John 6:39

‘And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day'.

And this was the will of the Father Who sent Him, that He should lose none of those who have been given to Him. Those on whom God lays His hand are eternally secure. Once He has chosen them they are safely in Jesus' keeping, and He will raise them up at the last day. For them the resurrection of the righteous is assured. This is not because of any intrinsic worth of their own but because they have been given to Him by the Father, and it is the Father's will that He should not lose a single one of those given to Him. But how do we know who these are? They are the ones who ‘eat of the Bread of Life', they are those who come in full faith and trust to Jesus, and reveal it by changed lives. Notice the use of the singular ‘that' and ‘it'. Those whom He calls are seen as one.

‘This is the will of Him Who sent me'. What He is describing is the will and purpose of God, the One ‘Who works all things after the counsel of His own will' (Ephesians 1:11). And His will is that of those whom He gives to Jesus none may be lost, but may rather share the resurrection to life. In the end therefore all is seen to be of God's will and purpose. That is why Paul can boldly declare of Him, ‘For I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion, so then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows mercy.' (Romans 9:15).

‘I will raise him up at the last day.' The idea is of ‘resurrection unto life' (compare John 11:25). Note that it is Jesus Himself Who will raise men up in the final resurrection. He here claims power over life and death within the will of the Father. As He had said in chapter 5, ‘as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will, and ‘as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself' (John 5:21; John 5:26). For just as now ‘the dead will hear ‘the voice of the Son of God', and those who hear will live'. Thus He has indicated both the reception of life from above now for those who believe (John 5:24), and the reception of life in the Last Day when ‘all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and will come forth'. Here we have a description of the first and second resurrections for the believer.

‘The last day.' The final day of God's reckoning. The impression given is that Jesus sees only one such final day, the day of rapture and resurrection.