SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2016 10:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to John 6:30-50
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 6:30-50
Message of the verses: “30 So they said to Him, "What then do
You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You
perform? 31 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ’HE
GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’" 32 Jesus then said to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread
out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 “For the bread of
God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." 35 Jesus
said to them, "I am
the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who
believes in Me will never thirst. 36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me,
and yet do not believe. 37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and
the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 "For I have come down from heaven, not
to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He
has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 “For this is the will of My
Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal
life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." 41 Therefore
the Jews were grumbling
about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of
heaven." 42 They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ’I have come down out of
heaven’?" 43 Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among
yourselves. 44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;
and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ’AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF
GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has
seen the Father. 47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal
life. 48 “I am the bread
of life. 49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they
died. 50 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat
of it and not die.”
John
MacArthur entitles this 20th chapter in his commentary on the book
of John “The Bread of Life—Part-1:
Jesus, the True Bread from Heaven.”
We will look at the introduction to these verses in our SD today.
I will have
to work on this later as the grand-kids just got here. 4/5/2016 10:36 AM
Grand-kids
can wear you out so I needed a little down time and now I am ready. 4/5/2016 4:42 PM
The first
thing that I want to do is to quote Dr. Warren Wiersbe as what he writes is
important to this section of Scripture and also in other portions of John’s
Gospel. “John 6:35 contains the first of
seven great I AM statements recorded by John, statements that are found nowhere
else in the Gospels. (For the other six,
see John 8:12; 10:7-9, 11-14; 11:25-26; 14:6; 15:1, 5.) God revealed Himself to Moses by the name I
AM (Jehovah) (Ex. 3:14). God is the self-existent
One who ‘is, and…was, and…is to come’ (Rev. 1:8). When Jesus used the name I AM, He was
definitely claiming to be God.”
As John
MacArthur previews this section of Scripture he writes about some of the great
preachers beginning with the apostles and then moving on to later first century
preachers and goes all the way to our 20th century preachers. What we will see in this section once again
is a sermon or discourse by our Lord Jesus Christ, and this sermon is about, as
noted the first I AM statement, which is that Jesus says I AM the bread of
life. This sermon follows on the miracle
of providing bread and also fish to over 20,000 people who had been taught by
the Rabbis that the coming Messiah would bring forth Manna to the people. Now in effect this is true as we will see
because Jesus tells the people “I AM the bread of Life.” However this is not how the Rabbis taught it
as they were looking on physical food to sustain the people while Jesus will
give life to the people so they will have no need of physical food while in
heaven.
John
MacArthur writes “John’s approach in his gospel was to record Jesus’ miracles
briefly, matter-of-factly, and without fanfare, explanation, or defense. For example, the apostle describes the astonishing
miracle of the feeding of the five thousand in simple, straightforward, and
unpretentious words ‘Jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks, He
distributed to those who were seated; likewise also the fish as much as they
wanted’ (John 6:11).
“It is
almost as though the apostle hurries through the accounts of Christ’s miracles
to get to His words. While His miracles
reveal His divine power, it is Christ’s words that correctly define who He
is. Jesus is no mere wonder worker; He
is the Son of God and the Messiah. His
miracles authenticate Him and His message as coming from God. But signs and wonders alone are not enough
for salvation, ‘faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ’
(Rom. 10:17). The crowd that Jesus
miraculously fed was a perfect illustration.
Though the people never questioned Jesus’ power and enjoyed personally
its benefits, they were indifferent or hostel to His gospel preaching.
“The first section
(vv. 30-50) of this magnificent sermon that Jesus preached in the synagogue at
Capernaum (6:59) will be discussed under three headings; the contrast, the
confusion, and the complaint.” I can say
that the second sub-point will probably take more than a day to complete, but
our effort is not to get through this book rapidly, but to learn things from
each verse and even at times word from it.
As I
mentioned in Sunday’s SD the people in this section of Scripture could
certainly fit into the category of the “health and wealth gospel,” that is prevalent
in our day, which is not a gospel at all.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To learn more about my Lord,
and to love Him more than before.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Media and Persia” (Daniel 6:15).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who was the governor of Caesarea to whom Paul was sent?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/5/2016 5:08 PM
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