Keys to Eternal Life: Come, Look, Believe, Abide | John 6

John 6:1-3

¹Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ²and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. ³Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

Jesus travels to the NE of the Sea of Galilee; 6:1 (Today this place is called the Golan area.)

Jesus feeds the multitude; 6:3-14

Withdraws to the mountain; 6:15

Jesus appears to the disciples on the sea; 6:16-21

Jesus teaches the multitudes about the bread of life; 6:22-69

In John 6 we have 2 miracles which lead to 3 conversations:

Primary miracle: Feeding of the multitudes; 6:1-15

Secondary Miracle: Jesus walking on the water; 6:16-21

Conversations: Responses to the Bread of Life

The Multitude: How can this man give us bread (flesh) to eat?; 6:52

The Disciples: Many of his disciples turned back; 6:66

The Twelve: You have words of eternal life; 6:68

Jesus feeding the Multitude

John 6:5-13

⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹Jesus 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.

¹²When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

Jesus Walks on the Water

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, ¹⁷where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. ¹⁸A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. ²⁰But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” ²¹Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

²²The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. ²³Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

John 6 records for us miracle of the feeding of the 5000.

The miracle of feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle that is found in all four gospels. It stood out among other miracles. This miracle provided dramatic insights to the person of Jesus. Who he is? Look at their response. It is that they are amazed that Jesus can do such things.

John 6:14-15

¹⁴After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Where did they get that Jesus is the prophet? Jesus had not prophesied anything. The crowds, not the disciples even, the crowds concluded that because he had fed the 5000, he must be the prophet who is to come into the world. Where does that come from?

Then Jesus knew what was in their hearts, took him by force and made him to be the king.

Why would Jesus be king as well as a prophet? What is that all about?

So, the effect on crowds makes this miracle unique and it does unlock to a great degree the identity of Jesus in each of the gospels.

Luke 9 right before feeding the 5000, Herod the King is agonizing as to who is Jesus. Is he John the Baptist who has come back from the grave? Right after the feeding of the 5000, Jesus turns to the disciples and asks, “Who do the crowd say I am?”

Luke 9:19-20

¹⁹They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

²⁰“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

Something about the feeding of the 5000 allowed the scales to be removed from Peter’s eyes to see Jesus’ true identity. He did not have it all put together. There still needed to be much improvement in his view, correction and misunderstandings about crucifixion might fit into that identification.

Lessons from these Miracles

1. Jesus’ Compassion on Human Needs.

Jesus’ compassion on the physical needs of mankind.

2. Jesus’ Omnipotent Power To Address Any Needs.
3. The True Identity of Jesus.
4. Jesus’ Compassion on Human Needs.

John 6:5

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

When Jesus saw the crowd, he did not just send them away hungry. Instead, he takes it upon himself as a host to provide for them. For the apostles, it is an unthinkable responsibility.

In Mark’s account, we see Jesus’ compassion.

Mark 6:34

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Jesus shows his love for the crowds because he teaches them. Because he knows that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He does not separate between physical and spiritual needs. They are both important and have to be addressed.

Mark 6:35-37

³⁵By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. ³⁶Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

So the First lesson

1. Jesus has Compassion for Human Needs.

We are Called to Imitate Jesus and be Compassionate.

1 John 3:17-18

¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

James 2:15-16

¹⁵Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

So we need to ask ourselves: What are we doing to address physical needs like this? Imitating the general concern and love and compassion that Jesus has exemplified. We are trying to do this as a church in various small ways. This is part of our missions program, a major part of which is to address concerns of physical needs alongside of spiritual needs.

Second lesson:

2. Jesus’ Omnipotent Power To Address Any Needs.

The one who commands the wind and the waves and they obey his voice.

John 1:3

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Psalm 33:6

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

2 Corinthians 9:6

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

You have it all when you have Jesus and when he has you.

Third lesson:

3. The Shows the True Identity of Jesus.

Jesus is not just powerful for our material needs, though he has compassion and will care for us. But he is also concerned to meet our deepest need: He is the bread of life, the bread that will provide for us, for souls that are malnourished, for hearts that are dry, and he will give us life within life that will last forever.

John 6:25

Jesus the Bread of Life

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶Jesus 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. ²⁷Do 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.”

²⁸Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³²Jesus 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. ³³For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And 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. ⁴⁰For 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.”

⁴¹ At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:56

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them

This passage does not talk about the Lord’s supper. There are some parallels with the Lord’s Supper but the passage is not really about the Lord’s Supper.

This Jesus did long before he instituted the Lord’s Supper.

The lessons that he teaches here, he is teaching not just to the disciples but even to unbelievers.

There is no fish in the Lord’s supper.

There is no eating flesh in the Lord’s supper, it is body in the Lord’s supper in the texts related to the Lord’s supper.

Now the vocabulary is different, the circumstances are different and the lesson is absolutely unique. The background that makes it clear is the Passover.

Our passage starts referring to the Passover.

John 6:4

The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

Passover is a time when God’s people were looking for to the promise that God had made that just as God had raised up Moses and delivered Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and prepared them for 40 years in the wilderness, that God afterwards would raise up another prophet like Moses. That is what Deuteronomy 18 promises. God would raise up another prophet like Moses in whose mouth God will place his word so that we must obey that prophet.

Deuteronomy 34 says that the prophet will do the works that Moses did, the miraculous works, the works of redemption and deliverance. That is what people were thinking about. Of course, in their immediate need, they were really hoping for deliverance not from Egypt, but from Rome, Roman oppression. But Jesus wanted to deliver them not from political oppression but something far deeper.

John 8:34

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

John 8:36

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

He is going to deliver us out of the kingdom of darkness, out of enslavement to sin to become his own people.

So the focus of our text is a focus on Moses and the promise of a coming prophet like Moses.

The situation in our passage is identical. It is isolated, they are in a remote place. Jesus goes up onto a mountain. There is an echo here of Mount Sinai. Jesus is accompanied by a great crowd, who are mainly there because of the miracles they had seen earlier even the same way as it was for Israel. The people were hungry. That is a provoking problem.

Moses in Numbers 11 says where can I get meat for all these people?

Parallels between Numbers 11:13 & John 6:5

It is the same problem and almost the same vocabulary. Eventually the answer the bread that comes down from heaven, originally referring to the manna that was offered in the wilderness. Even the mention of fish relates to the Exodus. The Israelites when they came out of Egypt, one of the things they missed most was the abundance of fish. Thanks to the Nile.

Numbers 11:4-6

⁴The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. ⁶But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” (meat and fish are the same in the Biblical language).

They are longing for fish, so what is God going to do about it? What he is going to do about it is that he is going to provide ironically quail that ate fish and in fact, they represent the fish that they did not have.

Numbers 11:22

Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

So, God sends the wind and drives the quail in from the sea.

Numbers 11:31

Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.

So they are walking around in quail 3 feet deep who has fed on fish. So they got fish.

Then there was grumbling in the text just like for Israel in the wilderness aware that his disciples were grumbling.

In the other gospel, Jesus has them sitting down in groups of 50. That comes from the Exodus where they were also combined in groups of 50.

Then comes the manna and the people get the point. Is this the prophet who is to come into the world, promised by Moses?

This is where the walking on the water comes in. What is the connection?

In the gospel of Mark it describes that when Jesus walked on water the disciples were terrified. Mark 6:52 explains why they were so frightened.

Mark 6:52

They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

Mark is saying that if you get the lesson of the loaves, you will never be surprised to see Jesus walking on the water. What is the connection? Well of course, for Jesus to be walking on the water as if on dry land, means that he is actually doing an escalated thing similar to what Moses did when God brought Israel across the Rea Sea, so that they could walk on dry ground.

John 8:58

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

It is Jesus laying his claim to the name of God “I AM, YAHWEH,” the name of God. He claims to be God because he alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea; Job:9.

Here is the Lord of the creation operating according to his sovereign privilege in order to help the disciples. The people did not understand this, some disciples even did not understand Jesus.

John 6:26

²⁶Jesus 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. ²⁷Do 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.”

Are you offended by that? Don’t work for food that spoils.

What do you work for? What do you mean don’t work for the food that spoils?

Jesus is telling his followers, “Do not go to work for food.” Don’t do it. If you want to be a Christian, you cannot do that.

What could Jesus have in mind?

When you become a Christian, every part and tiny detail in your life is now transformed and the big stuff is to be transformed. You no longer work for food. You only work for Jesus and he will provide you with food. Even if your work is just the most mundane thing you are working for Jesus.

Colossians 3:23

²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters (not for food, not for men), ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

When you work for Jesus, you get much more than your wages, you get an inheritance that no one can earn because it was earned by another (Jesus) and left to you in love.

A Christian’s life is completely changed in every respect. When he goes on to say how we are to relate to him, he uses shocking language that it is necessary that we eat his flesh and drink his blood.

John 6:53

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

You cannot imagine how offensive this was in the context of the synagogue in Capernaum where Jews were trained never to eat blood. You don’t the blood of the Passover lamb. This was offensive and culturally insensitive in their context.

What do you mean by “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you?

Jesus is Speaking in Figurative Language.

He is not asking us to be cannibals. It is figurative language like the rest of the gospels.

¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful; Jn. 15:1-2

Does Jesus mean he is a plant? Of course not.

John 10:9

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture;”

So, here he is using shocking but not literal language in order to make a powerful point. What is the point?

When you talk about flesh and blood being separated, that means death, that is what happens when something is dead. When you have a sacrifice in Israel, you are not supposed to eat the meat with blood in it, because that means you are eating the blood and Israel is not allowed to do that. You must first slaughter it because blood must be separated from it.

So when Jesus talks about eating his flesh and blood, reminds us that you are to consume him in his death, in the benefits of his death. Have your life depend on his death. The flesh and the blood are separate. In fact, you are to be so dependent on him that you need your earthly food. We need food three times a day, some eat in between as well. That is how we are to be dependent on Jesus.

The Christian life is not one where you add a little religion to make yourself a part of a community. You have apartment communities, residents welfare associations, clubhouses etc. Instead, with Jesus we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It means depend on him, your life is consumed in him and nourished by him, every moment and every day you depend on him. Not just on Sundays, not just when you have your devotions. But every moment you got to Jesus as a source of supply.

So Jesus then uses the exhortation that we should in fact look to him.

Make your life depend on the Saviour. He is the bread of life. Eat from his flesh and his blood. Six times in our text Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.” What do you do with the bread? He who comes to me will never go hungry.

How do you depend on Jesus?

Look at Christ.

John 4:40

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.”

Come to Christ.

John 6:35

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

You are to look to Christ. It means not only you look to him, but you must come to him.

You are to come to Christ.

Believe in Christ.

John 6:28-29

²⁸Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

There is only one work: believe in the one he has sent. That is what you do.

You come to him.

You look to him.

You believe in him.

Abide in Christ.

John 6:56-57

⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

Do you want to have the life of Christ? You want to have Jesus not only in eternity but right now, the abundant life for which he came? You have got to abide in him. You have got to have your life indwelling in his and his life indwelling yours. That is what the Christian faith is all about. That is what Jesus is inviting us.

Jesus came not to be admired by us. Not to teach us or inspire us, but to rule over us as the Lord of our lives. May our lives depend on him.

The Benefits of Coming to Christ

Eternal life

John 4:40

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.”

Resurrection from the Dead.

John 6:54

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Jesus’ miracles of feeding the multitude and walking on water reveal his compassion, power, and true identity as the bread of life. He calls us to depend on him completely, come to him, look to him, believe in him, and abide in him for eternal life and resurrection from the dead.

LIFE APPLICATION POINTS

Jesus is Compassionate about our Needs.

Emulate Jesus’ Compassion.

Depends on Christ. Make your life completely dependent on Jesus, like you depend on food for nourishment.

Look to Christ. Continually turn your gaze to Jesus for guidance, provision, and sustenance.

Come to Christ. Approach Jesus with humility and faith, recognizing him as the source of eternal life.

Believe in Christ. Trust in Jesus as the one sent by God for your salvation and resurrection.

Abide in Christ. Live in close fellowship with Jesus, allowing his life to flow through you in all you do.