John 6:14-21 “The Power of Jesus”

Introduction: In our last text Jesus fed some fifteen thousand people with just five loaves and two fishes. This was a spectacular miracle. Jesus has the power to create matter. In our text today we will see another power Jesus has. He can set aside the laws of gravity and buoyancy as He wishes.

(John 6:14) Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

These men are convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah. They have been taught all of their lives about the Messiah. They have been taught that He would come as their King and sit on the throne of David. They have not had a King for several hundred years. They are ready to become an independent sovereign country again. They are excited by this prospect and do not see the bigger picture. The Messiah must indeed come but He must come to be our Savior first and then He will come to be the King of Kings. These men had been taught that eternal life and salvation was accomplished by being a descendant of Abraham being under and keeping the Law of Moses. Jesus had told the Jews in chapter five to search the scriptures. They had the truth contained in the Old Testament as to how one might have eternal life. They searched the scriptures looking for a system of rules which, if kept, would give eternal life. What they needed to have searched for was a Person and not a system. The Old Testament tells us of the savior who would come and redeem mankind. He would pay our sin debt and offer to us pardon through His shed blood.

(John 6:15) When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

These men are planning to force Jesus to be their King. They have a greater need than a King. They need a savior. Jesus must retreat from them and foil their plans. He has not come to drive out the Romans. He has come to save men’s lives not to destroy them. He has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Men today are as arrogant as they were in Jesus day. They think that they can dictate what God is going to do. They say to God “we will live our lives like we want to and you will give to us all the things we need. You will take second or third place in our lives but we expect you to bless us with all our material needs and also take us to heaven when we die.”

This type of arrogance will result in the same out come God will depart from you and in the future will tell men to depart from Him “I never knew you.”

(John 6:16) And when even was [now] come, his disciples went down unto the sea,

Jesus had instructed His disciples to cross over to Capernaum. They were to wait for Him there. They obey His command and go to find a boat.

(John 6:17) And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.

The disciples enter the ship and go over the sea toward Capernaum. It is dark now and Jesus was not come to them as yet.

(John 6:18) And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

A great wind comes up and begins to cause the sea waves to rise up. There is no mention of rain but wind only.

(John 6:19) So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.

(John 6:20) But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.

The sea of Galilee was about forty furlongs across. This means they were about one fourth of the way across when the wind began to blow and they were struggling against the storm. They looked out over the stormy waters and saw someone walking on the waves. They believed it to be a ghost. They were very afraid and Jesus called out to them and said “it is I be not afraid.” Peter asked the Lord to bid him to come to Him on the waters and Jesus did. Peter steps out of the ship and goes walking to Jesus. He was distracted by the storm and began to sink. Jesus rescues Peter and then returns him to the safety of the ship. Jesus also calmed the storm.

(John 6:21) Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

They were glad to have Jesus in the ship with them. The storm had caused much fear and concern but now everything was alright with Jesus there. The verse says that immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. There is some debate as to whether a miracle happened here. Did Jesus transport them across the sea of Galilee instantaneously? The adverb “immediately” would seem to indicate that this was the case. Matthew and Mark tell a different story. They seem to indicate that they crossed over and came to the place where they would go ashore. This would mean that the word “immediately” would mean quickly rather than instantly. Without the storm to hinder their progress they would make the rest of the crossing much faster than they had up to that point. Yet the word used by John was “immediately.” There is a separate Greek word for “quickly.” John did not use that word. He said “immediately, instantly, at once.”

Why would Jesus want to get to shore so quickly? It was night time and nothing could be done until morning. Perhaps they needed to get some sleep and this would not be possible until they had come to shore. What ever the case may be Jesus could have done this miracle as well. It does not diminish His power in any way to say they came to the shore quickly. It does not increase His power in any way to say that they came to shore instantly. Jesus is still the Christ the Son of God the savior of men!

These things are written by John that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through His name. Jesus has demonstrated great power through His wonderful works. If Jesus can feed the thousands with five loaves and two fishes; if He can calm the winds and the waves; if He can heal the sick and raise the dead; then He certainly can save a lost soul. These miracles were preformed when Jesus thought the time was right. These were done where Jesus chose to do them. These were done that men might be saved by believing in Him. Jesus did not force these men to believe they had the right to chose to believe or not. You have the right to choose whether or not you are going to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What will your choice be?