John 6:14-15 “Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
If I had to put a title to these two verses, it would be “They get it…but not quite.” The crowd around Jesus saw His miracles, heard His teaching, and got fed, potentially satisfying all they needed. They perceived Him to be the Prophet, to one who would come to rescue God’s people and reinstate their once-prominent position in the world. Jesus knows they want to make him king, in the earthly sense, to throw off Rome and lead this type of revival. So, they really didn’t get it after all.
More than that, after seeing miracles, and hearing Him teach, the only reason they follow Him to the other side of the lake is to satisfy their stomachs. This is where Jesus makes it clear that the Gospel is not a social one, but rather an eternal one. Sure, He met some social needs during His ministry, and He never left it there, and his meeting of earthly needs was coupled with those signs pointing to Him as Savior, as God. Remember, John writes about the divine Christ, so we actually pick up on the highlighted miraculous dealing of the Messiah here.
A favorite example of His greatness is here after He walks on the water and calms the storm. It is approximately 10 miles across the lake where they were going, and verse 19 says they had rowed three or four miles when the storm came up and Jesus walked to them. Note that after He gets into the boat with them, and the sea is calm, that immediately they were at their destination. The last six miles was instantaneous.
As Jesus continues teaching the next day, invariably He hits on the Gospel. We often wonder what God’s will is, how effectual His will is, and just how His will is played out. Perhaps we spend too much time trying to figure Him out, as opposed to just taking and holding on to what He actually gave us in His Word. Want to know what God’s will is? Verse 40 sums it up “that everyone who beholds (listens to, learns from) the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life…” He goes on to explain how on the last day He will raise the believer to Heaven. What a great hope we have in our Savior!
I pray that we truly “get” it!
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