Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14, John 6:22-40

Summary: When Jesus fed the five thousand, as recorded in all four gospels, He demonstrated what He taught about God being the Provider of our needs (Matthew 6:25-34). Most of the crowd, however, wanted food, not faith.

The Lord Jesus never taught anything about the nature and character of God the Father that He Himself did not demonstrate or model before either His disciples or the people who followed and listened to Him. When we first read of this miracle, mentioned in all four gospels, we see the Divine power of Jesus on display along with His compassion, concern, orderliness, provision, and the further opening of the apostles’ spiritual sight and senses as to Who He was — God Incarnate among His people, fulfilling the prophecies spoken of by Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the other prophets of Scripture.

His feeding of the crowd is a display of what He had taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). He had taught the people not to worry about where they would get food and clothing along with their other needs, as God would provide for them as He does for the animals in the wild. In feeding the people, He not only filled their stomachs with natural food but also opened the door for them to understand that God feeds the soul as well with His Word.

Now, some people were spiritually sharp and saw Jesus as not only Provider but the Promised Savior of His people, while some saw this miracle as a means of obtaining a free meal every day and as part of a plan to seize Jesus, force Him to be King, and use His miraculous powers not only to keep Israel well-fed but also healed when they would fall wounded from the battle that would surely come with the oppressing power of Rome. They were certain that He would conquer and slay the hated soldiers of Caesar, driving them from the land of Israel once and for all, restoring the nation to an independent Kingdom ruled by this descendant of the great and wonderful David of old, or so they thought.

He put a stop to that plan in its tracks the day after the event, as recorded in John 6:22-40. The crowd wanted bread from Him, but when He offered them Himself as the Living Bread and to submit to Him as Lord, they dispersed to where He had no one except His disciples and a handful of authentic followers afterward.

What bothers me when I watch movies about the Lord Jesus, especially when the filmmakers show the scene of the feeding of the crowd, is that it always seems to resemble a mob scene where the food is almost thrown at the people, or they are scrambling for the fish and bread that Jesus miraculously provides. We see none of this in the Scriptures. Jesus organized the crowd, had some of the people help the apostles with distributing the food and collecting the leftovers after everyone had eaten, ensuring that the apostles would also get a chance to enjoy the best fish and bread they ever ate.

Nobody left hungry or dissatisfied over what they had received that day. It goes to show that Jesus is not only the Provider of our needs if we would but trust Him to do so, but He also sees to it that we get everything we need in order to be satisfied, full, and thankful for His bountifulness. He does give everyone the ability to work for their food and provisions as He pleases, but there are times when we have all fallen under some kind of hardship, and He was there to give us what we needed, oftentimes in an unexpected way. The Psalmist writes of God’s care for His people even when it looks like nothing is on the horizon (Psalm 37:25-26).

At one time, my wife and I were members of a friendly but liberal-leaning church in central Louisiana. I was in a Sunday School class where the teacher, upon reading of this account, said that it was not so much a miracle of Jesus, but a sense of guilt and shame that came over the crowd when they saw the child give his meager lunch over to the LORD to use to feed everyone, and they brought out their provisions and shared with everyone as a result of this act of selflessness. I do not see that in any way, shape, or form when I read this story. This was an attempt to downplay the obvious Divine work of the Lord Jesus and show a type of arrogance and self-imposed “wisdom” that tended to know better than the witnesses who were there and gave credibility to the event.

What liberal and progressive so-called “Christian” pastors and teachers now tend to do is question and bring into doubt the very Word of God and its supernatural origin and structure (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:19-21). Some people simply cannot bring themselves to believe or even consider that God is Who He says He is in the Bible and that what we have in our possession is the authentic record of His words, deeds, and plan of redemption that He put into place before the foundation of the world (John 1:1-4; Ephesians 1:3-14; Colossians 1:15-18).

People will flock to the latest guru, teacher, motivational speaker, philosopher, celebrity, or skeptic and swallow what they have to say without question or comment. But they will do everything in their power to downplay, discredit, blaspheme, and mock the very God who has done nothing but love and warn them of the wrath to come and has given the free offer of salvation made available through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and the ONLY way to God the Father (John 14:6).

Our own laziness and spiritual apathy have done nothing to alleviate the world’s prejudice and has turned a lot of people off of the message of the Gospel by our hypocrisy and lack of enthusiasm in telling others of the Good News of salvation in Christ. We tend to act as if it is nothing more than a mindset or code of ethics that are no different from what the world offers. If this describes your current condition before the LORD, now is the time to stop where you are and repent of your apathy and indifference and have Him renew your soul this day.

Other world religions, cults, and occult powers tell their followers that they have to do certain deeds or say the right words in order to appease the deities or leaders if they want a chance to get into their idea of heaven or paradise, nirvana, Shangri-La, Shambala, or wherever they think they go when they assume room temperature. Jesus says to everyone, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-30).

What do you have to do for Jesus to assist you or give you help, guidance, and supply your needs? Just come to Him freely, as you are. He will change you into the person you were meant to be for His glory and grace. Bring Him your wounded heart, your hungry body and soul, your pain, your grief, your sin burden, and lay all of it at His feet. Surrender your life to Him and confess that He is Lord (Romans 10:9-10). The hunger and thirst for righteousness and peace that many seek will never be filled, choosing instead to feast on the junk food and slop of the world, flesh, and the devil until the day of their last breath, when it will be too late.

According to the Scriptures, the redeemed of all time will be a part of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, where there will be an abundance of not just the pure food of the LORD, but the abundant reunion we will have with our loved ones as well as the eternal fellowship we will have with the LORD. Jesus told the story of the Wedding Feast where the “high society” folks made up a bunch of lame excuses not to have dinner with the nobleman. So he told his servants to go everywhere and bring everyone to the feast, no matter who they were or where they came from, and enjoy the bounty that others refused (Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24).

Jesus invites you to be fed, physically and spiritually. He cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7) and is waiting to receive you with open arms and a menu fit for a king. What more do you need to know? Dinner’s ready.

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Join me for “The Reality City Daily Review” weekday mornings at 10:00 CST on YouTube (USA). It will then be posted on Facebook and on my website. My main area of discussion will be on the basics of the Christian faith but will also deal with prophetic issues and other topics as the Lord impresses upon me to handle.

We keep hearing about end-time prophecies being fulfilled and our being on the brink of the wrath/tribulation. Tying together prophecies from both the Old and New Testaments and then taking a look at what’s happening in the world today, we are being shown just how accurate God’s word is. The downside is that the majority of the world’s population does not believe the Bible is the inerrant word God but just a bunch of myths and fairytales. For those of us who have received and accepted the Father’s words as truth, we are in an exciting time. (all emphasis mine)

Exciting because what is next for us will be the absolute answer to all our prayers and desires. This world is entering a phase that will not get any better, so the promises of our God are significant for us. First and foremost, in Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10; and Revelation 3:10, we are promised that no true believer will enter the period of time when the antichrist will be here. We’re told in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 that the “man of lawlessness” cannot appear until “He” who now restrains him is taken out of the way. That would be the Holy Spirit who indwells all who are saved. If the Holy Spirit steps aside to allow the tribulation to start, then we must be taken out of this world to be kept from that wrath. We will rise up to meet Jesus in the air.

This does not mean we won’t experience any of the pre-wrath persecutions, as that phase has already started. Right now, Christianity in America is at an all-time low, and the world of Satan is gaining ground just about everywhere. There are some places in the world where Christianity is gaining new converts but mostly in such places as Africa, Iran, China and others. For those converts, they face extreme violence if discovered, yet many are willing to lose their own lives for what they have found.

Believers are being called “haters” because we won’t join in all the alphabet perversions. We actually love everyone for their eternal soul, but we do not have to like or even tolerate their lifestyle of sin. It’s as if the “deluding influence” of 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 is already being applied. Can you just imagine how bad it will really get after the ultimate antichrist takes control?

Daniel 2:40-44 tells about part of the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream given by Daniel. There will be a fourth kingdom coming upon the earth that has a global one-world government. It states God will set up a kingdom that will break that kingdom into pieces, and God’s kingdom – the reign of Jesus – will last forever. We are seeing the beginning of that fourth kingdom today.

Daniel 9:27 tells about the antichrist making a covenant for 7 years, and at the midpoint, he will end all sacrifices and cause an abomination that makes desolate when he desecrates the Holy Temple. Jesus referred to this passage in Matthew 24:15.

Isaiah 17:1 speaks of the total destruction of Damascus. How many raids has Israel carried out on that city to date because of members of the coalition, especially Iran, who are storing weapons there to be used against Israel? It’s very possible that the right combination will be met, and Damascus will indeed become one big junk pile.

It’s reasonable to believe that this action could be the start of the Ezekiel 38 war, where Russia, Iran and Turkey will invade Israel. The only issue here is they obviously do not believe the word of the Lord, because He specifically says He will be the defeating force against the invaders. He’s also the one setting hooks in them to convince them to invade, as given in Ezekiel 38:4.

Speaking of that war, Ezekiel specifically lists the major countries of the coalition, which, as stated, are Russia, Turkey and Iran. There will be several smaller countries that will join them as all would like to get a part of Israel’s wealth and resources. The invasion comes from the north, which would be Syria (Ezekiel 38:6). Prior to just a couple of decades ago, these countries were far from being any sort of coalition, but today all have one thing in common; they are financially strapped, and their people are not happy.

Just looking at what Matthew 24 and Luke 21 list as end of age events; it is quite extensive. There will be false Christs; false prophets; wars and rumors of war; famines; earthquakes in diverse places; pestilences; Christians hated by all nations; signs in the heavens; and increased lawlessness causing love to grow cold in many people. Luke 21:26 tells about people fainting with fear because of what is coming on this world.

When we are able to get past all the faux news reporting, we see there is an increased level of evil that is happening all over. If these are the “birthing pains” that Jesus spoke of, the delivery is very near; and closer still is our delivery from this earth.

Matthew 24:32-35 and Luke 21:31-33 tells about the blooming of the “fig tree.” Israel became a sovereign nation on May 14, 1948, after being desolate for almost 2,000 years. Jesus told us the generation that saw this would not pass away before all the end prophecies take place. We are very close to being at the end of that generation.

In fact, Jesus said when these things “begin to happen” — all the evil and increasing signs of anti-anything Christian — we are to be looking up, for our redemption is near, at the very gate.

No one knows the exact time that the Trumpet of God will sound and we hear a shout from an archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). The only thing nonbelievers will know is that people are suddenly missing, as this event will be over in less than one second. A possible explanation by Satan’s forces is already being made up. We hear of increased UFO sightings. The storyline may be that another “force” in the universe will remove all “haters” so the rest of the world can live in peace and harmony.

The sad part is it will be the worst time this earth will have ever experienced. At least 2/3 of the population will be killed during that awful time.

To be assured of not being here for that, Romans 10:9-13 gives the steps to Salvation. They are simple and easy to understand, and nothing from human nature needs to be added or taken away. Admit you are a sinner, as everyone is, and confess to Jesus that you are seeking His forgiveness. Believe He is the true Son of God who died for our sins and was raised in glory to conquer them for us. Call on the name of the Lord, and you will be saved.

Yes, we will still sin even after receiving and accepting Jesus as our Savior. God has given us assurance of forgiveness in 1 John 1:8-10. Jesus paid for all of our sins, even those we haven’t committed yet. That does not give us license to run amok, but know that when we do sin, we have a perfect advocate in Jesus Our Lord.

It’s getting very close to the call, and it could be just about any day now. Be ready in advance, and call on Jesus today – right now – before it’s too late. He’s waiting for your call, but not for much longer before the wrath hits.

Shalom! Come, Lord Jesus!

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