A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

DD. Christ’s Crisis Withdrawal To Stay In God’s Will

(Matthew 14:22-23; Mark 6:45-46; John 6:14-15)

I. Introduction

A. Christ’s miracle of the feeding of the five thousand so impressed Jesus’ disciples that it is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels, but it also so impressed the crowd that they wanted to make Him king!

B. Matthew 14:22-23, Mark 6:45-46 and John 6:14-15 reports how Christ instantly shut the coronation effort down, what would have surprised the crowds and His disciples, but what was necessary to heed God’s will.

C. We thus view this event in Scripture for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. Christ’s Crisis Withdrawal To Stay In God’s Will, Matthew 14:22-23; Mark 6:45-46; John 6:14-15.

A. The feeding of the five thousand occurred before a crowd that was very motivated to have a Hebrew king:

1. The miracle occurred near Passover (John 6:4) when the Hebrew people celebrated God’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (cf. Exodus 12:1-36), what made them long at that time for deliverance from the Roman dominion under which they suffered oppression (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 293).

2. Also, the crowds Jesus fed were pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for Passover in obedience to the Law that they celebrate Passover and Unleavened Bread there (Exodus 23:14-17). They longed for their own king.

3. The Hebrew people were discouraged over the recent beheading of their popular prophet John the Baptist (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 233). John had pointed people to Jesus as the forerunner of Jesus as the Messiah (cf. John 1:19-34), so with the loss of John, the people thronged to Jesus as their only current hope of a Hebrew leader who could deliver them from Rome.

B. When Jesus then acted much like Moses in His miraculous feeding of the five thousand, the crowd concluded that he was the Prophet to come Who would be like Moses as Moses predicted in Deuteronomy 18:14:

1. In Deuteronomy 18:14, Moses had predicted that God would raise up a Prophet from the midst of Israel’s people Who would be like Moses, and that the people were to heed His words.

2. Moses had then been led of the Lord to provide manna in the wilderness for Israel, Exodus 16:1-36.

3. When Jesus like Moses was miraculously used of God to provide food for them in a wilderness setting, the crowds concluded that surely Jesus was the Prophet to come as predicted by Moses, John 6:14.

C. However, when Jesus knew that the people would come and forcibly make Him a king whom they wanted to deliver them from Rome, He squelched the coronation effort and withdrew from the people:

1. Knowing that His own disciples would gladly have heeded the will of the people to make Him king, Jesus immediately separated His disciples from the crowd as He “compelled” (anagkazo, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 51; Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 131) His disciples to get into a boat and to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida while He dismissed the crowd, Mark 6:45.

2. Jesus then withdrew from everybody up into a mountain alone to pray, Mark 6:46; John 6:15.

D. Such a completely unexpected crisis reaction by Jesus to the crowds and to the will of His disciples is explained as Christ’s desire to obey the will of the Father and not yield to worldly lusts:

1. Jesus had earlier postponed His Messianic Kingdom until the nation Israel by faith would Biblically accept Him as Messiah and Lord, Ibid., Pentecost, p. 234.

2. In addition, Christ’s Kingdom had to be established by God the Father, not by the world (Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 294). Jesus later clarified this truth to Pontius Pilate in John 18:36, and the fact that the Father would give Him the Kingdom was predicted in the Scriptures at Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 2:7-12, Ibid.

3. As the Lamb of God, Christ had to bear the sins of the world before He reigned as the Lion of Judah, John 1:29; Revelation 5:5-7. He had to go to the cross before He wore a crown.

4. Thankfully for all believers in human history, Jesus chose to heed the Father’s will to die as the Lamb of God that we believers might have salvation before He went to the throne of David as the Lion of Judah!

Lesson: Christ’s crisis withdrawal from the will of the crowds and even from the will of His disciples that they make Him king was necessary to obey the Father’s will that Jesus die as the Lamb of God before reigning as the Lion of Judah. Thus, Jesus withdrew from the crowds and temporarily even from His disciples to do God’s will.

Application: (1) May we rejoice in Christ’s self-sacrificial withdrawal from being crowned by man that He might fulfill the Father’s will to gain the throne God’s way that also provided for our salvation! (2) May we follow Christ’s example to yield to the Father’s will above the lusts of this world, for God’s will is so much better!