After God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, they wandered in the Wilderness of Sin.
This was no small congregation of people. There were in excess of three million people following Moses. Fifteen days after they departed from Egypt, the supply of food was not sufficient to sustain life or strength.
Exodus 16:3 NKJV And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Exodus 16:4 NKJV Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day.”
God gave Israel bread from heaven forty years. Every day they were sustained and made strong by God with bread from heaven.
Psalm 78:23-25 NKJV Yet He had commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven, Had rained down manna on them to eat, And given them of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.
God knows how to give help where we live. He can send bread from heaven.
The Gospel gives two records of Jesus’ multiplying bread to feed the multitudes.
Mark 8:1-3 NKJV In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. “And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.”
Jesus had compassion on the great multitude because they had nothing to eat. Once again we see God’s mercy and comfort over people’s physical needs. He did not want them to faint on the way.
Matthew 15:33-34 NKJV Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”
Matthew 15:35-36 NKJV So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.
Matthew 15:37-38 NKJV So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
Little is much when God is in it.
When touched by the Master’s hand, seven small loaves and a few small fish was enough to feed a multitude. That meal was sufficient to keep the multitude from fainting on their way.
The Gospel of John gives us a record of the second time Jesus gave a miracle supply of bread for the multitudes.
John 6:4-7 NKJV Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
A denarii was a day’s wage for a laborer. Philip was saying, “I could work a whole year and still not have enough money to buy enough to give them a little.”
In the first miracle, Jesus fed four thousand men with seven loaves and a few fish.
After everyone was filled, they gathered up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Even after they experienced the Lord’s miracle supply, this situation seemed impossible.
In this second miracle, they only had five loaves and two small fish to present to the 5,000.
What is needed for God to supply for you?
After this large crowd was filled, the disciples filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves.
We need to remember that the Lord our God is the God of all mercy and comfort.
Jesus is showing this divine care and provision.
Little is much when God is in it.
In both of these accounts, the multitudes of people were greatly hungry and were about to faint.
When Jesus saw them, He recognized their great need. The disciples recognized their inability to take care of the vast need of those hungry people. The multitudes of people had a greater need than a single meal. Jesus knew that they needed that immediate sustenance, but He was also looking deeply into the lives of that multitude. He was prepared to take care of their immediate hunger and He was also sent by God the Father to meet their eternal need.
Take a look at both of these miracles.
Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fish and fed the multitude of thousands. The Lord is interested in our daily needs
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He said:
Matthew 6:9-11 NKJV In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…
Daily bread is a supply for our daily need. Israel ate the manna every day in the wilderness. God daily fed them and sustained their lives. Your Father knows what you have need of before you ask Him, but Jesus said, “Ask the Father for your daily bread.”
When Philip considered the need of the multitude, he said, “200 denarii worth of bread would not be sufficient for them.”
He was saying they did not have enough to supply what was needed. Often we take a look at our resources, strength, and need and we say: “There is not enough.”
In these three scriptures, Jesus took bread and used it to supply a physical need.
Your Father in heaven knows that you have need of daily bread.
He was illustrating a greater message that would meet the need of all who come to Him. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He was not just talking about physical bread to satisfy a temporary hunger. Jesus was referring to the TRUE BREAD from heaven.
John 6:32-33 NKJV Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true breadfrom heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
God is not just interested in mercy and comfort for your temporary need, He wants to give you real life in Christ Jesus.
Not only did Jesus give them bread for their bodies, He gave them the true bread from heaven.
John 6:58 NKJV This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
Luke 22:19 NKJV And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
John 6:48 NKJV Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”
Consider this True Bread from heaven.
What you get from Jesus Christ will sustain you and give life everlasting!
In John 10:10 NKJV Jesus said: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Israel ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. The supply that God gave them temporarily sustained life and kept them from fainting in the wilderness.
Jesus has come to give us more than our daily supply of food for our tables.
- He has come to give us life everlasting.
- Jesus gives us newness of life.
- He gives us abundant life.
- He gives us eternal life.
- He renews our strength.
- He restores our soul.
- He revives us again and again.
- He heals our bodies.
- He fills us with the fullness of God.
- He gives us fulness of joy.
He is the TRUE BREAD that came down from heaven.
You need to sit at the Lord’s table and eat from His hand. He has provided everything that you need for now and for eternity. He is still saying, “This is My body which is given for you.”
2 Corinthians 1:3 NKJV Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
The Lord our God is the Father of mercies and all comfort. He has given us exactly what we need. He has not just given manna in the wilderness or multiplied bread and a few fish, He has given His Son. Through His Son Jesus, you will have an unshakable life. Jesus will keep you from growing weak through your wilderness. He will give you strength and encouragement. He will make you strong to fight and resist the enemy. He will cause you to not grow weary and faint.
