PT-1 Introduction to John Six

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2016 6:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 Introduction to John 6

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  John 6:1

            Message of the verses:  “1 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias).”

            What I want to do for this SD is look at the introduction to this sixth chapter of John along with the introduction to the first fifteen verses where we see the miracle that is seen in each of the four gospels, that is the feeding of the 5,000, which actually could be over 20,000 when it comes to what Matthew writes that this includes the women and the children too.

            First of all I want to quote from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s introduction to chapter six:  “Since John’s Gospel is selective (John 20:30-31), he does not record events in the life of Jesus that do not help him fulfill his purpose.  Between the healing of the paralytic (John 5) and the feeding of the 5,000 you have many events taking place some of which are mentioned in Luke 6:1-9:10 Mark 3:1-6:30.  During this period our Lord preached ‘the Sermon on the Mount’ (Matt. 5-7) and gave the parables of the kingdom (Matt. 13).

            “The feeding of the 5, 000 was a miracle of such magnitude that it is recorded in all four Gospels.  A great multitude had been following Jesus for several days, listening to His teaching and beholding His miracles.  Jesus had tried to ‘get away’ to rest, but the needs of the crowd pressed on Him (Mark 6:31-34).  Because of His compassion, He ministered to the multitude in three ways.”  Since at this time we are not following Dr. Wiersbe’s outline at this time we will not talk about these three different ways that Jesus ministered to the people, but we can already see that the feeding of the 5,000 is the first way.

            Dr. Wiersbe mentions that there were many events that happened between the end of the fifth chapter of John and the beginning of the sixth chapter and it may have been at least a year that has passed since the end of the fifth chapter and the beginning of the sixth chapter.  There are a couple of events that I want to mention that happened right before the feeding of the 5,000 and the first one is that Jesus had sent His disciples out to minister to the surrounding cities two by two and they had just returned full of joy at how effective their ministry had been.  Because of their ministry they came back to Jesus very tired and because of His ministry He too was very tired, and so they all needed a little R&R, which is rest and relation so they wanted to go onto a mini vacation, but that was not to be.  The next thing is that Jesus finds out about the death of His cousin, John the Baptist and this adds to the emotions He was going through from long days of ministering.  I will have more to say about what the disciples learned from their ministry trip as we get into the verses of John 6:1-15, but for now remember these things that had been happening in their lives before these events.  A few years ago I read a book about this time period in the life of Jesus and His disciples and I think it was entitled something like “Jesus’ longest Day, and when we look at all that happened in this day it is a good title for the book. 

            I was listening to a sermon from John MacArthur this morning on this section of Scripture and the way that I want to close this SD is by quoting the prayer that he prayed at the end of this message.  “Father, we thank You for our time in Your Word this morning.  We are so grateful for the vividness of this incredible encounter, being passed down to us through the gospel writers. We acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  And we want from Him that which is eternal.  We’re thankful for provision in this life if He chooses to give it. We’re thankful for health in this life if He chooses for His purposes to render it to us.  We’re equally thankful for deprivation, suffering, persecution, illness, even facing death, if that is for His glory who is our Master and whose slaves we are.  We have come for the words of life. When Jesus said, “Will you also go away?”  Peter said, “To whom shall we go, You and You alone have the words of eternal life.”

“We want Jesus for the words. We want Him for the truth.  We can do without the health and wealth.  But we cannot do without the truth.  We embrace Him as Savior and Lord, because He is and because He speaks a gospel which we believe and desperately need, to rescue us from eternal hell and send us into glory with Him. Thank You, God, for the gift of Your Son, thank You, Christ, for coming.  Thank You for being our Lord and Master.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, for giving us the Word and the record of these things to guide us that our approach to the Savior might be the right one. We want to be among those who don’t go away because we want the words because the words give eternal life.  They cause us to believe and to possess the hope of heaven.

Thank You for our time together in worship.  Bless every life and confirm the truth in every heart.

Father, now send us on our way with thankful hearts, grateful hearts, overwhelmed by again the richness of Your truth and the promise of life that comes through Your Son.  We pray in His name.  Amen.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Solomon” (1 Kings 4:32).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book was written by the King’s cupbearer?”

Answer in our next SD. 

Just a not on these Bible questions and where I get them.  They come from a game that we have had for a very long time “Bible Challenge” and to my relocation there are about 2100 question and answers.  In the middle of March of 2013 I began using these questions and this is the last question from the first box of questions so my guess that if the Lord tarries and if I live to March of 2019 we will have used all of the questions.

3/22/2016 7:08 PM