Glory Revealed
Week 5 - John 5-6
Revealed as the Bread of Life

I. The Healing at Bethesda - John 5:1-17

The Third Sign

“Jesus put the vital question to him: ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ Whatever may or may not be said about the sovereignty of God in human salvation, one thing is sure. The human will play its part. Divine omnipotence never violates the sanctity of the will. God does not ravish; he woos. The Lord will neither heal not save people against their will“ (John Phillips, Glory Revealed, p. 106).

John 1:12-13

II. Jesus’ Equality with God – John 5:18-32

Jesus demonstrates and claims equality with the Father. This enraged the Jewish leaders who “were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18).

John 6:24 – “He who hears and believes...”

III. The Witnesses – John 5:33-47

A. John the Baptist

B. Works

C. The Father

D. The Scripture

Moses – (John 5:46-47)

IV. Five Thousand Fed – John 6:1-14

The Fourth Sign

Jesus came not to give bread but to be the Bread.

Jesus asked them what they had. They came with a meager lunch. Not even enough for one man. Yet, Jesus took what they had, blessed and multiplied it. Everyone was satisfied (gorged) and there were 12 baskets full left over.

Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. He said in Mark 17:21, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” He also said, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21). “Jesus embodies the kingdom motif of God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule. Jesus is both the faithful ruler and the righteous citizen of the kingdom” (thegospelcoalition.org/article/10-connections- between-Jesus-and-the-kingdom-of-God/).

Luke described Jesus mission and ministry as “proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1).

The Jews were looking for a political King. One who would free them from Roman oppression. That is why they sought to make Jesus King after this great miracle.

V. Jesus Walks on Water – John 6:15-23

The Fifth Sign

The storms of life sometimes feel much like a tornado or whirlwind as they rip through our lives knocking us off balance and sometimes sucking us into their vortex.

Vortex: “A mass of fluid (such as a liquid) with a whirling or circular motion that tends to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle and to draw toward this cavity or vacuum bodies subject to its action” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

Jesus said to them, “It is I, do not be afraid,” or more literally, “I Am” (John 6:20).

VI. Jesus’ Teaching – John 6:24-58

In trying to explain the difference in the Kingdom of God and the world, Jesus tells them not to work for the food that perishes. Their understanding was limited to the temporal. Jesus told them to “work for the food which endures to eternal life” (John 6:27).

The people asked, “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”. (John 6:29).

Once again, we are told that our job is to believe. Do you remember the example Christ gave in John 3 about the bronze serpent?

There is no true wholeness, significance or joy apart from life in Christ. “God is not being stingy and withholding joy apart from our obedience; there simply is no joy apart from a life with and for God” (James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life, p. 29).

VII. The Challenge of Christ – John 6:59-71

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63-64).

“A disciple is someone who is learning by going through the process of change. All the things that we moan about and talk on and on about, such as pornography, divorce and drugs, are things that can be dealt with effectively only by bringing change into the mind and the spirit, into the will, into the body and into the fellowship of the person. Then people come out saying, ‘Who needs that stuff? I’ve got something much better than that’...Jesus is about bringing the life of the kingdom of God into my life now and making me a citizen of that kingdom” (Dallas Willard, Living in Christ’s Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God, p. 14; 20).

Do you believe?

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