Our Lord spoke with such authority and the miracles
of healing were always authentic and undeniable so that He was continually bombarded
by multitudes of people. He could not go anywhere, even when He departed to a
deserted place, the multitudes would quickly locate Him and flock to His
location. Many had followed Him out to a deserted place far from the cities and
spent a long time there with our Lord and began to be weary and hungry.
Matthew
14:13 “But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the
cities.” NKJV
The Scripture says that there were about 5,000 men
present so we can estimate that as many as 15,000 to 20,000 all together when
adding the women and children. Our Lord fed this multitude of people and it is
recorded that He did so again for around 4,000 men who gathered around Him not
because there was anything good or deserving in the people, but because of His
heart of compassion and love for all who are wandering like sheep without a
shepherd lost and in danger (that is a picture of all sinners). But it was not
our Lord’s mission to bring a social gospel of feeding the needy or relief
shelters (these things are wonderful and needed) but the sinful soul of man is
what needs to be fed by Him and it is what moves Him with great passion for the
weary and laboring soul.
Matthew
14:14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with
compassion for them, and healed their sick. NKJV
He never left this world with its entire population
furnished with vats or barns or homes overflowing with food that would last
them the remainder of their earthly lives. In reality, our Lord said, “The poor you will always have with you.” He could
have made life easy for every human being by supernaturally providing enough
food, water, clothing, and shelter for every person living on the earth at that
time and for all of us that would live afterwards. But from the beginning of
man’s disobedience He made it clear to Adam that he had forfeited his right to
access to the Garden of Eden where an abundance of savory food was supplied for
him.
Genesis
3:17-19 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not
eat of it’: “ Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of
it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for
you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you
shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” NKJV
Man went from having all of his food (supplied by
God in the Garden) required to sustain his physical body taken away from him
and he was thrust into a condition of not only having to produce his own
physical food, but now he no longer has spiritual nourishment because his soul
had been disconnected from God. Every one of us are born with a soul disconnect
and before we come to saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ it is natural for
us to try to feed our souls with sex, drugs, alcohol, money, homes, cars,
stocks, and a myriad of other things or activities, but they cannot and will
not provide the soul of man disconnected from God with sustenance. Our Lord has
clearly stated that His purpose for coming was to call man to repentance. So
the miracle of taking a small serving of food and multiplying it to feed all of
these people is a picture of Him feeding the hungry souls of men and women (disconnected
from Him by their sinful hearts) through His presence by the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit after regeneration and new birth.
This is a quote from my book “Silent Assassins of
the Soul”, “From that point until now sinful man has been trying to get back to
the Garden of Eden (paradise). Immoral sexual acts (such as pornography and
masturbation) and drugs and alcohol are tools satan uses to deceive us, making
us think that such things can bring us satisfaction and recover the perfect
pleasure that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden. It is a BIG LIE! Those are satan’s
counterfeits for the pleasure that comes from being in a right relationship
with God. In Ephesians 2:3, God uses the word “lust,” which is from the Greek
word epithumia, which means “a
longing or desire for what is forbidden.” That is what happened to our nature
as a result of Adam’s disobedience. We are now born with a longing and craving
for all the things that God hates. Before we know Christ personally we are
helpless against such strong cravings and lusts.”
It is easy today to get a group of people together
and give a luncheon or dinner and give free food to many needy people and think
somehow we have done the will of God. Yes that is the will of God to feed those
in need when we can, but our Lord is much more desiring to feed their souls
with His word as He said, “Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Our Lord
says yes man needs bread to live, but it is His passion to feed a man’s soul with
His presence by His word. Our Lord said, “Whenever you
want you can do good to the poor”, but He did not mean this as priority
above calling sinners poor or rich to repent of their sin. Feeding a man with
bread will keep him from dying of starvation but it will do nothing for his
soul that is destined to live forever either in loving fellowship with Jesus
Christ in Heaven or separation from Him in hell.
Job
23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured
the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. NKJV
John 6:26-27 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you
saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor
for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting
life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His
seal on Him.” NKJV
“If we will not learn to
eat the only food that
the universe grows, then we must starve eternally.” “He Himself is the fuel our
spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.”
C. S. Lewis
“Now what is food for the inner man? Not
prayer, but the Word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the Word
of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water passes through
a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering it over and applying it to our
hearts.” George Mueller
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ
and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus
Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I
am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died
for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are
God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord
Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my
Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins
of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be
Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and
Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available
now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook,
Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and
eBookPie…
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