Sow Good Seed: Feeding The Five Thousand

Matt 14:15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

Matt 14:16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

Matt 14:17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

Matt 14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me.

Matt 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Matt 14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

Matt 14:21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

The feeding of the 5000: This miracle is one of the only miracles that made it into all four gospels.

Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15,

There is more than meets the eye…

The disciples just returned from preaching and healing in the name of Jesus. Came back on fire because they just experience the power of God flowing through them. Jesus just received the news that John the Baptist was put to death. They needed food and rest, they tried to withdraw themselves from the crowds of people that started to increase in numbers around them. They took a boat and went north on the lake of Galilee toward Bethsaida, but the multitude grew in size and kept up on foot. We are talking about 5000 man plus women and children. Jesus seeing into their heart, saw a Spiritual hunger and was moved with compassion. “They are sheep looking for their Shepherd”.

Nothing just happens with our Lord, the food and the #'s involved all have something to say.

Jesus I pray that you open our eyes and ears and reveal to us the Glory of Your Word.
This wonderful story goes into a outline of Gods Word to the world.

* when it was evening: late afternoon or nightfall.

* his disciples came to him: The twelve that Jesus sent out earlier to preach and heal in His name.

Sea of Galilee

* deserted place: desolate, solitary, wilderness.
Just like what God did when He took the children of Israel through the wilderness before they entered the Promise Land.

(A Place to put all your Trust in Him) (A place for testing your faith)

* the time is now past: The Jewish people of the time had two evenings, one started around three for the evening sacrifice, the other around six at sunset.

* send the multitude away: Send = depart, dismiss, divorce, let go, loose, release.

* go into the villages: This would send the multitude back into the same areas that the disciples just came from preaching the gospel.

* buy themselves victuals: Christians are taught to have no anxiety about the supply of their bodily needs.

Matt 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Matt 14:16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

* They need not depart; Jesus ask Philip this question testing his faith and knowledge in the Word.

John 6:5 he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?

Jesus will test us also, The Word Builds Faith, Walk in the Word.(PRAISE GOD)

* give ye them to eat. Jesus the living Word, has a history of feeding the hungry when there is not enough. You have to step out in faith and give from your best. 2Kings 4:42-44

Matt 14:17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

* We have here but five loaves: Bread is for the Word of God, five stands for the Torah's five Books (The Law). The people need this bread of the law to bring them into knowledge of there sin.

This is the same as when God lead Moses and Israel into the wilderness and God feeds them with manna the Heavenly Bread and this is at the same time that they received there law.
Exodus 16:1 The name of the location is Sin and Elim.

Sin means Dirty, Elim is the place of 12 fountains.
* two fishes. This is the church age. After God reveals your sin through the bread (Torah, Law, Jesus) you enter into the Kingdom of our Lord. You become part of the body thats in the church age. Two is the number of days we have to get our body ready for Jesus. (The Head of the Church)

Two Days = Two Thousand Years    2 Peter 3:8
Body = The Church, You and Me     Colossians 1:18
Head = Jesus     Ephesians 5:23

Matt 14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me.

* Bring them hither to me: This is the call for the blessing, give to the service of Gods work, then the windows of heaven will be open. We have to take the first step towards God for faith to be activated.

Malachi 3:8-12

* sit down on the grass: Our Lord Jesus did show, in a divine feast, the riches of His glorious kingdom.

The honor of a more excellent majesty, even a dominion over nature itself; but here is not so much as a cloth spread, no plates or napkins, no knives or forks, not even a bench to sit down on.
Our Lord Jesus reduce the world to plainness and simplicity, as the innocence and happiness, of Adam in paradise.
He commanded them to sit down on the grass.
By doing everything, without any splendor, he plainly showed that his kingdom was not of this world.

* looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake:

Bless: in the Bible means God's favoring us and/or our asking favors of Him.

He himself looked up to heaven, and blessed, and gave thanks.

He praised God for the provision they had, and prayed to God to bless it to them.
His craving for the blessing, as the witness that the Father and He are one, having authority in the flesh and on the earth during this time.
We may suppose, He had special reference to the multiplying of this food; but herein He has taught us that good duty of craving a blessing and giving thanks at our meals.
This is eating and drinking to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10:31, giving God thanks

Romans 14:6, eating before God.

When Christ blessed, He looked up to heaven, to teach us, in prayer, to eye God as our Father in heaven. As taking them from God's hand, and depending on him for our blessing.

* gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude: This is to signify in what way the spiritual food of the Word should be dispensed to the world; from Christ, as the original Author, then by his ministers. This is to give order to the church as paul laid out some of the offices Ephesians 4:11-14
Ministers can never fill the people's hearts, unless Christ first fill their hands: and what he has given to the disciples, they must

give to the multitude; for they are stewards, to give to every one his portion of meat.
Blessed be God, Be the multitude ever so great, there is enough for all.

Matt 14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

* they did all eat, and were filled: Thus grace grows by being acted, and, while other things perish in the using, spiritual gifts increase in the using. God ministers seed to the sower, and multiplies not the seed hoarded up, but the seed sown.

2 Cor. 9:10 Psalm 37:19

* the fragments that remained twelve baskets full: In the gospel of john, Jesus adds Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. John 6:12

The fragments are the true believers.

12 baskets = 12 tribes of Israel This is a demonstration of the end time harvest. Jesus will tell His angels to go gather all the bread so nothing will be lost. The Bread of Life is in us. The Eternal Seed.