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And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 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. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. 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. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Matthew 14:14-21

On the surface, this story is about Jesus giving some natural people some natural food. That’s a good thing for him to do, but I believe God wants us to learn something deeper from this story. Imagine instead of feeding 5000 men, Jesus Christ wants to feed the entire world with the spiritual food of the Word of God. God is not willing that any man would perish, but that all would come to repentance. So let’s go step by step through this account in Matthew, with some assistance from the other gospels. This is one of the few stories that appears in all 4 gospels, so I believe that is another reason it has increased importance to God and to us.

Jesus and the disciples and the multitude were in a desert place. There is little to no life in a desert. It is a barren wasteland. There was no food available in the desert, but only the food they had brought with them. The disciples had a couple thoughts about this problem of no food. Their first thought was to send the multitude away so that they can buy food for themselves. They wanted the people to look to themselves for the answer to their hunger. This is not what the Bible teaches us to do for people. We are to look to God to supply all our needs. The disciples’ second thought was that they could go and take what money they had and try to buy food to feed the multitude. This also encourages them to trust in themselves and in their own abilities to feed people. Neither of these thoughts by the disciples was the correct one. For that, we look to Jesus.

Jesus said that the multitude need not depart, but that the disciples have the power to feed them. The disciples responded with the fact that they only have 5 loaves and 2 fishes. In another gospel it says that they are SMALL fishes. This was a good response by the disciples, for it was a humble response. They acknowledge that there was NO WAY that they would be able to feed the multitude in their own strength and power.

To understand this story, we need to look at the spiritual meaning of numbers. There were 5 loaves. 5 is the number of ministry, which is taken from Ephesians 4:11, that God gave some apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. You have 5 fingers on each hand and 5 toes on each foot. Our hands were designed by God to minister to Him and to others in His name. Your feet were made to take you places for purposes of ministry. Jesus Christ said that He is the bread of life. So 5 loaves is representing the ministry of Jesus Christ to the people.

Yet, it wasn’t just 5 loaves, but there are also 2 fishes. The number two is spiritually representing witness. Acts 5:32 says there are two witnesses of God, the Holy Spirit and the church. Revelation 11 also shows the two witnesses of God, which are still the Holy Spirit and the church. The fish represent the disciples of Jesus, for Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. The fish are those that have been caught out of the spiritual sea of sin.

Jesus gave the solution to the disciples’ problem. He said, bring what you have to me. We need the blessing of Jesus Christ before we try to minister in the name of Jesus. It takes time spent in prayer to the Father in the name of Jesus before we will be spiritually prepared to minister for Jesus to the people of the world.

So Jesus commands the multitude to sit down on the grass. In Mark it says that it was GREEN grass. If something is green, that means it is alive. Despite being in a desert place, there was life there because Jesus was there. The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in GREEN pastures. Jesus is inviting the world to sit down and rest in a place of spiritual life and life more abundant through His name.

In Luke, it says the multitude sat down in groups of fifties. This is key. 5000 is a large number and can seem overwhelming when looked at in the natural. When one divides 5000 into fifties, it breaks the task down into manageable pieces. Jesus isn’t asking one disciple to feed the complete 5000, but he is asking individual disciples to feed their 50. We already said that the number 5 represents ministry. The number 10 represents completion. That’s why there was 10 plagues in Egypt and 10 commandments. So for 50, we have ministry going on to a complete number of people. For 5000 we have 5 times 10 times 10 times 10. 1000 represents a large complete number. So ministering to 5000 represents ministry going on to a large, complete number of people. This is symbolic of Jesus reaching the whole world with the Word of God, the true spiritual food.

Jesus took the meager food that the disciples had and sought the blessing of the Father. This is important because every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights. With the Father’s will and blessing, Jesus then broke the bread and the fish. Before the spiritual food can be distributed to the whole world, there must be a state of spiritual brokenness. Jesus represents the bread of life. He was meek and broken in spirit, which was perfected when He went to the cross and was physically broken for our sin. The body of Jesus was broken, which is what has made it qualify to be spiritual food for whosoever will, through all these thousands of years since the cross. It takes more than just Jesus to feed the 5000. It takes the fish to be broken as well. The fish again represent the disciples of Jesus, which includes you and me. Our lives must be broken in humility before we can minister to the masses. Jesus was broken and so His church must likewise be broken in spirit, so that there can be true unity of the Spirit in the ministry to the world.

The disciples gave Jesus the food they had. The Lord Jesus took it from them and blessed it and then broke it and then redistributed it back to them for distribution to the masses, the 5,000, the whole world. When we humble ourselves and refuse to minister in the power of our own strength, it allows the Lord to bless our abilities, to sanctify our abilities for His purposes, in the power of His strength. The Lord authorizes us to go in His name. That’s why He said to His broken disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That’s why He said to go and teach all nations. He is sending forth the broken ones. Have you allowed the Word of God to break you spiritually?

What we don’t see in this story is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, yet I know He was present there. Jesus Christ said to the disciples that the Holy Spirit is among them. This is how the food was actually multiplied. The Holy Spirit manifested the multiplying of the food. As the disciples tore off some bread or some fish, the food regenerated. This is a physical example of what the Spirit does in the spirit, when He regenerates our dead spirits to be alive. This is what God wants to do to the world. He wants the complete world to be saved and to experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit, through faith in the name of Jesus.

It says that the multitude was filled and yet there were 12 baskets full of leftovers. The true church has what it takes to feed the world. We have Jesus in our lives, as the source of living waters. We have been baptized with the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, guide us into all truth. God has made us ministers of reconciliation. We are inviting the world to come unto the marriage supper of the Lamb of God. The Holy Spirit will never be exhausted. If we rely on Christ and His Spirit, the church will run and not grow weary, we will walk and not faint. When we try to minister in our strength, we get tired. When we allow the Spirit to energize us, then we have all the strength we need to accomplish God’s mission of feeding the whole world, the 5000. Let’s talk about the spiritual meaning of 12. To get 12 we multiply 3 times 4. 3 is the number of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 4 is the number of the world. 4 points on a compass, North, South, East and West. So 12 is God multiplying Himself in the world. That’s why there were 12 tribes of Old Testament Israel. That’s why there were 12 New Testament Apostles. When God multiplies Himself in the world through His Spirit and through His church, there will always be more than enough resources.

So I encourage you reader, if you have been born again and then later baptized with the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to go forth and know your God and then do exploits for Him! You might think that you have nothing to offer, that the food you have is SMALL, just like the disciples saw it. Yet, if you come to Jesus and pray to the Father in His name, He will hear and He will bless and equip you with His Word and His Spirit, so that you can be a BLESSING to the nations. Start small in ministry. Start with your “50”. Those who are in your sphere of influence in your day to day life and those you interact with on the phone and the internet. As you are faithful with little, God will make you ruler of much. He may join your efforts with others so that together you can reach the whole world, the 5000. Go in peace and be led forth with joy, in the power of Christ’s Spirit, amen!

Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

Acts 22:27-28

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Romans 3:24

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Romans 8:32

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:17

When the Apostle Paul said that he was free born, he was talking about his Roman citizenship. He could have just as easily been talking about his citizenship in heaven through being born again by the work of Jesus Christ. That is what we will be discussing today. I want to discuss how the sacrifice of Christ is given freely to whosoever will receive it. The only requirement Christ has is that we die to ourselves daily and pick up our crosses and follow Him in the path of sacrificial love. No greater love has a man than that he lay down his life for his friends. This is the sacrifice we are called to imitate through the Spirit of God which is likewise freely given to us.

It is a travesty that Antichrist religious churches don’t allow the born again experience into Christ to be freely received. They rob the people by preaching tithing, which is an Old Testament doctrine that has been wrongly carried into the New Testament, because of the love of money by wolves in sheep clothing. God’s gifts are given without money and without price. All we need to show God is a humble spirit. If we have that, He will freely pour out His grace upon our lives.

But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Acts 8:20

It is wrong thinking to believe we can buy God off with money. God owns the cattle on 1000 hills. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. No man can bribe the Lord into salvation or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. God requires the humble and contrite heart. God requires that we love Him by keeping His commandments. There is no other way to prove our love to God than through obedience. The gifts of God are free as far as money is concerned, but God does not give grace to the proud in heart. He gives freely to those who are poor in spirit and meek in heart. Surrender your life up to Christ today and He will raise you up for His glory.

When something is freely given, it shows the heart of the Giver. God is the giver of all good things. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above. We need to learn to trust God and His giving heart. He doesn’t want to exclude anyone from His wonderful salvation through Christ. That’s why it is monetarily free. The naturally poor people can receive of the goodness of God just as much as anyone else. God is no respecter of persons. Money doesn’t impress God, only a soft and gentle heart that receives His Word. The best thing we can do is to receive the love that God achingly wishes to bestow on mankind.

The gifts of the Lord make rich and add no sorrow with it. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty and freedom! The free gift delivers us from the bondage of sin and separation from God to a holy relationship with God founded on His Word. The Apostle Paul was freeborn both naturally and spiritually. His heart was to make the gift of God free to all people. He had the right to receive money from those he ministered to, but he never wanted people to say he did the preaching for the money. So, Paul labored with his hands as a tentmaker, just to support his own ministry. I am humbled by the example of Paul, who did what the Spirit of God led him to do. This blog will continue to be free of charge to all who want to read it. There will be no appeals for money here. I want your life to be transformed by the rightly divided word of Truth, the Bible. Glory to God forever. I encourage you as a minister of the Truth, to always make your ministry without charge. As you go forth in faith, the Lord will provide your needs.

Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. If you want to impress the Lord or cause Him to marvel, you can do that through faith in His Word. You can do that through a humble heart of love, as He leads you into such a transformed heart. God and you, working together in a holy partnership of love. This is the beauty of the Christian walk. God bless you as you serve Him freely in Spirit and in Truth, amen.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13

Every good man and woman enjoys the work of their hands. It feels good to be creative, to exercise our creative powers and make something beautiful. How much more to God, who has the capacity of infinite pleasure because of His capacity to love infinitely? God loves His works. Ephesians 2 says that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. That is what grace is: God working in us and us working in God. It is a fellowship of good works and God rejoices in our good works because He is the author of all good things. He is working out His good pleasure in us as we obey Him. This is what we see in Philippians 2. Paul says to work out your own salvation with fear in trembling, so that God can work in you of His good pleasure. It is a holy cooperation between us and God. God giving His holy commandments and us fearing God and keeping His commandments. What a beautiful marriage of synergy, that is, God working in us by His Spirit and us responding to His Spirit with good works. We are of one Spirit with God, if we have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and are walking in the good fruits of God.

Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

God takes great pleasure in His goodness. God takes great pleasure in us, who are the instruments of His goodness. When God puts something good to do in your heart and you obey it, you are working the works of God by His Spirit. It’s just that simple. God wants to multiply Himself in the earth through us, the church, His people, His called out ones. 1 John says that God is love. James teaches us that faith which works by love has to do good works. It simply must manifest the love that is in his heart. We cannot say we have faith, we cannot say we have love, we cannot say we have the Spirit of God within us and then NOT do the works of God. This is what Jesus was doing when He sent forth the 12 and the 70. He was multiplying the good works of God by giving commandments to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and preach the gospel. Jesus lived to bring the Father pleasure, for God said of Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” And why was God pleased in Jesus? It’s because He was the perfect obedient Son. It’s because Jesus did the works of the Father at all times. Jesus allowed the grace of God to flow through His life resulting in God’s works being manifest. Each of us are made in that same image of God and have the capability of Jesus to turn the world upside down through doing good. Those of us in the body of Christ are being conformed to Christ’s image. That is, the image of a God pleaser. This is the message of the gospel: please God by doing His works and don’t please yourself with your own selfish works. In so doing, you will find the pleasure of God filling your heart and life as you co-labor with God in the harvest field of souls. Bring your offerings into the storehouse and bless the Lord by allowing His works to flow in and through you.

The grace of God leads to Christ being glorified in us and us in Christ. God always honors those that do His works by faith in Christ. It remains the holy cooperation between God and man. God doing the work of His goodness by having us choose to walk in faith after which God supplies the POWER of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Faith and grace enable us to do what we can’t do ourselves. This is the Word from God, that we should fear not and trust Him for He it is who will help us. The Lord is our helper. He enables us to do His good works in the earth. He enables His will to be done on earth through the church as it is in heaven. Jesus said in John 6 that “this is the work of God, that you believe on He whom He has sent”. Faith in us is God’s holy work. No man could believe on God without the illumination of the truth that the Holy Spirit brings. Yet, God rewards us for having faith because God is simply influencing us to have faith, not forcing or coercing us to have faith. Faith pleases God, says Hebrews 11:6. Believing His Word above what we feel or see pleases Him. So let’s give God what He wants! He wants the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ to be resident in our hearts. Let Him start this work of power in your lives and then allow Him to finish it by YOU having faith in all the revealed Word of God. This is the work God desires to work in you. You are God’s building, you are God’s fruitful field. Go forth and multiply in the name of Jesus, amen!