Walking on the Water; John 6:14-21

The Word of God addresses every single arena of human thought; nothing is left to human imagination. That doesn’t mean that God tells us everything there is to know about certain arenas of thought, but what we do find in Scripture is the foundation, the underlying framework for understanding everything and which should provide the starting point of all human thought.

We are in a passage that is going to give us some insight into the problem of majority rule. The majority here are concerned with certain political agenda. We saw last time in the first 13 verses the episode of the feeding of the 5000 where Jesus demonstrates that He is God, and He as Yahweh in the Old Testament fed the Jews and kept them alive and nourished them physically—symbolic of the fact that God alone has the right to feed us and He does feed us an nourish us spiritually—Jesus shows that just as God fed the Israelites in the wilderness with the manna from heaven, so it is necessary for man to feed spiritually on the truth of God’s Word and that must be the priority.

We saw by comparing the Synoptic Gospels that when Jesus looked out upon the multitudes He taught them. First He fed them spiritually and then He fed them physically. They wanted miracles, they were out there for the show; they were there for entertainment. John 6:14 ^NASB “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’.” That term “prophet” goes all the way back to a prophecy in Deuteronomy where Moses said a greater prophet will come, so it is a technical term for the Messiah. So are these people putting the priority on Jesus as the Messiah or are they just looking to someone who will take care of their physical needs?

To understand all the background here we need to remind ourselves that the setting is Passover. These folks are all headed down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. It is important to realise why the Passover is mentioned here. It is because the Passover reminds us of the exodus, the politically defining event in the Old Testament for the nation Israel. It was there that they were freed politically from the domination and slavery of Egypt, so the exodus and the Passover all speak of biblical freedom. What we see in the biblical concept of freedom is something different from what has happened in modern human history. When we do a comparison historically we don’t mean a revolution for freedom like the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 or the French revolution of the 18^th century. If we are going to understand freedom we are going have to understand the source of slavery. The Scripture says that the ultimate source of slavery is sin, that because of Adam’s sin we are all born into slavery and there is evil and suffering and all establishment institutions will suffer a certain amount of decay because they are controlled by people who are slaves to sin. So if we are truly going to understand sin and if we are truly going to appreciate freedom it has to start with understanding the nature of the spiritual aspects and not just political aspects.

When the children of Israel left Egypt and they go out into the wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:3 says: “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” God had to teach them grace orientation and dependence upon Him, and in order to develop capacity to appreciate their freedom He humbled them and let them be hungry. All of what is in this verse was designed to teach a principle, that man lives by what proceeds out of the mouth of God. Our priority is to take care of the physical needs first and then we will take care of the spiritual needs. God says we have it completely backwards. He says, You take care of the spiritual needs and I will take care of your physical needs. That was the point that Jesus was making in Matthew 6:33 ^NASB “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Put spiritual priorities first and God takes care of the physical. Man, in order to understand freedom and appreciate freedom and develop capacity for life, must put his focus on the physical bread that nourishes the body but on the spiritual bread, the Word of God, which nourishes the soul. It is only through a consistent, regular, almost daily intake of the Word of God. We need more than just reading the Word, we need detailed instruction in the Word of God.

The parallel with the exodus event and what is taking place here in John chapter six is that in the Old Testament the people wanted freedom. They wanted freedom from Egypt and there was Yahweh who presented Himself as the King of Israel, and He is the one who gave them freedom but on the basis of atonement, redemption. There was a cost involved and that cost was exemplified in the sacrifice of the lamb with spot or blemish. Then Yahweh was going to provide freedom for them and He taught them freedom and capacity, and they rejected it. They stayed out in the wilderness and never entered the land. In the New Testament parallel in this passage the people want freedom from Rome. They are looking to Jesus to provide freedom, and Jesus does the same thing as Yahweh in the Old Testament, that is, He provides bread for them, physical nourishment. But as he feeds the people, in order to teach them that they must be totally and absolutely dependent upon Him—remember He is teaching them the same identical lesson that Yahweh was teaching the Jews in the Old Testament, the important of dependence upon Him, the importance of grace orientation—He is making the same claim for Kingship. In fact, he is identifying Himself with Yahweh of the Old Testament. This is a little subtle for some people but it is clearly there and the Jews understood it. But the people for the most part rejected it, just as the Jews in the Old Testament rejected God and His provision in the wilderness.

John 6:15 ^NASB “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.” They forgot that the cross had to come before the crown, that the Messiah had to suffer before the Messiah could reign. They forgot that the spiritual needs had to be satisfied before the physical needs, that they had to understand spiritual needs before they could understand and appreciate political freedom. So they had an agenda and Jesus did not fit their agenda. Unfortunately this is so often the case in the Christian faith. People come to church and they have all kinds of agendas, but they do not have an agenda of putting doctrine first and being in church in order to have their thinking renovated. When Jesus starts teaching them what His agenda is and what theirs ought to be, they are no longer interested.

The word “perceiving” here is the Greek word gnous [gnouj], aorist active participle from the verb ginosko [ginwskw] meaning come to know, to recognise, to perceive, to be familiar with. And here we are reminded of a theme that John the apostle introduced back in chapter two where he writes: “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men.” Jesus knows that many, many believers, because they are immature, because they have never learned any doctrine, because they don’t know the Word, they are just saved, are there with their agenda. And it is not until God has some time to teach them and deal with them that their agenda changes. Jesus is not going to entrust Himself to a bunch of baby believers who don’t know enough to come in out of the rain and want Him to do just the opposite of what He is there to do. So we are told that when Jesus perceived what their agenda was He withdrew again to the mountain to be alone. Their agenda is 180 degrees opposite of His.

Notice that popularity and mass attraction and the opinion of the masses, the opinion of the majority, is not only not the key to the truth but it is often wrong. The majority here wanted the wrong things, they had no clue as to His agenda and they all wanted the wrong things. The majority can often be wrong because they are operating from their own autonomy. The crowd wants freedom from Rome, not freedom to obey God. Jesus is offering them freedom to obey God. Matthew in the parallel gives the series of events a little more specifically. Matthew 14:22 ^NASB “Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. [23] After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.” Here Jesus is at the height of His popularity and He sends everybody away. Why? He realises that the issue isn’t numbers. The issue is quality, not quantity. The issue is those who want the truth, not a lot of numbers just to make Him feel better. So night falls. The disciples are going out on to the sea to head across—about 14 miles. This is before they had lights, before they had electricity and battery packs in the boat to give them light, so the disciples are now heading across the Sea of Galilee and it is dark.

Matthew 14:24 ^NASB “But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.” The fourth watch of the night is about 3 o’clock in the morning. According to John 6:19 ^NASB “Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened.” So in nine hours they have made about three or four miles. They are not making much progress. They are exhausted, worn out, and the Sea of Galilee for terrible storms that come up very quickly, and they are scared to death.

John 6:17 ^NASB “and after getting into a boat, they {started to} cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. [18] The sea {began} to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.” Then they see Jesus drawing near to the boat. Think about what has been going on. Jesus has performed this miracle, they know who He is, they know He is the Son of God, they have heard Him speak, they know He has just fed the 5000, they know His power. You would think that having had that empirical evidence of His power and having spent now two years with Him watching the miracles, that they would react to the situation by trusting Him. This tells us again that the issue is never empirical data. Facts are never enough. People reject the fact, reinterpret the facts. The crowd just saw Him feed the 5000 and they reject Him. The issue in the spiritual life is ultimately whether or not you trust Christ, trust God, and the issue is faith, not knowledge—not anti-knowledge but the issue is not collecting the facts, it is learning to trust God.

Think of the disciples. They had given up everything to follow Jesus. Jesus had sent everybody away. What were the disciples thinking? Why is He doing this, He is right at the peak of His popularity. Have we hitched our wagon to the wrong deal here? Is it really legitimate? We can imagine the doubt that they have, questioning whether He is indeed the King that they think He is. So Jesus is going to demonstrate privately to them that He is the King who they are looking for.

Psalm 29:1 ^NASB “Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. [2] Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name [essence]; Worship the LORD in holy array.” What we learn from this is that we glorify God, His essence, by responding to His essence and His character. That tells us that in order to worship God we need to know something about His character and about His essence. The more we learn about His attributes, His character, His essence, the better we can worship Him. [3] “The voice of the LORD [Yahweh] is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters.” Think of what is happening in John 6 now: the storm, the waves are up, it is night time, and Jesus is walking on the water. [4] “The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic. [5] The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. [6] He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. [7] The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. [8] The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. [9] The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, ‘Glory!’ [10] The LORD sat {as King} at the flood; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever. [11] The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.”

John 6:20 ^NASB “But He said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid’.” The English here has been terribly translated. This is why it is so important to know Greek. In the Greek is this phrase ego eimi [e)gw e)imi]. ego is the first person singular, I; eimi is the verb to be—“I am.” Yahweh is the Tetragrammaton, four sacred letters, YHWH, derived from the Hebrew verb hayah which means to be. What does Yahweh mean? I AM THAT I AM, the self-existent one. So when Jesus looks at them and they look at Him walking on the water, Jesus does not say, “It is I.” Jesus says, “I AM.” Jesus claims to be God. He claims to be Yahweh, He is over the thunder and the storm, He rides upon the waves. By saying what He says, He is claiming to be all that Psalm 29 predicts and states of Messiah. “He said to them, I AM; do not be afraid’.” He is demonstrating that He is the Lord of nature; He has power over all the problems of life.

John doesn’t tell us much more. John 6:21 ^NASB “So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” So we look at Matthew 14 for some additional insights.

Matthew 14:24 ^NASB “But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. [26] When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. [27] But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take courage, I AM [He is pointing them to the problem-solving devices—faith-rest drill, focus on who I am]; do not be afraid.’ Then Peter catches the point. He is slowly getting the point that Jesus is more powerful than the creation. [28] “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ [29] And He said, ‘Come!’ And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” He focuses on the Lord like we do, and then all of a sudden out of the corner of the eye he hears the wind howl and a wave coming and his attention is distracted from the absolute power of the Lord of the universe, and he focuses on the trouble. [30] “But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” He immediately starts to go down, he loses his faith, and Jesus rebukes him. [31] “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’” This reminds us of what James says in 1:6-8 ^NASB “But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, {being} a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Matthew 14:32 ^NASB “When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. [33] And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’” At that point they realise who Jesus is, affirmed their faith, and they worship Him.

Mark has an interesting twist on this. Mark 6:51 ^NASB “Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, [52] for they had not gained any insight from the {incident of} the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” If the disciples were in the presence of the Lord Jesus day in and day out and they saw miracles and heard Him teach doctrine day in and day out, and they saw Him walk on the water and they couldn’t handle the adversities of life through the application of doctrine; and, in fact, their heart was hardened, how much more so do we need to dedicate our lives to learning God’s Word?

All of us fall victim to thinking that somehow we can grow to spiritual maturity by just paying lip service to God and His Word and showing up at Bible class on occasions. Yet the Scripture says that we are to radically transform the very core of our thinking. That does not happen unless we make it the priority of our soul. We are to feed on God’s Word and that is to be more important to us than our jobs, our careers, than feeding the family and anything else. We are not to put aside those responsibilities but in order of priorities we are to rearrange our lives in such a way that they reflect the fact that the most important thing in our lives is to have our thinking shaped by the Word of God, because that prepares us for eternity. We are going to enter heaven with whatever doctrine we have in our souls.