Jesus Feeds His Church

 

Old Testament prophecy speaks extensively about the coming kingdom age, the time when Messiah will reign for 1,000 years, but there are no direct references to the church. When I was growing up in the Boston area, my family and I did a lot of hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. From the top of one mountain, you can look out at other mountains with mountain peaks beyond, but you cannot judge between the peaks, neither the distance nor what exists there. This is the principle in play with the Old Testament prophecies dealing with long distance, future events. Prophesy looks to the future, but only sees the mountain peaks. When the Old Testament prophesied about the coming Messiah (some like Isaiah 61:1-2 refers to both comings), it did not clearly discern the two comings and the distance in time between. Since the church age does not deal with Israel, the Old Testament is silent about it. In Ephesians 3:9-10, Paul refers to the church as a mystery, hidden in Old Testament times, yet revealed in the new covenant through the fellowship of Jews and gentiles in one faith.

Importance of receiving the Word

The account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 is one of the few that all four gospels cover. If we look underneath the surface of this event, we have a picture of Jesus feeding His church in the new covenant age. Jesus had quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3 when He was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness in Matthew 4:4 saying, “It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD”. The bread is a reference to “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” and Jesus, the very Word of God in John 1:1 is delivering it to the pastors (disciples) who will in turn deliver it to the people, 

Mark’s account tells us the people were divided into fifties and hundreds, just like churches. The new covenant church will be fed by God’s Word and it will satisfy every believer. In fact, there will be twelve baskets of leftovers. Twelve is a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and the twelve disciples in the New Testament. In Ephesians 2:20, the twelve apostles will be the foundation of the church and will continue to assist Jesus in feeding the new covenant church. 

God’s nourishment

This picture of God feeding the church in the new covenant is different from the old covenant. The Law of Moses was a set of laws, categorized as civil, criminal, judicial, constitutional, ecclesiastical, and ceremonial, and were to be studied by all Jews and not only learned, but followed (see Deuteronomy 4). So much of this learning was academic and based on tradition, and the Lord rebuked the Jews in Isaiah 29:13 because they “draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote”. The old covenant appetite for the Law produced people who were engaged with their minds, but not their hearts.

The Word of God was not meant to be tasted, but eaten like bread, the listener recognizing the need for its nourishing power. In John 6, Jesus compared the bread that the multitude were eating to the manna of Jewish wilderness days. In verses 32-33, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.  33 "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." This bread leaves the believer satisfied, not hungering or thirsting (verse 35).

Extracting precious from worthless 

In Jeremiah 15:16, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. In the midst of Jeremiah’s ministry of constant rejection of his words by God’s people and God’s refusal to bring swift judgment against the wicked, the Word of God became a sustenance for him and produced joy and delight in his heart. Jeremiah had separated himself from the evil surrounding him (John 17:17), but was questioning God’s justice. God responded by challenging Jeremiah to return to trusting His plan and to “extract the precious from the worthless” so as to become His spokesman (verse 19).

The Word of God has the ability to separate the precious from the worthless (Hebrews 4:12) by identifying in the listener’s heart what is of the Spirit verses what is of the soul (flesh, natural man). In this way, we are sanctified to be His spokesman, His servants, His vessel of honor, prepared for every good work (2Timothy 2:21). This commitment to hearing the Word of God is more than just listening, but meditating on it and believing it. In Psalm 119:15-16, “I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word”.

1 John 1:1-4

“1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete”. 

The new covenant revelation of the Word of God is that it is not just words on a page, but a person and the life of that person, eternal life, available to all who believe it and embrace it as truth (John 17:17). The completion of the believer’s life is found in his faith in Jesus as His Son and the evidence of that finished work is real joy. Jesus came to manifest the Word of God in physical form for a season “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). The Word of God is not only the manifestation of His life, but also the avenue given for each believer to share in that life. The old covenant believer was commanded to follow closely the statutes, precepts and requirements of the Torah without a person in view. 

Jesus is the Light of the World

In 1John 2:7-8, “Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining”. The true Light is Jesus, who promised in John 8:12, “he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life”. God’s life is delivered by the Word of God through the person of Christ and revealed by the Holy Spirit.

The Word of God is the only place that reveals to man not only God’s thoughts, but also His ways. These thoughts and ways are not man’s and cannot be compared to man’s thoughts and ways, but they are higher (Isaiah 55:8-9). This makes the Word so much more valuable and something to be greatly desired. In fact, God says the Word is intended to accomplish something very specific in each heart, in each life and will not return without accomplishing it. It is God’s great agent in the church age because it is the very thoughts of God. Ultimately, it will produce joy not only in believers, but in nature itself!