John

Chapter 6
{Feeding the 5000; God Uses Prepared People - The 7th Witness - Verses 1-15}
1~~After these things
  {miracles and provocation of religious leaders},
Jesus went {got away from the negative volition}
over to the Sea of Galilee
which is also called the Sea of Tiberius.

{Note: Jesus left because He just put the religious crowd down hard. Jesus moves to a place where people are more responsive to His message . . . outside of Jerusalem . . . up into the mountains. This was a place where the robbers of the day would hang out in the mountain caves. And the people follow Jesus to this area . . . to see a miracle. They want to be entertained.}

{Note: The Sea of Galilee was re-named the Sea of Tiberius to win the favor of Tiberius Caesar.}

2~~Then a great multitude kept on following Him {Jesus} . . .
because they kept on seeing the miracles
that He kept on doing
to them that were diseased.

3~~And Jesus went up on a mountain
and there He sat with His disciples.

{Note: If you want to get away from a crowd, climb a mountain. His disciples here probably are the twelve plus other believers.}

{Parenthesis to Explain the Time of Year}
4~~(Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.)

{Note: The reason why Jesus is not in Jerusalem for the Passover is because He is the Passover Lamb. But the Religious crowd has rejected the Lamb of God - ritual without reality. So the ritualistic Passover is being observed in Jerusalem, the Passover Lamb is on a mountain by the Sea of Galilee.}

{Verses 5-7: Challenge to Philip - Can He Apply Doctrine to the Situation?}
5~~Then Jesus discerned with His eyes.
And seeing a great multitude that kept on coming
face to face with Him {He greeted each one personally},
He said to Philip,
"Where shall we buy bread . . .
that these may eat?"

{Note: In the previous chapter, Jesus looked up and saw the crowd coming down the mountain. This time, He lifted His eyes to see the crowd coming up the mountain.}

{Note: This was a challenge to Philip to see if he would apply the doctrine of the Deity of Christ in his soul to the situation and say, "Hey, we don't have to go anywhere to buy bread to eat, because you ARE THE BREAD . . . the Son of the Living God!"}

6~~And THIS {where can we get bread} . . .
He, Jesus, kept on saying
  {must have said it over and over while Philip thought it out},
to keep on testing/proving him {for good or for evil - peirazo}.
For He {Jesus} Himself, knew what He was about to do -
He knew in eternity past with the result that He still knew it right this minute .

{Note: Peirazo is an assayers term for testing to see if there was for example gold in the ore sample. Here it means to test for the purpose of determining good or evil. Jesus was testing if Philip was able to apply the doctrine that he should have understood from the discourse he had heard Jesus give in the temple.}

{Philip's Human Viewpoint Answer}
7~~Philip answered Him,
"Two hundred 'silver coins'/denarion {a day's wage}
worth of bread is not sufficient for them,
that everyone may take/grab a little."

{Note: At this time, 16 cents was a day's wages = 1 denarius (Matthew 20:2,9,13). Times 200 coins means Philip says it would take 6 months of 'daily wages' to feed a crowd this big. Philip is being very practical here - using HUMAN VIEWPOINT APPLICATION. He is limiting the Lord, even though he knows better. He forgets faith-rest, and refuses to watch the Lord work. He is functioning on practical unbelief, not functioning on doctrine . . . 'estimating the cost to feed the crowd'.}

{Error is Contagious}
8-9~~One of His disciples, Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother . . . kept on saying to Him, 9~~
"There is a lad here
who has five barley loaves and two small fish,
but what are they among so many?"

{Note: Andrew's unbelief is contagious! And, Andrew is a detail man. He notices details and noticing the boy is the only one out of the crowd to bring food. He is functioning on hopeless unbelief.}

10~~Then Jesus said/commanded, "Make the men sit down."
Now there was much grass in the place {a meadow}.
So the adult males sat down, in number about five thousand.

{Note: This is a command. And Jesus knows that those who are upset and in panic palace need to be given some simple commands and told exactly what to do . . . given clear, concise orders to follow}

{Jesus Uses Prepared People}
11~~And Jesus,
having taken the loaves
and having given thanks,
He {Jesus} distributed them to the disciples
and the disciples to those sitting down;
and likewise of the fish
as much as they wished/desired to eat
from the emotions of their soul.

{Note: Jesus took what was available and multiplied it and so he does the same in each of our lives. He takes what is available in our lives and He multiplies it into a banquet! Jesus takes the doctrine in your soul and multiplies it into something fantastic for impact upon the human race. God is pleased to use the weak, the small, and the helpless (Zechariah 4: 7-10). He took what the little boy had and because the boy was prepared, Jesus honored that boy! God uses prepared people. God does not work independently of doctrine, but uses the doctrine in the souls of prepared believers -- hopeless, helpless and weak as they are, and he multiplies that which they have, because they were prepared through doctrine - (II Corinthians 12: 9-10). God is pleased to use human instruments in the execution of His Plan.}

12~~So, when they were filled/satisfied
- at a point in time, divorced from time, and remembered forever -
He said to the disciples,
"Gather up the fragments {half loaves} that remain . . .
so that nothing be lost."

{Note: The crowd ate and became full! But they neither EARNED or DESERVED it . . . Grace!}

13~~Therefore, they gathered them up
and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves
which were left over by those who had eaten
- in the past, with the result
that they would never forget what they had done and seen.

{Note: The Lord told the Twelve to carry the food down the mountain with them, to remind them of the miracle.}

{Incorrect Application - Jews want Eternal Kingdom Before the Cross}
14~~Then those men
when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did
said, "This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world."

{Note: This quote is from Deuteronomy 18:15. They want Him as ruler/king, but not savior. They want the political solution to their national problems, as they are now in the 4th cycle of discipline.}

15~~Therefore when Jesus perceived
they would take Him by force to make Him a King,
He departed again to a mountain by Himself.

{Note: They were negative toward doctrine, so Jesus left. The emphasis in our lives should always be on the spiritual life. God solves your problems through the cross and the spiritual life. The cross must always come before the crown. Rewards follow after the spiritual life is executed.}

{The disciples go across the sea of Galilee - Another test to apply doctrine failed - Verses 16-2}
16~~Now when it became evening,
His disciples went down to the sea.

{Note: This is in the evening. The disciples have their twelve baskets full of food, a reminder of the faithfulness of the Lord, a reminder of the hypostatic union, a reminder that Jesus Christ is God as well as true humanity, and a very recent reminder of the miracles of the Lord.}

17~~And entered into a ship,
and began to go over the sea toward Capernaum.
And it was now dark,
and Jesus had not come to them.

18~~And the sea kept on rising
because a great wind was blowing.

{Note: The disciples are going to have another test. They have another opportunity to apply doctrine to experience . . . the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The storm depicts the pressures, the cares, the trials, the desires, the heartaches, and the frustrations of life. It is in those times that we are to remain calm and rely on the Lord. The battle is the Lord's.}

19~~So when they had rowed
about twenty-five to thirty stadion {three or four miles},
they at points in time saw Jesus walking on the sea
  {with huge waves, they saw Him at the top of the wave and not
  when down in the trough}
and drawing near the boat.
And they continued to receive fear {from their circumstances}.

{Note: In the day the bible was written, one stadius was the length around a track in a stadium. This was usually about 600 feet. So 25 to 30 times 600 feet would be about 3 to 4 miles. They were far enough away that they could not get back to shore in the storm. So, again they failed to apply doctrine to the situation. Even when they saw the Lord, they did not calm down. They continued to receive fear - passive tense.}

20~~But He {Jesus} said to them,
"It keeps on being I. Stop being afraid."

{Note: Being afraid is one of the best ways that Satan has of getting to you and using you. Isaiah 41:10; Deuteronomy 31:6,8; 2 Timothy 1:7; Psalm 56:3. Psalm 103:10 express God's grace in the midst of our failures.}

{Note: They see Jesus walking on the water, and drawing nigh unto the ship . . . and they were afraid. They weren't afraid because they saw Jesus, they were afraid all the time but now they are still afraid. The fact that Jesus is walking on the water is no encouragement to them at all. None of the disciples drowned. They did worse than drown, they turned into a frightened mass of jelly on the inside, a mental attitude sin called fear. It has a twin brother called worry. Pressure makes you concentrate on yourself, and you so concentrate on yourself that the survival of self and the catering to self and the blessing of self that you completely exclude any occupation with Christ. Jesus is walking on the water and they are still frightened. They are holding a basket and they are still frightened.}

21~~Then they began to be willingly
to receive Him {Jesus}
into the boat . . .
and immediately the boat 'was stabilized wherever they went'
  {literally - 'was at the land where they were going'}.

{Note: 'Was at the land where they were going' doesn't mean it zipped into land. This is an idiom. It means 'like being on land.' Immediately the storm ceased around them and it was so smooth. The wind stopped suddenly, the waves stopped, and the sea smoothed out like glass, and it was like being on land. That is a miracle. See Matthew 14:13 and following for more on the feeding of 5000 and Jesus walking on water.}

{Verses 22-40: Jesus' First Message Addressed to the Seeking Crowd}
22~~The following day,
the people who were standing on the other side of the sea
saw/realized at a point in time that there was no other boat there,
except that one which His disciples had entered,
and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples . . .
but His disciples had gone away alone!

{Note: It took a whole day to get 5000 people from Tiberius over to the western shore and then back to Capernaum.}

23~~(But, other boats came from Tiberius,
near the place where they ate bread
after the Lord had given thanks.)

24~~So, when the people noticed/realized that Jesus was not there
and that He had not taken the long path around,
  {that He had apparently by some miracle moved over to the other
  side},
they also took shipping and came to Capernaum,
constantly seeking for Jesus.

{Note: In other words, when they arrived the next day they were constantly seeking Him, looking everywhere for Him. They finally discovered Him at the synagogue.}

{Jesus' Discourse About the Bread of Life}
25~~And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea,
they said to Him,
"Rabbi {expression of negative volition - don't call him Lord},
'how did you get over here?' "
  {idiom - literally is 'when did You come here?'}

{Note: They are thinking . . . You are here, You have come here in the past with the result that You are here now, and we have no explanation of it and we would like an explanation. Again, you can see that they are great for details, they are great for speculation, they are impressed by His power, but they are not impressed by His person - Who and what He is as far as savior-hood is concerned. Again, this indicates something of the crowd. How did you get here? By some miracle? If so, then by some miracle you can also defeat the Roman legions!}

26~~Jesus discerned from the ultimate source of His inner resources
and answered {apokrinomai} them and said,
" 'Most assuredly'/'point of doctrine' . . .
I say to you,
you seek Me,
not because you saw the signs
  {miracles were prophesized as being signs of the arrival of the
  Messiah},
but because you ate of the loaves and were filled/satisfied."

{Note: Again, apokrinomai means to discern from the ultimate source of your own inner resources. This is knowledge of bible doctrine in the soul resulting in discernment. Jesus Christ is discerning from his own inner resources of his humanity, through the doctrine in his own soul to give the divine viewpoint answer here.}

{Note: Jesus knows what is going on here and He isn't going to let anyone use Him. It takes doctrine, it takes discernment not to get used by people! They still are impressed with His power, but they reject His Person.}

Continued

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