An Address on John 6:5-145When 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? 6And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, 9There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. 14Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. (John 6:5‑14). by J. H. C.
THE Lord Jesus Christ asked the question “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” to draw the attention of His disciples to the natural difficulty in that desert place of providing food for such a multitude, and thus to prove them whether they would believe in His resources to supply the need. But the answer showed that the Lord was not understood. It shews the slowness of the heart to believe, and also serves to illustrate the glory of His person and the power of His grace. “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” “There is a lad here,” say they, “which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” Here we see the littleness, the contemptibleness in the eyes of men, of the means by which He was about to feed them thus typifying Himself as “the bread of life” — “the despised by men.” This incident of feeding the multitude by what was apparently so small and inadequate, introduces the blessed truth which the chapter unfolds to us, that Jesus is “the bread of life,” “the living bread,” “the true bread,” “the bread of God,” which, “if any man eat, be shall live forever.” Now, by this little thing; the five loaves of bread, and the two small fishes, we are told that “they were filled.”
And if you turn to the 16th chapter of Exodus you will find this truth illustrated when the people murmured in the wilderness, as they always did, when there was any possible shadow of an occasion for faith. And God, because He had brought them out in grace (for they had not yet come to Mount Sinai) always answered their murmurings by grace; and when they murmured for bread, He stopped their mouths by raining bread from heaven on them; “and they were to go out and gather a certain rate every day.” The perfect grace which marked the first bestowment of the manna, characterized the gift every day throughout their forty years’ sojourning in the wilderness. The Lord began by showering down from heaven for them the bread, which is a type of Christ, when they deserved to be treated far more severely than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, upon whom He rained down fire, who yet never had the opportunities of grace which this people had. Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel (6th verse), “At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from Egypt: and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that He heareth your murmurings against the Lord.” “This shall be,” that is, ye shall know the Lord has brought you out of Egypt, “when He shall give you in the evening flesh to eat.” And “this shall be,” i.e, ye shall see the glory of the Lord, “when He shall give you in the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against Him.” “And it came to pass (verse 13), that at even the quails came up and covered the camp.” Here is the proof that the Lord, the God of creation and providence, had brought them out from Egypt, and that He could feed them with flesh in the desert.
But that was not the greatest thing: they were to see the glory of the Lord in the morning, in connection with giving them bread from heaven. And what did they see in the morning? “And when the dew that lay was gone up (verse 14), behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What it this? (margin) for they wist not what it was. And Moses said, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” The Lord, in the 6th of John, gives the people the bread that typifies Himself as the “bread of life;” and it is said, “they were filled.” There is what satisfies my heart, and may it satisfy your hearts! Christ only is the one that fills our hearts; and the only place where we find He does this is the desert; for there we have nothing for our spiritual affections but His all-sufficient self. In Egypt the people might have the blood to save them, for there it was given to them, but not the bread to fill their hearts till they got into the desert. But in seeing the bread which was to fill them; they were “to see the glory of the Lord.” (verse 7) This was not the ordinary and visible glory of the Lord which manifested His presence in connection with the tabernacle (verse 10), but that glory of which St. John spake, when he said, “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” This glory no natural eye could discern only the eye of faith, which saw in the lowly Jesus―lowly enough to be despised and trampled upon, the blessed Son of the Father full of grace and truth, antityping the “small round thing like hoar frost” lying on the earth, which, if not gathered to be eaten, was liable to be trampled upon!
Remark also, in order to heighten and make more conspicuous the grace which gave the manna, so precious in its typical meaning, and that grace might appear exceeding gracious, it is mentioned five times in this chapter (Exodus 16), and that pointedly, that God heard their murmurings against Himself. The greatest gift that God could bestow―His unspeakable gift — was given to murmurers when they were murmuring! When Melchizedek, priest of God and king, blessed Abraham in the name of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, he brought forth bread and wine. We know what this bread and wine means, even His flesh, which is meat indeed, and His blood, which is drink indeed. Oh, wondrous love of God! The possessor of heaven and earth had nothing better in His possession than His own most blessed Son, and Him He gave to sinners! Bread-corn is braised, and wine is the juice of the bruised grape. Bread strengthens man’s heart, and wine makes it glad. This is our portion forever in Jesus, the Son of the living God! This is the glory of God! But there is another thing to dwell upon for a moment, as being most blessed in a believer’s experience. The Lord said, “In the morning ye shall be filled with bread, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.” In feeding them with flesh they were only to know that the Lord had brought them out of Egypt. How much better is it to know that the Lord is my God! But mark the point of experience. It was not when I give the bread, but when ye eat it (“This is the bread,” said Moses, “whist the Lord hath given you to eat”), and shall be filled with it, then ye shall know, &c. &c.
Beloved brethren, let us not murmur against the wilderness. Let us not refuse to meet God there. It is the richest place. If He allures us into the wilderness, it is that He may speak comfortably to us―that He may speak to our hearts. (Hosea 2:1414Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. (Hosea 2:14).) And if we will not obey His voice, but will still sit by the flesh-pots of Egypt, let us not be surprised if we lack the happy assurance that “the Lord is our God,” and that we are deficient in the experience that “He satisfies the longing heart, and fills the hungry with His goodness.” Now, to sum up. Let us gather up these precious things connecter with this manna. 1st The absolute freeness of this gracious gift — “I have heard your murmur lags; I will rain bread from heaven for you.” 2nd The smallness and apparent insignificancy of the gift; yet having in it the power of lit and its sustenance―a small round thing like hoar, frost that lay on the face of the wilderness 3rd Its mysteriousness and incomprehensibility―all were ignorant of it, and called it manna, i.e., What is it? This is Christ’s nature and name forever― unsearchable, past finding out. 4th The purpose for which it was given― “This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” And this bread the Holy Ghost alone can shew, as Moses shewed the manna to Israel. 5th The effect of eating it. “Ye shall be filled with bread, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.” 6th.The place where it was given―the desert. Thus, then, the wilderness is the best place for us for food and gladness until the wilderness is over, and the time shall be when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. How blessed it is to know that Christ can fill us, that we may all be filled. And this blessed Jesus, who reveals the Father to us, shall fill our hearts forever with God! We shall be all perfectly like Him when we see Him, for we shall see Him as He is. What a blessed people! O what blessed company we shall be to one another! What friends shall we be to one another! How continually occupied with the endless resources that are in God the Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ our Lord! We shall never want. We shall never hunger. We shall never thirst. We shall be always filled! And we shall love, agree together, and sing the song of happy praise to Him!