Fall League Chapel 4

Signs review

Water to Wine—Jesus perfect obedient life will completely fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law (water) and His sacrificial death for the sins of the world will cover the just requirements of a holy God as payment for the penalty of all disobedience (wine or His blood). Remember on the cross, “it is finished!)

Healing of the Royal Officials Son—This sign was about having the faith to believe w/o seeing a miraculous sign. Jesus said go, he will live, and the man went. At that hour he was healed, the man and his whole household believed.

The Healing of the Paralyzed Man on the Sabbath—This healing was not based on faith, Jesus initiated it and the man had no idea who healed him. When confronted for “working” carrying his bedmat on the Sabbath, he gave Jesus right up. But this is the story, the confrontation with the religious leaders and their misinterpretation and mis-application of the commands of God. Inaccurate understanding leads to an inability see and receive Jesus if we are unwilling to be taught the truth.

So now we get to the 4th sign, Jesus Feeding of the 5 thousand.

The Parallels

Jesus, in His perfect obedient sinless life is doing something mankind has been unable to do since our inception.

So we see in the life of Jesus all these parallels to the story of humanity and the the story of the Jewish people.

This 4th Sign is no different. It parallels the time when the nation of Israel was in the wilderness after God freed and liberated the people from Egypt.

Let me explain what has been happening from the beginning.

Eden was a kingdom, God is king, Adam and Eve His loyal subjects. Adam and Eve were convinced, although not too much persuasion was needed, that they should be their own king because God was not good, He couldn’t be trusted, and He was holding out on them, keeping them from reaching their full potential. Even though God made Adam and Eve in His image, they were image bearers, and they were given dominion, or rule over this kingdom on God’s behalf, that wasn’t enough, so they defected, they disobeyed and tried to make themselves king and queen. Man rejected God’s offer to have Him as their king, by doing this they introduced an alternate kingdom, where sin leads to pain and suffering and eventually death physically, but also death in all our relationships especially with God.

But this doesn’t stop God, again with the nation of Israel He hits the restart button. God frees Israel from a tyrannical earthly kingdom called Egypt and sets them up as a free people to live with God once again as their king. Ultimately, Israel failed to live as God’s obedient people and rejected God as their king wanting an earthly human king so they could be like their neighboring peoples. Again, pain suffering and death ensued.

But God doesn’t stop there, once again He hits the restart button, He sends Jesus, God Himself in the flesh, to live obediently as a loyal subject to the reign and rule of God, to live as the only human to ever live obediently, but to also pay the penalty for all the disobedience of mankind since the beginning of time. But, Jesus is also the rightful king, ushering in the kingdom of God to earth at the same time.

So as we look at this “sign” we see that it parallels the time when Israel was in the wilderness. God fed the people with manna, or bread from heaven, but it was a test, and Israel failed. Jesus feeds the people in the wilderness as a test, to see if their following Him is for what He can do, or for who He is. Will they follow Him because He is God and therefore be obedient to Him, or do they want something from Him, and will therefore follow after Him to get from Him what they want.

Let’s look at the story, my storying it

New Living Translation Chapter 6

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”

8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”

10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

14 When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

14 When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

The people were likening Jesus to Moses, who freed them from Egyptian oppression, so now they would expect Jesus to free them from Roman oppression.

So He slips away, there’s a story of walking on water, and as fascinating as that is, we’re going to skip it and pick up the story the next morning as the people show up for breakfast.

14 When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

New Living Translation Chapter 6

Jesus, the Bread of Life

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. 23 Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”

28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”

29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. 45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)

47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”

59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

New Living Translation Chapter 6

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”

28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”

29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

Jesus here clearly alludes to the wilderness experience of Israel when God provided manna. Let’s look at

New Living Translation Chapter 8

2 Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4

When Jesus was tested by the devil in the wilderness to turn stones into bread because He was starving, He responded to the devil with verse 3, Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

These people were about to prove they only wanted bread from Jesus, not His word, not His teaching. They didn’t believe in Him, but just wanted a God or Messiah to meet their needs.

Just feed us Jesus, but don’t tell us what to do.

Jesus other signs were so people could believe, and this is no different. It exposed unbelief because we don’t have the right to believe in God or Jesus the way we see Him or want Him to be, we have to believe in who He is, who the Bible tells us He is.

That’s the story here,

New Living Translation Chapter 6

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37

New Living Translation Chapter 6

41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

New Living Translation Chapter 6

47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

Jesus was a good and faithful Jew, they had dietary laws, He is not teaching cannibalism, He is talking about accepting and receiving all of who Jesus is, taking it deep inside us as a true belief and commitment to follow Him. He was offering spiritual wholeness and eternal life not physical and material satisfaction. The manna was life sustaining but not life giving, Jesus as the true “bread” was life giving and permanently soul satisfying.

New Living Translation Chapter 6

66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

Most left, but some stayed, so how about us?

Do we go to God just to get from God, we seek His hands and not Him?

Is our faith in God based on what we think He’s like or should be like, or who He truly is?

Are we truly a commited follower, or once things get confusing, difficult, are we out of here.

Is He truly the Holy One of God who possess the words of eternal life to us?

If He’s not and you want to know more or make Him that stay after and talk to me.

Let’s pray.