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"Verily, verily I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but
because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled" (John 6: 26).
Then follows the great discourse which gives the spiritual meaning of the food and the
manna of the O.T. (verses 27-59). Both these foods were typical of Himself Who was the
Bread of life, the One Who alone can completely satisfy (verses 35, 48), and just as that
earthly bread had to be broken before it was eaten, so He had to be broken (except His
bones) in death so that he could be assimilated by faith, and give eternal life to the
believer (verses 47, 51).
Unbelievers have gone out of their way to discredit this miracle; but there is no
sensible alternative to simple faith in the reliability of the records given. All explanations
that deny them require a greater stretch of credulity than is needed to believe what is
written. Some have said that the loaves and fish were exceptionally large! Do such
people realize that the fish would needed to have been about half a ton in weight, apart
from the loaves, to feed 5,000 people!
Others say that the Lord filled them with spiritual food, and if this was so what did the
disciples collect in baskets? The evolutionist cannot except the record, for they must
believe in the uniformity of natural law as an explanation of all physical phenomena, and
this miracle involved special creation, which is taboo to evolutionary theories.
What happened is perfectly clear. He Who was the Creator of the universe, created
enough bread and fish on the spot to feed at least 5,000 hungry people, so much so that
twelve baskets full remained afterwards. He thus foreshadowed His own death on the
cross as the true Bread from heaven, broken to feed and satisfy the needs of multitudes of
sinners.
The Walking on the Sea.
Christ now commands the disciples to go by boat to the other side and meanwhile,
having satisfied the physical needs of the crowd, He dismisses them. After this He
retired to a nearby mountain to pray and have fellowship with the Father. Several times it
is recorded that He did this (Luke 6: 12; 9: 28) and if the blessed Son of God felt this
to be a need, what about ourselves and the need for quiet devotion?
There was another reason why He desired to be free from the crowd. In John's
account we are told that it was at this time that the multitude tried to take Him by force to
make Him a king. They recognized that He was that Prophet foretold in the Old
Testament (John 6: 14, 15) and in their excited enthusiasm they tried to compel Him to
become Israel's King. On the surface this appeared as though the great kingdom message
was getting through, for had He not come to take David's throne? But He could see
through their empty zeal, for a few verses later He said to them, "I tell you the truth, you
are looking for Me, not because you saw the miraculous signs but because you ate the
loaves and had your fill" (6: 26, N.I.V.). It was all nothing more than excitement of the
senses.