Scriptures were the Word of God.
Jesus continued His piercing remarks to His accusers. Their attitude toward the Scriptures, He told them, was that they thought in them they had eternal life (v. 39). Yet, several times in His discourse with them He told them eternal life would come only to those who placed their faith in Him. At first glance it appears that Jesus was saying the Jews were wrong in thinking the Scriptures gave direction on how to gain eternal life. Instead, He said they were wrong in thinking just because they were students of Scripture, they therefore had eternal life. Their problem was they had not searched the Scriptures correctly. If they had, they would have seen how the Scriptures pointed to Jesus as the Savior.
The Old Testament Scriptures were quoted and referred to often by Jesus. He affirmed the full inspiration of the Old Testament and therefore also its authority. He in fact called even small portions of Scripture the very Word of God. There are literally dozens and dozens of times when Jesus appealed to the Scriptures then available when rebuking sin and when comforting His people.
Only the Old Testament part of our Bible was written when Jesus was here on earth and He used it extensively in His ministry. Near the end of His life on earth Jesus made provision for the New Testament. Before He left His disciples, He told them He had many more things to teach them but they were not able to know them at that time (16:12). They were promised divine guidance into other truths to be given by the Holy Spirit after His departure (15:26–27; 16:13). Furthermore, Jesus promised His disciples the aid of the Spirit in what they would say. The Spirit, He said, would teach them and cause them to remember the things He taught them (14:27).
Jesus knew the Old Testament far better even than the Jews who studied it daily and could quote large portions of it from memory. Yet these Jews whom Jesus was talking to had missed Him in the Scriptures. They therefore missed the only way of salvation through Him. They were simply unwilling to come to Him for salvation (v. 40). They refused to come, no doubt, because they were self-righteous and saw no need for His salvation. That, by the way, is why many today do not come to Jesus. They think they are doing the best they can and do not need Jesus. Their hope is that in the end the good they do will outweigh the bad. How sad!
The criticism of these Jews continued. They did not have the love of God in them, Jesus said. They stubbornly refused to receive Him even though He came in His Father’s name. They received glory from each other. We would say they patted each other on the back but adamantly refused to seek God’s glory (v. 44).
Jesus concluded His acclamations of equality with God by reminding the Jews that even Moses who was highly revered by them accused them. They had set their hopes on Moses. He was their hero, their savior. Jesus told them they really did not believe everything Moses wrote. If they had, they would have believed Jesus because Moses wrote of Him. Jesus concluded with, “If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (v. 47).
Personal Applications
How is it with you? Do you believe that Jesus is equal with God, that He is just as much God as God the Father is?
Since Jesus possesses divine authority equal with God’s authority, we need to acknowledge it and submit ourselves, place ourselves under His authority in our daily lives. In short, that means we need to live according to Scripture. We are exhorted to do this, but not so we can earn salvation or work to keep it, but because we have it.
When the Lord Jesus Christ is received as the Substitute for our sins, He becomes our Savior and wants to be our Lord as well. Someone is on the throne of our lives; either God is or we are. Many of us want to be on the throne ourselves without any concern for God unless, of course, some awful tragedy befalls us, our family, or even our friends. Then suddenly we want God to be in charge and bring healing or any other kind of help we may need at that time. Jesus the Son of God who is equal with God longs to be not only our Savior, but also our Lord.
Study Questions
1. In this portrait of Jesus what do we see Him doing that demonstrates He is equal with God?
2. Who was Jesus speaking to as this portrait developed?
3. From whom did Jesus say His power came?
4. What are the four testimonies to Jesus’ equality with God?
5. What steps could you take this week to be more submissive to God, to make Him Lord of your life? You might be surprised if you start making a list.
Provision and Protection
Portrait 8
John 6:1–21
Come up close so you can see clearly this portrait of Jesus. Notice surrounding Him are many people. There seems to be a lot more men than women or children. I wonder why that is the case. The disciples are standing close by Jesus. They seem to be disturbed about something. Some of them look nervous and on edge. Why? Jesus is talking to them. Oh, there is Peter elbowing his way to Jesus. He is talking to Him. Now the large crowd is seated. They all seem to be very orderly. Let’s look at the account of this incident in the Bible, John chapter 6. In this chapter we will witness two miracles performed by Jesus. One is on the land and the other on the sea.
The Miracle on the Land, vv. 1–15
John placed the time this miracle was performed as “after these things.” He used this expression a number of times in his Gospel. It did not mean that what follows took place immediately after what had just happened. The phrase describes an indefinite length of time. In this case, he most likely was referring to the Passover Feast of one year before (5:1). That same Passover Feast was being observed when Jesus miraculously multiplied a little boy‘s lunch to feed over five thousand (6:4).
At the place where I grew up in Pennsylvania bread was called “the staff of life” by the older folks. All over the world bread does seem to be a staple food. People from various countries have different kinds, shapes, and textures of bread. Though high in carbohydrates, it has sustained life all over the world as perhaps no other single food item has done.
Luke’s record of this same miracle (Luke 7:10) tells us the “other side of the sea” John referred to was the east side of the Sea of Galilee. This same body of water was earlier called Gennesaret and then later it was called Tiberias because a town by that name was built on its shore. The place where Jesus went on the other side of the Sea was a mountain near Bethsaida. He went there with His disciples to get some reprieve from the crowds following Him.
As the Son of God, Jesus knew, of course, what He would do there that would be of great benefit for the disciples and those who came there to receive His blessing and benefit.
Why were all these people following Jesus? Did they want to accept Him as their Savior? Did they wish to make public that He was their Lord? Probably, neither of these. John tells us they followed because they saw and probably heard how Jesus was healing the sick and even raising the dead. Naturally, all of us would be attracted to someone today who was not just claiming to do these things but was truly doing them before our very eyes. So we cannot fault those people for following Jesus for that reason.
From where Jesus and His disciples were on the mountain they could see the large crowd below. That is when Jesus said to Philip, “Where can we get bread to feed all these people?” He knew the people were tired and hungry and He knew too that before they could listen to Him and learn from Him, they needed to have food.
Why did Jesus ask this question of Philip? Did Jesus not know that He would perform a miracle there and satisfy the people’s hunger? Of course, Jesus knew all about everything He, the disciples, and the people
