#DailyDevotion Jesus Is The Promised Prophet Who Leads Us To The Promised Land
John 6:8-15 8One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, told Him, 9“There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what is that among so many?” 10“Have the people sit down,” Jesus said. There was much grass at the place. So they sat down. There were about 5,000 men. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting down, and in the same way as much of the fish as they wanted. 12When they had enough, He told His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left so that nothing will be wasted.” 13They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.14Seeing the miracle He did, the people said, “This certainly is the Prophet Who is coming into the world.” 15When Jesus learned that the people meant to come and take Him by force and make Him king, He went back again to the hill by Himself.
So remember this was near Passover. The story of the Exodus would be be in people’s minds. They would remember how in the wilderness with Moses the LORD provided them with manna and quail. We should also recall how Jesus took 128 or so gallons of water in water jugs and turned them into the finest wine. But only his closest disciples had witnessed that.
So now in the wilderness of Judea Jesus has a large crowd of Jews, five thousand men, not including women and children. He told his disciples to feed them, knowing what he was going to do. Andrew pipes us with what they have on hand, 5 loaves of bread and two fish, though he isn’t quite sure how that would really help. With that he has the people sit down on the grass. He blesses the food and has his disciples distribute it. Everyone has enough and in fact there are twelve baskets of the five loaves.
Seeing this sign, the people declare, “This certainly is the Prophet Who is coming into the world.” They apparently now want to take Jesus by force and make his king. Now they aren’t wrong. Jesus is the Prophet they were referring to. But what were they referring to? In Deuteronomy 18 the Moses said, 15“The LORD your God will raise a Prophet for you, one of you, an Israelite, like me; listen to Him.” and the LORD said, 18I will raise a Prophet for them, One of their fellow Israelites, like you; I will have Him speak My Word, and He will tell them everything I order Him. 19If anyone will not listen to My Words, which He says in My name, I will punish him.” The Jews here recognize Jesus as the Prophet because he provided bread for them in the wilderness.
Unfortunately, they completely missed the more important aspect of Jesus being the Prophet—he would tell them everything the LORD ordered him to teach. This is a big theme in John’s Gospel. In chapter 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus, “11I tell you the truth, We tell what We know, and We testify to what we have seen. But you people don’t accept our testimony.” In ch. 7 Jesus says, 16“What I teach doesn’t come from Me but from Him Who sent Me.” Jesus is the Prophet who if we trust his word will lead us into the New Heavens and New Earth, the Promised Land promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.
Heavenly Father, give us your Holy Spirit that we may recognize Jesus is your Prophet and so we may believe all he teaches and do it to your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.