#1479 John 6 Part 2 By Force

 

15 So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they began to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 And the sea *was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He *said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

22 On the next day, the crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other small boats came from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”  John 6: 15-25 LSB

John 6: 15-25

So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king - So we just went over what these people had seen Him do, and had been hearing about Him. In verse 14, after seeing these signs they said, "this is truly the prophet who has come into the world." So they are "believing" stuff about Him, even linking it to what was written in the Old Testament about Him, but the overall arching theme of this chapter is false discipleship, what apostasy looks like. How can you spot that in yourself and others? John is addressing that here by watching how the Master addresses it. Jesus, knowing, well that is Jesus looking into their hearts, reading their minds, and I can't do that, but remember what we learned about these people. They love a crowd, belonging to a movement, He gave them free food, He healed many, and this should have made them listen all the more carefully to what He was preaching, it should have led them to worship, to acknowledge the otherliness of this Man, and to ask Him, "what should we do next?" They don't register that, they know what they want to do, "Your going to be our king, but not one that we bow down to in obedience, You are going to obey us, kick out Rome, elevate us, feed us with free food." They wanted a sort of socialism, communism, let's have a rainbow gathering, work is bad sort of vibe. Jesus was the leprechaun they captured, the Jeannie in the lamp they rubbed. They use the word king but there is nothing of Lordship here, nothing of doing what He says, and they will all hate the message of self denial that He gives His followers. So the master withdraws from them, let that be our first note, when we know people to be of certain intention, once we see that they downplay sin and honor numbers over true revival, we separate. If you think I am reaching then keep reading these because He addresses those very things, the want of free food rather than eternal food, but I will wait to we get to that part. Jesus has His eyes set upon obedience which looks like a cross. He has humbled Himself by becoming a man, and is focused upon doing what the Father directs when He directs. These people are not coming in humble submission to the King of kings. 

…2You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.… James 4: 2-4

V. 15b To the mountain by Himself alone - If Jesus needed time alone with the Father then how much more do we, corrupted by sin, need to hold up the Word of God to our lives and pray for wisdom and renewing of our minds? I am not saying be a hermit, I am saying, get rid of the noise, open my Bible, read, pray for understanding and empty my heart out before God. We have to assemble and we will be known for our love of the brethren, but we have nothing to give until we receive it from God, we have to recharge, we have to be in touch with the Spirit in order to walk in the Spirit. We also, like He did, have to get away from the voices that would make it a politically charged thing, a flattery thing, telling us what we want to hear about ourselves in order to do what they want us to do, and see like they want us to see. The closer you are to God, the less you will like flattery, the more you will remove yourself from it. 

V. 18 And the sea was stirred up because of a strong wind blowing - Here the disciples learn of the sovereignty and providence of God. It is not always a great gathering on the grass, a feast with the 5,000, sometimes it is a little boat on a tumultuous sea, sometimes it is being healed and at other times it is dying graciously, but Christ is all I need. He was there at the feeding of the 5,000 and His disciples will come to see that He is there in the storm as well. There was another time when Jesus was asleep in the boat, for this are is famous for it's winds.

The sea began to be stirred up (diegeiro) because a strong wind was blowing - Note (1) the disciples were in the will of God and (2) God sent a storm. Storms do not mean you are not in God's will. Storms are not meant to destroy us but to test our faith and strengthen our faith. They also often show us our inadequacy (THOUGHT - They rowed for hours and made little progress! I've been there, done that! My inadequacy, His sufficiency!) Notice that while the sea began to be stirred up but Jesus saw "them straining at the oars." Here in John 6:18 stirred (diegeiro) is in the imperfect tense picturing the waves rising up again and again. You can envision them beginning to lap against the side of the boat. This reflects the hand of God stirring the waters, because it is "test time" for the disciples!

D A Carson - The Sea of Galilee lies about six hundred feet below sea level. Cool air from the south-eastern tablelands can rush in to displace the warm moist air over the lake, churning up the water in a violent squall. (Borrow The Gospel according to John - Pillar Commentary)

Spurgeon - It did not matter however. For if his disciples be in a storm, so long as Christ is praying for them all the storms in the world are unable to sink them. They had a good protector. From the outlook of that hill his eyes, which could see through the distance, observed and regulated every breath of wind, and every wave upon the lake. (See Spurgeon's exposition of the Gospel of Matthew) - Precept Austin

More on this encounter from Matthew 14

Another Storm in Mark

V. 19 They saw Jesus walking on the Sea - Another miracle, walking on water is not natural, but it shows Christ's place above the elements. It isn't a matter of technology, He isn't wearing special sandals, He is Lord over what He has made, the molecules obey Him. When the people saw Moses part the Red Sea, that was God walking in front of them, it moves in accordance to His will. 

…16For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.… Colossians 1: 16-18

V. 20 It is I; do not be afraid - He has to say this a lot, and if we can begin to see His hand in the storm, even behind the storm, that the storm cannot raise itself outside of His knowledge, nor without His permission, then what is the storm but His servant?

V. 21 Immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going - Another miracle, Jesus is not bound by what He is above, this includes time and space, boggling, but He created it. 

V. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there - Where did he go? Did they miss the teaching? Well, they hop into some other boats and start making there way in the direction they saw His disciples go, and I will stop here then go over that in the next post.