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MAY 21
John 6:52–71
The Jews therefore quarreled among
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themselves, saying, “How can this Man give
us His flesh to eat?” 6:64 Jesus knew. Reminiscent of Jesus’ words
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly,
53 in 2:23–25, Jesus knew the hearts of men,
I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son including those disciples who followed Him.He
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life supernaturally knew that many did not believe
in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks in Him as Messiah and Son of God so He did not
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My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him entrust Himself to them. These false disciples
up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, were simply attracted to the physical phenome-
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and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats na (miracles and food) and failed to understand
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My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, the true significance of Jesus’teaching (v.61).
and I in him. As the living Father sent Me,
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and I live because of the Father, so he who
feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is did not believe, and who would betray Him.
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the bread which came down from heaven— 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you
not as your fathers ate the manna, and are that no one can come to Me unless it has been
dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” granted to him by My Father.”
These things He said in the synagogue as From that time many of His disciples went
59 66
He taught in Capernaum. back and walked with Him no more. Then
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Therefore many of His disciples, when Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to
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they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; go away?”
who can understand it?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to
When Jesus knew in Himself that His dis- whom shall we go? You have the words of eter-
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ciples complained about this, He said to them, nal life. Also we have come to believe and
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“Does this offend you? What then if you know that You are the Christ, the Son of the
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should see the Son of Man ascend where He living God.”
was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose
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flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He
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you are spirit, and they are life. But there are spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it
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some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus was he who would betray Him, being one of
knew from the beginning who they were who the twelve.
DAY 21: If we accept the scholarly view that the surviving ancient manuscripts
of 1 and 2 Samuel were poorly preserved, what should be our attitude toward these books?
Given the challenges involved in hand-copying and preserving scrolls,it is a wonder that we have
the ancient documents that we do have.Our attitude ought to lean more toward amazement that we
have such few discrepancies rather than toward concern over the ones that puzzle and challenge us.
Many of the discoveries in the science of analyzing ancient manuscripts involve the typical
errors that commonly appear when handwritten documents are copied. For example, when two
lines of text end with the same word or words, the eye of the copyist tends to skip the second line,
deleting it completely. Careful comparisons between manuscripts and reconstruction of the text
often reveal these simple errors.
In the case of 1 and 2 Samuel we have two ancient text families: 1) the Masoretic text in the
Hebrew language and 2) the LXX (Septuagint) text in Greek that was translated by Jewish scholars
in about 100 B.C.Comparing the two, it is clear that the two differ in more places with the Samuel
books than with other Old Testament books.There are frequent disagreements between the texts
when it comes to numbers. In settling these discrepancies, the age and language of the Masoretic
text is generally considered a closer version of the original manuscript unless grammar and context
indicate a copying error.
When thinking about the possibility of textual errors in the Scriptures,it is crucial to remember
this:The central doctrines of the Christian faith are never based on a single verse of Scripture,nor do
they rely on a disputed section of Scripture.God’s plan of salvation and the main outline of Christian
teaching can be found throughout Scripture.

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