The Subsequent Response (John 6:20-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/1/2016 10:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Subsequent Response

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 6:20-21

            Message of the verses:  “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.”

            I would suppose that verse 21 has a logical interpretation to it, but this verse has always puzzled me when I compare it with these events in the other gospels that this story is found in.  Perhaps today we will find out more about them.

            At this time I want to give a quote from Warren Wiersbe which may have fit better in with our last SD, but we will look at it now:  “Did Jesus know that a storm was coming?  Of course.  Then why did He deliberately send His friends into danger?  Quite the opposite is true:  He was rescuing them from greater danger, the danger of being swept along by a fanatical crowd.  But there was another reason for the storm:  the Lord has to balance our lives; otherwise we will become proud and then fall.  The disciples had experienced great joy in being part of a thrilling miracle.  Now they had to face a storm and learn to trust the Lord more.  The feeding of the 5,000 was the lesson, but the storm was the examination after the lesson.

            “Sometimes we are caught in a storm because we have disobeyed the Lord.  Jonah is a good example.  But sometimes the storm comes because we have obeyed the Lord.  What happens, we can be sure that our Savior will pray for us, come to us, and deliver us.  In writing the account of this event years later, perhaps John saw in it a picture of Christ and His church.  Christ is in heaven interceding for us, but we are in the midst of the storms of life, trying to reach the shore.  One day, He will come for us and we shall reach the port safely, the storms all past.”

            Now as far as for today’s lesson he writes:  “Actually, there were several miracles involved in this event.  Jesus walked on the water, and so did Peter (Matt. 14:28-32).  Jesus stilled the storm, and instantly the boat was on the other shore.  Of course, all of this happened at night so that only Jesus and His disciples knew what had occurred.  Jesus had led His people into the green pastures (John 6:10), and now He brought them into the still waters (Ps. 23:2).  What a wonderful Shepherd He is!”

            Now we will conclude with one more quote that will be good for all to read:  “We must never be deceived by the ‘popularity’ of Jesus Christ among certain kinds of people today.  Very few want Him as Savior and Lord.  Many want Him only as Healer or Provider, or the One who rescues them from problems they have made for themselves ‘And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life’ (John 5:40).”

            In John MacArthur’s commentary on this section and also from Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this section they both call it a miracle that the boat got to the shore instantly, so I guess, for me, the mystery has been solved. 

            Now when we look at how Peter responded by asking Jesus to allow him to also walk on the water we know that to me, there are two ways of looking at it.  First of all this was just like Peter to do something like that, and just like Peter to immediately fall, or almost fall completely into the water when the storm was still going on.  Second we have to see that there were still eleven men in the boat not having enough faith to even get out of it and for that we can learn something too, as sometimes we too have to get out of the boat, trusting the Lord to guide us and to accomplish what He wants us to accomplish for His name and glory.

            One more thing we need to remember from this section and that is that once Jesus got into the boat with His disciples they all worshiped Him because of the miracles that they saw they realized who Jesus was.  The first time they were in the boat with Him while He was sleeping and another storm was uncontrolled as far as they were concerned they woke Him and He spoke to the storm and their response was “what kind of Man is that who can even calm the storm?”  This time it is different as they have learned that He truly is the Son of God and so the proper response then was to worship Him which is what they did.  Now I realize that they probably did not bow at His feet there in the boat to worship Him, but there were many times when this happened as seen in the Gospels.  A former Pastor of mine, who is now with the Lord once said that he wanted to write a book about all of the things that happened at the feet of Jesus, and it just so happens that I am reading a book about the woman who was at the feet of Jesus while at Simon the Pharisees house and it is a wonderful book as Joe Stowell talks about how hard it is to love Jesus in this book.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to remember the following as I have studied this verse that “Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord in the storms of life.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “They were all drowned” (Exodus 14:23-28).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who feeds the ravens?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/1/2016 10:50 AM