Fresh Bread

Guest (Male): You are listening to Fresh Bread, Dr. Harry Reeder's daily devotional from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

Harry Reeder: It's called the feeding of the 5,000 in Luke 9:10. Let me read it for you. On their return, remember the apostles had been sent out on a mission. When they had accomplished their mission, they came back to Jesus. Here's what happens. On their return, the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.

When the crowds learned it, they followed him and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. Now the day began to wear away and the 12 came out and said to him, "Lord, send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a very desolate place."

But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "Well, we have no more than five loaves and two fish unless we are to go and buy food for all these people." For there were about 5,000 men and he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about 50 each." And they did so and had them all sit down and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them.

Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before them. And they all ate and were satisfied and what was left over was picked up and it was 12 baskets full of broken pieces. All right. So how many people are we talking about? Well, probably we're talking about 12,000 to 14,000 because it says the count is 5,000 men. It's not counting the women, not counting the children.

So you've got somewhere from 8,000 to 13,000 or 14,000. This is a repetition miracle. Jesus does a couple of these and this is the one with 5,000. He'll also do it with 4,000 men over on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. But here he's on the northeastern shore and he's gone into the Galilee of the Gentiles. It's a little fishing village, Bethsaida. It's a place where a couple of his disciples had originated from.

But he's not there in the village, he's outside the village in what's called a desolate place. And the day is over. Preaching and teaching has been going on and fellowship and instruction and the disciples said, "Jesus, we've got to let these people go. It's getting late in the day and they need something to eat. They need lodging." And Jesus said, "Well, why don't you give them something to eat?"

They said, "Hey, we've already done our inventory. We've only got five loaves and two fishes. That's all we've got." He said, "You just go ahead and give it to them." They go out and they feed everybody and then they've got 12 baskets full. And by the way, at the beginning of the chapter, how many apostles did he send out? 12. Think there's a message here to the apostles who were wondering how this was going to happen?

The Lord feeds the multitude even as he did in the wilderness. As it was in the wilderness, there not only was enough, there was enough to be left over. This time not for 12 patriarchs, but for 12 apostles. The lessons are being learned. They're exciting that God will supply. Little is much when God is in it. And so he takes care of them and he ministers to them.

Oh, one other thought. Where is he? He's in Galilee of the Gentiles. He was just there a chapter ago, wasn't he? And when he did the miracle of delivering the demoniac, the people came and asked him to leave and now he left. They didn't want him there. Now he's back. Everybody wants to come out and see him. Wonder what happened? I can tell you one thing that happened.

The demoniac who got converted went home and told their friends all in Galilee of the Gentiles what great things the Lord had done. So now they come back. And when they come back this time, they're not asking him to leave. They're all flocking to him, willing to miss a night's lodging and to miss a meal. But Jesus takes care of both.

They put them in the grassy areas so that they could rest and they fed them the fishes and the loaves and then he had a basket full that was 12 in number, just as the apostles. The message was clear. Not only is little much when God is in it, but God is glorious and sovereign and you cannot outgive God. That's another slice of Fresh Bread.

Guest (Male): Unlocking the relationship of baptism and the Great Commission is this month's Fresh Bread gift offer. With compassion, Dr. Reeder addresses the difficult question, what happens to a child who dies in infancy? Call 1-800-488-1888.