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‘He took the seven loaves.’
Mar_8:6
Why did He take the seven loaves? Is He not Lord of heaven and earth? Does He not feed the multitudes—the whole world? Why should He take the few loaves that the disciples had put together for their own nourishment? He did not want them. And so we have this instance of the Divine economy—that out of the past comes the present; that the Lord does not Himself act with spontaneity, but He takes that which has been and makes that which is.
I. In nature.—Notice this economy regarding the fruits of the earth. Where does the harvest come from? The remains of the last year’s harvest. The Lord takes the seven loaves of last year, or the harvest before, and gives us the seven loaves of to-day.
II. In man.—And what is true in nature is also true in the nature of man. Whence come the great men of the ages nowadays? Do they drop out of heaven like an aerolite by chance? No; they are the product of the age—of the time. When the art of printing gave the opportunity, there sprang to its existence literature—the finest literature of the English land—but it was the seven loaves that had passed.
III. In the Christian Church.—Well, then, what is true of nature and of men must be true of the Christian Church also? Certainly. Do we not sing in our evangelical canticle, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel?’ Is Israel’s God our God? Yes; the same God. We bless the God of Israel. The Lord never came to destroy the Law but to fulfil it, and our altars do not run with the blood of beasts, because the Lamb of God has been slain to take away the sins of the world; but we love the old.
IV. In our spiritual experience.—And we go back and we say, Yes, we see the seven loaves in our spiritual experience. Have you never found the seven loaves in your spiritual experience? What about Judah and the slavery and the tyranny of sin? Have you never known that? What about the Red Sea and the passing to liberty through blood? Have you never known that? What about the weariness of the wilderness? Have you never known that? What about the manna that came down from heaven, so that we may eat angels’ food? Is that out of your experience? What about the seeing of the promised country? Have you never climbed the hill and looked at the valley of time, and seen the heavens open? What about the rolling of Jordan? Have you never thought of the river of Jordan, and how you and I have got to pass through the flood? What about the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Mother of us all? Seven loaves!—spiritual experience.
Rev. A. H. Stanton.
Illustration‘We must never allow ourselves to doubt Christ’s power to supply the spiritual wants of all His people. He has “bread enough and to spare” for every soul that trusts in Him. Weak, infirm, corrupt, empty as believers feel themselves, let them never despair while Jesus lives. In Him there is a boundless store of mercy and grace laid up for the use of all His believing members, and ready to be bestowed on all who ask in prayer. “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell” (Col_1:19).’