Imagine that you had been told since you were a child the stories of Moses. He was a hero of your people. He was chosen by God to lead your people out of their bondage. The people of God were who they were because of the work that God did through Moses. He was considered to be the greatest figure of the Old Testament.

Now, consider that there had also been a strange promise given by Moses in one of the books that he wrote.

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—“—Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV

Someone else would come and be a prophet like him? This had to be astounding to anyone who would read it. Can you imagine the thought that someone else would come who God used in the same way that God used Moses? God used Moses to bring the plagues upon Egypt, to part the Red Sea, to bring down manna from Heaven, to give the Ten Commandments, and there is supposed to be someone to come like him. It just doesn’t seem possible. The truly unbelievable thing about this is not that there is another prophet like Moses, but rather that the second is far superior to the first.

Jesus is the Greater Moses Giving a Greater Salvation (John 6).

Jesus Is The Greater Moses, Feeding Bread From Heaven (John 6:1-14)

During the Passover Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and was understandably being followed because of the tremendous miracles that He had been doing. Jesus then walked a bit up the mountain and sat down with His disciples. There is a large and hungry crowd coming near them and it is time to eat. Jesus asked the question, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” (John 6:5 ESV). These people coming obviously posed a problem. It was time to eat. Jesus knew already what he was about to do, but no one else did. Philip knew what all of this meant. People needed to be fed and there simply were too many people and not enough money to buy food for them. Andrew brought to Jesus a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, and Jesus made this small bit of food be enough. In fact, it was more than enough. They gathered up leftovers after it was over. Then, people saw more clearly than they had in a long time saying, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (John 6:14).

Why would these people think that Jesus was this prophet? Jesus was doing a miracle, that’s why people were following Him. Jesus now feeds the people with bread and fish…from Heaven. It didn’t exactly fall from the sky, but it did come miraculously in a way that was noticed by all. With five loaves and two fish, Jesus supplied food for 5,000 people. And here, I would argue that this is much greater than when Moses was alive because the feeding actually originated from Jesus. In the miracles of Moses, it was God who provided the bread. Jesus is God, and God provided the bread that day. Jesus is greater than Moses, Himself providing the food for 5,000 people to eat. The things that were done through Moses were glorious, but Moses was not God. Jesus is God, doing, even more, miracles than Moses. And here he, Himself, fed the 5,000 plus people that were there.

So, Moses was glorious and the things that he did were glorious, but Christ is greater. He is personally bringing the bread and also fish.

Jesus is the Greater Moses, Rescuing His People Through the Water (Vv. 15-21)

This portion of the story seems rather uneventful. Jesus withdraws by himself because the people perceived that he was special and wanted to make him king. It is my guess that many people thought he was the prophet that had long been foretold (John 6:14 & Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus, not wanting to be king and knowing that it was not part of his mission, left to the mountain. At some point in the evening, his disciples left to go across the sea to Capernaum. A storm came and Jesus came out to meet them. They were three or four miles off shore and Jesus just shows up saying, “It is I; do not be afraid.” (John 6:20 ESV). But then things get weirder.

Imagine these fishermen being scared of a storm, then being scared because they see a person on the water. Then they let Jesus into the boat and the boat is on the shore. It says, “Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” (John 6:21 ESV).

If we pay attention to what John is saying then we understand this as a miraculous event in which Jesus rescued His people from the storm through the tumultuous waters to get them safely to the other side. It sounds peculiarly similar to something else that happened in Moses’ life.

The people of God had made it out of Egypt only to find themselves standing with a sea in front of them and Pharaoh’s chariots behind them (Exodus 14). Moses stretched out his hand and the Lord caused the sea to split. There was a wall of on each side and the Israelites walked across as if they were on dry land. When the Israelites made it to the other side God told Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea again and the sea went back to normal crushing Pharaoh’s army. God saved the people of Israel by miraculously getting the people of God to the other side.

This again is a picture of who Jesus is. Jesus is who folks thought that he was that day. Jesus is the prophet like Moses who had come. Much like Moses, Jesus brought His people out of a horribly scary situation and safely across the waters. But again there is a difference. Jesus did not lift His hand and God do the work. He is God. He is God and He miraculously got the disciples to safety.

Again, Moses was glorious, but Christ is greater.

Jesus Is Greater Than Moses, The Salvation He Brings Is Greater Than That Of Moses—So Believe In Him (John 6:21-35)

After feeding all those people folks came looking. They actually got in their boats and went to the other side after seeing the disciples about on the other side. Jesus understood that what they wanted was physical food from Jesus. This all makes sense too.

When I was in college, every College Student Ministry near the campus served food for college students. Between the Catholics, Methodists, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, and of course the Baptists you could find free lunch any day of the week that you wanted….and a lot students showed up to as many of them as they could. Did they do it because they believed in what the folks serving the food believed? For the most part the answer is no. Why did they come? They came for the food. Why did the people find Jesus the next day? They came for the food.

When asked when he got there Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (John 6:26 ESV). They were there for the food, but Jesus had so much more to offer 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 to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal.” (John 6:27 ESV)

There is so much more that Christ is bringing. The food that Christ brought the day before was temporary. The food that Moses brought was temporary. If that’s what you’re living for then you are living for that which will perish.

The problem is that people, for the most part, are not living for anything more than what will perish. This is where people begin their lives and this is where we will end up lest God intervene. We struggle to see past what is going on all around us. We think more about food, or our personal relationships, or our wealth, education, or everything else before we consider that which does not perish. People lack an understanding of the things of God. We naturally lack a desire to acquiesce to those things that are spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Jesus’ reprimand apparently worked. The people began asking other questions. “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (John 6:28 ESV) Jesus then tells them that there is a work that they should be doing. It is a work, but it really isn’t a work at all. The work that Jesus says that they must do is this, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6:29 ESV)

The work that Jesus says for them to do is not a work at all. It is believing or trusting in the One God sent. Who is it that God had sent? Well, it was Jesus. The one thing that Jesus says that these people need to do, the one thing that they can do that will be of eternal value is for them to believe.

It is the same with us. We work and work and work. People believe that if they do enough good in the world that the scales will tip in their favor and they will escape the punishment of God. But that’s not it at all. What is the work that we are to be doing? We are to believe. We are to trust in the One who came to bear our sin. We trust in the one came from Heaven and conquered sin and death on our behalf. He came and died on a cross bearing the full weight of our sins. He rose from the dead three days later. We trust in Him. “…there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV) It is to Him that we cling. It is in Him we trust. If we do not do this then everything else will come to an end and we will find that it all perishes.

This is drastic stuff Jesus is calling people to, so they understandably want a sign. They want Jesus to call down bread from heaven again. Jesus then says that He is Himself the true Bread from Heaven. “For the bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:33 ESV) The manna that came down from Heaven in the days of Moses was only a picture of the great and glorious, but once it passed in the stool its effects were finished. This bread from Heaven brings eternal salvation. He gives “life to the world.”  He is the “true bread from Heaven” (John 6:32 ESV). Those who trust in Him have eternal life. Much like the woman at the well, Jesus’ hearers desired this bread. I’m not sure that they yet understood what Jesus meant so He stated it plainly. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35 ESV)

Jesus brings a greater salvation than Moses did. Did the bread of Moses save God’s people? Yes, it did, but they needed more bread. Every day they needed more bread. And what did that bread accomplish? It accomplished a lot. It sustained a people for quite some time. But it was nothing in comparison to this bread. This salvation is eternal. Jesus brings a greater salvation. Moses saved from bondage to Pharaoh, but Jesus saves from bondage to sin. Moses saved from the waters of the Red Sea, but Jesus saves from the wrath of God. Jesus’ salvation is greater than the salvation of Moses. Our response to this is to repent and believe. We give up being our own ruler and boss and trust in Christ who has achieved salvation for us.

Some Believed And Some Did Not, Who Are You? (John 6:36-71)

Now, we are made to see that some of Jesus’ hearers believed and some did not. Do you understand what is going on here? Jesus fed people miraculously the day before. They were calling him the prophet like Moses who was promised from Deuteronomy 18:15. And the next day Jesus is saying, “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” (John 6:36) Jesus has revealed Himself to these people. He did the miraculous in their sight, yet they did not believe. Why? Jesus reveals it here.

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from Heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.” (John 6:37-40 ESV)

I grew up in a family that did not go to church. My Mom went with my brother and myself when we were teenagers. My Dad’s parents were believers. Grandpa professed faith in Christ at an old age and my Grandma professed to be a Christian the whole time I knew her. My Mom’s parents, whom I have been closer to throughout my life have not been to church in years. Drug and alcohol addicted aunts and uncles with drug and alcohol addicted children are in my family. Children beating up their own parents are in my family. A lot of my friends have turned out to have rough lives. Some have made names for themselves and some are believers today. But, for the most part, the outlook is bleak. What makes me different?

It’s not that I achieved anything before God. I didn’t do anything to make myself special before Him. I didn’t pull myself up by my proverbial bootstraps. There is nothing that makes me different or special but the grace of God. The Father gave me to the Son and the Son will never cast me out. It is only by the grace of God that I am who I am today. And if you are a Christian here today then the same is true for you.

This is not a message that makes people happy. It’s not a message that will grow your church. It’s not a message that will grow a student ministry. And so, the reaction of the Jews who heard Him just makes sense. They “grumbled about him” (John 6:41 ESV). They have now gone from thinking that He is the Prophet, to saying that they know His parents, there is no way that He came “down from Heaven?” (John 6:42 ESV) Jesus’ answer was simply more of the same.

“Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws Him. And I will raise Him up on the last day.”  (John 6:45)

Jesus doesn’t calm down His tone at the grumbling of those near Him. He actually ratchets up the pressure a bit. They are actually grumbling instead of believing because they have not been drawn to Christ by the Father. It is a thread that we have seen throughout the Book of John so far. In John 1, in the prologue John said,

“He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13 ESV)

Then Jesus had a discussion with Nicodemus and Nicodemus did not believe. And Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 ESV) Jesus healed on the Sabbath in John 5 and was questioned about it. His response when boiled down was that He was God and since God works every day then He could heal on the Sabbath. In His answer Jesus stated that He “gives life to whom He will” (John 5:21 ESV). And now Jesus is saying these things again.

God draws people to Himself thus fulfilling the Scripture in Jeremiah that Jesus quotes,

“It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (John 6:45 ESV)

Now, does this take away the responsibility of people to believe? No. We must turn from our sins and trust in Christ. The reality is that we will not respond this way unless God is doing a work in us. We will not trust in Christ unless God has worked in us.

As we read on in the passage, the same conversations continue. The bread that Christ gives, His life, His body, His blood, His sacrifice, is the bread that gives eternal life. If we trust in Him then we will have eternal life. The people struggle with understanding it, at least some do. And Jesus continues saying,

“I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, He will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51-52 ESV)

If we, by faith, trust in Christ and partake of the life that He has accomplished for us, then we will have eternal life.

Conclusion

Moses is a towering figure in the Scriptures. You just can’t understand what God was doing with Israel without him. The things done with him were phenomenal. In fact, they were for many Hebrew people, the greatest events in the entire Scriptures. But here is Jesus offering something better than Moses ever did. He has accomplished eternal salvation, being made right with God. Our response is to trust in Him.

If you are reading this today and are not a believer trust in Him. Turn from ruling yourself and trust in Him.

 

R. Dwain Minor