April 7, 2023
Seeking Comes Before Believing
“The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.”
John 6:22-24 (NASB)
Years ago, our family was tent camping in the Florida Keys. We took a lantern while walking to the restroom. It only illuminated a few feet in front of us. As we neared the restroom, we almost stepped on a large turtle crossing the road. It caught us by surprise. I didn’t see it until the light exposed it suddenly. The light alerted us to the potential danger so we could act.
“The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea…” As Jesus performed miracles, many had not gone very far. The disciples left earlier after Jesus spoke, but many of the crowd still lingered from the excitement. “there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat.” The meaning is, the people had observed that there had been only one boat on the east side where they were; namely, the one in which the disciples had crossed at night to the other, the west side, and they had also observed that Jesus had not gone on board that boat, but His disciples had put off without Him.[1] Therefore they began to look for Jesus. This seeking by the crowd (verse 24), is the word zēteō; meaning to “seek.”[2] This is same type behavior of Peter and Andrew in John 1:37, “The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” The word “followed” is the word, akoloutheō; to follow as on a road.[3] These two words show the same behavior of Peter and Andrew, and the multitude who sought Jesus the day after the feeding of the five thousand. This is how salvation starts…
Each one of us don’t naturally come to our own conclusion to trust Jesus as our Savior. It has to be revealed by God’s Spirit. In these examples above, we see two groups of people in parallel. It all begins with a desire to hear more. This Spirit of God is at work “drawing” people to salvation. It is not salvation. It is enlightenment. It brings light to darkness. Since we were all born into darkness, God has to bring light. It’s a foreign concept to our fallen nature. When light exposes darkness, it reveals all those things which are in direct opposition to God. John 3:19-20 exposes it, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
When the turtle appeared, we had to act. Light exposed potential danger. Sadly, many today see the danger without God but choose to walk around it, instead of confronting the darkness. If you’re not sure what this means, find someone who knows Jesus personally and ask them. They bring light through the gospel of Jesus Christ!
[1] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 138.
[2] Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).
[3] Ibid.