The Life of Christ

When we compare the feeding of the 5000 with that of the 4000, we notice a striking difference in numerics.

• The feeding of the 5000, primarily made up of Israelites, came from five loaves, yielding twelve baskets of leftovers. The number “five” correlates to the five books from the Pentateuch, and “ twelve ” to the twelve tribes of Israel. • The feeding of the 4000, primarily made up of Gentiles, required seven loaves and seven baskets. Four is the number of the world; seven stands for completion. When the Gospel has reached the four corners of the world, God’s plan will be completed, and the end can then come.

Mk. 8:9 And about four thousand were there; and He sent them away.

Jesus participated in three famous meals, this being the second.

• The first was the feeding of the 5000; feeding the 4000 being the second; the third will be the Last Supper.

• Each of these three heavenly banquets have one thing in common — they came at the conclusion of a significant segment of His ministry: the feeding of the 5000 came at the close of His Galilean ministry, the feeding of the 4000 came at the close of His Decapolis ministry, and the Last Supper came at the close of His Judean ministry.

Jesus will participate in yet one more final meal:

• The marriage supper of the Lamb will happen at the end of the age, at the conclusion of His world- wide Gentile ministry.

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Mt. 16:1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.

It seems odd that the Sadducees were among those requesting a “sign from heaven.”

• Sadducees don’t believe in miracles, and so even if one appeared, they would deem it impossible.

When it came to discerning the weather and other natural phenomenon, the religious leaders were quite adept.

• When it came, however, to discerning God's timetable for humanity, they were grossly ignorant.

• They were the privileged generation of all the generations of Israel to be contemporary with the promised Messiah, and yet they failed to even recognize the privileged day in which they lived.

Mt. 16:2-4 But He answered and said to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘ It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

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