John 6:63

“It is the Spirit who makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life”.'

This now brought Him to the essence of the matter. “It is the Spirit who makes alive. The flesh is of no benefit'. Jesus in the flesh alone can do nothing for them, and when He has spoken of flesh He has not been talking about literally eating physical flesh, but about flesh being offered in sacrifice from which they must spiritually benefit (something well illustrated in the Old Testament sacrifices). What they need is a work of the Spirit through His words, life from Himself through the Spirit, a life that survives death so that the one who receives it never dies. Nothing else counts for anything. That alone is true life.

And it was because He would die and rise again that He could give them that life. They must not look at His earthly life, but at what He will be able to give them through His death and resurrection. That was why they need not worry about death, either His or theirs. For His words ‘are Spirit and are life'. Let them listen and the Spirit would work in their hearts, and they would then receive a life that never dies or ceases. That is why He had come. Through the Spirit at work, both through His ministry and directly in men's hearts, and as a result of His coming sacrifice on the cross and His subsequent resurrection, they may partake of such benefits of His death. Then they would enjoy the promised ‘life of the age to come' and know that they would be raised up at the last day.