Podcast: Play in new window | Download (18.8MB)
Some time after this, Yeshua crossed to the far shore (going to the Eastern side) of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people (not just a crowd, but a very large crowd) followed Him because they saw the signs He had performed by healing the sick. Yeshua had made a tremendous impact on the set-apart nation. Many followed Him because He was known to be a great rabbi and miracle-working prophet.
Then Yeshua went up on a mountainside and sat down with His disciples. The Jewish Passover Holiday was near. When Yeshua looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. John wanted us to know that Yeshua was not ignorant about what was about to happen. God the Father had already made it clear to Yeshua that a great miracle was about to take place. The reason Yeshua asked where they could buy bread for so many people was to test Phillip, to find out the depth of Philip’s faith and expand Philip’s faith.
Who is Yeshua? Yeshua is Someone who will test our faith. He will bring us into situations that will challenge us in various ways, so that we will grow in our understanding of who Yeshua is and what He is capable of doing.
Philip answered Him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” That’s a lot of money. In our terms, say 20,000 dollars, an amount I doubt they had on hand.
Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Who is Yeshua? Someone who can do a lot with a little. If we give Yeshua a little – our devotion, even though it may be limited; our time, thoughts and prayers; our efforts to tells others about Him – He can take our meager efforts and do a lot with them.
Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Yeshua then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
Who is Yeshua? Yeshua is Someone who gave thanks to God before He ate in front of a large crowd. And He wants us to express our appreciation to God before we eat. This is a good spiritual habit that we should practice. And, don’t be embarrassed to give thanks before you eat, in the presence of anyone, at home or in public, silently or out loud, head lowered or raised, eyes open or closed.
Yeshua is Someone whom God used to feed five thousand men using five loaves of bread and two fish.
Yeshua is Someone whom God can use so that there is more that is left over than there is to begin with.
Yeshua is Someone who is able to feed five thousand, five million or five billion. Yeshua is Someone who can feed the whole world – if only we would believe in Him and become loyal to Him.
After the people saw the sign Yeshua performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” And they were right. Yeshua is the Prophet, the very special Prophet greater than Moses mentioned in Deuteronomy 18, the Prophet who represents God and speaks the words of God. He is God’s Spokesman, God’s Ambassador, God’s Representative. Yeshua is the greatest of all the prophets and He must be obeyed.
And this greatest of all prophets was also royalty. Yeshua was both prophet and king. He was a descendant of king David. If Yeshua could do a miracle like this while uncrowned, people must have been thinking: what could He do if He were king of Israel? Let’s make Him king! Yeshua, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. Yeshua knew it was not God’s will for Him to rule as king – at this time, and He rejected the desire of the crowd to force Him to become king, and He secluded Himself on a nearby mountain.
When evening came, His disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Yeshua had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Yeshua approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But He said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
Who is Yeshua? Someone who can walk on water. He is Someone who is greater than the laws of nature, which is understandable, since He made the laws of nature. He is Someone who, when He gets in the boat with us, helps us overcome our fears and helps us make it to our destination. There will be times in your life when the sun is shining and the wind is with you and you are sailing along nicely toward your goal. But there will also be times when you are sailing at night and the wind is against you and the going is difficult. Yeshua is Someone who can come down from the mountain, walk on water in the darkest night and get into the boat with you when the wind of life is blowing strongly against you so that you are able to make it to the shore. Having Yeshua in the boat with you can make all the difference between fear and fearlessness, failure and success.
The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Yeshua had not entered it with His disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Yeshua nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Yeshua. John has set the scene for us. The crowd has moved from the eastern shore to the western shore in search of Yeshua.
When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” This was a legitimate question, which Yeshua could have answered, but didn’t. Yeshua didn’t answer every question He was asked. He always saw beyond the question, understanding the real needs of the person asking the question, and then addressed those needs. He took control of the conversation and moved it in the direction He knew was best. This is something we need to learn how to do, especially in our evangelistic encounters: not feel obligated to answer every question; discern the person’s needs; take control of the conversation and address those needs.
Yeshua answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
Yeshua understood that this crowd was searching for Him for the wrong reason – to get more free food. When something is free, and you don’t have to work for it, naturally people want more of it – which is a huge problem with much of our current political thinking.
Yeshua is Someone who wants us to seek Him, not with the wrong motivations – to get more stuff we don’t have to work for, but with the right motivation – to receive spiritual blessing – like the gift of eternal life.
Yeshua often used everyday physical things that were easy for people to understand – like wind, bread, leaven, salt, food, water, birth, seeds and sowing and reaping, darkness and light – to help people understand spiritual realities, which very often they didn’t initially understand.
Food is necessary to sustain life. Without enough food, we become weak, we starve and die. Just we need food to maintain life, we need spiritual food to be spiritually alive. And the reality is that human beings are spiritually starved, spiritually dead. They have no spiritual food, no life-giving relationship with the living God.
Yeshua challenged the crowd to not seek Him for more bread, but for their greater need, spiritual food, spiritual life that comes from a life-giving relationship with God which Yeshua alone is able to provide, a live-giving relationship with God that results in eternal life.
And, Yeshua let the crowd know that God approved of Yeshua, and they should too. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval. It’s extremely rare for God to speak audibly to people on Earth. Yet, at Yeshua’s baptism, the Father declared: This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And again on the mountain on which Yeshua was transformed: This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him! God the Father Himself spoke, not once, but at least twice, testifying that He approved of Yeshua.
Ordinary human beings don’t do miracles. Normally, God will only allow someone who is very close to Him to do a miracle. Yeshua’s miracles, one of which they had just experienced, let these people know that Yeshua had God’s seal of approval. The crowd should likewise approve of Yeshua and take to heart what He was telling them.
Yeshua challenged them: work for food that endures to eternal life. Then they asked Him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” That’s a good question, a question Yeshua wants asked. That is a question He was willing to answer. Yeshua answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”
Religious people think that religious activity is what God wants from us – being a good person and doing good things. Yeshua knew that there is a kind of religious activity that is more fundamental, more basic; a kind of inward religious activity
that must come before outward religious activity; a kind of inward religious activity that must be the source of our goodness and good deeds. It’s a faith activity, a mental activity, a spiritual activity. It’s a becoming-loyal-to-God’s-Prophet kind of activity. It’s a transferring of loyalty to God’s Emissary, God’s Ambassador, God’s Representative. The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.
The crowd didn’t want that kind of work. They wanted more free food and asked a question designed to manipulate Yeshua into making more bread. So they asked Him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.’” If Yeshua was so special, like He claimed, maybe even greater than Moses, then He should be able to outdo the miracle of the manna given in the wilderness, food that fed the Jewish people for 40 years. Yeshua should be able to provide even more bread and for a long period of time. On the surface, this request seemed religious and spiritual, and was based on a quote from the Bible. And when someone seems religious and spiritual and quotes the Bible, he must be right, right?
Yeshua is wise and can’t be manipulated by any human being. He is wiser than any one of us or any group of people. And He is in charge. He took control of the conversation and redirected it where He wanted it to go – to Himself and our need to believe in Him.
Yeshua said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from Heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.” Yeshua clarified that it was God, not Moses, who provided the bread in the wilderness, and God was His Father; which means that Yeshua was the unique Son of God, sharing the Father’s nature and the Father’s authority.
Yeshua claimed that He alone of all mankind, had a unique origin. He came from Heaven. He existed in Heaven before He was born on Earth
Yeshua claimed that He was a gift from God to humanity, that He was given by God, which means He was sent by God to do something beneficial for the people of the world.
Yeshua acknowledged that God indeed gave the Jewish people bread from Heaven, but claimed that He was the true bread from Heaven. He was able to give spiritual life to the entire world, a world devoid of spiritual life.
Why wouldn’t these people want to believe in the Son of God, who came from Heaven, whom God sent into the world to give spiritual life to the entire world?
These claims have the profoundest implications for human beings. But what the crowd focused on was bread. The crowd, thinking Yeshua was talking about physical bread, wanted more free food, and they wanted it all the time. “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” But Yeshua was not talking about bread. He was talking about Himself, and their need for Him, which He clarified. Then Yeshua declared, “I am the bread of life.”
Then He told them how to receive spiritual life from Him. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. We are able to receive spiritual nourishment and spiritual life from the one who is the bread of life by coming to Him – and we come to Him by having faith in Him – by knowing who He is and by transferring our loyalties to Him. This is a spiritual coming to Yeshua by faith, by belief, by transferring loyalties and commitments. It has nothing to do with eating bread and drinking wine which some religious leaders claim to turn into the literal body and blood of Christ.
To those of us who have been given the grace to have eyes to see, we know that Yeshua is who He claimed to be – the Messiah and the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But not everyone who saw Him, who even experienced one of His miracles, believed in Him the way they needed to. But as I told you, you have seen Me and still you do not believe.
Why will some see Yeshua and believe in Him and others will see and not believe? It has to do with the will of the sovereign God. All those the Father gives Me will come to Me.
Salvation is something that God initiates, not man. Before the world was created, God had a plan to create beings made in His image, who would become His eternal sons and daughters and companions. All of those who were chosen before the creation of the world by the will of the sovereign God (and it seems that some human beings were not chosen) will see Yeshua and then come to Yeshua – by having faith in Yeshua. Not one of them will not come to Yeshua. All those exceedingly valuable creatures who come to Yeshua, are given by the Father to the Son. They are a incredibly precious gift from the Father to the Son.
And Yeshua promised to accept every one of the human beings that the Father gives to Him. All those the Father gives Me will come to Me and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away. Yeshua will receive each one of those given to Him by God, who come to Him, even though they are flawed and imperfect and have been tainted by sin. He will never reject them. He will never abandon them.
Why will He never drive them away? Because it is the will of God for Him to receive them, protect them and give them eternal life, and Yeshua is totally committed to doing God’s will. For I have come down from Heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
Yeshua claimed to have come from Heaven. He claimed to have been sent by God on a mission to Earth. He claimed never to operate out of self-interest, but rather to be exclusively concerned about doing what God the Father wanted done.
And, what is it that God wants done? Yeshua knew. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is the will of God the Father that Yeshua not lose a single human being that is given to Him; and that in addition to receiving each one, and protecting each one and keeping each one safe, He resurrects each one so that each one will live forever.
This is God’s will. This is what God wants. This is what God insists on – that every human being who sees Yeshua and comes to Yeshua by believing in Him, by understanding who Yeshua is and by making a decision to become loyal to Yeshua – is received by Yeshua, protected by Yeshua, resurrected by Yeshua and lives forever with Yeshua. So, God, help us do Your will and see Yeshua and believe in Him the way You want us to! Amen?
Among the crowd were leaders who rejected one of the claims Yeshua made about Himself. At this the Jewish leaders there began to grumble about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from Heaven.” They said, “Is this not Yeshua, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I came down from Heaven’?” Not understanding the power of God and Yeshua’s incarnation and not accepting Yeshua’s claim about Himself, these leaders assumed they knew enough about Yeshua and His family to know that it was impossible for Yeshua to have a heavenly origin. They were arrogant and they were wrong.
Yeshua knew they were complaining about His claim to have a heavenly origin and reprimanded them for their unbelieving attitude. “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Yeshua answered.
Why did some believe in Yeshua and others didn’t? Yeshua knew. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. Salvation is initiated by God, not man. No human being is capable of coming to Yeshua – understanding who Yeshua is and becoming loyal to Him – unless God the Father chooses that person before the foundation of the world, and then, when that person is born, God is at work, revealing the truth to that chosen one about Yeshua, wooing Him to Yeshua, drawing him to Yeshua, teaching Him about Yeshua. Yeshua understood that only those who were being drawn by God the Father were able to come to Yeshua and have faith in Him that would save them.
Yeshua reinforced this truth with a quote from the Prophets: It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.” Isaiah predicted (54:13) that a time would come when God Himself would teach the Jewish people. Yeshua understood that God was already doing that. God was already revealing to the Jewish people, in various ways – through Yeshua Himself, through His miracles, through the witness of John the Baptist, through the writings of the prophets, and in other ways, that Yeshua is the Messiah. Those who were hearing from God, learning from what God the Father was teaching them in various ways, were coming to Yeshua.
This means that not everyone who claims to be religious, who claims to be a servant of God, really is hearing from God and learning from God. But those who really do hear and learn from God are directed by God to Yeshua. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me. This is as true now as the day Yeshua spoke these words. Which means that non-Messianic Jews are not hearing and learning from God; Muslims are not hearing and learning from God; none of those involved in the other world religions are hearing or learning from God.
So, who is Yeshua according to this part of the sixth chapter of the divinely inspired book of John?
Yeshua is the Son of God, who came from Heaven, whom God sent into the world to give spiritual life to a world devoid of spiritual life.
Yeshua is the Prophet greater than Moses who speaks the words of God. He is God’s Ambassador, God’s Representative who must be obeyed.
Yeshua is Someone about whom God the Father teaches people about and directs them to.
Yeshua is Someone whom God used to feed five thousand men using five loaves of bread and two fish. Yeshua is Someone who is able to feed five thousand, five million or five billion or the whole world – if only we would believe become loyal to Him.
Yeshua is Someone to whom God the Father gives those who are redeemed from this world. Yeshua will receive everyone the Father gives Him He will not lose a single human being that is given to Him. He will protect each one and resurrect each one.
Yeshua is Someone who can come down from the mountain, walk on water in the darkest night and get into the boat with you when the winds are blowing against you so that you are able to make it to the shore.
Yeshua is Someone who can do a lot with a little. So, let’s give Him our love, our devotion, even though they may be limited; our time, thoughts and prayers; our efforts to tells others about Him, so that He takes our meager efforts and does a lot with them. Amen?