Bible Study – John 6

Wow! It’s Tuesday and it’s time for John 6 and it’s 70 verses! Wow. I’m so glad you’re here to study with me.

Let’s pray:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for this chapter, this time to study, these words and this wonder ahead. Come, be so very present with us, make what we need to see so visible that it shows up brighter and we know, without any doubt, that You want us to see this. Thank You for always being right here to help us see and perceive and to give us hope and light and peace. All for Your glory, Lord. Amen.

John 6, this is NIV, so find yours or go here. Get a writing instrument and something to write on too. Or even an highlighter and your Bible. Your choice.

Read John 6:1-2

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Time stamp: If you remember, at the end of John 5 Jesus is talking about authority and testimony about Him. And the leaders were upset because He claimed God was His Father. Now we’re _________________________________. They took a trip and crossed to the far shore of the Sea. Why did the great crowd follow?

Read John 6:3-6

Across the Sea and up a mountainside. Can you picture Him sitting there with the disciples and looking out and seeing the crowd coming around the Sea?

What Festival was near?

Read John 6:7-9

Jesus asked a question before these, but He already knew what ______________________.

Who found the boy? ____________.

Can you imagine what kind of communication Jesus must have had with the boy or his mother who prepared the basket before he joined the crowd to come to Jesus?

Read John 6:10-11

Five thousand men, plus women and children too. There was enough grass for them all to sit and eat.

Write Verse 11. Underline the verbs. It’s a little harder to see in John, but it’s true, thanksgiving precedes the miracle.

Read John 6:12-13

What did Jesus tell the disciples?
How much was left over and what do you think they did with it?

Read John 6:14-15

What did Jesus know?

This story is in Matthew too. Here are the verses so we can get a bigger picture.

Matthew 14:21-24
The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Do you think the word “Immediately” makes sense after figuring out what Jesus knew?

Read John 6:16-18

Jesus Walks on the Water

They’re heading where? Where was Jesus?

Read John 6:19-21

Wonders abound. John calls them “Signs”. If you were to mark this as one, what would you call it?

If we were reading Matthew, which we’re not, this is also the story where Peter gets out of the boat to walk on water. It’s just further into what is provided above.  When Jesus gets in the boat what happens?

Read John 6:22-24

Starting with the word ‘bread’ in verse 23, write the rest of the sentence.

Read John 6:25-27

Jesus the Bread of Life

Jesus knew their hearts. He never had to ask “what are you looking for?” for these people. He knew. The only time He asks is for those who are searching for who He really is.

What will He give you?

“For on him God the Father has placed his _____________.”

Read John 6:28-29

Do you sometimes feel like the questions He is asked are not the right question? Can you think of a better question that would elicit the response Jesus gave?

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
Then again, maybe it’s the heart of the asker that would change the question. It’s really too bad these people were only searching because He fed them and not for who He is.

Read John 6:30-31

Their hearts aren’t right yet. They want more miracles. Still focused on food. They missed the signs already given. 

Read John 6:32-33

“The bread of God gives _________ to the world.”

Read John 6:34-36

Going hungry is different than never being hungry. What do you think? Is Jesus forecasting the wedding supper of the Lamb?

Read John 6:37-40 NIV
37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Come to Jesus and He will never let you go. “Connected by a golden chord” is how He described it to me, hope is what makes it shine. The assurance in these four verses is enough to live on. And it’s not all there is either, we’ve been given so very much to encourage and empower us to remain in Him.

John 6:37-40 MSG
Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.
39-40 “This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed—not a single detail missed—and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole. This is what my Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life. My part is to put them on their feet alive and whole at the completion of time.”

Combine them…
The will of God for Jesus is that He shall lose ________ of those God has given Him, and at the wrap up of time, He has everything and everyone ___________, ___________ and ___________. Anyone who looks to the Son and __________ in him, shall have ________________. His part is to put them ____________________________________ at the completion of _____. 

I don’t know about you but the completion of time is my greatest desire. 

Read John 6:41-45

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me ____________, and I will ______ them up at the _____ ____.”

“Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” Is another way to say “If you believed what Moses wrote, you would believe me.” And “all those the Father gives me” meaning only those who the Father brings to Jesus.

Read John 6:46-51

Write verse 47.
Faith is supremely important. Critically important. And it’s faith that will help you understand verse 51 as not being eat his flesh, but remember his sacrifice.

Read John 6:52-59

This is a real mystery. He’s not advocating cannibalism. Perhaps this eating and drinking is metaphorical too. Scripture is food. And He is the Word. But we don’t eat our Bibles, we read them and ingest them as we study. In that way we are eating the Bread of Life. Have you ever felt satiated after a focused study of Scripture? “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Read John 6:60-64
Many Disciples Desert Jesus

The Spirit gives _______; the flesh counts for _________. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the ________ and _______.

Read John 6:65-69

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the ___________________. We have come to believe and to know that you are the ___________________________.”

Read John 6:70-71

“Have I not _______________?” I wonder if the first step is God leading one to Jesus and then Jesus chooses to hold on.

Lord, thank You for this book and this chapter and the wonderful promises and the chance to study. Oh how I need these words. Thank You, Lord. In Your holy and precious name, I pray. Amen.