Seeing The Son

September 6, 2026 | Seeing The Son | John 6:1-21

Will Davis

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Last week, as we finished John chapter 5, we were confronted with a question that really sits at the heart of John's entire Gospel: Who is this Jesus?

As Pastor JD walked us through that passage, we saw that the problem facing the religious leaders was not a lack of evidence. They had the testimony of John the Baptist. They had the works Jesus was doing right in front of them. They had the testimony of the Father. They had the Scriptures. Yet with all of that testimony pointing them toward Christ, Jesus says in verse 40, “Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

They read and knew the Scriptures and still missed the One those very Scriptures were pointing to. They even witnessed the works of Christ and still missed Him. Jesus ends that conversation by bringing up the man whose teachings the religious leaders probably knew more than anyone else and set their hope on, Moses. 

Look again at John 5:45–46. Jesus says, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”

If you believed Moses, you would believe Me.

Keep that statement in your mind as we move into chapter 6, because although some time has passed, John is not changing the subject. 

In fact, John is about to take us into a scene where it seems like everywhere we look, we should be thinking about Moses.

John tells us that the Passover is near.

Jesus takes the people out into a wilderness area.

There is a multitude with nothing to eat.

Miraculously, bread is provided.

The people begin talking about the Prophet Moses said would come.

Then the disciples go out onto the sea, and Jesus comes to them walking upon the water.

But before we go any further, I think we need to acknowledge something about this passage. These are probably two of the most familiar miracles Jesus ever performed. Even people who know very little about the Bible have heard about Jesus feeding the five thousand and walking on water. And sometimes that familiarity can actually work against us because we come to the text already thinking we know what it means.

Over the years these signs have been taught in all kinds of ways. The feeding of the five thousand becomes a lesson about the little boy who was willing to share his lunch. Give Jesus what little you have and watch what He can do with it. Five loaves and two fish become a picture of our talents, our money, or our abilities, and the lesson becomes that little is much when God is in it. Then we get to Jesus walking on the water and it becomes a sermon about the storms of life. Jesus will meet you in your storm. Jesus will calm the waves. Jesus will get you safely to the other side.

Now, some of those ideas may contain truths we can find elsewhere in Scripture, but that does not mean that is what John is teaching us here.

If we come to the text determined to find ourselves in the little boy, Philip, Andrew, the bread, the boat, or the storm, we can completely miss the One John actually wants us looking at.

These signs are not given for us to see what Jesus can do in our lives. They are about Christ. John did not record them so that we would leave impressed with what Jesus can do with our five loaves and two fish. He recorded them so that we would see who Jesus is and believe in Him. So this morning, I want us to set aside what we think we already know about these familiar stories and allow John to show us the King.

So as we walk through this passage, don't look at the miracle, and don't come looking for what great thing Jesus can do with what little you have to give. I want us to really examine our hearts.

Ask yourself: Do I merely see someone who can make my life better, or do I truly see my King? 

And the first sign John gives us begins with a need no one in that crowd has the ability to meet. 

I. The Son Provides The Bread

Look with me beginning in verse 1: “After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.”

Notice why the crowd is following Him. John tells us they were following Jesus “because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.”

There is that word again, signs. We need to understand that word because it is so important to understanding John's Gospel. A sign points beyond itself to something greater. 

If you're driving down the road and you see a sign that says Dallas is 100 miles ahead, you don't pull over, get out of your car, and look at the sign. The sign isn't the destination. The sign is simply there to tell you where to look. And that is what these miracles are doing. They are telling us where to look and they are pointing directly to who Jesus is. The healing of the man at Bethesda was an incredible miracle, but the miracle pointed beyond itself to the identity and authority of the One who performed it. And now John gives us another sign. 

But before he does, look at verse 3: “Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.”

That little statement in verse 4 might seem like John is simply giving us a date or an extra detail. He's not. John wants our minds going back to the Passover. 

And remember what Jesus just said at the end of chapter 5: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”

And now here in chapter 6 what is John giving us?

Passover. A mountain. A wilderness area. A multitude in need of food. And in a few moments, bread is going to be miraculously provided. John is purposefully taking us back to the Exodus. 

God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt through the Passover. He brought them through the sea. He led them into the wilderness. And when His people were hungry and had no ability to provide food for themselves, what did God do?

God gave them bread. Exodus 16 tells us that the people grumbled because they had no food, and the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.” God provided for His people in the wilderness.

So when John tells us that Passover is near and then takes us to a wilderness setting where thousands of people are hungry and in need, this should lead us to ask a simple question of the text. What is John showing us about Jesus?

And that question becomes even more important when we get to verse 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?’”

Now Philip has a problem. And from his perspective, it is a pretty big problem. The other Gospel accounts tell us there were about five thousand men there, meaning once women and children are included, the actual crowd was likely between 15,000 and 20,000 people.

And Jesus looks at Philip and essentially asks, How are we going to feed them? Now notice verse 6: “He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.”

I love that statement. Jesus is not asking Philip because Jesus needs Philip to come up with a plan. Jesus isn't looking at the crowd thinking, I didn't expect this many people to show up. What are we going to do now?

Scripture is clear, Jesus already knew what He was going to do.

The problem is real. The need is real. Philip's inability is real. But none of it has caught Christ by surprise. Jesus asks the question because Philip needs to see something. 

This is a test. And I want us to be careful with that word because when Scripture speaks about God testing His people, it doesn't mean that God is trying to learn something He doesn't already know. Jesus doesn't need to discover what Philip believes.

Philip needs to discover what Philip believes.

The test exposes what is already there.

And listen to Philip's answer in verse 7: “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

You can almost see Philip doing the math. Thousands of people. How much bread? How much money? Where would we even buy it?

Two hundred denarii was roughly eight months' wages for an ordinary laborer, and Philip's conclusion is that even if they had that much money, it still wouldn't be enough to give everyone more than a little bite.

And the fact of the matter is Philip's math isn't wrong. His assessment of their resources is probably exactly right. The problem isn't his arithmetic. The problem is that his calculation does not include Christ.

Philip looks at the size of the crowd. He looks at the amount of money they would need. He looks at what they have available. And to him they simply can’t feed all these people.

And from a purely human perspective, he is absolutely right. Then Andrew steps in. Verse 8: “One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?’”

Andrew at least finds something. Five barley loaves and two fish. But don't picture five big loaves of bread and a couple of two-pound bass. This is a boy's meal. Barley was inexpensive food commonly eaten by the poor. These were small loaves, and the fish were likely small fish eaten with the bread.

Andrew looks at what they have. Then he looks back at the crowd. And even Andrew realizes how ridiculous it sounds. “What are they for so many?” Philip says, We don't have enough money. Andrew says, We don't have enough food. And both of them are looking at exactly the same problem.

They are measuring an impossible need against completely inadequate human resources. But standing right beside them is the One who already knows what He is going to do. 

Church, before we criticize Philip and Andrew too quickly, we need to recognize ourselves here.

How often do we do the same thing, when we look at the problems in our own lives? We calculate all of our resources. We consider what abilities we have to fix the problem. We determine what is possible. And somewhere along the way, Christ becomes the smallest part of our calculation. 

Now, I don't mean that Christians shouldn't plan. I don't mean that budgets don't matter or that we should ignore reality and call it faith. Philip wasn't wrong because he counted the cost.

His problem was that he could see the insufficiency of their resources more clearly than he could see the sufficiency of the Christ standing in front of him.

And we can do that too. We can become so consumed with what we cannot do that we forget who Christ is. But again, we need to be careful with our application here.

The lesson is not, “If you just have enough faith, Jesus will multiply whatever you have and give you whatever you need.” That's not where John is taking us.

Remember, this is a sign. The question isn't merely, Can Jesus provide bread? The question is, who is this Jesus who can provide bread in the wilderness?

Look at verse 10 and 11: “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. 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.” And don't miss the last phrase:“…as much as they wanted.”

Philip said that two hundred denarii wouldn't give everybody even a little. Jesus gives them as much as they want. Nobody gets a crumb. Nobody gets half a serving. Nobody has to say, I'll skip mine so my children can eat.

John says they received as much as they wanted. And then verse 12 makes it even clearer: “And when they had eaten their fill” They were satisfied.

That word is going to matter when Jesus begins explaining this sign later in the chapter. Because physical bread can only satisfy physical hunger for a little while. These people are full right now. But they're going to get hungry again.

In fact, by the next day they're going to be looking for Jesus again, and Jesus is going to expose what they really want from Him. But for now, everyone eats until they are satisfied.

Then Jesus says, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”

Verse 13: “So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.”

Think about that for just a second. They began with five little loaves, and then fed thousands of people until everyone had eaten as much as they wanted. And when it was over, they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.

They end with more food in the baskets than they had when they started. John wants us to see the abundance. But again, don't stop at the bread. Follow the sign. 

Go back to Israel in the wilderness. Who provided bread there? God did. And now, at Passover, in another wilderness setting, thousands of people sit down with nothing to eat.

And Jesus provides the bread. Not Moses. Not Philip. Not Andrew. Not their combined resources, but Jesus.

And there is another Old Testament story we should hear in the background of all of this.

In 2 Kings 4, a man brings Elisha twenty barley loaves, and Elisha tells his servant to give them to one hundred men. The servant essentially responds the same way Andrew does, How can I set this before a hundred men?

But the Lord provides, the people eat, and there is food left over. Now look at Jesus. Elisha had twenty loaves for one hundred men. Jesus has five loaves for five thousand men.

Elisha announces what the Lord says He will do. Jesus simply takes the bread and does it. John isn't showing us another prophet who happens to perform another impressive miracle.

Someone greater than Elisha is here. Someone greater than Moses is here. And the question is whether the people will see Him.

That's the question that has been following us since chapter 5, Who is this Jesus?

The religious leaders saw a Sabbath breaker. The crowd sees a miracle worker. Philip sees an impossible problem. Andrew sees five loaves and two fish. But John wants us to see the Son of God, our King, who stands before an impossible human need and possesses within Himself everything necessary to meet it. And ultimately, the greatest need represented by this crowd is not an empty stomach. 

Their greatest need is the same as ours. They need life. Remember what Jesus said in chapter 5: “You refuse to come to me that you may have life.” And that is where this sign is pointing.

Jesus has not come merely to put bread into hungry stomachs. He has come to give life to spiritually dead sinners. Later on in chapter 6 Jesus will declare, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

So don't miss the sign. The bread is wonderful. The provision is miraculous. The abundance is overwhelming. But the bread is pointing us to Christ. And the question before us becomes, will the crowd see Him? And more importantly will we see Him?

Because in the very next verse, they are going to look at what Jesus has done, recognize that something extraordinary has happened, even say something true about who He is, and yet they will still completely miss who this Jesus is.

II. The Crowd Doesn’t See The Son

Now look at what happens in verse 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!’”

Notice how John begins that sentence. ‘When the people saw the sign...’

Here is the answer to the question we just asked. They saw the sign. The question is whether they understood what they were seeing. And they even understood something of what the sign was pointing toward. The crowd is saying, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 

That is almost certainly a reference back to Deuteronomy 18. Remember, what Jesus said at the end of chapter 5: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”

Well, here is one of the places where Moses wrote about Him. Deuteronomy 18:15 says: “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.”

For generations Israel had been waiting for this Prophet like Moses. And now think about what this crowd has just experienced. Passover is near. They're sitting in a wilderness area. There is no food. Thousands need to be fed. And Jesus miraculously gives them bread.

Of course their minds go to Moses. Their fathers had been in the wilderness with Moses, and God had given them manna from heaven. Now they're in the wilderness again, and Jesus has given them bread.

So the crowd sees the sign and their minds immediately drawn to Deut 18. The crowd sees that this must be the Prophet Moses told us about. And here's what makes this passage so striking. They're not entirely wrong.

Jesus is the One Moses pointed toward. They have seen the sign. They have gone back to the Scriptures. They have made a theological connection. They have even arrived at a true statement about Jesus.

And yet they still don't understand who this Jesus is that is standing in front of them.

And that should grab our attention.

Because sometimes we assume that the only people who miss Jesus are people who know nothing about Him.

People who don't read the Bible. People who don't go to church. People who reject Christianity. People who don't know any theology.

But that isn't the crowd John gives us here.

These people see the work of Christ. They know enough Scripture to connect what He has done to Moses. They use a biblical title for Him. And sadly they still miss Him.

Look at verse 15: “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

Now that seems strange at first. They want to make Jesus King. What's wrong with that? Isn't Jesus King? Absolutely. John has already told us that.

Back in chapter 1, Nathanael confessed: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus is King. So what's wrong here? Why does Jesus retreat to the mountain?

The problem isn't that they want to make Jesus king. The problem is the kind of king they want Jesus to be. Remember the setting. Passover was not merely a religious observance where Jewish families remembered something God had done a long time ago.

Passover celebrated deliverance from bondage. God had delivered Israel from Egypt. He had crushed Pharaoh. He had brought His people out of slavery. He had led them through the sea. He had provided for them in the wilderness. And now Israel is once again living under the authority of a foreign power. Rome.

So put yourself in their place. You're living under Roman occupation. Passover is approaching. You're thinking about Moses and the Exodus. And suddenly a man appears who heals the sick and feeds thousands of people in the wilderness with almost nothing.

And feel yourself starting to think and believe that this is the moment we have been praying and waiting for. Here now is our new Moses. Here is the Prophet. Here is the Deliverer. Here is the man who can provide food for an army. Here is the man who can free us from Rome.

Let's make Him King. And in one sense, they're looking directly at the King they've been waiting for. But they don't truly see Him. Because they have already decided what they want the King to do for them.

They don't want Jesus on His terms. They want Jesus on theirs. They want a King who will fill their stomachs. They want a King who will overthrow Rome. They want a King who will restore their nation. They want a King who will solve their immediate temporal problems.

But Jesus did not come to save them from Rome. He came to save His people from their sins. And the crown He came to receive would first be a crown of thorns. 

The throne He was moving toward was a cross. 

That's why Jesus will not allow them to make Him the king they want Him to be. John says they were going to “take him by force.”

Think about how backwards that is. They are going to take the Son of God by force and make Him conform to their plans. They have a place for Jesus in their agenda. They have decided what Jesus ought to do. They have determined what kind of Messiah they needed. And now they're ready to make Jesus fit into it.

But Jesus will have none of it. He withdraws from them.

Church, this is where I think we need to stop looking at the crowd for a minute and start looking at ourselves.

Because it would be really easy for us to stand two thousand years removed from this event and think to ourselves, how could they be so blind? 

They just watched Jesus feed thousands of people. They knew the Scriptures. They recognized Moses. They called Him the Prophet. They wanted Him to be King. How could they get so close and still miss Him? 

But are we really that different? We know more than they knew at this point. We have the entire New Testament. We know about the cross. We know about the empty tomb. We can explain justification. We can explain substitutionary atonement. We can explain the deity of Christ.

We can affirm that Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King. We can sing about Him. We can pray in His name. We can sit in church every Sunday with an open Bible in our laps...yet we can still approach Jesus primarily for what we want Him to do for us.

Like the crowd we try and force Jesus to conform to our agenda.

We want Jesus to fix our marriage. We want Jesus to protect our children. We want Jesus to heal our sickness. We want Jesus to provide all the money we need. We want Jesus to give us that job. We want Jesus to remove the anxiety. We want Jesus to fix our country. We want Jesus to grow our church. We want Jesus to make life work the way we think it ought to work.

And again, hear me clearly, these aren't necessarily wrong things to pray for. We should bring our needs to Christ. Jesus Himself looked upon this hungry crowd with compassion and fed them.

The problem isn't asking Christ for His gifts. The problem comes when the gifts become more precious to us than the Giver. When I only recognize the goodness of Christ when Christ gives me what I want.

When my faith or confidence in Him rises and falls according to my circumstances. When I am satisfied with Jesus as long as Jesus is serving the plans I have already made for my life.

This is where we need to stop and examine our hearts. Truly asking the question, Do I love and treasure Christ, or that I merely love and treasure what I believe Christ can do for me in this world?

Because this crowd wanted Jesus. Don't miss that. They weren't trying to get rid of Him. They wanted Him. They wanted Him so badly that they were ready to seize Him and make Him King. But they wanted a Jesus of their own making.

They wanted the gifts He could provide without understanding their deepest need for the King Himself. And I think that is far more dangerous than we sometimes realize. Because there is a way to want Jesus and still not want Jesus as He actually is.

There is a way to speak highly of Jesus and still not submit to Him. There is a way to call Him King while still expecting Him to serve our kingdom. There is a way to know true things about Christ and yet never come to Christ for life.

Isn't that exactly what we saw last week? The religious leaders searched the Scriptures and missed Jesus. Now the crowd experiences the sign and misses Jesus. Different people. Different circumstances. Same fallen heart.

Church, we should be very careful about assuming that we would have gotten it right. We have far more revelation than this crowd had. We have the completed Gospel. We know about the cross and the empty tomb. We can confess that Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King. And yet how easily we can still measure His goodness by whether He gives us the bread we asked for.

How often does your faith or confidence in Christ rise and fall with your circumstances? How often are you more concerned with what Christ can change around you than what Christ needs to change within you?

Because our greatest problem is not hunger. It’s not politics. It’s not finances or sickness or difficult circumstances. Our greatest problem is sin. We are guilty before a holy and just God and we are spiritually dead, and no amount of physical bread can fix that. We need the bread of life.

Jesus has already told us where that life is found. “You refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Life is found in the Son. That's what the sign is pointing toward. Jesus reveals Himself as the divine Son and King who alone can provide what sinful humanity truly needs, yet fallen people naturally seek His gifts rather than Him.

Before we move on, I want you to notice one more thing. Jesus doesn't accept their crown. He withdraws. Because Jesus will not allow the crowd to define His kingship. He will be King according to the Father's will, not theirs. And His kingdom will not come through a national uprising beside the Sea of Galilee.

His kingdom will come through something this crowd cannot yet imagine. The King is going to a cross. He will not merely provide bread for hungry people. He will give Himself for sinful people. 

John is going to spend the rest of this chapter showing us that the bread they really need isn't something Jesus can put into their hands. The bread they need is standing right in front of them. But before Jesus explains that sign to the crowd, John gives us one more sign.

The disciples are going to get into a boat. Darkness is going to fall. The sea is going to rise. And the One whom this crowd has mistaken for merely another Moses is going to do something Moses never did.

Jesus is going to walk upon the sea.

III. The Son Reveals His Identity

Now look with me at verse 16: “When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.”

Then John gives us a little detail that adds to the scene. Verse 17 says, “It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.”

It is dark. The disciples are out on the sea. And Jesus is not with them. I don't want to make the darkness say more than John intends. It is nighttime. But the picture John gives us is striking. 

The disciples are alone. It is dark. And the sea begins to rise. Verse 18: “The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.”

If you've read the other Gospel accounts, you know this isn't unusual for the Sea of Galilee. Because of its geography, storms can come upon the lake suddenly and violently.

Several of these men are experienced fishermen. These aren't men who have never been in a boat. They know this water. They know what they're doing. But the wind is against them, the sea is rough, and they are trying to make their way across in the darkness.

Mark gives us one detail John doesn't include. While they are struggling against the wind, Jesus sees them. They cannot see Jesus, but Jesus sees them. That's worth taking note of. Our inability to see what Christ is doing does not mean Christ has lost sight of us. 

But again, that is not ultimately the main point of this sign. John wants us to see something greater. Look at verse 19: “When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.”

Now stop there. Jesus is walking on the sea. We've heard that so many times that I wonder if we've lost some of the weight of it. If you've grown up in church, you've known this story since you were a child.

Jesus fed the five thousand. Jesus walked on water. We know the stories. But remember John doesn’t want us to simply see the miracle. He wants us to follow the sign straight to Jesus.

What does this sign tell us about Jesus?

To answer that question, we need to search the Scriptures. What does the Old Testament say about someone walking upon the sea? And this is where the passage becomes absolutely incredible.

Listen to Job 9:8. Job is describing God, and he says: “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea.” Who walks upon the waves? God does.

Psalm 77 says: “When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.” And then verses 19–20: “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

Don't miss that. Moses is in the passage. But Moses isn't the One walking through the sea. God is. Moses is the servant through whom God leads His people. The Lord is the One who rules the waters.

Now go back to John 6. The crowd just  looked at Jesus and said: “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

They think of Moses. And they aren't wrong. Jesus is the Prophet Moses promised. But John is showing us that Jesus is greater than Moses. At the Red Sea, Moses stood on the shore and stretched out his hand at the command of God.

God made a way through the sea. But here in John 6, Jesus doesn't stand on the shore and ask God to make a way through the sea. He walks on it. The sea that threatens the disciples is under His feet.

That's who is coming toward the boat. Psalm 107 gives us another picture of the Lord's sovereign authority over the sea. It describes men going down to the sea in ships. A storm comes. The waves rise. The sailors are terrified. And then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble.

And Psalm 107:29 says: “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Who has authority over the sea? The LORD does.

Who walks upon the waves?  The LORD does.

Who leads His people through the waters? The LORD does.

By giving us these signs, John is imploring us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Church, do you see where the sign is pointing? This is more than Jesus performing another impressive miracle. John is showing us who Jesus is. The crowd sees another Moses. John wants us to see the divine Son.

That makes what Jesus says next even more significant.

The disciples see Him approaching, and John says: “They were frightened.” And I don't blame them. You're miles from shore. It's dark. The wind is blowing. The waves are rising. And suddenly you see someone walking toward you across the water.

But listen to Jesus in verse 20: “It is I; do not be afraid.” That phrase translated “It is I” is egō eimi. Literally: “I am.” Now, we need to be careful here. Those words can function as a perfectly ordinary way of identifying yourself. Jesus could simply be saying, “It's me. Don't be afraid.”

So I don't want to build the deity of Christ on two Greek words as though every use of egō eimi automatically means Jesus is quoting Exodus 3:14. We don't need to force the text to make the point.

The scene is already making the point. Also zoom out for a second and  remember where we are in John's Gospel. In just a few verses  in which Jesus will say: “I am the bread of life,” and eventually, “Before Abraham was, I am.”

Now, with Passover approaching, after providing bread in the wilderness, Jesus comes walking upon the sea doing what the Old Testament declares only God Himself can do, and we He draws near to them He says, “I am. Do not be afraid.”

At minimum, John wants us to hear this in the context of everything he has been showing us about the identity of the Son. And remember chapter 5. Jesus has just said that whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.

The Father gives life. The Son gives life. The Father has life in Himself. The Son has life in Himself. The Father is worthy of honor. The Son must be honored just as the Father is honored. 

Now John doesn't merely tell us those truths. He shows us. The God of Israel rules the sea. And here comes the Son walking upon it. This is why the connection to John 5:46 matters so much. Jesus said: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”

Then John takes us to Passover. He takes us into the wilderness. Jesus provides bread. The people identify the Prophet like Moses. Then John takes us onto the sea.

Suddenly we begin to realize that the comparison with Moses doesn't go far enough. Jesus is not merely the new Moses. He is the One to whom Moses pointed. He is the One Moses served. Jesus is the divine Son. 

The signs are calling us beyond amazement at what Jesus can do, and into  faith in who Jesus is. And that's really the question of this entire passage. Do you truly see Jesus? 

The crowd saw bread. Philip saw an impossible expense. Andrew saw inadequate resources. The people saw a political king. The disciples saw someone walking toward them on the water and were afraid.

But John is imploring us to look past the surface. Look beyond the bread. Look beyond the miracle. Look beyond what Jesus can do for you. And see the Son who is our King.

Once we see who it is that is walking toward them on the sea, the disciples' response in verse 21 takes on an entirely different weight.  Verse 21 says: “Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” And there the sign ends.

But the question the sign raises doesn't end there.

Because if this is who Jesus is, then the question is no longer simply, what can Jesus do for me?

The question becomes, how will I respond to the King?

That's where this passage has been pressing us all morning.

We know far more than this crowd knew.

We know about the cross.

We know about the empty tomb.

We can confess that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the Savior, the Lord, and the King.

But knowing the right answer about Jesus is not the same thing as faithful loving Jesus.

This crowd proves that. They called Him the Prophet. They wanted Him as King. But they only wanted Him on their terms.

So let me ask you the question one more time.

Is Christ that is revealed in Scripture enough?

If the prayer isn't answered the way you want, is Christ enough?

If the circumstances don't change, is Christ enough?

If following Him costs you more than you receive in this temporal life, is He still enough?

Because that is exactly where this chapter is going. Right now the crowd is full, they are excited, and they want Jesus as their King. But Jesus is about to explain what the sign actually means, and as He does, He is going to strip away all of their false expectations about who He is and what He came to give them. And by the time He is finished, verse 66 will tell us, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

The crowd that wanted Him when the bread was plentiful will begin disappearing when His words become hard. And eventually Jesus will turn to the Twelve and ask: “Do you want to go away as well?” 

Peter will give the answer that I think the signs in this passage are calling every one of us toward: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

That's the heart that sees the sign.

These signs were not given for us to demand of Jesus, what else will You give me? But instead respond in humility, Jesus, I have counted the cost and where else would I go? Why because following after Jesus is not about merely wanting the bread. It is about complete dependence on Christ. Because Jesus reveals Himself as the divine Son who alone can provide what sinful humanity truly needs.

Our greatest need is not something He can place into our hands. Our greatest need is Him.

Earthly bread will always perish. Every temporal gift God gives us in this life will one day be left behind.

But Christ remains. So don't stop at the sign. Don't just marvel at what He can do. See the true King. And having seen Him, come to Him that you may have life.

As we close this morning, don't leave John 6 merely impressed by the miracle.

Don't leave thinking about five loaves, two fish, twelve baskets, or even a man walking on water.

Look where the signs are pointing. Look to Christ.

The divine Son is standing before this crowd. He has demonstrated that He is greater than Moses. He has provided bread in the wilderness. He has walked upon the sea. And still, the crowd does not truly see their King.

Before we shake our heads at them, we need to examine our own hearts. What do I really want from Jesus? Do I want Christ, or do I want health? Do I want Christ, or do I want comfort? Do I want Christ, or do I want my family fixed, my circumstances changed, my prayers answered, and my life to go according to my plans?

Again, those are not necessarily wrong things to desire or to bring before the Lord. But here is the question before us this morning. If He does not give me those things, will I still follow after Him?

Church, don't miss the King because you're staring at the bread in His hands. Because the crowd is going to come looking for Jesus again.

From the outside, that sounds like a good thing. They're seeking Jesus. They're pursuing Jesus. They crossed the sea looking for Jesus. But Jesus knows their hearts.

He will say to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” They came looking for Jesus. But they were really looking for bread.

Jesus is going to turn their attention away from the bread He gave them and toward the Bread of Life standing before them. Jesus tells the crowd, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

So this week, search your heart.

Ask yourself, why am I seeking Jesus? And more importantly, am I satisfied in Christ alone? Church, don't be satisfied with the bread and miss the King who gives it. Follow the sign. Look to Christ. See the King. And having seen Him, come to Him that you may have life.