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Mark 8
Regarding the miracle of feeding the multitude: Why do you think the disciples were so dense? Where might you be failing to understand Jesus? Ask others to point out your blind spots. On the surface, Jesus seems to be chiding His apostles for not trusting that He can provide for them. But somehow, I don’t think that’s it. In spite of all the healings, I don’t see any indication that Jesus’ primary concern was ever with physical needs. In addition to that, Jesus’ mention of the specific numbers association with each of the two crowd feeding miracles seems to point to some deeper meaning.
The book, “Second Touch”, the second in Brock and Bodie Thoene’s A.D. Chronicles series, which I have mentioned in the past, talks about this very thing. The book notes that the first crowd feeding miracle happened around Passover with a crowd of mostly Jews. The numbers 5 and 12 associated with that first feeding symbolize the 5 books of Torah – the Law of Moses – and the 12 tribes of Israel. Thus, the first feeding was a demonstration of how the bread of heaven, personified in Jesus, was given to the Jews first. The second feeding was for a group of what was very likely mostly non-Jews. So the numbers 4 and 7 associated with that feeding demonstrate how the bread of heaven would then be sent out to the four corners of the earth to bring people from all nations into God’s Sabbath rest.
Therefore, as was the case after the first mass feeding, I have to think that what the disciples failed to understand was what these miracles said about who Jesus is. The two feedings together told the story of God’s plan for the redemption of the world. Jesus is the fulfillment of that plan. The disciples were there, talking about having no bread, while the very bread of life was right there in the boat with them.
Jer. 39-40
It seems the officials of Babylon had been listening to Jeremiah more than his own people had been. King Nebuchadnezzar made sure to protect Jeremiah and allowed him to live where he wished. In addition, the king’s commander, Nebuzaradan, recognized that God had decreed this disaster the Babylonians had brought on God’s disobedient people. I wonder, though, if they would have been so favorable toward Jeremiah if they had been the subjects of Jeremiah’s prophecies of God’s judgement. As things were, it was easy for them to be supportive of Jeremiah. They were on the winning team.
The thing is, Jeremiah did prophesy disaster against Babylon. Having just seen and acknowledged how God carried out His word against faithless Israel, you would think they would take notice. However, it doesn’t appear that they did. I believe they fell prey to yet another faulty human tendency. They paid attention only to the parts they wanted to hear. Predict someone’s success and they’ll hail you as a hero. Predict their doom and they will either ignore you or discredit you in any way they can.
The point I come to in all of this is that I need to be willing to listen to God’s truth even when I don’t want to hear it. Accentuating the positive and minimizing the negative is fine when you’re talking about attitude or behavior or the like. It’s a dangerous practice, however, when it comes to the truth.
Ps. 124
Is God “on our side”? When and when not? Well, the chapters we just read certainly show what happens when the LORD is not on your side! That was really just a taste, though. Even in His wrath, God was still on the side of His people. Had He not been, as the Psalm suggests, they would have been completely wiped away. The verbiage about the flood and the raging waters is interesting. It makes me think of the prophecy in Isaiah regarding the Assyrian attack on Judah in Hezekiah’s time. God equated Assyria to “the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates”, saying, “It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck.” (Is. 8:7b-3a). Interestingly, that prophecy is associated with the prophecy of Immanuel – “God is with us.”