The Book of John - 35

Introduction - We finished up in the last lesson looking at the actual feeding of the 5000.

We noticed several the miracle itself under the heading of the Proper Provision.

All that took place, was pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the proper provision.

In that we saw:

The Proper Provision Came With the Surrender of the Lad. (vs. 8-9)

The Proper Provision Came With the Wavering Faith of Andrew (vs. 8-9)

The Proper Provision Came After Simple Obedience. (vs. 10)

The Proper Provision Came From the Hands of the Lord. (vs. 11)

The Proper Provision Came With Thanks To God. (vs. 11)

The Proper Provision Came Through The Ministry (Service) of the Lord’s Disciples (vs. 11)

The Proper Provision Came To Those Willing To Receive It. (vs. 11)

The Proper Provision Came In Abundance And Satisfied Completely (vs. 11, 13)

The Proper Provision Came Orderly And Was Not Wasteful (vs. 12)

So far in this miracle we saw first, The Problem Presented, The Practical Prescription, The Perplexing Pessimism , and the Proper Provision, but notice the words that we read in verse 13 through 15.

John 6:13–15 “13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”

We leave this scene with the:

The Problematic Proposal

As I read verse 14, on the surface it seems to be a positive statement, and a reference to the prophecy of Moses.

Moses stated in Deuteronomy 18:15 during his farewell address, “15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”

And they were correct this is that Prophet— capital P who the Lord God raised up.

The problem was their understanding of the Prophet—- Priest and King whom the Lord sent into this world.

It is the same today— we want to mold the Lord Jesus Christ into our image—- into our making.

We want God to fit into our designs rather than us submitting to His.

On the surface, this statement seems to be good. But the evidence shows that these folks were looking simply for a man to lead them in a revolt against oppression and provide for them bread to the full.

There are three lines of evidence that tell us these folks had a wrong understanding of the Lord:

The first is in the Lord’s very words.

Look down with me at verse 26.

John 6:26 “26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”

The Lord’s indictment and revelation of their heart attitude was that they were simply seeking Jesus for nothing but bread to the full.

Secondly, this is seen in the very language of Scripture.

Notice with me again in verse 15. The Bible says, “15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”

Turn with me very quickly to Revelation 19.

As we read through that passage we are reminded of the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You will remember, that the Gentiles mocked the Lord Jesus Christ, they put a crown of thorns on His head and mocked Him.

You will remember the jeers and the wagging of the head by the Jews as the Lord hung in open shame on the Cross.

And yet we see this sobering picture in Revelation 19. The Lord Jesus Christ returns riding on a white horse… He come to judge and to rule and we notice in verse 12 that on His head are many crowns…

The idea is not the stephanos crown—- what we call the victors crown but the diadems—- the crown of rulership. The crown of the King.

Listen my friend, they did not have to make Him king, He is the King already…

We say this sometimes, I am going to make Jesus the Lord of my life and we understand what we are meaning by saying that, but the truth of the matter is He is the Lord of my life, whether I submit to Him or not.

This attitude of these people was we will make Him the king we want Him to be —- we will crown Him with an earthly crown… we will have a man of our choosing…

It reminds us of there demand for Saul in the Old Testament.

1 Samuel 8:5–7 “5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”

Thirdly, this is understood by what we find in verses 15-16 and also the synoptic accounts.

John 6:15–16 “15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. 16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,”

Matthew 14:22 “22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.”

Mark 6:45–46 “45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. 46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.”

If the people’s thoughts and actions had been of the Lord, the Lord would not have sent the people away.

It is also instructional that He sent his disciples across the sea to Bethsaida.

No doubt, the disciples faced the temptation to be caught up in the excitement of making the Lord Jesus Christ a king. And under the direction of the Lord, they did what you and I should do, which is flee from temptation.

The disciples, as we learn throughout the gospel records, were having to grapple with their understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ was as well.

For instance, in Mark’s record of the event following this one, the Bible tells us in Mark 6:51–52 “51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. 52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”

The disciples, as you well know, were Jewish men, who like the rest were influenced before this time by the common understanding of the Messiah.

In addition to this in Mark chapter 8, the Lord Jesus Christ would repeat this miracle feeding, except on that occasion 4000. (Mark 8:9)

It seems that the Lord would once again need to drive these lessons home to the disciples.

In fact the Lord ties the two events together in Mark 8:19–21 “19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. 21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?”

The sequel to this event, the feeding of the 5000, will be in the following verses.

In this sequel, the disciples will learn several lessons.

Remember in this first miracle the Lord demonstrates His power in the public.

But in this sequel, we will see the Lord present His power in private to the disciples.

As the disciples are sent off to the other side of the sea, the Lord, we are told goes into a mountain, but notice it states he departed ‘again’ into a mountain.

John 6:15 “15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”

It seems to me that the Lord returned to the very mountain where they just were (John 6:3).

“the mountain Christ went into, very probably was the same he went up to before” (Albert Barnes)

It is not so much spoken about in the book of John, but Jesus’ trip into the mountain, was a time apart to pray. (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46)

It may be that the Lord was praying for the multitudes that were just before him and their carnal understanding of the miracle.

Perhaps it was that He was praying for the disciples and their similar carnal reasoning about supplying the need of the multitudes.

The Bible does not tell us… but this one thing we do know, the Lord departed again into the mountain to pray.

Meanwhile, as we just read the Lord sent His disciples away by ship to go to the other side.

This second miracle would serve as a further instruction to the disciples about need to depend upon Him.

The Demonstration of His Power In Miracles vs. 1-21

1. The Feeding of the 5000. vs. 1-15

2. The Walking on the Water. vs. 16-21

Let’s read this section, from verses 16-21 to understand what is taking place.

John 6:16–21 “16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, 17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.”

Merril C. Tenney in His commentary of this section of John 6 noted this: “The story centered in Jesus’ relation to the disciples rather than in their peril or in the miracle itself. It may be divided into three aspects: first, Jesus apart from the disciples; second, Jesus appearing to the disciples; and finally, Jesus received by the disciples.”Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 114.

The other accounts can be found in Matthew 14:22-33.

Marks record of this event is found in Mark 6:45-52.

We note first of all their:

The Descent to the Sea vs. 16-17

“There is something almost symbolic in the fact that , “the disciples went down” to the lake. That is the only way they could go when they were so much out of fellowship with the Lord. (Phillips)

And how true of statement that is for you and I. When we break fellowship with the Lord, the only direction we head is certainly down.

Our thoughts go from that which is true, lovely, and of a good report… to that which is carnal and worldly.

Our actions become out of touch with the commands of God, and we begin to act like the rest of the world.

Our souls become dry and parched—-because we attempt to drink from cisterns and pots with holes in them.

The entrance into this ship to go to the other side was normal enough.

And this is the point is it not.

We understand that these men, many of them were professional fishermen.

If there was anything they could do on their own, it was sailing on the Sea of Galilee.

When they left at the first—there was no storm—- no indication of a storm. As far as the text goes, we find everything at peace…

The calm before the storm, reminds me of Jonah’s entrance into the ship. Unlike Jonah these disciples were following the direction of the Lord. But like Jonah—- they had know idea that the storm was about to overtake them.

In both cases, the need is still the same, for the Lord.

We might say it this way, this was in their wheel house!

The Darkness and Despair they Faced vs. 17-18

In these verses, we really again see the disciples insufficiency(and ours as well) to face the perils of this life without the Lord.

John 6:17–18 “17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.”

It appeared perhaps to the disciples in this second event that the Lord neglected to come to them.

“The failure of Jesus to meet them must have been disheartening. The difficulty of rowing would make their plight all the worse.” (Tenney)

Verse 17 tells us “…and Jesus was not come to them.”

Isaiah 30:18 “18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, And therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: For the Lord is a God of judgment: Blessed are all they that wait for him.”

The Bible further tells us that it was now dark.

Mark 6:48 (Matthew 14:25) tells us that it was the fourth watch of the night.

The fourth watch began at 3 am. (“The Jews reckoned three military watches: the “first” or beginning of the watches (Lamentations 2:19), from sunset to ten o’clock; the second or “middle watch” from ten until two o’clock (Judges 7:19); the third, “the morning watch,” from two to sunrise (Exodus 14:24; 1 Samuel 11:11). Afterward under the Romans they had four watches (Matthew 14:25): Luke 12:38. “even, midnight, cockcrowing, and morning” (Mark 13:35); ending respectively at 9pm, midnight, 3am, and 6am (compare Acts 12:4).” (Fausset’s Bible Dictionary)

This means that they could have been on the sea for nine hours.

“This is where the majority of people are: alone, in the dark without Jesus.” (Phillips)

Think about the great dangers that they faced in darkness. By way of application, those that are without Christ, and those who have broken fellowship with the Lord walk in darkness in great danger.

Concerning the wicked, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:19 “19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble.”

But even the Christian can be found in this way.

The apostle John writes of this in 1 John 2:11 “11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

To be sure when the disciples left port, they did not know this would be their end— and this too is how the danger of life walking without Christ.

John Phillips goes on to say, they are launched out into the seas of time. They are cast on their own resources.

The Drawing Near of the Savior vs. 19

“John (19) states that they had rowed over not more than thirty furlongs, or three and three quarters miles, from their point of departure in a period of nine hours, more or less. Threatened with exhaustion, they would have been at the mercy of the waves if help had not come soon. Apart from Jesus they were lost.”

Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 114–115.

The Dispelling of Fear vs. 20-21