DO YOU BELEIVE IN MIRACLES?

  Miracles are tangible outcomes that are independent of natural phenomena. In the case of the Creation, everything came from nothing. That was a miracle. However, miracles are for a purpose. The purpose of the Creation was for God to have people with whom to commune. Miracles require a catalyst just as any process does. For the Creation, it was God who had the Plan and the Power to generate the greatest miracle ever. Today’s verses are on the miracles of generating bread and meat. The “Catalyst,” just as in the beginning, was Jesus Christ. (John 1-3,14). Christians usually believe the miracles of the loaves and fishes, but cannot fathom the miracles of Creation. Let is examine the miracle of the loaves and fishes:

³⁷ He (Jesus) answered and said unto them, “Give ye them to eat.” And they say unto him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?” ³⁸ He saith unto them, “How many loaves have ye? go and see.” And when they knew, they say, “Five, and two fishes.” ³⁹ And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. ⁴⁰ And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. ⁴¹ 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. ⁴² And they did all eat, and were filled. ⁴³ And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. ⁴⁴ And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. (Mark 6:37-44)

  In that miracle, Jesus started with five loaves and two fishes. He fed 5000 men plus women and children, and when they were all filled, there remained twelve baskets of bread and fish. The math does not balance. Let’s say that one loaf was required for each family. That is reasonable. Hence, five loaves were turned into 5000 loaves plus what was left over. We don’t know the size of the baskets, but let’s estimate five loaves per basket with room left for the fish. Perhaps five loaves generated 25,000 loaves.
   Obviously, that could not have happened except with divine intervention. All four apostles saw that miracle and gave the same report. Did they all lie? If so, why would they lie, then later on die for the Man who tricked (sic) them? In a court of law, the words of four honorable men and 5000 to 15,000 witnesses would vindicate the story. True Christians believe that miracle to be true, because there was irrefutable evidence, and the apostles left depositions to that effect. The bread and fish have long decayed, but the testimony of people willing to die for that truth remains.
  Rational Christians believe that Jesus took a little something and made much. That would seem to be alchemy, because lead cannot be turned into gold, and little cannot be turned into much unless someone we refer to as “God” did it. Jesus demonstrated that He Is God, and validated John’s claim that Jesus was there in the beginning, and did the creating. Jesus generated everything in existence from nothing. The job of “making” more bread and “catching” more fish without a net or pole was easy because he Is God.
  Where have we heard of that miracle before? The clue is in the verse 41, “He looked up to heaven, and blessed.” Jesus got the bread from heaven. Not the place “Heaven” but from the invisible “world.” The Greek for “looked up” is not directional, but recovered from what could not be seen (anablepo; Strong’s Dictionary). 
  The miracle of the loaves and fishes was in the “desert” near Bethsaida. Jesus provided bread from heaven because Jews require a sign whereas Greeks (Gentiles) wisdom, or reason (1 Cor 1:22). Jews always required miracles to enable them to believe. I didn’t see the miracles of the loaves and fish, but as a Gentile, I believe it because of the testimony of the eye-witnesses. Likewise, I believe in the Creation miracle, not because I saw it or can explain it, but because the evidence is remains — it still exists and the process is inexplicable.
  Scientists have never explained how everything came from nothing, nor have they attempted to even explain where the “no thing” of space came!
  The Jews were in the desert; a multitude of them, when Jesus did the increases in loaves and fishes. In the Exodus, the multitude of the Hebrews were in the wilderness when bread was sent from “heaven” as is written:

Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. (Exod 16:4). 

  The Lord (Jesus by the way) rained bread from “heaven” (shamayim in the Hebrew). That would be the same “lofty” place (Strong’s Dict.) as Genesis 1:1, not “upward” but the “space” or invisible realm.  It seems that the King James translators considered it the same as in neither case is “heaven” capitalized to designate a place. The Lord provided bread to the Hebrews in the same manner as Jesus did for the Jews in apostolic times. He did both for the same reasons — to prove to them that He is Lord, and to encourage both groups of Hebrews to walk in His Law, or not.
  I believe (from too many places to elaborate in this short commentary) that the Garden Paradise co-exists with the Kingdom of David. In other words, the Garden of Eden is not gone, but is merely hidden from sight, and in the end, it will return to the visible realm (Rev 21:1). Where did the Lord get the manna (bread) from heaven? From the Garden Paradise were grain was plentiful sustenance (Gen 1:29).
  It seems that the Garden of Eden is God’s “storehouse” and still exists:

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Mal 3:10)

  What did Jesus do? He merely desired it, and the Father opened the windows of heaven, and poured out His blessings, and then what? “There shall not be enough room to receive it.” With the bread and fishes, the Lord made the room with the twelve baskets and full stomachs! Jesus fulfilled Malachi’s prophecy. Malachi knew that God did it before with the multitude of Moses, and would do it again with Philip’s multitude.
  “Meat” in the passage from Malachi means “food.” Jesus did not bring only “meat” from the heavens, but bread and meat (fish). He totally fulfilled Malachi’s prophecy and the Jews were savvy and educated enough to know what was happening there in the desert; Jesus was identifying Himself as the Lord “prove me now herewith” as Malachi wrote it.
  Jesus looked unto the heaven and blessed (verse 41 from the key verses). Jesus glorified the Father in heaven. That is “bestowing honor, praise, or admiration” for His Father (Merriam-Webster Dict.). The Lord, according to Malachi would, “pour you out a blessing.” That’s what Jesus did when he blessed the Father for blessing His people. Who told all those multitudes of people that they needed to act as if that miracle really happened? How did Philip and the other apostles convince thousands of people to fake being full when there was only five loaves and two fishes? It wasn’t an act, and not false depositions, but Jesus fulfilling prophecy to prove to them that He Is God!
  What about the fishes? From where did they come? Heaven with a small “h.” When the manna came down, quail did as well. Like Jesus in apostolic times, the Lord supplied bread and flesh for the Hebrews to eat in Moses’ day. Bread came from heaven and so did the quails. I have often wondered about that, but within the Garden Paradise animals were docile. Animals, following Adam’s lead, must have became feral as mankind did outside the Garden. Hence, the animals as did mankind, became beasts.
  In Heaven, animals will be tame. Lions will eat grass as the oxen and their feral nature will be gone. In other words, they will be as they were in Paradise (Isa 11:6; 65:25).
  There seems to be a problem with that; animals do not have souls and God’s Spirit was not breathed unto them. They will not GO to heaven, but some will still exist IN heaven. Scripture does not address the fate of the animal kingdom, but it appears that some animals remained in the Garden, and with an entirely good estate wherein there is no death, many still reside there. God surely translated both the manna and quails from Paradise to the wilderness, and surely did the same for the bread and fishes in the desert.
  Of course, Jesus could have just generated more bread and fishes, but he looked toward heaven when He prayed. I believe, since he glorified the Father, that bread and fish were sent from Paradise!
  It is amazing to consider the Words of Jesus. Much more could have been written about how he did everything.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. (John 21:25)

  Commentary is just that; trying to write the books that Jesus did not. Paul called it, “the mystery of Christ.” I consider the Word, and much of the mystery is revealed. The Word satisfies my quest for truth. The truth is, that Jesus did it all and paid it all. Figuring out the “why” is the pursuit of truth. I believe because Jesus defied logic.

(Picture credit: "Miss Ocean" from Google on line)