“They Saw the Signs” (Part 2 of 2)

Focus Keywords: Jesus is the Bread of Life, supernaturalism, John 6 miracle, Christian faith, overcoming naturalism, eternal food, Alistair Begg

This rewrite summarizes Alistair Begg’s message on John 6, emphasizing that the miracle of feeding the 5,000 was a sign intended solely to disclose the divine identity and authority of Jesus Christ as the Creator and the ultimate provision for humanity’s soul. The crucial failure of the crowd—and the ongoing challenge for believers—is seeing the sign (the blessing) without grasping its eternal significance (Jesus himself).

The Unforgettable Miracle: Provision Beyond Imagination

The core narrative of John 6 details one of Jesus’s most famous miracles: the feeding of thousands using only a small provision brought by a young boy.

1. The Context of Scarcity: The disciples were confronted with the overwhelming need of the massive crowd (estimated to be over 20,000 people, including women and children) and quickly realized they could not acquire food. All they had was the meager offering from one boy.
2. The Act of Multiplication: Jesus took the food, gave thanks, and distributed it. The miracle involved the participation of all present, suggesting the multiplication took place miraculously as people passed the material from one to another, rather than only in Jesus’s hands. This demonstrated God’s power working in the natural world in a phenomenally supernatural way.
3. Abundance and Authority: When the crowd had eaten their fill, Jesus commanded the disciples to “Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost”. The astounding result was 12 baskets of leftovers—a testimony that Jesus is able to do “exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or even imagine”.

The Essential Meaning: The Creator’s Identity Revealed

The fundamental question raised by the miracle is: What does it mean, and why does it matter?.

The Sign Points to the Performer

The sign of the bread multiplication was intended to point directly to the one who performed the miracle—Jesus himself. The miracles of Jesus are not arbitrary acts but are fundamentally about the disclosure of his identity.

• Sovereignty Over Nature: The signs indicate Jesus’s power over nature. The feeding of the 5,000 dramatically indicates that Jesus is the “bread of life”.
• The Creator Interacts with Creation: The starting point for faith is recognizing that Jesus is the Creator of the universe. Since all things were made through Him, it would be surprising if the Creator who established the laws of nature could not also interact with them and do what He likes with them.
• The Grand Miracle: The Christian story rests on one grand miracle: that the uncreated, eternal Creator descended into His own universe, took on human nature, and rose again. There is no Christianity without supernaturalism at all; Christianity crumbles entirely without the belief in the Incarnation and the Resurrection.

Challenging Naturalism

To accept the biblical narrative, one must reject the philosophy of naturalism, which argues that such events “cannot be”. Any attempt to discard the miraculous narrative (e.g., claiming Jesus walking on water was just a boat hitting gravel) challenges the believer’s core faith because the miracles are integral to Jesus’s power and kingship.

The Crowd’s Failure: Focused on the Perishing Food

Despite witnessing the awesome power of Jesus, the crowd and the disciples failed to understand the sign’s true significance.

• Focus on the Physical: The crowd was focused solely on the food and on victory (trying to make Jesus a king). They were interested in having their stomachs filled for free.
• Proximity vs. Faith: The disciples, though living in proximity to Jesus, still did not grasp the full truth. They were fascinated followers but remained unchanged.
• The Sin of Offense: The crowds eventually took offense at what Jesus said. They were looking for a King to lead a military or political movement, not the divine disclosure mediated through the Incarnate Son.

The Call to Eternal Investment

Jesus, recognizing their carnal focus, immediately redirected their attention from temporary provision to eternal necessity.

1. Don’t Work for Perishable Food: Jesus commanded them, “Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you”. This does not mean avoiding work, but rather not establishing one’s entire existence on the strength of the “here and the now”.
2. The Simple Work of God: When the religious people asked what works they must do, Jesus provided the ultimate answer: “The works of God are to believe on him whom he has sent”.
3. Jesus is the Bread: Jesus stated, “I am the bread of life”—the first of the “I am” statements in the New Testament. He is not merely a “guide to life” or a set of rules; He is the miracle itself.
4. The Eternal Consequence: The ultimate matter of this miracle is that without feeding on Jesus, men and women starve eternally.

Every time the claims of Christ are presented, believers and unbelievers stand at a “crossroads time”. The challenge for followers of Christ is to ensure they have truly eaten the bread of life themselves before attempting to convince others, and to avoid the temptation to invest their lives only for time, but instead for eternity. The Christian’s focus must remain on the bread of life, the Lord who provides and sustains, lest they turn back and no longer walk with Him.