John 6

Here's a devotion on John 6 I originally posted in 2009. Have a great day :)

Monday, April 27, 2009

John 6

By this time in the ministry of Jesus there were great crowds following Him, particularly because He was performing signs of the coming resurrection age, when a new life beyond the life of decay and mortality that we are so used to now will be here upon the earth. That life can be known now through the preaching of the kingdom, and will be known even more when we are in heaven. The crowds did not connect the signs that Jesus was doing to the new heavens and the new earth promised by the prophets, nor did they connect the signs to the Messiah as the key figure in bringing about the resurrection world to come. They certainly did not see the connection between the role of Jesus as the Passover Sin-Bearer and the coming of the fullness of God’s promises. What they did see is that people were being fixed now, and they wanted that. So many people wanted those blessings, and so many were following Him, that there was nothing approaching an adequate supply of food to meet everyone’s needs. Jesus cared about this, and though He knew what He would do to solve this problem, He put the question to His disciples, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat.”

Part of the correct answer to that question would be the inability of the disciples to do this task. They could not provide bread for thousands, but this is only part of the correct answer. The other part of the correct answer is that Jesus could do this, and that His performance of this miraculous feeding, providing bread from heaven, would be another confirming sign of His identity. As the Messiah would bring the Word of life to millions through the use of His disciples, He used them that day to give bread to thousands. He then instructed them to gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost. The baskets of fragments they gathered was a public display of the extent of this miracle, but His direction to gather the fragments may have had another point. The use of the imagery and vocabulary of lost bread and perishing people mentioned later in this chapter, makes us suspect that there was something more here in this surprising command after this sign of resurrection fullness. God does not like things to be permanently out of place (See Luke 15). Someone saved through the blood of Christ must not remain scattered abroad as if lost or perishing. Such a person should be gathered into God’s kingdom.

The people saw the sign that Jesus did, even though He was working through His disciples. They concluded that He was the great Prophet that they were expecting, and they determined that He should be King, and that they could make that happen their way. Therefore, He went away by Himself, which created the occasion for another miracle, this one seen only by His disciples, who were travelling by night on stormy seas. As He walked upon the rough waters with a memorable display of His sovereignty, He spoke amazing words of self-identification often translated, “It is I.” Our Lord used the words here that God used for His own name in the Old Testament, “I-AM.” Given the fact that He was walking on the water and that they quickly arrived at their destination once He came on board, it seems clear that Jesus was providing the reassurance to His disciples that would be a comfort to them through their proclamation of the Bread of Life to a world that often rejected Him and them. I-AM is with us.

The people were determined to find Him because they wanted more bread. They kept on speaking about bread, and He kept on speaking about Himself. They knew what they wanted, and God knew who they needed. They needed His Son, the Bread that came down from heaven. They did not believe this, and He knew it. He also knew two facts of salvation that are still just as true today as they were back then.1. Everyone who looks on the Son, and believes in Him, will have eternal life, raised up gloriously by Jesus on the day of His return. 2. No one can come to Jesus, unless the Father draws him. The point of this second fact is not that we should be passive or resigned about our eternal state. We are to believe in the one that the Father has sent and labor to have Him, for He is the bread from heaven, the only One with the Father’s seal of approval.

There were many who did not like the idea that Jesus was saying that He came down from heaven and Jesus knew it, but He did not back away from this important truth at all. He is the preexistent, eternal Son of God, and He holds the key to resurrection life. Those who are being drawn to Him by the Father will eventually vigorously desire Him. He spoke of them eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which then further offended those who were rejecting His Word. He said that those who want eternal life must feed on Him, and many of the larger group of His disciples were so offended by this that they no longer followed Him. The twelve remained with Him, though even one of them would eventually betray Him.

Jesus was using the imagery of eating His flesh, because He is the peace offering and the Passover Lamb. These were sacrificial offerings that the people of Israel were permitted to consume. Jesus is our peace and our rescue from certain judgment. The profit for us is not in His physical flesh, it is in His Word, which is Spirit and life to the one who will eagerly desire it and receive it. Something like this is surely happening when we rightly partake of the Lord’s Supper, which had not yet been instituted when the events of John 6 took place. Today we receive the Word from heaven gladly. There is no other place for us to go. We listen eagerly to the Word of God, knowing that this Word is alive and powerful. We long for Him, and we receive Him, for He is the bread who came down from heaven to give us life.