up at the last day.  The two are the same -- even if they do not seem exactly identical.

Peace is the blessed gift of being in harmony with God and living in fellowship, peaceful and joyous, fellowship with the everlasting God.  That will happen when we are raised on the last day and, when we, with both body and soul, are brought into heaven to live with God forever.

This is the blessedness given to all who come to Christ because true peace in life everlasting can be found only in Christ Who made peace through the blood of His cross.

And it is all the work of God.

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Additional Info

  • Volume: 6
  • Issue: 23
Hanko, Herman

Prof. Herman Hanko (Wife: Wilma)

Ordained: October 1955

Pastorates: Hope, Walker, MI - 1955; Doon, IA - 1963; Professor to the Protestant Reformed Seminary - 1965

Emeritus: 2001

Website: www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakeronly=true&currsection=sermonsspeaker&keyword=Prof._Herman_Hanko

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