"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will ..." (John 6:38-40)

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:38-40)

Is Jesus saying that he is God?

Many have misinterpreted this statement to mean that Jesus is saying that he is God. (See below for a clearer translation.*) 

The Jewish Pharisees listening to Jesus also thought this. They began to grumble and question:
"Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" (John 6:41)
In other words, how could someone who was born among men claim to suddenly have the authority of the Supreme Being?

The primary fact not understood is that Jesus was not his physical body. His physical body was a temporary vehicle for Jesus' spirit-person.

The physical is occupied by a person of another plane of existence - of spirit - making the occupant of each physical body a spirit-person. In the case of Jesus, his physical body was occupied by a superior spirit-person - a loving servant and representative of God, whom God dispatched to teach on His behalf.

Jesus states this clearly here when he says:
"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me."
Is this not clear enough? If a person says they are not doing their own will but someone else's will, does that make them the other person? Certainly not. There are still two individuals present. One is choosing to work on behalf of the other.

Furthermore, Jesus clearly speaks of two entities here: "me" and "Him who sent me." How could Jesus be the sender and the messenger at the same time?

Jesus did not become the Supreme Being and the Supreme Being did not become Jesus, just as an ambassador of a country's president does not become the president when he goes to another country. God has empowered Jesus as His representative, and Jesus furthered the will of the Supreme Being by acting on behalf of God.

Why isn't Jesus doing his own will?

Jesus is speaking of choosing to work on behalf of someone else. This is called service. And when that service is performed with love and the desire to please the one being served, that is called being a loving servant.

In the case of Jesus, he is speaking of doing the will of the Supreme Being. Doing God's will, in other words.

Jesus was God's loving servant. This is confirmed by another statement:
"I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

What did Jesus mean by 'son'?

In this context, "loving servant," is a more appropriate translation of the Greek word υἱός (huios). The lexicon clearly states that the translation of this word to "son" only "in a restricted sense, the male offspring (one born by a father and of a mother)." Otherwise, it indicates the word means "one who depends on another or is his follower."

As described elsewhere, the most appropriate translation of the Greek word υἱός is devoted follower or loving servant, not "son," because son only applies to an offspring of a physical family according to the lexicon.

Just consider a few of Jesus' statements that utilize this word υἱός (huios) - using NKJV:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matt. 5:9)
“But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection." (Luke 20:35-36)
"The people of this age marry and are given in marriage." (Luke 20:34)
These uses of the word υἱός (huios) illustrate the alternative use of the word outside of the relationship of physical bodies - parents and their children. This means that references Jesus makes in his spiritual relationship with the Supreme Being (translated to "son of God") and to humanity ("son of man") are akin to his statement in Luke 20:35-36, wherein it is clear a more appropriate translation would be devoted follower or loving servant.

Thus we would have:

"Son of God" is thus better translated to: "Devoted follower of God" or "Loving servant of God." In the case of Jesus, depending upon the context, it would be better translated to "Representative of God." Such a case for this translation is also made in Thayer's lexicon. 

And "Son of man" is better translated to: "Servant of humanity" or "Servant of the people."

This makes more sense, doesn't it? A person who is led by God is certainly following God. And a person who is following God is certainly serving God. Furthermore, a person who is following God by saving humanity would therefore be serving humanity.

Jesus confirmed his position as servant in other verses, such as:
“For even the Son of Man [Servant of humanity] did not come to be served, but to serve" (Mark 10:45)
"The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matt. 23:11)
Thus by Jesus' own admission and teachings, he stated clearly that he was in the position of servant - God's loving servant and the loving servant of humanity.

Jesus is describing the empowerment that God’s representative and loving servant receives from God. The loving servant and representative of God has been empowered by God to be able to save someone from the depths of the hell of the physical world by passing God's message on to the student.

What does the 'last day' mean?

This also is the meaning of "raise them up on the last day." Many ecclesiastical sectarian teachers would like us to believe that Jesus is speaking of some supposed day in the future where Jesus will return to earth and bring all his flock - who have been waiting after having been dead for how long? - back to heaven with him. This is actually an absurd and comical interpretation of this statement by Jesus.

"The last day" that Jesus is speaking of is the day when each person's body dies. The day the body dies is the last day of our physical life in this body. It is not some kind of mysterious "second coming" that so many sectarian teachers have predicted over and over (incorrectly) as Armageddon – its Greek word (only used once in the Bible) referring to a hilly region (“harrar”) of Megiddon – a region located in Northern Israel.

What about the "Rapture"?

Then there is this speculative concept called the “rapture” – a theory developed by John Nelson Darby in the early part of the Nineteenth century and proselytized by Cyrus I. Scofield, who wrote it into his “Scofield Reference Bible.”

The concept of the “rapture” is never mentioned in the texts of the Bible – at all. It is a speculative theory made up by sectarian teachers interested in attracting followers.

The “rapture’ theory nonsensically states that we will all wait in our graves until some moment when Jesus “comes” and frees all the believers from their graves, whereupon they float up to the clouds to meet up with their families and then float up above that to meet up with Jesus.

Perhaps these "rapturists" never dug up an old gravesite. If they had, they would have realized that within a few years, the body decomposes and turns into soil. The bugs and microbes eat it up and discharge the waste into the soil. The body will be completely gone within a few decades following death – depending upon how it is buried.

The reality is, the day each of our bodies dies we will have to leave them. This is our own personal "Armageddon." This is the day when everything we thought we owned is torn away from us. This is the day that our family is torn away. This is the day when our reputation is torn away from us. This is the day that all our plans and all our accumulated wealth are all torn away from us.

Yes, this day brings upheaval and great calamity and great wailing, as the scriptures discuss. But this is a personal event that each of us faces individually when we are forcefully pulled away from our physical bodies. Because each of us dies alone, regardless of how many family members we are surrounded by at the time.

On this day of the death of our physical body not only do we leave our body, but our lives will be judged, and our next destination will be determined. This is also called "Judgement Day." The day that we leave our bodies is our own personal "Judgement Day."

God's messenger Jesus was empowered by God with the ability to guide us towards achieving our loving relationship with God. God is ultimately in charge, but He empowers His messenger to help those who want to return to Him after their "last day."

The fact that Jesus is doing God's also explains the "oneness" that exists between God and His messenger Jesus. They have become "one" in purpose, and "one" in love. But they remain two individuals: God remains God, and God's representative is His loving servant.

But they have the same purpose because Jesus is God's representative - and thus doing the will of the Supreme Being.


*Here is the translation of these verses according to the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

“For I have descended from the spiritual realm not to please myself but to please Him who sent me. And what pleases Him who sent me is that I shall lose none of those He has entrusted to me, but raise them up at the time of death. For what pleases my LORD is that everyone who perceives the Representative and trusts in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the time of death.” (John 6:38-40)