John records an incident that occurred by "the sea of Tiberias" (vss. 1, 23). In the other Gospels, this sea is called "the sea of Galilee," or "the lake Gennesaret," but when the Romans took the land from the Jews, they changed the names of many of the places as a sign of their domination and ownership. By John calling it the sea of Tiberias, he was acknowledging what God had done in setting aside Israel—thus, in this seemingly insignificant fact we have another indicator of the passing of the old dispensation.
The subject in this chapter is food and the satisfying of hungry souls. There is the eating of the Passover (vs. 4), eating the five loaves and two fishes (vss. 5-14), eating the Manna (vss. 22-50), and eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ, the Son of Man (vss. 51-58). The first is a type that has been fulfilled in Christ's death (1 Cor. 5:7). The second is a type of one of the many things that the Lord would do for the world in the millennial day; namely, to abolish hunger (Psa. 132:15; Psa. 146:7, etc.). The third (the Manna) is a type that has been fulfilled in the Lord coming down from heaven as the "the living Bread" (vs. 51). In these things, we see Christ as the fulfilment of the Old Testament types and prophecies. This teaches us that when the old dispensation would pass and the new dispensation would come in, the Old Testament Scriptures would not be done away with; they are the Word of God and are to be held as such. However, we learn from the way in which the Spirit of God handles these Old Testament types that they are no longer to be applied in a literal sense—in sacrifices and ceremonies, rituals, etc.—but for their moral import and typical teaching (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11). This is another change that would come as a result of the old dispensation being set aside.