Welcome back. Here we are Christ has just fed the 5000 then slipped away when they tried to make him king. Let’s dig in.
John 6:16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, (17) And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
Do you remember a couple of posts ago I mentioned this whole thing should remind you of the millennium? If it didn’t before maybe this will make it a little clearer and if nothing else, I hope you can see how this is an overlay of Christ’s return.
We know that the return of Christ will be like the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37, Luke 17:27). We also know that God shut him in (Genesis 7:16) or sealed if you will.
So we have the disciples entering a ship without Christ and it’s DARK. This darkness should call a few things to mind. Let’s start with:
John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. (36)While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
Do you see the parallel? How about this one:
Matthew 25:1-12Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.(2)And five of them were wise, and fivewerefoolish.(3)They thatwerefoolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:(4)But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.(5)While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.(6)And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.(7)Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.(8)And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.(9)But the wise answered, saying,Not so;lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.(10)And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.(11)Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.(12)But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
We will cover more about when the Lord says, “I know you not” in the next post, for today notice how it is midnight and they need their light because it is DARK.
John 6:18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
Let’s pull up this word wind here in the Greek: G417 (ἄνεμος anemos an’-em-os), From the base of G109; wind; (plural) by implication (the four) quarters (of the earth): – wind. Does this four quarters of the earth ring any bells as it pertains to the end?
Revelation 7:1-3 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. (2) And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, (3) Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Did you know these verses come right after the seals are listed in chapter 6? Do you see why I brought up Noah and how he was sealed by God?
John 6:19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. (20) But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
I think that if I was on a ship in the dark and getting tossed about then see a man walking on water, I’d be afraid too, but when we have Christ in our ship we don’t need to be afraid. This world belongs to Satan, but he isn’t going to last long. He might be able to cast out his flood of lies from his mouth (Revelation 12:15) and cause some waves to toss us about and we may even get a little seasick, but he CANNOT sink the boat if we WILLINGLY accept Christ into our boat as the disciples do in the next verse.
The numbers here are interesting twenty five is a bit harder to explain quickly so I’ll just tell you that it means forgiveness of sins. Thirty means the blood of Christ as it was the amount of silver paid to Judas.
One more thing I would like to mention is that twenty-five to thirty furlongs is about half the distance of the sea of Galilee and it is interesting to note that Christ appeared to them halfway.
John 6:21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
Christ comes like a thief in the night and he comes quickly and when he does Satan’s game is over. We will pick this up in the next post and we will see what Christ says to those who didn’t have him in their boat.
