What It Means to be Filled with the Holy Spirit # 8

"And When the Day of Pentecost Was Fully Come" (continued)

Now, it was during the season of the Passover that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was also kept; and in John six, we find our Lord Jesus revealing further the true meaning and reality of these Feasts of the Lord as He miraculously feeds the 5,000. Each of the Gospels records this important incident: Matthew tells us that, "Jesus ... saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick" (14:14). Luke tells us that, "He received them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing" (9:11); Mark tells us, "And Jesus when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things" (6:34). John tells us that it was the Passover season, and only in John do we find the full meaning of the feeding of the 5,000.

So, "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do" (John 6:5, 6). Jesus knew what He would do, for He knew what was in the hearts of men. He knew that this great company that  was coming unto Him was not only hungry physically, but He knew that in their hearts, they were starving spiritually. He also knew that these 5,000 men that were coming unto Him were, by decree of the Law of God (Exodus 23:14-17), on their way, or soon would be on their way, to Jerusalem to the Feast of Passover and to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For God's Law decreed that "three times in the year all thy males shall appear before The Lord God". - They were to appear at 1. the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, and at 2. the Feast of Pentecost, and at 3. the Feast of Tabernacles. This is why John six numbers the men, and not the women and children.

Yes, Jesus "knew what He would do," for He knew that the "feasts of the Jews", held at the temple in Jerusalem, would not sustain the people's lives "before the Lord God." Jesus was about to announce that the Law of God had been fulfilled: - the Law which had brought these Passover pilgrims three times a year before the Lord their God had been fulfilled. He knew that the "time had come, and now is' that He alone could sustain their lives before God. And, now, all who would "come unto Him" - both men, women and children - would partake of Him Who is the Bread of Life.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 9)