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In my estimation, Leviticus is an underappreciated book of the Bible. Yet the Word says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. As I read through Leviticus this time I was inspired to make a top 10 list of my favorite scriptures in Leviticus. This is debate worthy to some, but I will do my best to explain why I chose the verses that I did. These are mostly in sequential order, with the exception of the first verse we start with, which is the most quoted verse of Leviticus in the Bible.

#1

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Matthew 5:43

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22:37-40

For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Romans 13:9

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Galatians 5:14

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

James 2:8

So we can see that this verse about loving your neighbor as yourself is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. With such importance to God, shouldn’t we make the effort to know it’s location in the Bible? Repeat after me: Leviticus 19:18. Say it again. Leviticus 19:18. Where in the Bible does it say to love your neighbor as yourself? Leviticus 19:18.

Loving your neighbor as yourself is part of God’s moral law. It appeals to our reason and intellect. It just makes sense to treat people how you would want to be treated. Giving treatment to others equal to or greater than what you would choose to receive yourself. Who can find any fault with this line of reasoning? Even people that mistreat others can in theory agree to the virtue of this verse.

It might seem odd that the law would say something so radical as loving your neighbor as yourself. After all, God did dictate in the law that Israel would physically destroy its enemies. After all, there are 42 sins in the law that are punishable by death. Yet Leviticus 19:18 is a wonderful look forward to how God ideally wanted His people to treat others, yes, even our enemies. In the Old Testament God expected His people to do what is right. He didn’t say anything about their motivation for doing so. There was love in the Old Testament, but not perfect love, for animal sacrifices could not make men perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Yet, there was love in the Old Testament. Jonathan and David loved each other. Now in the New Testament we are expected to love our neighbor as ourselves because it is the right thing to do. Because it pleases God. Because it agrees with the image of God we were created in. The mind should love this verse. The heart should love this verse. The conscience should love this verse. This is quite possibly the 2nd most important verse in the Bible after the one that says we should love God. For that reason, this verse is #1 on the list. If I had to pick one verse in Leviticus to read, it would be Leviticus 19:18. Where? Leviticus 19:18!

#2

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

Leviticus 19:17

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Revelation 3:19

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

Proverbs 9:8

It is interesting to me that the verse before the famous verse 18 is about not hating your brother and rebuking your neighbor, not allowing sin to be upon him. There is a connection between verse 17 and 18, for it is love to rebuke or chastise or correct your brother when you know of sin in his life. I don’t believe God has called us to be rebuking machines. We certainly aren’t to rebuke everyone every day over every little thing. We aren’t the morals police. Yet, we aren’t to be quiet when we see open sin before us. When we know someone’s sin, a sin they may not be aware of, and refuse to correct them in love, that is in fact hating our brother and hating God. The most loving thing one can do when one sees sin in his neighbor is to correct or rebuke them.

Paul rebuked Peter when he sinned by showing respect of persons in Galatians 2. There is a time and a place to speak. 1 Timothy 5:20 says “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” It is for the health and benefit and growth of the body of Christ that we look out for each other and be our brother’s keeper. Luke 17:3 says “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.” If implies that someone sinning against you isn’t going to happen all the time. Hence, continual rebuke is not needed or called for. When and if your brother sins against you, then you can go to them privately and correct them for what they did. Let all things be done decently and in order, including rebuking.

#3

And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.

Leviticus 2:13

For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Mark 9:49-50

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Colossians 4:6

The importance of salt? It shows that we are in a covenant relationship with God. Salt is holy in God’s eyes. Holiness comes by walking in love. So it would not be wrong to equate salt with holiness and love. Certainly when Jesus said to have salt in ourselves, He was saying that Christians should stand out as different. He was saying that we should attract attention to the world’s spiritual sense of taste. It is the holiness and love within us that makes us salty to each other and to the world. Colossians 4:6 makes the connection between grace, salt and wisdom. Leviticus says the offerings should be salted. So our speech is a spiritual sacrifice to God which should reveal God to those who hear our words, which are in fact the words of God. Having words seasoned with salt should make the hearers spiritually thirsty for more of God’s Word and wisdom.

Besides being a flavoring agent, salt is also used as a preservative. When our lives and our words are seasoned with salt, we are living sacrifices unto God and our actions and words help to preserve not only us but those that hear us.

#4

The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

Leviticus 6:13

The next verse in Leviticus references the eternal, perpetual fire burning upon God’s altar. Jesus said in Matthew 23:19 that the altar sanctifies the gift. An altar is a designated place of sacrifice to God. Jesus is that spiritual place we must come to if our sacrifices are going to be acceptable to God as it says in 1 Peter 2:5. Jesus is that altar and He is ever burning with the holy fire of love. His eyes in the book of Revelation are as a flame of fire. Holiness and love in the eyes of Jesus, because holiness and love is in the heart of Jesus. If we are in Christ, then the holy fire of love should always be burning within us. Allow the fire of God in your spirit to be perpetual. As you do that, you will go and sin no more, for sin is how we quench the Spirit of God in our lives.

#5

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

Leviticus 10:1-3

The sons of Aaron were priests unto God. They had to be holy. To be holy is to be separated unto love. To love is to keep God’s commandments. Holy people keep God’s commandments. These verses show how seriously God takes sin in the lives of His priests. Christ has made us priests unto God in Revelation 1:6. If God didn’t spare these priests who sinned, take heed lest God spare not us if we sin against Him while being His priests, His ministers. Sin has no place in the life of a Christian.

What these sons of Aaron did was called strange fire. Unauthorized fire. Fire not according to keeping God’s commandments. Fire not according to love. In other words, what they did was selfish. They fully knew how to keep God’s commandments, but they thought they could walk in their own wisdom and despise the Word of the Lord. This is yet another place in God’s holy Word where it says not to add or subtract from what God has said. In the keeping of God’s commandments by love there is safety. When we step out of faith and do things according to our own desires, we sin and separate ourselves from the love of God. Now it is true that God is merciful, but He is also a God of justice and vengeance. We may sin 100 times and receive God’s mercy but we should never assume that God has to be merciful. God may very well choose to make an example of us for the greater good of mankind. This is what happened to the sons of Aaron. Let us consider their bad example the next time we are tempted to sin against God. Their example should motivate us to fear and reverence and respect God and His commandments.

#6

For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Leviticus 11:44

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:15-16

Here is another verse that is quoted in the New Testament. There are relatively few verses from the Old Testament that are quoted in the New, so anytime God quotes His Word it behooves us to listen to what God is saying. Be holy, for God is holy. Again, holiness is a separation in our hearts unto love. Not love as the world perceives it, but the love that was demonstrated by Christ by Him leaving heaven, emptying Himself of all wisdom and knowledge and being born as a baby on earth, only to grow in the Lord and His Word and then offer Himself willingly for our sins on the cross. There is no holiness without love, as it says in Ephesians 1:4. When God says be holy for I am holy, He could have also said “walk in love, for I walk in love”. Self sacrificial love.

Nowhere does it say that we are incapable of walking in holiness. In the Old Testament the holiness was largely ceremonial and outward. But now through the blood of Christ we can have our spirits and hearts washed from all sin so that we are holy in our hearts, in our spirits. Hence, the OT scripture that referred to outward actions now refers to the motivation of our inner man, spiritually. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, all His saints! The greek word for saint is the same greek word for holy. Saints are holy people. Holy in actions and words but equally holy in our hearts that produce the actions and words. We no longer serve God out of a self interest, but we serve God because He is simply worthy of our sacrifice. This verse goes well with Matthew 5:48 where Christ says to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect and in Luke 6:36 where it says to be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. When God talks perfection, He is referring to love. When God talks mercy, it is motivated by love. When God says be holy, He is talking about love. God is love and all the descriptive words that describe God’s intent for how we would live must find their basis in the root word of agape love. Selfless love. Sacrificial love. Holy fire burning in our spirits and hearts. When you understand that God wants us to walk as He walks, then apply yourselves to do so, you are not far from the kingdom of God.

#7

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:8-10

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:21-22

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:10

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

On the surface, it’s pretty crazy to think that a goat can bear the sins of people. Yet, when we understand that both goats symbolize the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it is more plausible to our understanding. Just as Jesus is the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, He is also the scapegoat of God, taking away the sins of the world and bearing our sins in a figure. There were 2 goats. One died and one lived. That’s Jesus who both died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25).

A goat is not made in the image of God. A lamb is not made in the image of God. Hence, both animals are not worthy to remove sin from our conscience the way the perfect sacrifice of Christ does. It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). Sin is not a physical substance so it is impossible for an animal to literally bear it. God is speaking symbolically and figuratively. Likewise, since sin is a choice and not a physical substance, it is impossible for Jesus to literally carry our sins. The scapegoat teaches substitution and the cross of Jesus Christ teaches substitution. His soul was an offering for sin. His choice to sacrifice Himself purged our conscience from sin and dead works when we repent and put faith in the atoning death of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says Christ was made sin for us. This is nothing more than figurative language. Christ is not a sinner nor can He literally carry our sins in His Spirit. Saying Christ was made sin shows how far God went to identify with mankind’s sin through Christ.

#8

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Leviticus 17:11

When an animal had to die for someone’s sin, it showed that a life was offered, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. Again, an animal is not a worthy sacrifice. An animal’s blood cannot remove sin. An animal is not made in the image of God. An animal doesn’t have a freewill with which to choose to sacrifice itself. These animals were most definitely NOT WILLING to be offered as sacrifices. One can imagine how the animal must have struggled when it sensed it was about to be slaughtered. Unwilling animal sacrifices can never atone for mankind’s willing choice to sin. There had to be a much more substantial sacrifice offered. Jesus Christ is that sacrifice. He was both God and man. Only He could bridge the gap between man and God and make us at one with God again. He is the only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).

Since God knew before the foundation of the world that Christ would be slain IF AND WHEN mankind chose to sin, He was able to set up types and examples of Christ in the animal sacrifices of Leviticus. He was foretelling the future spiritual reality of Christ using natural types and examples in the Old Testament. The Old Testament was revealing the New Testament plans, yet hidden in figures. Only the born again man or woman can understand these truths.

Leviticus 17:14 forbids the eating of the blood. The blood is holy and separated unto God’s holy service. It should not be treated as common food. Even the book of Acts forbids the eating of blood. It is so holy that it has been carried into the New Testament commands. We should reverence life. We should reverence the life Christ offered in our place to make an atonement for our souls. An AT-ONE-MENT. A sacrifice that makes us at one with God when we repent of our sins and begin to live a holy life by faith in the blood of Jesus. The life of the flesh is in the blood, so the blood of Jesus is that perfect sacrifice for it represents Him holding nothing back. We are called to the same sacrifice, at least in Spirit, for Hebrews 12:4 says we have not yet resisted UNTO BLOOD, striving against sin. We have to come to the place where we would rather die than sin against God, even if it means our blood being shed the same way Christ died.

#9

And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.

Leviticus 21:13-14

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:2

Leviticus 21 contains some rules and commandments from God towards His priests. One of the most fascinating is that the priests had to marry a virgin. This foreshadows Christ, who is our great high priest as the book of Hebrews details. Just like the natural priests had to marry natural virgins, so Christ is the spiritual high priest that must marry a spiritual virgin. Christ is not going to marry the world. Christ is not going to marry those in antichrist religion. He has a commandment from His Father that He must marry a spiritual virgin. That virgin is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ and the Lamb’s wife. Her spiritual garments are pure and white. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall marry Jesus Christ.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:25-27

Ephesians 5 explains how we qualify to be spiritual virgins. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None of us were worthy of marrying Jesus Christ. None of us were spiritual virgins. Yet the transformative power of God enables us to be justified. Justified means we are washed to such an extent that it is like we never sinned. Just as if we never sinned. Restored to what God created man to be, that is, holy in love. There is no blemish in us spiritually. We are beautiful in holiness. Zion is the perfection of beauty and that perfection comes from walking in love. Amos 3:3 says can two walk together except they be agreed? How can we have a marriage with Christ unless we be in agreement with Christ about the purpose of the marriage? That purpose is to glorify God and Christ in God through walking together in love. Walking together in self sacrifice for the glory of God. We partake of the body and blood of Jesus in a symbolic way. It transforms our life to be like the life of Jesus. It cleanses our hearts from all sin, all wickedness, all selfishness so that all that remains is a pure bride awaiting Jesus. The marriage hasn’t taken place yet. We are engaged to Christ during this probation period on earth. The Holy Spirit baptism into our spirits is the engagement ring or down payment of the Holy Spirit given spiritual bodies we will receive when Christ returns. Our flesh will be like His glorious flesh. We will truly be one flesh, yet, the Word says this is a great mystery. To those that overcome in this life, they will inherit all things along with their husband Jesus Christ. We must keep ourselves from sin, for that will ruin our spiritual virginity. Remember, the High Priest Jesus MUST marry a virgin. Keep your garments unspotted from the world and you will be prepared to meet Jesus, whenever He may come.

#10

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually. And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Leviticus 24:1-7

What is striking about the beginning of Leviticus 24 is how many times the word pure is used. Pure olive oil, pure candlestick, pure table and pure frankincense. God is all about requiring purity from His people. The olive oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. He is of course a pure Spirit. Just as there should be no contaminates in the natural oil, there is no spiritual contaminate in the Holy Spirit. He is a Spirit of Truth and that Truth is about walking in love. The Holy Spirit walks in love towards the Father, towards Christ and towards mankind. There is no selfishness or sin in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is where the pure people of God are. People that have been washed from all sin by the blood of the Lamb Jesus.

In Revelation the 7 candlesticks represent the 7 churches which are symbolic of the entire body of Christ. The church is a light bearer, shining like stars, giving the illumination of Christ which is the understanding of how to walk in love. The church is the light of the world along with Christ. We reflect His glory. And so the candlestick is to be pure. No sin or selfishness in the church, the true Lamb’s wife. Selfishness and sin is darkness. Let the understanding of love shine brightly from your life by walking in the commandments of God blamelessly. It is certainly possible through Christ who strengthens you!

The table is where the bread is to be placed. 12 cakes, one for each tribe of Israel and now in the New Testament one cake for each of the 12 apostles of Christ. The bread and the table is representing the fact that we are spiritually breaking bread with God, meaning that we are having spiritual fellowship with Him over the true bread, His Son Jesus Christ! The table must be pure, for that is where we meet God to have fellowship with Him. God can only fellowship with those that are of His Son and of His Spirit. God is invisible to the world and to us, but we can see Him spiritually and Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. The world has no fellowship with God, for they are not walking in agreement with Him. Sin is the opposite of love and God is love. To fellowship with God it must always be on His holy terms. Sin disqualifies us from knowing and relating to God who is love.

Finally the frankincense must be pure. Frankincense is a fragrant smell before God and men. Incense is symbolized as prayer in Psalm 141:2. Our prayers must be motivated by a pure heart of love in order to be heard by God. There must be purity in our spiritual sacrifice of prayer in order to be a spiritual priest before God and to have our prayer be a pleasing spiritual fragrance before God. If sin and selfishness contaminate our prayer life, then our prayers will all be in vain. The only prayer God hears from a sinner is God, I repent! A change of heart and mind about sin and selfishness, reversing to a life of holiness and love before God. This is the prayer that God hears.

Conclusion

I believe the Lord has given us much spiritual meat from the figures represented in the book of Leviticus. May you be blessed as you meditate on these spiritual truths and may the Lord give you understanding in all things that you may be a sweet spiritual aroma before His throne.

I ran out of room to mention Leviticus 25 and 26, so I’ll briefly mention them here. Leviticus 25 is about the year of jubilee, where all debts are cancelled and things return to their original state. So Christ is our jubilee where all spiritual debts are cancelled and we return to the relationship God has always wanted us to have with Him. Interesting is that the jubilee was every 50 years. 50 is not without significance, for 5 is the number of ministry and 10 is the number of completion. 5 times 10 is 50. So 50 is representing complete ministry. Jesus Christ is the jubilee spiritually and is a complete ministry to our hearts and spirits.

Leviticus 26 is very similar to Deuteronomy 28, which talks about the blessings and curses. If we obey God, we get the blessings. If we disobey God, God becomes our enemy and actually fights against us with curses of our own choosing. Obedience is life and blessings. Disobedience is death and curses. So choose life and obedience to God that you may live! When you read Deuteronomy 28, I encourage you to also read Leviticus 26 as they compliment each other very well.

There are blessings to be had from reading Leviticus. Be blessed in Jesus Christ’s name! Christ is the revelation of Leviticus and all of the Word of God, for His name is the Word of God. Amen and amen.

Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

John 13:6-8

In the process of giving or wanting to give, it takes two sides or parties in order for the gift to be realized. There has to be the giver and there has a be a receiver. Both sides have to be willing participants in the process. If one refuses to give or if one refuses to receive the gift, then they are hindering the beautiful process of giving and receiving.

Peter thought he was doing something noble by refusing to let the Lord wash his feet. Yet, he was in gross darkness and error. By refusing to receive the humble blessing from the Lord, Peter was missing out on a deeper relationship with Christ. When one gives and one receives it accomplishes the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. If we refuse to let our Lord or brothers and sisters give to us, it prevents the blessing. For it is more blessed to give than to receive. If we want to truly bless others, then allowing them to give to us is absolutely essential to both parties spiritual health.

Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

Philippians 4:17

This statement from Paul is very striking. He said that he was content in whatever state he found himself. That
includes the fact that he was content in receiving a gift. Not for the sake of being blessed, but that the giver
would know the blessing of giving and that they would have a heavenly reward for their giving. In the name of Christ, Paul is receiving the gift for the good of the body of Christ and the good of the individual giver. It is in the
best interest of everyone if everyone becomes a cheerful giver! When I give to you and you give to me, what a blessed fellowship it brings! The fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

When someone is willing and wanting to give a gift and the would be recipient refuses the gift, what damage it does to the heart of the would be giver! It brings discouragement instead of encouragement. If their giving is refused long enough, then they may be tempted to give up and stop giving altogether. God created us a people who are to be zealous of good works. Zealous of giving ourselves away in many different ways. We are to be continually giving as the Lord enables us. Every good gift and act of giving is from the Father of lights. If we refuse a good gift from a person, it is not only injuring them but it is injuring the heart of the Father. He wanted to give us something good and we were too prideful to allow someone to give to us in the name of Christ.

The Bible teaches us to receive gifts from our brothers and sisters in Christ because of the deepening fellowship it brings. The Bible teaches us to receive gifts from our brothers and sisters in Christ because we want them to have
heavenly treasure! For the sake of their heart and God’s heart, we need to graciously accept the gift, even if we
may not think we need or want it. Let people give from the heart. That’s what’s best for them!

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Ephesians 5:25

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Ephesians 5:22

Husbands are commanded to love their wives and wives are commanded to receive that love from their husbands and submit to it. Giving and receiving, giving and receiving. Husbands are to be the primary givers and wives are to be the primary receivers. This is God’s design for marriage. Wives are then able to give back to their husbands by following the example and pattern that is laid down by the husband. It is the same way as the body of Christ. When we are sinners, we can do nothing for God except receive His love and repent of our sins. Once we are Born Again and Spirit filled then we are able to learn how to minister back to the Lord. Thank God that He receives our gifts when offered with a perfect heart of love. He wants us to know the joy of giving, so God joyfully receives back from His own creation. Brothers and sisters, if God can receive from us, then how shall we not receive from our brothers and sisters in Christ?

To refuse a loving gift is to injure the heart of the one who wanted to give. Let the blessings flow to you in the name of Jesus Christ!

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!