In the Gospels, we read about the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 in various accounts (5000 men plus women and children in Matthew 14 and the 4000 men plus women and children in the next chapter). We see this as a miracle showing Jesus’s power as God over matter. But what is interesting to me is that this miracle wasn’t simply to show that He was from God, but that He was God. And feeding multitudes is something that Jesus has been doing since He created man.
As Creator, Jesus has been taking care of His creation since He put Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden. Do you remember what He said to Adam?
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 ESV).
Jesus claimed the name I AM in John 8:58, which tells us that He was the God we read about in the Old Testament. The people took up stones to kill Him because of this claim. But if Jesus was telling the truth, we see many times that the Father fed the multitudes through Him. We see Him feeding the millions of Israelites in the wilderness with manna from heaven for forty years. Is it any wonder that when He became flesh that He said this:
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48-51 ESV).
God gave manna from heaven so that people might have the nourishment they needed. When the Father gave them manna, it sustained them but did not give them eternal life. In Jesus, the Father sends the only bread that can give eternal life, and that bread is Jesus Himself.
Jesus sustained a physical nation in the wilderness, and now He sustains a spiritual Kingdom by offering Himself for us to partake. We must fully feast upon Jesus to have this eternal life that manna could never provide man. The miracle of feeding the 5000 and the 4000 demonstrated that there will always be abundance and life in His presence. He is the source of all nourishment that we will ever need.
If we turn to Jesus in this wicked and perverse world, He will sustain us. He will nourish us. He will do more than give our bodies the calories it needs to survive; He will sustain our spirit and give us life beyond this physical existence. He is the Word incarnate, and His Word has life. It is not merely a great literary work but the inspired Word of the incarnate God. We find Jesus in the Word because He is the Word.
The multitude Jesus feeds today is far greater than when He sustained a nation in the wilderness or when He put man in Eden. Today, we can partake of the food that sustains us eternally. We partake of the food that will cause us to never die. No other food can do that. Only in Jesus can we find the Bread that will let us live forever.
And when He comes in Judgment and takes us home to be with Him, He will continue to provide the nourishment we need for life. He has prepared for us a place in heaven with Him. Listen to what He has done for us, what is waiting if we remain faithful:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” (Revelation 22:1-3 ESV).
Jesus has always fed the multitudes. He did it the day He put man in Eden, and He does it today. And when He brings an end to the earth, He will continue to nourish us so that we may never die. The feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 was an amazing miracle to show His divinity, but that miracle hardly scratches the surface of what He is doing for you and me today and what He has in store for us in heaven.
I must fight the danger of putting God in a box. He is so far beyond me, He transcends even my wildest imagination of who He is and what He can do.
Random Thought:
I bet if there was a bonafide faith healer who could heal every illness, a hospital would soon choose not to make him welcome in their facility.
Given the choice of achieving their mission of healing all who need healing and going out of business, my gut says they would choose to keep illness around in order to keep the money flowing in rather than having people be healed and no longer need their services.
That made me think… Do I have lofty missions of mercy that I profess until I figure out that true service means that I must give up myself and fully live for others?
We all need to be certain that we are ready to live up to the biblical principles we espouse when we realize that doing so will mean a seismic shift in how we live life.
Are we ready to be the people of God when the rubber hits the road?
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2 ESV).
I asked God for wisdom and He let me suffer to learn lessons I could learn no other way.
I asked God for wealth and He took away money so I could see clearly the true riches He has blessed me with.
I asked God for boldness and He allowed enemies to rise up against me to teach me how to be bold.
I asked God for relief and He sent me someone who needed a cup of cold water to serve so that I might focus less on my need for relief as I provided relief for another who needed it more than me.
I may ask God for what I think I need at the moment, but in His wisdom, He will always answer my prayers in the way that only an omniscient God can answer.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9 ESV).
If tonight is the night that the Lord returns, let’s meet up at the River of Life after the Judgment and walk together to the throne of Jesus to worship Him.
“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” (Revelation 21:5