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SIGN #4: BREAD IN THE WILDERNESS (1)
(John 6:1-15)
SUBJECT:
F.C.F:
PROPOSITION:
INTRODUCTION:
A. One of the commonalities that every human
being shares with one another is that we are creatures
who must…eat. We all have to consume food, to take
in nourishment, or we will surely weaken and die. It is
a stark reminder to us that we are not all powerful, that
we do not have inexhaustible life in ourselves. We eat
or (at least physically speaking) we perish.
B. But we don’t just eat for survival. In a land
where there is more than enough, we make eating a
social and pleasurable event. We could just ration out
the daily requirement of calories and nutrients and
choke them down. That would keep us going. But we
like our food to taste good, smell good, and even look
good. We make eating a social event. A truly capable
chef will never lack for work. We turn cooking into
entertainment, and the better-known chefs even
become celebrities and have their own television shows.
The food bill is always among one of our higher budget
categories. And even though we make much more out
of our intake of nourishment, eating is still an essential
of life and that for life.
I. THE MIRACLE OF THE MANNA.
A. That’s one of the realities God’s people
faced as they were rescued from Egypt and headed off
through the wilderness to the Promised Land. God
saved his people through many miracles he performed
through his servant, Moses. Many of the miracles were
spectacular, breathtaking and dramatic, like crossing
the Red Sea, or the water (really a river) gushing out
from the rock, or the Nile River turning to blood. But
there was one wonder that was quiet and unassuming,
but which was the most consistent sign, and that was
the miracle of the manna. In the wilderness, God’s
people had a pressing, continual, daily need for food, in
a land where there was no food.
B. And God graciously provided for their needs.
The details are truly unique and remarkable. The
people of God did not need to plant or hunt or harvest
their food each day, they only needed to go out and
pick it up. As the dew evaporated each new morning, it
left behind these flakes of bread. It tasted like wafers
made with honey. It was delicious, and it was all they
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needed to sustain them physically. This daily delivery
of bread from heaven continued for 40 years, each day
for over 14,000 days. And they needed to gather it
each day. If they tried to gather up enough for the next
day, it would stink and become putrid and wormy.
And it gets even more amazing. The bread
appeared only six days out of seven. On the day before
the Sabbath, they were instructed to gather enough to
last for two days. And on that day only the manna
would not spoil. What’s more, no manna would appear
on the Sabbath day morning. So the bread was given
regularly, on schedule and without fail, only six days
out of seven, and for 40 years. To my mind, this was
the grand miracle of Moses’ ministry. And, as we’ve
seen, Moses’ ministry was a ministry of death,
according to 2 Corinthians 3:7. Here was a miracle that
sustained life, given under Moses’ ministry, a miracle
that daily reminded God’s people of his goodness and
providential care.
C. And this is a reminder to us as well, because
it is undoubtedly the gift of the manna which became
the source of the line in our Lord’s prayer which
teaches us to pray, “And give us this day our daily
bread.” It encourages us in a daily walk of dependence
upon God.
II. THE PROPHECY OF THE NEW PROPHET.
A. The book of Deuteronomy is an extended
farewell speech by Moses. He is about to die. He has
been barred from the Promised Land because of his
presumption and disobedience. Joshua is about to take
the people in. But Moses, the prophet, has some
concluding prophecies for God’s people. And one of
them, recorded in Deuteronomy 18, is that another
prophet, like Moses, will arise from among their
brothers, from among Israel. And the people must
listen to him (perhaps as they did not listen very well to
Moses): “15 “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— 16 just as you
desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of
the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again
the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any
more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They
are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up
for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.
And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall
speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever
will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my
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name, I myself will require it of him.” Some have
suggested that this text is the basis for the whole
prophetic office throughout the Old Testament, and
even today, as preachers study God’s Word and
proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit, and this is
certainly correct.
B. But the text truly calls for a certain, specific
Prophet, who will come in the spirit of Moses and
proclaim God’s Word in fullness. And the book of
Deuteronomy closes with a declaration that this
Prophet has not yet arisen. After Moses is dead and
buried and Joshua has taken the reigns, someone adds a
postscript to Deuteronomy stating that they are still
looking for this Prophet. They are sure he has not yet
come because no one else has done the kind of signs
performed by Moses. “10 And there has not arisen a
prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD
knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs
and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the
land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to
all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the
great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all
Israel.”
C. There are a few things we should note about
this statement. One is that the LORD knew Moses
“face to face.” The second verse of John’s Gospel
appears to be an unnecessary redundancy. “1 In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with
God.” Why restate what has already been said? The
Greek preposition translated “with” implies an equality
of stature, a face-to-face equality. So John is from the
beginning of his Gospel pointing that the Word fills the
qualification of this Prophet who was to come.
And we should also note that the people of
Jesus day understood that this Prophet had not yet
come and they were looking for him. John records that
the people wondered if he was the prophet: “And they
asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I
am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered,
“No.” (John 1:21) Notice they are looking for a
specific prophet. And on the way to Emmaus, the two
disciples disclosed their understanding of who Jesus
was in Luke 24:19 “And he (Jesus) said to them,
“What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in
deed and word before God and all the people….”
Stephen in his sermon in Acts 7 makes the
connection between Moses, whom the Jews rejected,
and Jesus, whom the Jewish leaders rejected. “Acts
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7:30-37: “Now when forty years had passed, an angel
appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a
flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was
amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there
came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of
Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals
from your feet, for the place where you are standing is
holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my
people who are in Egypt, and have heard their
groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And
now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ 35 “This Moses,
whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler
and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and
redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him
in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing
wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in
the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses
who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from your brothers.’” So there was
certainly this expectation that the Prophet like Moses
was yet to arise (and here Stephen identifies this
Prophet with Jesus).
III. THE BETTER BREAD OF HEAVEN.
A. And that brings us to our text in John 6, the
fourth of the signs. Let me now read the text: 1 After
this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of
Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large
crowd was following him, because they saw the signs
that he was doing on the sick. They are certainly not
condemned for their seeking him due to the signs. In
fact, they are doing exactly what they are supposed to
be doing at this point.
3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he
sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the
feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes,
then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward
him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread,
so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test
him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip
answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy
enough bread for each of them to get a little.” So
Jesus takes this large crowd up on the mountain, away
from civilization, into a wilderness place.
B. And I want you to be sure you understand
the impossibility of this situation. 8 One of his
disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
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9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and
two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said,
“Have the people sit down.” Now there was much
grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five
thousand in number.” How many men? Do you
suppose there were any women and children? If there
was only one woman and one child per man that would
be 15,000 people. Five loaves and two fish was a
single boy’s lunch.
And yet Jesus miraculously feeds them all. “11
Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given
thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.
So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when
they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather
up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13
So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with
fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who
had eaten.” Now a common, skeptical interpretation of
this miracle is that it is merely a miracle of generosity.
This boy’s selfless sharing so inspired the stingy crowd
that they immediately produced their own hidden
lunches and began to share with others.
C. How do you know that this interpretation is
obviously incorrect?
1. For one thing, there were the leftovers. The
point of describing the leftovers was to demonstrate
that this was a miracle of abundance.
2. Another reason is because John was there as
an eyewitness. And out of all the miraculous signs of
Jesus, he selected this one as convincing proof that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The eyewitness
tells us it is an unexplainable miracle.
3. But the clincher is the response of all the
other 5,000-plus eyewitnesses. Notice what they say:
“14 When the people saw the sign that he had done,
they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come
into the world!” My question to you is this: What
Prophet? This is the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18. And
what made them think that Jesus was this Prophet?
They saw the sign. Again, how did the unnamed editor
in Deuteronomy 34 know that the Prophet had NOT yet
come? Because nobody has done these great signs.
“10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel
like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11
none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the
LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh
and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all
the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that
Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
But now, someone has come who has repeated
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one of the signs of Moses, giving the people bread in
the wilderness. And they immediately, excitedly and
correctly conclude that this long-expected Prophet has
now come.
Next time we will conclude, because the story
is not over yet. Jesus has to teach them about the true
bread from heaven. With the people it will be a case of
the right realization, but the wrong response.
CONCLUSION
But now let me make some applications.
1. First, remember, the primary purpose of a
sign is confirmation. Jesus repeated this miracle of
providing the bread of heaven in the wilderness, as no
one else has done since the days of Moses. The first
eyewitnesses got the point. Do you? There is a
question you should be thinking as we continue this
study: “Which of the signs of Moses were left undone
by Jesus?” Think hard. What you’ll find when we’re
done is that Jesus repeated them all. Only his were
better and greater.
2. And how much more closely most we follow
Jesus, the new Moses, come to call the new people of
God to the new and true Promised Land! How our
hopes and expectations must rise so much higher in
him! That’s right. Our main problem is not that we are
hoping for too much from Christ, but too little.
I’m reading a book by Vishal Mangalwadi, a
believer from India who was our main speaker for our
missions conference several years ago. The book is on
William Carey, known as the founder of modern
missions. He is also the founder of modern India,
according to Vishal Mangalwadi. Virtually every
positive advancement which India enjoys today is a
result of William Carey’s bold initiative to bring the
Word of God to this land.
Carey, who, an uneducated shoemaker, is
known for a stirring exhortation, with which I’ll close.
From his own experience, Carey could admonish us:
“Attempt great things for God; expect great things
from God.”

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