THE miracle of feeding the five thousand is the only one which is told by each of the four evangelists; it, therefore, has a peculiar import. There was a prophecy concerning the Messiah, that He should feed His poor with bread (Psa. 132:1515I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. (Psalm 132:15)), and we may be sure that the promise of plenty connected with His reign would be one which the poor of Judah would naturally remember. And so it was when they saw the miracle which Jesus did, how He fed the five thousand through the hands of His disciples, that they said, “This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world” (v. 14), and accordingly they were set upon making Him a King. (5:15.)
The day of His kingly glory for reigning over this suffering and troubled earth is yet to dawn; the promises connected with the Messiah are yet to be fulfilled. The poor shall in God’s time be fed, but now He is the Bread of Life, the Food of our hearts, the Satisfaction of our souls; and there is not one hungry sinner who, coming to Him, shall be sent empty away. The poor in spirit find in Jesus still, despite infidelity and doubt, that He is, indeed, the Bread of Life, and that those who come to Him never hunger. (v. 35.)
It is to such as have tasted that the Lord is gracious, that we address this paper. Mark, then, Christian reader, the action of the blessed Lord after He saw that the people would by force make Him a king. Man’s time was present, because of the bread; who would not welcome the temporal gifts of God? His hour for rule had not come, for His Father’s time had not arrived. And so Jesus departed into a mountain Himself alone.
Instead of becoming the King, Jesus, as it were, became the Priest. What was figured by His action is now a fact. God has said to Him, “Sit Thou on My right hand till I make Thy foes Thy footstool;” and while there, waiting for the kingdom, He is the Priest for us on high. The Lord has not gone on high merely to wait for His kingdom, for His Messiah glory, He has gone up to heaven to intercede for His poor, tried, and tempted people on earth, to support them in their afflictions and their weakness. “For in that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” (Heb. 2:1818For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18).)
Now when the Lord was upon that mountain alone, the night closed in and darkness shrouded Him from the sight of His disciples. They were alone— “Jesus was not come to them” —though they kept each other company. They entered a ship, and thrust out upon the waters. He was absent, and lo! the wind was contrary, and “the sea, arose by reason of a great wind that blew.” The circumstances were against them. How changed the scene from the previous day, when, out of His fullness, they had received sufficient, not only for their own need, but also to feed five thousand!
And such a night is ours. The day when He was here, healing the sick and helping the poor, is past. He is not on earth, as earth’s circumstances show, for sorrow and buffeting are the well-known incidents of this life’s rough sea to every toiler upon its waves. Circumstances are adverse to us; but it is ours to learn His sufficiency and His care in adverse things. And we may say, even of the bitterest sorrows of our souls, that in going through them with Jesus, the bitter becomes sweet.
Yes, beloved children, it is night, but forget not, and live not as if forgetting, that the night is far spent. Think you that time’s voyage has no end, or that life’s sea has no shore? Toiling seamen, your vessel nears the land; you have a definite point to which you are rowing. The disciples of the Master are crossing the waters; they have a special destination in view, unlike the worldly heart also crossing life’s sea, but knowing not whither he goeth. To him there is no object beyond these waves. It is night and loneliness here, with no friend in the difficulty, and no home after the storms are past.
Now trace again the ways of the Lord. He comes down from the mountain, and His way is upon the waves. He is Lord of all. All the powers of His creation obey Him. The unstable and stormy sea bears upon her bosom her Creator’s feet as He nears the toiling vessel, where He will prove Himself a Friend.
At first the disciples fear when they see Him, but when they know who it is their eyes behold, fear vanishes. His presence casts out fear. Then they receive Him into the ship, and lo! immediately they were at the land whither they went. In an instant they are at their journey’s end.
So will it be in their day with that people, to whom He came as King, and by whom He was rejected, and to this, the scene, no doubt, addresses us; but we, too, are waiting for Him. He is coming. He will soon bring us where we would be—home.
It is for this, ye toilers on life’s sea, that ye wait.
The Coming One draws nigh. He will soon descend from Heaven, and we shall hear His voice— “It is I.” His coming may be a surprise to us, such will be the joy of seeing Him. It will be the long looked for and unutterably blessed moment of our expectations. And then, in a moment, “immediately,” “in the twinkling of an eye,” we shall have reached the end of our voyage—we shall be at home.
“‘Forever with the Lord,’
Oh, blessed, wondrous word,
What heavenly joy, what bliss divine,
Doth that sweet word afford.
“How shall I meet those eyes?
Mine on Himself I cast,
And own myself the Saviour’s prize;
Mercy from first to last.”
H. F. W.