Welcome to Truth for Life, where we are studying Jesus' truly, truly statements. Today, Alice Derbegg investigates an incident where Jesus worked within the natural world in a phenomenally supernatural way. He multiplied a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish to feed thousands.
So what does this miracle mean and why does it matter? We'll find the answer today. in John's Gospel. I invite you to turn to the Gospel of John and to chapter six. And to follow along as I read the first.
Fifteen verses. John chapter 6 and verse 1. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him.
Because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.
Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him. Jesus said to Philip Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred denarii worth of bread, would not be enough for each of them to get a little.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here. who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they for so many? Jesus said, Have the people sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place.
So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.
So also the fish. as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.
So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king. Jesus withdrew again. to the mountain by himself.
Amen. Father, thank you that you have Revealed yourself to us. Thank you that you have given us our Bibles. in our own tongue. Thank you that we are able to read them.
and learn of you and learn to trust in you. We pray that the work of the Holy Spirit At this moment and in our lives may be. all that you have purposed for it to be. and that our lives might be brought into conformity with your truth. and with the image of your Son.
in whose name we pray. Amen. Well, let me invite you again to turn to John chapter 6. We a few weeks ago began to chart our course through John's Gospel. By paying particular attention to the occasions when Jesus introduces a statement.
uh with the two words truly truly Or In the King James Version, as some of us grew up learning them, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. It's not that any of the other words that are not introduced in that way. Are any less significant, but it is simply that Jesus is drawing very careful attention to what he's about to say. And we saw that in chapter one. Where he says, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
And then in chapter 3, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God. On the last occasion in verse 25 of chapter 5, Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. And now we come to chapter six. And in chapter six, there are four truly, truly statements. And the one that I'm going to focus on that I think demands our attention.
is found in verse Fifty-three.
So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood. You have no life. In Europe.
Now what we've said about each of these statements is that if we're going to understand them, it is absolutely vital that we have an understanding of what both precedes the statement and what follows the statement. And we tried to do that so far. In relationship to this particular statement in verse fifty-three. All of us, I think, are aware of the fact that it is one of the most misunderstood and misapplied statements made by Jesus in all of the Gospels. And therefore, I decided that since it is set in this large surrounding section.
That instead of descending as it were from above and dropping into verse 53, And in Relationship to what we said about the importance of what precedes it and follows it. I've decided that we should expound the entire chapter. It is a very significant chapter. It's the longest chapter in John's Gospel. It's actually the longest chapter in the New Testament.
And it is a chapter that Proves to be a turning point in many ways as Jesus goes through this material. And towards the end of the chapter, as we'll see, the people who are listening to him, his disciples say to him, You know, these things that you're saying, this is a very hard thing that you're saying. And Jesus says, Well, if you take offense at this, What do you want me to say? And then John records, verse 66. After this, many of his disciples turned back.
And no longer walked with it. That's how crucial it was. That's how big of a crossroads it actually proved to be.
So I hope you don't mind that I'm somehow or another violating the plan. I'm not, actually I'm trying to do a better job of it. And so this morning we will look just at the first fifteen verses, which are very familiar verses. And God willing, this evening, then we will look at verses 16 through 21. In these first 15 verses, of course, we have another one of these signs.
It's very important that we have as a control in all of our reading of John's Gospel what we have said previously, and that is that the 31st verse of John chapter 20 leaves us in no doubt about what John is doing in providing us with this gospel. He's saying that Jesus did more signs than are actually recorded in his gospel, but all that he has recorded have been recorded in order that those who read of this might believe. That Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing they might have life in His name.
So the signs, when we come on them, we have to keep in mind always the reason this sign is here is in order that we might understand who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
Now, of course, what we have is this miracle. this amazing miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Interestingly, it is the only miracle apart from the resurrection that is found in each of the four Gospels. And so each of them decided, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that it was important that they would have a record of this.
Now, let's just look at it, and you see, first of all, we discover where this is taking place. Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. There he is in what is today the Golan Heights. As you watch your news at the moment and you find those maps appearing there. You can remember that this is actually where Jesus was engaging with his disciples, and in this particular occasion, on this section of the land.
That's where they are. Who's there? Verse two, a large crowd was following him. And the reason they were following him is because they saw the signs. Particularly, they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
Now, that man who had been raised after being paralyzed for 38 years was surely a significant figure in the community. And anyone that looked at him and said, Didn't you always lie there? And he said, Yes, I did until I met that man. What man is that?
Well, I didn't know him at first, but I know that it is Jesus of Nazareth. People say, there's something about this man. And so there they are, the large crowd. And along with a large crowd, in verse 3, Jesus had gone up onto the mountain, to a vantage point. And there he sat down with his disciples.
So where are they? On the side of the Sea of Galilee. Who's there? The crowd, Jesus and the disciples. And when was this taking place?
Well, you have a little footnote there, don't you, in verse 4?
Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. An annual recollection of God's amazing intervention. in terms of the people of God in the Old Testament. And John tells us that that was in the proximity of what was taking place here in chronological terms, and gives to us a hint of the kind of enthusiasm, the kind of expectation, the kind of mentality that would have been in the minds of those who had come to follow Jesus.
Now the feast of the Passover, you remember, celebrated the Exodus. The Exodus took place when a lamb was slaughtered. and the blood was sprinkled, and then the lamb was eaten. They all knew that. They also knew that when they stepped out and were in the wilderness with Moses, then there was manna that was provided.
And we have already been introduced at the very beginning of John's Gospel to the one who is the Lamb of God. And so the people's minds would be focused in some measure on, if you like, Moses and on manna. And I think it's very clear that Jesus, recognizing all the context in which he finds himself, is then able to explain with great clarity About the bread that came down from heaven. He's going to tell them later on. I find it hard not to jump ahead.
He's going to say to them later on, you know, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it was my Father that gave you the bread from heaven. You're looking at the wrong place if you look at Moses. Moses is a forerunner of me. Anyway, there we have it. In verse five, he has a question for Philip.
Lifting up his eyes and seeing a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread so that these people can eat?
Well, it would seem understandable that he would address this question to Philip. Because Philip, we already were introduced to him as coming from Bethseda. in the forty-fourth verse of chapter one. In other words, he was from this area. And so he says, uh is there a place around here?
that it would be good to get the food.
Now we're told that uh it was a test. There you see it in the text. He said this to test him, verse 6. Jesus knew what he was going to do. But Philip comes back and answers A very straightforwardly you might almost say with a measure of sarcasm You know, if you had eight months' wages, he says, if you had eight months' wages, you couldn't get enough food to feed this crowd, except they only got one bite each.
That's how dramatic the circumstances are. And then in verse 8, you have the intervention of one of his disciples, Andrew. We've all read Andrew. Andrew seems to be good at bringing people places. You remember that he met Jesus, and then we're told that he went and found his brother Peter.
Peter and he brought him to Jesus.
So, maybe his personality is such that he just picks up people as he's moving around. Anyway, for some reason, he had fastened on to the fact that there was a boy here, verse 9. who has five barley loaves and two fish. But he says that clearly is not going to cut it. That's a drop.
in a bucket for a crowd like this.
So a question. For Philip. An intervention. By Andrew. and the direction then from Jesus.
Jesus said, Have the people Sit down. Please Be seated. There was a lot of grass in the area.
So the men sat down, about five thousand. A number. Incidentally, the way they counted at this time in terms of men. it's more than likely that those men represented heads of families.
So that would then mean that you're looking at a crowd of potentially between 15 and 20,000 people. Depending on how many people are in your family, you can double it with a wife. and then you can multiply it in terms of children.
So it's quite uh Quite a challenge, I think, that is entrusted to the disciples to have the people sit down. Can you imagine it taking place, a huge crowd like this? People towards the end of the day, hungry children in the usual posture of children, and people saying, Where is Mary? and so on. And in the midst of all of that, now the disciples started to move among the crowd, and they said, Jesus, Jesus would like you to sit down, please.
Uh could you please take a seat? You imagine somebody saying, I don't want a seat, I want a sandwich. I mean, what is, no, no, but anyway. Please be seated. And then maybe maybe Andrew says and hey, son, I think you should stay close.
Your lunch somehow or another may actually prove to be important here. And the people sitting down saying, why are we sitting?
Somebody says, I don't know. Wait and see. Verse 11. for what we are about to receive, says Jesus, May the Lord make us Truly thankful. Perhaps he prayed.
We thank you for this food and for those who prepared it. Namely, one little boy's mother at the moment. Presumably. He gave thanks. And then he distributed it.
And then it multiplied. And in that process of multiplication, There was the participation of all who were present. Because this is actually a different miracle from the miracle at Cana. The miracle at Canaan, remember Jesus' mother comes to him and says, They have no wine. They've no wine.
That was a miracle of transformation. where he transforms water into wine. Here There is food. A tiny amount of food. It doesn't need to be transformed, it needs to be multiplied.
And I take it. One of the questions when you read a passage like this is: well, how did this take place? How did that happen? When did it happen? If your mind goes in that direction.
You think about it in relationship to Cana. At what point did the water actually become wine? It's kind of futile exercise because there is no answer to it. But as I thought about it, If If the multiplication only took place in the hands of Jesus. And there were 20,000 people there.
The person who was 20,000th on the list of waiting. We'd be there till well past midnight. Because it was only going to take place When Jesus had it in his hands, So I assume. That the multiplication was taking place miraculously as people passed the material from one to another. It's not that God is doing a trick like sending m uh stuff down or showing that it's hanging on trees.
No, he's working in the natural in a way that is phenomenally supernatural. And if you think about it, We would be surprised if that were not the case. Notice what we're told.
So all the uh sat down and the When they'd eaten their fill, And when they had enjoyed as much as they wanted, Jesus said, gather up the leftover fragments. that nothing may be lost. And then they're walking around at the end of the day picking up. the leftovers enough to fill twelve baskets. They didn't know that Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians, would end chapter three by saying now unto him, Who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or even imagine.
What an amazing Miracle. This is. That's the miracle. Two questions. What does it mean?
And why does it matter? What does it mean? Well, essentially, it means this: that the sign of the bread Jesus multiplied. was intended To point to the one who performed the miracle. The sign of the multiplication Was, as with all the other signs, intended to point to Jesus himself.
It means that then we are confronted with the generosity and with the authority of Jesus.
Now, let's just stop there for a moment and acknowledge the fact that there will be some within earshot of me now who are saying, I can't believe this stuff. I came here to Parkside Church. I thought it was a fairly sensible group. But now you're actually telling me, apparently, that you and perhaps others that are around me here. really do believe in miracles.
Actually, you believe in these miracles. And the answer to that is A wholehearted yes. It is inescapable unless you want to become a liberal Christian, unless you want to become a person that doesn't actually believe the Bible, unless you want to decide that you believe the parts you like and you disbelieve the parts you don't like. And anything that stretches means you leave it aside. First of all, our presuppositions are immediately and radically altered by a discovery of who Jesus is.
The philosophy that underpins the naturalism of man stands back from this and says it cannot be. And that is where many of us actually started our lives until one day in a miraculous encounter, a John chapter 3 encounter, we were born again. We were born again. And something happened to us that changed not only our relationship with God, but changed our mentality on things and convinced us of things that otherwise we would have been unconvinced of. We began to read John 1, and we discovered what John is saying, that all things were made through him.
And without him. was not anything made that has been made. That's the starting point. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg. We'll hear more about signs and miracles tomorrow.
Now, as November draws to a close and we look forward to celebrating Christmas, it's easy to get caught up in the busyness of this season and forget to take time to pause and reflect. on Jesus' incarnation, God becoming man. I want to recommend to you a book that will help you refocus. It's a book called Christmas Thoughts, and it's a collection of five popular Christmas reflections from JC Ryle. He was a nineteenth century theologian, and his works are widely read and highly valued to day.
Each chapter in the book Christmas Thoughts reads like a personal letter from Ryle. He asks questions, he tells stories that will compel you to think deeply about how much you're making Christ the center of your Christmas celebration. Ask for your copy of the book Christmas Thoughts when you donate to Truth for Life. Go to truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. And if you'd rather mail your donation, along with your request for the book, Write to Truth for Life, at PO Box thirty nine eight thousand, Cleveland, Ohio, four four one three nine.
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The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
