John 6:68, ‘Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.’
When the torrents of confusion and uncertainty and doubt hammer against the disciples’ faith, what is it that binds them to Christ? It is not an elaborate system of apologetic arguments, it is not a collection of manuscript evidence, it is not a rigorous philosophical defense—all of these things are good and healthy and wise for the Christian to possess, but a faith *grounded upon* these assurances is only as strong *as* these assurances, and will, sooner or later, collapse.
No, what binds the disciples to their Lord is the simple, unshakable, Spirit-wrought recognition that Peter voices in this verse: In Jesus I have heard, and seen, and received the words—indeed, the Word—of eternal life; where else could I possibly go? In Him I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good….in His face I have beheld the light of the beauty of God…His word is my life, I can go nowhere else.
Apologetic arguments can be undermined, evidence can be overturned, philosophical defenses can be bested, but the blood-bought witness of the indwelling Spirit who opens and turns the eyes of our heart to see in the slain and risen Jesus our Lord and God and Life….that cannot be snuffed out. Everything else may fall, every other confidence may be shattered, but this ‘still, small voice,’ this flickering candle that goes on burning even beneath a flood of worldly assault, this ‘where else can I go?’ that clings by sovereign grace to the risen Lord, cannot be extinguished.
Christian, in the face of a disbelieving world, hold fast by grace to the crucified and risen Jesus Christ—proclaimed in the Gospel, declared in the Scriptures, expounded by His Apostles, borne witness by His Spirit, present in the Body, at work in the World, returning for His Bride. (Luke 18:8).
