Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The primary purpose of miracles was to focus attention upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the purpose of the message goes far beyond the alleviation of suffering, it was to prevent eternal suffering in the lake of fire.
In the first half of this chapter we have two miracles and then we have four messages.
God tests the believer in time with His power. The test = do you trust in the character and power of deity or not?
You cannot be tested unless the doctrine concerning the essence of God is presented first.
If we are not tested to apply the word of God after we have learned it, then it will grow stale in our human spirits and eventually forgotten.
Divine viewpoint in the believer relishes the times when he gets to apply the word of God to life and circumstances.
These miracles are designed for a purpose. They are designed to bring the unbeliever’s attention to the message, and they are designed also to challenge believers to apply Bible doctrine.
Because He has just put the religious crowd down in their own back yard, on the steps of the temple, and they are out to get Him.
He was not popular because of His wonderful message and because of who and what he was, He was popular because people loved to be entertained and in that day the number one type of entertainment was the performance of a miracle.
God can bring the power and the message of the Gospel, but He can’t force anyone to believe it.
If you want to get away from a crowd, climb a mountain.
In Jerusalem they are going to have ritual without reality, which is meaningless. Their whole observation of the Passover is a farce.
It isn’t until He is ready to go to the cross that in the Passover He will be in Jerusalem, and Jesus Christ was actually crucified on the Passover.
The Synoptic Gospels indicate that following this miracle Jesus withdrew from public view in order to give the disciples unique instruction about His upcoming suffering and death in Jerusalem.
In feeding this multitude the Lord is going to make over 5000 witnesses for Himself, some believers and some unbelievers, but all eye witnesses to His power.
The religious crowd is always on negative volition toward doctrine. As a result they have a vacuum in their minds into which is drawn legalism.
The fact that most of the people will remain negative, despite the fact that the disciples will faith the test, and despite the Jews are celebrating a Passover in Jerusalem that they don’t understand, doesn’t stop Jesus from still pressing on in His Father’s will.
Phillip is a born again believer with a human spirit. The real question to Phillip is does he have any doctrine in the human spirit ready for application?
Like Phillip here, many times we look at problems from human viewpoint and an earthly point of view and we attempt silly human solutions while divine solutions, decreed in EP, are available.