Power & Authority Produces a Miracle

  

Text: St. John 6: 1-9

Here we have a familiar story of the Bible taking place at the height of Jesus’s earthly ministry. This is the only miracle story other than the resurrection found in all four gospels.  The fact that it has been repeated 4 times draws attention to its great importance. 

• Matt 14: 13-21 gives it to us in a factual kind of way
• Mark 6: 30-44 talks to us in a little more detail and gets more into conversations that took place
• St. John 6: 1-14 brings us to a more emotional or human side as he gets more into why some things took place.
• Luke version embraces a little style of all the other writers and brings us to a place in which only Luke (the Physician) can. He’s detailed yet human.  He’s factual yet still emotional.

All 4 accounts agree that Jesus fed 5,000 men with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread.  The Bible doesn’t include the women and children. If 5,000 men all had wives, that equals another 5,000, and if they all had at least 2 children, that equals another 10,000.  So, it could have possibly been 20,000 people!

Jesus had to do a miracle on this day for more than one reason.  First, there was the need; the people were hungry.  They were in a desolate area which made the space, storage, distribution, and manpower needed to bring in food for 5,000 people unimaginable.  Surely, this was a miracle setting.

We see a great multitude following Jesus because they witnessed the miracles he performed on those who were diseased.  Even though he tried to slip away, they followed him as soon as they found out where he was.  Yet, he never turned them away.  He ministered to their need.  This miracle was not done for the crowd alone but a teaching for his disciples.  For Jesus already knew what he was going to do to feed the crowd.  He had already ordered the mother of a young lad exactly what to pack in his lunch box that day. He wanted to prove to Phillip.  It was a testing of his faith, and he will prove to you and me in the same way.

Situations don’t just happen by accident or by chance but each arranged by the hand of God.  He already knows what you’re going to do when a situation occurs.  He wants you to know just how little faith you really have.  So, he uses a young lad to teach his disciples a severe lesson in faith.

When he asked Phillip, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?”, Phillip did a quick assessment of what he could see with the natural eyes (the crowd, the amount of money on hand, which wasn’t enough)! Looking at what the eyes see are barriers to block faith.  Doubt and unbelief followed what Phillip saw even though the GREAT I AM was standing there in his midst.  Phillip calculated the crisis without Christ.  We must not make the same mistake.  Christ must always be counted in our crisis.

God had given them power and authority to heal the sick a few chapters back, and they had been everywhere preaching the gospel and healing the sick.  Now, they’re standing in the midst of Christ and a crisis and act as if they never knew him or have not experienced his power.  Remember, in Christ is the unlimited power and authority to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us!  Do not allow the lack of resources to blind you to God’s unlimited power. He is the GREAT I AM, EL Shaddai, The Almighty God, the power with all power and not a God in recession or depression.

When Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished", that’s exactly what he meant!  He finished what the Father had sent him to do, and now he has deposited himself on the inside of us (the church) to continue his work in the earth!  What we must know and understand is that we (the church) have been equipped, called and authorized by God to feed the multitude.  Why?  Because we are now HIM in the earth; because he lives on the inside of us!

Let’s examine Jesus’ method of feeding the five thousand:

1.      He had the crowd to sit: God is a God of order, and it’s a test of obedience.  Christ had commanded and that was enough!  He commands and you obey without hesitation, reasoning, or arguing.  Mark 6:39 states they sat down in green grass.  Green symbolizes life and knowledge.  We must rest in the green pastures of God’s Word if our souls are to be fed!  Mark 6:40 states they sat down in ranks of hundreds and fifties.  In Luke 9:14 they sat in ranks of fifties.  When you take one hundred and divide it by two, it equals Fifty (“5”0).  Fifty, scripturally, is Pentecost, and this is the time the Holy Ghost was given as a universal gift.  It doesn’t matter how you look at it, they sat down in the power of the Holy Ghost, the anointing of God!!  

      This is what the lad was carrying in his lunch box.  He was carrying the ministry of God, the menu of God, five loaves of bread and two small fish, which represent the five fold ministry.  Five is ministry, and it’s the number of grace.  It was the dominant number in the tabernacle where God manifested his grace in the midst of Israel.  The five loaves are the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, and the two fish are the Jew and Gentile.  This is the ministry set in the church by God to perfect the saints, work the ministry, and edify the body of Christ! (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Mathematically speaking, three equals the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost plus two, Jew and Gentile, or you and me, which totals five.  Understand the lad represents us in an immature state carrying the ministry or carrying God’s menu.  Meaning, you may be a lad (not grown yet) coming into the kingdom of God, but the ministry is on the inside of you.  But when you begin to eat from God’s menu which is the Bread (Christ’s body), the hidden manna, it will get into your spirit and distribute the proper nourishment to every area of your life:  heart, soul, mind and body!  Manna in Hebrew means, "WHAT IS IT?".  "IT" is the message of the kingdom in you and you in the Kingdom!!  St. John 6:53 states, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you”!  This is the menu that will raise you from a state of immaturity to maturity and from a lad to a Son of God!!

2.      He Looked to Heaven:  This was a form of worship.  Jesus is showing himself totally dependent upon his Father.  It’s recognizing that God is Jehovah Jireh, our supplier of all things!  Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”! For it is in him we live move and have our being!  (Acts 17:28)

3.      He Blessed The Five Loaves and Two Fish:  It is only as the loaves and fish are placed in the hands of Christ that they are made efficient and sufficient!  You have brought God’s goodness and favor upon it!!  When you bless something, you cause it to operate exceedingly in its purpose, even if it’s spoken by mistake.  (Genesis 49:1-28)  Once something is blessed, you can’t take it back.  That’s why the food multiplied and fed so many people and had twelve baskets left over!

4.      He Broke The Bread:  Bread given in large portions will cause one to choke.  When given in small pieces, it makes chewing and swallowing easier.  Showing us that before Jesus gives us out, he breaks us!  Brokenness causes us to respond to the Holy Spirit in repentance!  Brokenness comes as a result of man doing things his own way.  It’s an acknowledgement of sin.  But "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"! (1 John 1:9)

5.      Then he Gave it:  After the worship, the blessing, and the breaking of the bread, it was given!  That’s the nature of God in all that he does!  He gives!  He gave his Son!  His Son gave his life, and that’s the greatest love!  This shows us that after he has processed us, he gives us himself with all his power, authority, right to use his name, appoints us, anoints us, ordains us, and gives us the MULTITUDE TO FEED!!  St. John 14:12:  “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do”!  HALLELUIA!!

Remember:  If you find yourself standing in the midst of a crisis, don't calculate it without Christ.  In Christ is the unlimited power and authority to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us!  Do not allow the lack of resources to blind you to God’s unlimited power.   He has equipped us.  He is the GREAT I AM, EL Shaddai, The Almighty God, the power with all power and not a God in recession or depression.  HALLELUIA!!

 ~ Evangelist Brenda Hansley