Verses 1-6. The multitudes followed Him because they saw His miracles that He wrought on them which were diseased. His divine compassion thinks of their need, and begins an exercise in the disciples’ souls of how this need is to be met, while He Himself knew what He would do.
Verses 7-9. Philip says, Two hundred pennyworth of bread would not suffice to give each one a little; and Andrew’s supplies are only, “Five barley loves and two small fishes” that a lad has brought with him. “But what are they among so many?” God made one cake of barley bread upset the host of Israel’s enemies before. (Judg. 7:13-14). And now He can feed the multitude with five. Man’s extremity is the time for God’s power to be seen. And man’s weakness expressed in five loaves and two small fishes, declared the power of God.
Verse 10. But everything must be done in order. They are directed to sit down, and it is in green pastures they sit, very suggestive of the Lord, our Shepherd, feeding His flock.
Verses 9-11. The dear lad gave up his lunch, and had the pleasure of receiving it back from the Saviour’s hand with a rich blessing upon it; doubtless, feeling happy that his little could feed the many. And he was not any the poorer. The Lord by it had fed five thousand men. And it suggests to us to put ourselves into the Lord’s hands, and while our name, like the lad’s may not be publicly recorded, we shall see what is much better, our blessed Lord glorified through our giving up of self.
Verses 12-13. They were all filled, and twelve baskets of fragments left that the disciples took up, as the Lord said, “that nothing might be lost.”
Verses 14-15. The effect on those who saw the miracle, made them declare, “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.” (Psa. 68:10, 132:15). But such scriptures declare Him King as well as Prophet. Why then should they not crown Him at once, and they are about to do it by force. He could not accept the Kingdom under such conditions. Atonement must be made, He must die first (John 12:24). He therefore departed again into a mountain Himself alone, and that pictures His priesthood when rejected on earth. (Heb. 8:4). Thus His three offices are here shadowed forth.
Verse 16. The disciples entered the ship, as He had arranged and went on toward Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them, and the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
The lonely and adverse circumstances of the godly remnant during the tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, when the Lord is absent are here shadowed forth. (Isa. 50:10 Jer. 30:7).
Verses 19-20. Then they see Him walking on the water, and drawing nigh to the ship, and they are afraid till His voice reaches them, “It is I: be not afraid.” Then they willingly received Him into the ship; and immediately they are at the land whither they went. So Israel’s godly remnant will be delivered from their sorrows, when the Lord comes with His heavenly company of saints and angels.
Verses 22-27. The following day, other boats and people were seeking Him in the same place, and not finding Him there, they start for Capernaum seeking for Jesus. That sounds like a real work of grace, but Alas! the Lord who knows the heart, tells them their motives were selfish. They want to know how He got there, their inquisitiveness is aroused. Jesus solemnly brings before them eternal things. The food that perishes had been their object. He puts before them the food that endures unto everlasting life, which He, the Son of Man, shall give unto them, for Him hath God the Father sealed.
Verse 28. This arouses them a little, and they ask, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”
Verse 29. Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”
Verses 30-31 And after all they had heard and seen, they say, “What sign showest Thou then, that we may see, and believe Thee? What dost Thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
Verses 32-33. Jesus answered, “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”
Verses 34-40. Then said they unto Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” It seemed like the woman at Sychar’s well, “Give me of this water that I come not hither to draw,” and the Lord’s reply seems to convey it. He said unto them, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen Me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The blessing He has brought is eternal and goes beyond resurrection, beyond millennial blessing.
Verses 41-51. But the Jews murmur because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And their unbelief speaks of Him as the Son of Joseph, just a man like themselves, but they could not do His works. And Jesus answered, “Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise Him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets ‘And they shall be all taught of God.’ Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father.
Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Verse 52. What perplexity all this seemed to the Jews. And they strove among themselves, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” In their law they were not allowed to eat blood, and now the Lord adds to their perplexity by adding,
Verse 53. “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and drunk His blood, ye have no life in yourselves.” (N. T.).
In the light of the gospel we can see that it is feeding spiritually on the death of Christ. It is not the bread and wine of the Lord’s supper, which are a remembrance of Him in death, but this is faith in the death of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. If we are taught of God, (Ver. 45) we learn that we are lost vile sinners, and nothing can fit us for God’s presence but the blood and death of Christ. And this is applied to us in coming to Him. And so the Lord goes on Verses 54-57. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” It is eternal salvation. It is the one who by faith makes the death of Christ as for himself, that comes into this blessing. And the Lord goes farther, for this life He gives needs to be sustained. His flesh is thus meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed. And he that feeds thus upon Him, “dwelleth in Me, and I in him.” This is daily communion. And it is as He lived on earth, in communion with His Father. “As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father:” (that is, sustained as a dependent Man by the Father’s living). “so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.”
Verse 58. “This is that bread which came down from heaven,” (not like the manna of old that perished with the using,) this bread endures to eternal life to all who partake of it.
Verses 59-60. This lesson in the Capernaum synagogue was a hard one. Many of His disciples said, “This in a hard saying; Who can hear it?”
Verses 61-63. But there was something harder still. Jesus said to His disciples, “Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Was He not the true Passover lamb to be fed upon? but they could not take it in. It is really truth for those who have the Holy Spirit given to them. (1 Cor. 2:10, 12). Such can see in the Lord Jesus the substance of all the shadows, the spirit of all the Word.
Verses 64-65. But it divides between those who felt their need of Him, and those who only came because of His miracles. Jesus knew from the beginning the real ones, from the false, and who should betray Him. And He said, “Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given him of My Father.”
Verse 66. “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.”
Verse 67. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, “Will ye also go away?”
Verses 68-71. Simon Peter answered Him as spokesman for them, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter had felt his need of Christ, a need none other could satisfy, he could not go away, and he thought so of the rest. But Jesus answered, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Judas Iscariot is thus pointed out as His betrayer, and yet was in such close company with the Lord. Truly “the flesh profiteth nothing.”
Verse 62. The Son of Man’s ascension is alluded to, but not unfolded.
Verse 4. The Passover is near. The Lord’s death is its fulfillment.