Tucked
between the feeding of the 5,000 with bread and meat and Jesus
revealing that He is the Bread of life is the story of Jesus walking
on water to save His disciples from a great storm that threatened
their lives. Bread and meat are symbolic of the Word of God – both
the written Word and the Living Word Jesus. Jesus has fed the hunger
of the crowd's physical needs, but Jesus wanted to feed them the
Bread of Heaven that will feed their soul and spirit. This Jewish
crowd saw the bread and fish that satisfied their physical needs but
missed the Person of Jesus as the Word of God who will satisfy their spiritual, eternal
needs. The crowd was glad that their belly was filled, but they
didn't come to seek Jesus and the Truth. They were impressed with His
miracles.
Jesus said in v27,
“Do not labor for food that perishes, but for the food that endures
to eternal life which the Son of Man will give to you.” His
eternal bread is free but we must labor for it. In other words,
study, dig into and search His Word to mine out its rich truths so
your soul and spirit will be satisfied. He said in Luke
12:23, “Life is more than food, and the body is more than
clothing.” 1 Corinthians 8:8: “But food (physical)
does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we better, or
if we do not eat are we worse.” Physical
food has no eternal, spiritual benefit. The spiritual food of the
Anointed Word of God does. It shows us the character and ways of the
Godhead, and also the character and ways of the devil. It also shows
us the character and ways of the flesh, and the character and ways of those led by the Holy Spirit of God.
After
the miracle of the bread multiplying to feed the multitudes, the
crowd of Jews wanted to make Jesus king. Jesus told His disciples to
go across the Sea of Galilee to the other side. No doubt Jesus
feared that His disciples would get caught up in the rebellion to
make Him king, so He sent them away to avoid this. The Jews were
looking for an earthly kingdom. The Messiah they were looking for
would destroy the earthly enemies of earthly Israel and set up His
Kingdom in earthly Israel. Two of His Jewish apostles even wanted to
sit at the right and left of Jesus in this earthly kingdom. His
apostles still hadn't realized that Jesus came to establish a
spiritual Kingdom made up of both Jews and Gentiles who would live
and reign with Him forever in the eternal New Jerusalem. Their eyes
were fixed on the earthly not the spiritual. Even after His
resurrection, His Jewish disciples were asking Him if He was going to
bring in the kingdom now. (see
Acts 1:6) Again,
their eyes were on an earthly kingdom and Jesus wanted them to see
that it was a spiritual kingdom He would be King over. Even the
Pharisees were looking for an earthly kingdom. When they asked Jesus
when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus responded, “The
kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will
people say, 'Here it is,' or 'there it is,' because the kingdom of
God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21 In
other words, it is not material (earthly)
or
political. It is in the hearts and spirits of those who follow Jesus
and His righteousness, grace, love, peace, truth and joy. Jesus even
told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. He went on to
say that if His kingdom was of this world, His servants would fight
to prevent His arrest by the Jews. “But
now My Kingdom is from another place.” John 18:36
Jesus
Withdraws to Commune with the Father
Jesus
went to a mountainside alone to pray to His Heavenly Father. While
in the high place communing with God, Jesus “sees” His disciples
fighting the storm that has come against them in the midst of the
sea. Jesus is omniscient which means He sees and knows everything.
Omniscience is not restricted to any One of the Godhead – they are
all by nature omniscient. They are also omnipresent and omnipotent.
Even though Jesus was limited by His flesh body, He was omniscient –
all-knowing – because of His close connection to the Father and the
Holy Spirit. He had the fullness of the Father and the Holy Spirit
within. He showed His omniscience many times as He walked the
earth. He had nothing clouding His spiritual vision – no sin.
He
knew the thoughts of others. (see Matthew
9:4; 12:25; Mark 2:6-8; Luke 6:8)
- He knew what people had done in their lives before He met them. (see John 4:18 – woman at the well)
- He knew Lazarus was dead before anyone told Him. (see John 11:11-15)
- He knew Nathanael's life and heart before He ever met Him. (see John 1:47-48)
- He knew the hearts of the Pharisees, scribes and the wicked.
Jesus saw His disciples in their dire situation. He will go to save them.
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