The Signs of the Times
August 12, 1897
Feeding the Five Thousand
Christ had retired to a secluded place with his disciples, but this rare season of peaceful quietude was soon broken. The disciples thought they had withdrawn where they would not be discovered; but as soon as the multitude missed the divine Teacher, they inquired, “Where is he?” Some among them had noticed the direction in which Christ and his disciples had gone, and soon an immense crowd was looking for Christ. Fresh additions were made to this number, until the congregation was composed of no less than five thousand men, besides women and children. ST August 12, 1897, par. 1
From the hillside Jesus looked upon the moving multitude, and his great heart of love and compassion was stirred with sympathy. Interrupted as he was, and robbed of his rest, he was not impatient. He saw a greater necessity demanding his attention as he watched the people coming, and still coming. He was “moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd.” Leaving his mountain retreat, he found a convenient place where he could minister to their spiritual destitution. They received no help from the priests and rulers; but the healing waters of life flowed from Christ as he taught the multitude the way of salvation. ST August 12, 1897, par. 2
The people listened to the words of mercy flowing so freely from the lips of the Son of God. They heard the gracious words, so simple and so plain that they were as the balm of Gilead to their souls. The healing of his divine hand brought gladness and life to the dying, and ease and health to those suffering with disease. The day seemed to them like heaven upon earth, and they were utterly unconscious of how long it was since they had eaten anything. ST August 12, 1897, par. 3
“And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed; send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.” Surprised and astonished, they say unto him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.” ST August 12, 1897, par. 4
He who taught the people the way to secure peace and happiness was just as thoughtful of their temporal necessities as of their spiritual need. The miracle of the loaves shows us that God's dealings with his people are full of goodness and truth. The people were weary and faint. Many had been standing for hours. They had been so intensely interested in Christ's words that they had never once thought of sitting down, and the crowd was so great that there was danger of their trampling upon each other. Jesus would give them a chance to rest, and he bade them sit down. They could sit down and rest in comfort; for there was much grass in the place. Christ arranged to give them all the rest they needed. O, how few understand the sympathy and love of Jesus! ST August 12, 1897, par. 5
Object of Miracles
Christ never worked a miracle except to supply a genuine necessity, and every miracle was of a character to lead the people to the tree of life, whose fruit is for the healing of the nations. The simple food passed around by the hands of the disciples contained a whole treasure of lessons. Christ could have spread before the people a rich repast if he had thought that this diet would convey the instruction essential for their souls. But food prepared for the gratification of perverted appetite would have conveyed no lesson for their good. Christ taught them in this lesson that the natural provisions of God for man had been perverted. And never did a people enjoy the luxurious feasts prepared for the gratification of perverted taste as this people enjoyed the rest and the simple food Christ provided so far from human habitations. ST August 12, 1897, par. 6
If men today were simple in their habits, living in harmony with nature's laws, as did Adam and Eve in the beginning, there would be an abundant supply for the needs of the human family. There would be fewer imaginary wants, and more opportunities to work in God's ways. But selfishness and the indulgence of unnatural taste have brought sin and misery into the world, from excess on the one hand, and from want on the other. A condition of things has been created which reveals that Satan has been leading others to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which the Lord prohibited Adam and Eve from eating. ST August 12, 1897, par. 7
The book of nature should be studied by all. The soil is cultivated, and the seed is put into the ground. Then God, through his miracle-working power, sends the rain and sunshine, causing the seed to send forth, first the blade, then the ear, and then the corn in the ear. Thus the materials are provided from which man, using his God-given faculties, prepares the loaf which is placed upon the table. In this way God feeds thousands, and ten times ten thousand, a multitude which can not be numbered. ST August 12, 1897, par. 8
But men are accustomed to this process, and they drop God out of their thoughts, thinking that they themselves are doing the work. They do not give God the glory due to his name. But it takes just as much power to prepare the harvest which men garner as to make a few barley loaves serve for so many thousands. God gives us all that is needed to sustain life, and in so doing, he is daily working miracles. Were it not for these miracles, which are so graciously repeated in our behalf, we would be weary, hungry, starving, and dying. But God, full of mercy and compassion, constantly cares for us; and because there is no cessation of his goodness, because we are surrounded by his miracles, we cease to appreciate his continually increasing mercies. Fixing our eyes upon human instrumentalities, we give the glory to men, and ascribe the miracles of God to natural causes. Men allow the enemy of God to lead them to glorify men in the place of praising their Creator. Many convert the rich provisions of nature into unnatural stimulants, and thus pervert the good things of God. They becloud the intellect, and wear out the delicate organs of the system by the indulgence of the appetite. They banish God from their thoughts, and act as did the inhabitants of the Noatic world, polluting the earth by their sins. Thus man dishonors his God. ST August 12, 1897, par. 9
Gather up the Fragments
After the miracle of feeding, there was an abundance of food left. But He who had all the sources of infinite power at his command, said, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” This lesson was twofold. Nothing is to be wasted. We are to let slip no temporal advantage. We should neglect nothing that will tend to benefit a human being. Let everything be gathered up that will relieve the necessity of earth's hungry ones. ST August 12, 1897, par. 10
Those who were at that feast so richly provided were to go forth and give to the needy the bread that Christ had provided to appease physical hunger, and they were to give them also the bread that cometh down from heaven, to satisfy the hunger of the soul. They were to repeat what they had learned of the wonderful things of God. Nothing was to be lost. Not one word that concerned their eternal salvation was to fall useless to the ground. ST August 12, 1897, par. 11
“Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost,” meant more than putting the bread into the baskets. These words contain a precious spiritual lesson. We are to sink the shaft deep into the mines of truth, gathering out the precious ore, which is of more value than gold or silver or the costly dwellings of earth, with their expensive furniture. ST August 12, 1897, par. 12
This miracle was evidence that Jesus is the world's Redeemer, that he possesses omnipotent power; and it is also a most precious lesson of his beneficence. Christ designed that it should teach his disciples the compassion and interest they should feel for their fellow-men who were seeking to know the way of salvation. Interested efforts should be made, that those who are anxious to hear the Word of life may have the opportunity. When weary and hungry they should not be neglected. All that is possible should be done by their brethren, that none may be sent away faint, weary, and discouraged. It is a Christian duty to study the best ways of helping the people. No one is to make the way to Christ wearisome and objectionable. Remove everything that would obstruct the path. ST August 12, 1897, par. 13
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen?” the Lord asks, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.... If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday; and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” ST August 12, 1897, par. 14
Mrs. E. G. White