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Written by Ben Cheek
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Wednesday, 22 November 2006 |
In the first section of John chapter 6 we read the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. The miracle itself is amazing but there are some smaller stories taking place here as well. For instance, in John 5:45 Jesus says, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” What had Moses said about Jesus? Deuteronomy 18:15 says “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” Here in John 6:14 it says, "After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Not only was Jesus the prophet Moses wrote about but he was also the God Moses wrote about who supplied bread in the wilderness. Another interesting story in John 6 is Jesus interaction with Philip. Verse 5 says, “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’" It’s possible that they were in an area near Philip’s home town of Bethsaida . (John 1:44) Perhaps Jesus asked him because he would have known where the shops were. In any case, Jesus was testing Philip’s faith and understanding (vs. 6) Jesus asked Philip “where” but Philip could only think in terms of “how.” It’s too bad that Philip didn’t remember the water that Jesus turned to wine. Maybe he would have replied “You can provide, Lord.” And, Philip must have forgotten his own confession when he told Nathanael, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." (1:45) The test really has to do with recognizing who Jesus is. And isn’t it amazing that Jesus was testing one of his own just as God does. In the Old Testament God only tested his own people. It’s the same way today. Those of us who belong to God are continually tested. We have the benefit of God’s revelation in the New Testament and the Spirit living inside us and we still find ourselves tested to recognize that God is the only true reality in life. Our tests are not always comfortable but they are necessary. They are a part of God’s graciousness as they draw us deeper into a faith relationship with him. Through our tests we see our weaknesses and God’s sufficiency. Father if I must go through the test to draw closer to you, bring it on .
Original content by: http://becauseofjesus.blogspot.com/2006/11/test.html.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 22 November 2006 )
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Scott Bartchy is a radical. He believes in a subversive system that embraces those on the fringes of our society and seeks to establish a new way of life that goes against the status quo.