John 6:11-15

 

John 6:11 (KJB)

And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

 

Jesus took the loaves and He thanked His Father for the loaves and the fishes. Then once He had thanked His Father, He then began to distribute the loaves first. Now He could have caused everyone there to have the food placed in front of them miraculously instead He gave the loaves to the disciples. Then the disciples distributed the loaves to those who were sitting down and the same method was used for the distribution of the fish. This is the great method of gospel distribution the Christian will use until the Lord returns. First, the Lord saves His people by indwelling them with the Bread of Life, which is Himself. Once a person is saved, they then go out and distribute the Gospel to others. Secondly, they become fishers of men. Notice in the end of the verse, it states “as much as they would.” Jesus was not only feeding these people with just enough to stay their hunger, He was feeding them abundantly. We go back to Psalm 23. (Psa 23:1 KJV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. The Lord will feed us until we have no more want. This means that when we become saved our souls will be so filled that we will overflow and give to others, and we will never run out because the supply of grace is unlimited.

 

John 6:12 (KJB)

When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

 

Filled - Satisfied

Fragments - Broken pieces or crumbs

 

In ancient times, they did not slice bread instead they broke the bread at the table. This meant that with thousands breaking the bread, there would be many fragments left. We are learning here that in the midst of abundance, there must never be an attitude of wastefulness. Sometimes the Lord blesses Christians with material blessings and instead of using it for the Kingdom, they begin to get sloppy and start using it for worldly things. There is also a great spiritual lesson on salvation here. Notice one of the meanings of the word “fragments” is “broken pieces.” Those Christians in this world, who are less than perfect, those who are sickly, disabled, impoverished, or suffer some other impediments will never be lost by the Lord Jesus Christ. These broken pieces of the complete loaf of the body of Christ will never be lost nor forsaken. These recipients of grace will be welcomed into Heaven just as those who were on the front lines. We can see this principle in 1 Samuel 30:24.

 

(1 Sam 30:24 KJV) For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. The men who had gone down to battle with David did not want to share the spoils with those who had stayed behind. They did not stay behind because they feared battle but because they were fatigued. David stated that that mindset would not stand. Those who went to battle will share with those who stayed by the stuff. All shared equally. So it will be with those who are unable to go to spiritual battle, all of Heaven will be theirs along with those who were physically capable of doing the Great Commission.

 

John 6:13 (KJB)

Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

 

Normally one of the traveling materials was the basket and here the disciples obeyed the Lord by gathering the fragments of the bread which filled twelve baskets. Twelve is the number of fullness. Twelve disciples, twelve tribes, twenty four gates in Revelation. So here we have a complete gathering of the fragments which originally came out of the five barley loaves. So here we have one basket for every disciple. This means that every believer will have a part in the Great Commission and will be given a basket, and that basket is the Gospel which will be preached and written and then handed out. As people become saved, they are gathered in the baskets. (John 15:8 KJV) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. The true disciple will want to fill those spiritual baskets with much fruit. Unfortunately, there are going to be many Christians going to Heaven with empty baskets. Their lives are fruitless here on earth because of just plain laziness. I cringe when I hear Christians say they don’t know their spiritual gift and do they think that automatically entitles them to become couch potatoes? If they do not know their spiritual gift, then until they do they can give to missions, hand out tracts, work at their church, volunteer in a Christian organization, etc. Idle Christians take their marching orders from Hell.

 

John 6:14 (KJB)

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.

 

(Deu 18:15-19 KJV) The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; {16} According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. {17} And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. {18} I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. {19} And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. Those men who were witnesses to this miracle had now believed that the prophet which was prophesied to come in the book of Deuteronomy, was now among them. Notice that they only attributed the office of Prophet to Jesus instead of Messiah. Even though they saw and partook of the miracle, they were still dead in their understanding of who Jesus was. The true Gospel is preached so the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ would be revealed to those who are hearing. From this verse we can also properly deduce that if miracles are included in the true Gospel, it does nothing to open the eyes of the spiritually blind because here we see a great miracle yet we do not read that anyone became saved. So those today who think that miracles will be a tool of evangelism are being deceived plus there are no miracles being done by these faith healers and frauds anyway. It is only through the preaching of the true Gospel that God opens the eyes of the Elect.

 

John 6:15 (KJB)

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.

 

Force - To seize, same word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to describe the rapture

 

Here is an example of miracle-driven euphoria. Since they saw and partook of this great miracle, they wanted to make Jesus a king. They probably spoke among themselves and figured that if He could do these miracles, then He would be the one to throw off the yoke of Rome by defeating them militarily. Jesus knew that His kingdom was not of this world and that He was a king already. Therefore, He departed from them alone into the mountains so the crowd would disperse and continue on to the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus did not come to be made an earthly king of a small territory. Now this is another great spiritual lesson for the believer. We must never allow interruptions to divert us from the ministry we have been called to. Many times Christians start out zealously preaching the Gospel and then get caught up in worldly problems and then start adulterating and compromising the message with subjects such as social justice, environmentalism, and other topics which do not save the soul. Jesus had a Heavenly mission and He would not allow Himself to be diverted with a worldly digression. (Neh 6:11 KJV) And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. Nehemiah would not be diverted by the attempts of the enemy. He knew His mission and he stuck to it until it was completed and so must the believer.

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