God’s unwearied intervention in power in spite of rejection
It is on this account, as it appears to me, that we have the second miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. The Lord acts again in favor of Israel, no longer as administering Messianic power in the midst of the people (which was implied, as we have seen, in the number twelve), but in spite of His rejection by Israel, continuing to exercise His power in a divine manner and apart from man. The number seven1 has always the force of superhuman perfection-that which is complete: this, however, applied to what is complete in the power of evil as well as good, when it is not human and subordinate to God. Here it is divine. It is that intervention of God which is unwearied and which is according to His own power, which it is the principal object of the repetition of the miracle to display.
(1. It may be remarked that seven is the highest prime, that is indivisible, number; twelve, the most divisible there is.)
The condition of the heads of Israel and of the remnant displayed
Afterwards the condition both of the heads of Israel and of the remnant is displayed. The Pharisees require a sign; but no sign should be given to that generation. It was simply unbelief when abundant proofs of who He was were before them; they were the very things which had led to the demand. The Lord departs from them. But the blind and unintelligent condition of the remnant is also manifested. The Lord warns them to beware of the spirit and the teaching of the Pharisees, the false pretenders to a holy zeal for God; and of the Herodians, the servile votaries of the spirit of the world, who, to please the emperor, set God entirely aside.
In using the word “leaven,” the Lord gives the disciples occasion to show their deficiency in spiritual intelligence. If the Jews learned nothing from the Lord’s miracles, but still asked for signs, even the disciples did not realize the divine power manifested in them. I do not doubt that this condition is set forth in the blind man of Bethsaida.
The blind man of Bethsaida; the disciples’ condition; the announcement of the Lord’s death and resurrection
Jesus takes him by the hand and leads him out of the town, away from the multitude, and uses that which was of Himself, that which possessed the efficacy of His own Person, to perform the cure.1 The first effect well depicts the condition of the disciples. They saw, doubtless, but in a confused manner, “men, as trees, walking.” But the Lord’s love is not wearied by their unbelieving dullness of intelligence; He acts according to the power of His own intention towards them and causes them to see clearly. Afterwards—away from Israel—the uncertainty of unbelief is seen in juxtaposition with the certainty of faith (however obscure its intelligence may be), and Jesus, forbidding the disciples to speak of that which they certainly believed (the time was gone by for convincing Israel of Christ’s rights as Messiah), announces to them that which should happen to Himself, for the accomplishment of God’s purposes in grace as Son of Man, after His rejection by Israel.2 So that everything is now, as we may say, in its place. Israel does not recognize the Messiah in Jesus; consequently He no longer addresses the people in that character. His disciples believe Him to be the Messiah, and He tells them of His death and resurrection.
(1. Spittle, in connection with the sanctity of the Rabbins, was highly esteemed by the Jews in this respect; but here its efficacy is connected with the Person of Him who used it.
(2. We have nothing here of the church, nor of the keys of the kingdom. These depend on what is not introduced here as a part of Peter’s confession-the Son of the living God. We have the glory of the kingdom coming in power, in contrast with the rejected Christ, the prophet-servant in Israel.)
Peter’s opposition as the instrument of Satan
Now there may be (and it is a most important practical truth) true faith, without the heart being formed according to the full revelation of Christ, and without the flesh being practically crucified in proportion to the measure of knowledge one has of the object of faith. Peter acknowledged indeed, by the teaching of God, that Jesus was the Christ; but he was far from having his heart pure according to the mind of God in Christ. And when the Lord announces His rejection, humiliation and death, and that before all the world, the flesh of Peter-wounded by the idea of a Master thus despised and rejected-shows its energy by daring to rebuke the Lord Himself. This attempt of Satan’s to discourage the disciples by the dishonor of the cross stirs up the Lord’s heart. All His affection for His disciples and the sight of those poor sheep before whom the enemy was putting a stumbling block bring a vehement censure upon Peter, as being the instrument of Satan and speaking on his part. Alas for us! the reason was plain-he savored the things of men, and not those of God; for the cross comprises in itself all the glory of God. Man prefers the glory of man, and thus Satan governs him. The Lord calls the people and His disciples, and explains distinctly to them that if they would follow Him, they must take part with Him and bear their cross. For thus, in losing their life, they would save it, and the soul was worth all beside. Moreover, if anyone was ashamed of Jesus and of His words, the Son of Man would be ashamed of him, when He should come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. For glory belonged to Him, whatever might be His humiliation. He then sets this before His chief disciples, in order to strengthen their faith.