T H É K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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who are His and who trust Him wholly day by day, moment by moment. The mighty miracle was symbolic of the repetition of His gra'ce in the daily pathway for the daily need. He mul tiplies our blessings that we may be filled and satisfied. “And they took up of the broken meat that was left Seven baskets” (v. 8). Not so many in number as upon the other occasion, but it is in teresting to see that the baskets were of a different type. The word used for baskets at the feeding of the five thousand is the Greek kophinous (from kophinos),, meaning a small hand basket. The word here is spuri- das (from spuris) and means a provi sion basket, considerably larger than the hand basket; The word is that which is found in Acts 9:25 (en spat;- di) where we are told that Paul was let down over the wall at Damascus “ in a basket.” This is just another in stance of the meticulous accuracy of the Word of God. The five thousand were fed at eventide of the "one day that they were with Christ. The mul titude had journeyed for only a short distance, and thus had the usual hand baskets for daily use. But in the case of the four thousand, the crowds had been with the Lord “three days” and “ divers of them came from far” (vs. 2, 3), and as a consequence we find that when baskets were taken to re cover the fragments of the loaves and fishes they were found to be the large provision baskets which would be used for journeys which were long in dis tance or duration. Closing a Chapter And so our blessed Lord, having ministered to the multitude in loving compassion, sent them away. The five thousand Jews who had experienced the first miracle would have made Him King, by force (John 6:15), but the Gentiles nad no-such idea, obvi ously, and we find that they apparent ly departed without demonstration. Thus ended another phase of our Lord’s earthly •ministry, and as the other periods terminated with a feast, so this one. At the conclusion of His Galilean, minis y the five thousand were fed; at the termination of the service among the Gentiles in the bor ders of Tyre and ¿idon, the four thou sand were filled, and finally, His Ju dean ministry closed with the Passover Feast, celebrated with the Twelve, and with the institution of the Lord’s Supper. The next great feast w ill be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7), when all His blooa-bought saints, His Body and His, Bride, will be with Him. It will be a glorious day when once more and forever those who are Christ’s will be filled and satisfied with cups that w ill be run ning over. “ Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
ever, there was no custom among the Gentiles as to the single blessing and consequently our Lord, lest there be misunderstanding in regard to His thankfulness for both provisions, was careful to return thanks for each sep arately. Using Human Instruments Before we go oh it would be profit able, perhaps, to take note of the fact that while the power of the miracle of the feeding of the four thousand was Christ’s, the Son of God’s, and that He alone performed it, with no man’s help, yet He Was gracious to make use of (1) the provisions that the multitude offered, and (-2) the hands of the disciples to minister. “He took the seven loaves . .-..'and gave to his disciples to set before them.” ' Such is the providence of God. He willingly and gladly utilizes that which we offer to Him, no matter how inadequate it ma, seem for His pro gram, and multiplies it; and He em ploys the willing hands of His obedi ent servants to administer the fruit of His power. Had W l . been among the four thousand that day, would we have been willing to turn over to the Lord Jesus the provisions which were ours by God’s grace in any event? And again, as His disciples and apostles, would we have accepted the broken loaves in faith and passed them on to a hungry and needy throng? Yes— though all power is His, it is the economy of God that human instru ments' shall fu lfill His commission. “ So they did eat, and were filled . . ..” (v. 8). Of course they were! No one ever sits down at the table of His provision without arising satis fied, unless he refuses that which is proffered. “The Lord is my shepherd, ■ I shall not want . . . my cup runneth over.” Such is the experience of those
ported, our Lord commanded the peo ple to sit down on the ground. Understanding Jewish and Gentile Customs It is time now that we make a cer tain observation. The five thousand who were miraculously fed earlier, near Bethsaida in Galilee (Lk. 9:10), were for the most part from the region about Capernaum* that is, they were Jews. On the occasion of the second feeding of a multitude, it is to be re membered that they came from the neighborhood of Decapolis, a semi- Gentile city, and thus, the crowd was composed of Gentiles almost exclu sively. Now this is quite interesting, in view of that which took place after the four thousand were seated upon the earth, for we read that our Lord “took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them , . . and they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them” (vs. 6, 7). In the case of the five thousand (and re member, they were Jews) it is re corded: “And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them” (6:41). There was but one blessing for the loaves and fishes in the first instance, but separate blessings for each article in the second case. We quote Alfred Edersheim in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah: “The Mishna lays down the principle* that if bread and ‘savoury’ were eaten, it would depend upon which of the two was the main ' article of diet, to de termine whether ‘thanksgiving’ should be said for one or the other. In any case, of course, it would be spoken over the bread, the ‘savoury’ [dried fish] being merely an addition.” How
God ’s Word Says:
I am a sinner. “ A ll have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Sin brings the penalty of death. “ For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). "Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Christ Jesus bore the penalty of death for sin.
| “ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the free” (1 Pet. 2:24). I may receive His gift of life. “ God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). “He that hath the Son hath life” (John 3:36). This Is Salvation!
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