Distinguish this miracle of the feeding the five thousand, so glorious in all its incidents, and with its full fourfold narration, from that of the feeding the four thousand, recorded by Matthew (Matthew 15:32-39) and Mark (Mark 8:1-9) only. Lead to the consideration of this miracle by dwelling briefly on -

I. THE MOTIVES OF THIS MIRACLE, There was one leading motive - a kind human compassion, a condescending memory of the bodily want of the multitude of people, and a gentle consideration of the same. We may imagine that the mixture of "women and children" among the repeatedly mentioned "five thousand men" will have added to the feeling of thoughtful pity in Christ. But beside this predominating incentive, it may well be that this occasion proffered itself, considering certain peculiar characteristics of the miracle (for which see next head), as a most fit occasion for such a miracle, as would be adapted to utilize itself, in the most direct moral service, like an acted discourse, for instance. It was a wide spoken discourse indeed for thousands upon thousands, who never heard so plainly as when they were now thus fed; nor were open to blame, in anything like all cases, for its being able to be thus said. This multitude scattered again from this sacred spot to their homes over wide stretches of their country, what sermons they would take with them, and what memories would again and again warm up in their hearts! And yet again, the occasion was one of special import for the small circle of disciples. Philip, for one, was "proved," and we need not doubt that all the other disciples were both proved and reproved, when they learned the truth to very reality of that word, "They need not depart; give ye them to eat." And forthwith, after the commission, were furnished with the means to execute it, and did execute it, and distributed that true shadow of a sacrament, to say the least of it, from the very fingers of the Lord of all sacraments.

II. THE MIRACLE ITSELF. There is a sense in which every miracle is not merely a wonder of Power, but an inscrutable wonder of power. We cannot pass from the limited finite power, over the border into the unlimited, without confessing that, though we gaze at or gaze into the unbridged abyss, it is an abyss, and we can nothing else than only gaze! But the character of some miracles lends itself to help our imagination, to guide and give strength to our weak power of thought. And we say within ourselves that a fever stayed by a word, palsy and paralysis cured, a blind eye, a deaf ear, a dumb tongue re-energized, and even water converted into wine, are wonders of power more easy to track than that a solitary loaf of bread find another at its side by an absolute fresh act of creation in a moment and by a word. This once seen through, the multiplication may seem to follow more easily on the level of some other miracles. But this is not to be "once seen through." Notice, again, of this miracle, that it was neither one of the absolute necessity of the heart of mercy allied with the hand of might, nor one of such very secondary character of kindness and goodness (it is said with all perfect reverence) as when for the purposes of a marriage feast water was made wine. Christ divinely and humanly pitied the fainting hunger of the men who had long lingered around him, and of their women and children; but when he made the water into wine we cannot say it was similar pity. Again, we are not told at what point the miraculous multiplication of the bread took effect - under the "blessing," and at the "breaking" of the five loaves and two fishes in the hands of Christ, or as the disciples distributed, or as the people ate. Though we are not told it, this is one of the untold things that we can scarcely find difficulty in supplying; and this without charge, or any self-charge even, of presumptuousness. We need not suppose unnecessary wonders, such as that the little original store and stock of material could be handled by those who distributed, when parted into several thousand minute portions. Even this would point to the increase as taking place in the blessing and under the manual acts of Christ. Again, we are not told of any expression either of surprise or of any other kind upon this subject, as made by any of the multitude either at the time or subsequently, or by any disciple, such as might give us a suggestion, or throw light upon it. Again, we are not told what time it took, or what sort of difficulty, if any, the disciples encountered in their work of distributing to some hundred companies of those set down, in parties of fifty each. That the large multitude were thus arranged speaks design of itself, and we can see the disciples threading their way with their distributing baskets, by aid of the passages, and, so to say, the aisles left. There were some eight hundred to be ministered to by each of the twelve disciples. Nor have we any statement as to how and where the "women and children" got their portions; the suggestion of our vers. 19-21, nevertheless, would leave us in no practical doubt that they were grouped in the companies of the fifties and hundreds (St. Mark). With all these things untold, the miracle itself stands confessed in its simplest grandeur, in its irrefragable evidence, and for its welcome satisfyingness - some through it to acknowledge "that Prophet that should come into the world;" some to show tomorrow that they were thankless for the moral feast, even if they had eagerly partaken of the literal one; but some also, we cannot doubt it, and we know not how many, to remember it for days and years to come, and to speak of it far and wide with grateful heart and tongue.

III. THE MULTIFORM PARABLE THAT IS INCORPORATE WITH THIS MIRACLE.

1. It is a parable of Christ feeding the wide world.

2. It is a parable of Christ feeding that world by the human instrumentality of his servants, his disciples, his apostles, those some certain called from the mass, and called by him, and "sent forth" by him.

3. It is a parable of what effect Christ's "blessing" can have and shall have on his own appointments, his own appointed provision, his own appointed "means of grace," his own appointed methods of distribution, and his own ordering of his Church and its ministers.

4. To devout, thoughtful, reverent faith, surely it constitutes itself, it welcomely forces itself, into a parable of a sacrament - the sacrament in "one kind" for the fulness of time was not yet come - the sacrament of the food of the blessed body of the Lord himself! How many a time has the individual, humble, and praying believer lighted on what should seem some small morsel of Divine truth, and of the Divine Word, and as he meditated, how it opened, how it refreshed his fainting state, how it filled his eye, and feasted his highest powers of feeling and of imagination! And how many a time have the true ministers of Christ, the bishops and pastors of the flock of God, begun to think and begun to speak upon what seemed a word, a sentence, a verse, but it has increased under meditation, under prayer, under the familiar, common, sometimes despised "preaching" of Christ's last charge and commission, and under the realization of the priceless "blessing" of his last promise, while multitudes have listened, been divinely fed, learned to love and to adore and to live a new life, and the human feeder and the fed all been satisfied! - B.

The amazing love of the Father appears —

I. IN HIS SPARING THIS GUILTY WORLD, though He spared not the angels that sinned. His mercy is seen in man's long day of grace, and in thy day of grace, sinner. Accept it ere the dawn of the day of judgment.

II. IN CHOOSING AND DRAWING GUILTY MEN TO BE SAVED. To give men liberty to be saved is love indeed; to provide a ransom is love higher still; but its loftiest height is seen in the drawing operations of Father, Son, and Spirit. But for this men would not come at all.

III. IN HIS GIVING CHRIST TO BE THE WAY OF SALVATION (chap. John 3:16; Romans 8:32). Had He shot down a beam of heavenly light, or caused us to hear a heavenly note, this would have left us inexcusable; but He gave the best of His treasures. He resolved that all salvation should be found in the Son, and avoided leaving any details to us.

IV. IN HIS REVEALING HIMSELF TO US THROUGH CHRIST (chap. John 14:9, 10). Not through an interpreter, but through One who shared His nature and was the perfect embodiment of His will.

V. IN APPOINTING THE ETERNAL REWARD FOR REDEEMED SINNERS THROUGH CHRIST (ver. 39, 40).

(A. A. Bonar)

I. CHRIST CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN.

1. How does it appear that He was originally in heaven? (vers. 33, 51, 62).(1) He had a real existence before He was born (chap. John 1:15; 8:58).(2) He was before the world (Hebrews 1:8); for He made the world (Hebrews 1:2, 8, 10; Colossians 1:14-16; John 1:1, 2).(3) The existence He had before was purely Divine (Philippians 2:6-7; Acts 20:28).(4) The Divine nature was communicated to Him from the Father (chap. John 5:26; 7:29; 16:15; Hebrews 1:3).(5) Hence He is said to be in heaven by reason of His Divine essence, which He always had from and with the Father (John 6:62).

2. What are we to understand by His coming down from heaven? His assuming our human nature, and in it conversing upon earth (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16).

II. As Christ came from heaven, so HE CAME NOT TO DO HIS OWN WILL, BUT HIS THAT SENT HIM.

1. Christ's will as He is God is no way different from the Father's.

2. As man His will was distinct from the Father's, but still subordinate to it (Luke 22:42); and therefore though He had a will of His own as man, yet He came not to fulfil that.

3. But our Saviour speaks not here of Himself, either as God or man, but as God-man, Mediator, one sent from the Father to do His will.From hence it follows —

1. That God's will only is the fountain of man's happiness and salvation. For —

(1)God made man upright and happy (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

(2)Man made himself sinful and miserable (Hosea 13:9).

(3)But he cannot make himself happy again (Jeremiah 10:23).

(4)And as man cannot, so none but God can. None else could find out a way, and none else effect it when found.

(5)God hath no other motive but His own will and pleasure to save man (Ephesians 1:5).

(a)Man himself could be no motive (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8).

(b)Neither could the hope of glory be so, God receiving nothing thereby (Job 22:2, 3; Psalm 16:2).

2. That Christ came to accomplish the will of God.

(1)By acquainting us with what is necessary to be known or done in order to be saved (John 14:2).

(2)By giving us, in His own person, a perfect example. (1 Peter 2:21; Matthew 11:30).

(3)By enabling us sincerely to perform whatsoever is enjoined us (chap. John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).

(4)By dying for us (Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:16).

(5)By continuing to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25; John 1:1, 2).

III. USES.

1. Give God the glory of your salvation.

2. Bless Him for all the means of it.

(1)For sending His Son to die for us.

(2)For sending His Spirit to live within us.

(3)For vouchsafing to us the means of grace.

3. Trust Him only for the accomplishment of your salvation.

(1)By the pardon of your sins.

(2)The strengthening of your graces (Philippians 2:13).

(3)Power to persevere (Matthew 10:22).

4. Hence learn also of your Saviour —

(1)To submit your wills to God's (1 Samuel 3:18).

(2)To do the will of Him who sent you hither.And it is His will —

(1)That you repent (Acts 17:30).

(2)That you turn from your sins (Ezekiel 18:30; Ezekiel 33:11).

(3)That you love the Lord with all your hearts (Matthew 22:37).

(4)That you earnestly endeavour to work out your salvation (Philippians 2:12).

(Bp. Beveridge.)

In a daring inroad beyond the Tigris, Abu Taher advanced to the gates of the capital with no more than five hundred horse. By the special order of Moctador the bridges had been broken down, and the person or head of the rebel was expected every hour by the Commander of the Faithful. His lieutenant, from a motive of fear or pity, apprised Abu Taher of his danger, and recommended a speedy escape. "Your master," said the intrepid Carmathian to the messenger, "is at the head of thirty thousand soldiers; three such men as these are wanting in his host." At the same instant, turning to three of his companions, he commanded the first to plunge a dagger into his own breast, the second to leap into the Tigris, and the third to cast himself headlong down a precipice. They obeyed without a murmur. "Relate what you have seen," continued the Imam. "Before the evening your general shall be chained among my dogs." Before evening the camp was surprised and the menace executed.

(Gibbon.)

The end of life is not to do good, although many of us think so. It is not to win souls, although I once thought so. The end of life is to do the will of God whatever it may be.

(Professor Drummond.)

I. THE DIVINE SIDE OF THE WORK OF SALVATION.

1. How sovereign its character. The Father's will is independent, omnipotent, unchangeable, perfect, full of love.

2. The obedient servant of that will (ver. 38). Christ came not to do His own will, His own private purposes, but "the commandment of the Father" (Psalm 40.). To this end He took on Him the form of a servant (Isaiah 42.).(1) This was needful as an example for us;(2) and that we may know that Christ is no amateur Saviour. He has come willingly enough, but the reason was the Father's will. So that when Christ forgives or receives it is the Father's will.

3. God's will was that His Son should have disciples, a flock, members, a bride, brethren.

4. These persons Jesus undertook to keep, and to raise them up at the last day.

II. THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE WORK OF SALVATION (ver. 40).

1. This is still based on the Divine will.

2. The same obedient servant is engaged in it.

3. The terms are "seeing and believing on the Son." We cannot see Christ with our natural organs, but we can read and hear about Him. The eyes of our understanding discern Him; the sense of faith recognizes Him.

4. These terms are open to all. "Every one," the man of great or of little faith, rich or poor, etc. None are excluded but those who exclude themselves.

5. Those who believe in Jesus are in a present state of safety. They have everlasting life.Conclusion:

1. Never fear that there is anything in the secret purposes of God which can contradict His open promises. Never dream if you are a believer that any dark decree can shut you out from the benefits of grace.

2. Fear not that your believing will end in failure.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(text, and Mark 6:3): — Scripture speaks of Christ as the Servant of the Lord. But not till most of His brief history had passed did He begin to preach the gospel. For thirty years He was engaged in the everyday duties of life.

I. OUR DAILY WORK MAY BE TRUE SERVICE FOR GOD. Housework, the innumerable details of a mother's lot, manual labour, a sufferer's duties, commercial life, brain-toil — for these we may be as truly sent of God as an apostle or a prophet.

1. God's providential appointment shows where He wants our work. That we have our particular gifts, that our training fits us for a special post, that circumstances uncontrolled by us have brought us to a certain position, that our position involves definite duties — what are these but God pointing to what He requires us to do.

2. It were unlikely that most of our life should be necessarily spent on what has no vital bearing on eternity. No small feature of the blessedness of heaven is that there they serve Him. Consecration to Christ involves that He be glorified by our entire being. He claims us wholly. It is said that there is a point in the upper air where the discordant sounds of earth blend in harmony, the noise of the streets cannot be distinguished from the murmur of the sea, nor the shout of the battle from the chime of bells, nor the mirthful song from the sufferer's moan — there they are one; so the varied parts of our life may blend in a harmonious voice of praise ceaselessly rising to our exalted Lord, as by Himself the will of God was done as truly at the carpenter's bench aa in the most solemn agony of the garden and the cross.

II. SOME OF THE DIRECTIONS IN WHICH THIS DIVINE SERVICE MAY BE RENDERED.

1. Our daily toil tends to the well-being of others. The domestic servant contributes to the comfort of the home, the mechanic serves many a real human need, the teacher by voice or pen spreads knowledge, the physician and the nurse heal the body, the artist trains some of the higher faculties of the mind, the merchant produces or makes earth's productions available; there is no right calling which does not in some way benefit mankind.

2. And daily toil presents the best opportunity for manifesting the religion of Christ.

3. Daily toil is one of the great schools for training spiritual life.

III. THE POSSIBILITY OF THIS SERVICE SHOWS THE SACREDNESS OF OUR WORKDAY LIFE.

1. That all work may be Divine may well reconcile us to tasks that seem lowly.

2. This suggests a searching test of our belonging to Christ. For what is it to be Christ's, but to share His life. If we are only Christians on Sundays we are not Christ's.

3. This shows God's way to larger service presently. Was it not because He did the will of Him that sent Him in that humble village home, that He learnt to say in trial more awful than man can know, "Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt"?

(C. New.)

I. CHRIST WILL LOSE NONE THAT ARE GIVEN TO HIM.

1. How doth God give us to Christ?

(1)By making us sensible of our sin and misery (Jeremiah 8:6; John 16:7, 8).

(2)By making us humble (Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 11:28).

(3)By inclining us to piety by His preventing grace (James 4:6).

(4)By convincing us that Christ was sent to be our Saviour.

2. How shall those not be lost? They shall have —

(1)Their sins pardoned (1 John 2:1-2).

(2)Their hearts renewed (Ezekiel 36:25; Titus 3:5).

(3)God reconciled (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18).

(4)Their graces confirmed (Luke 22:32).

(5)And so their souls eternally saved.

(6)This Christ is able (Hebrews 7:25) and willing (Luke 13:34) to do.

II. CHRIST'S CARE OVER HIS PEOPLE REACHES TO THE DAY OF THEIR RESURRECTION.

1. God's justice will raise the wicked —

(1)To judge (Ecclesiastes 12:14; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

(2)To condemn.

(3)To punish (Matthew 25:46).

2. Christ will raise the saints to bless them —

(1)With freedom from all evil (Revelation 21:4).

(2)With the confluence of all good (1 Corinthians 2:9).

III. USES.

1. Carefully attend those means which God gives to bring your souls to Christ.

2. Commit your souls only to Christ's care (1 Peter 4:19).

3. Live as becomes Christians.

(Bp. Beveridge.)

The next thing we learn here is that all these persons Jesus Christ undertook to keep. He should "lose nothing." This is a very remarkable expression. The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, has taken all those who were given of the Father to Him into His custody. He is the surety; He is responsible for them, and He keeps them.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. EACH MAN HAS HIS LAST DAY. To each a sun rises of which he never sees the setting, or a sun sets of which he never sees the rising.

II. FAMILIES HAVE THEIR LAST DAY. Households part never to meet again. Ancient lines dating back beyond the Conquest, at last come to an end. The ancestral mansion is vacant, the title is extinct, the estates revert to the state. In almost every community "there is one alone, he hath neither child nor brother," and his last day will be the last day of his name and race.

III. STATES ALSO HAVE THEIR LAST DAY. Where are the thrones of Carthage and Tyre, of Assyria and Egypt, of Macedon and Rome? One sun arose on them still breathing, the next found them only matters of history. In the interval they had passed from something to nothing. And other states occupied their places; not a few of whom, in their turn, have expired and been laid away in the cemeteries of history.

IV. THE WORLD WILL HAVE ITS LAST DAY. We have the best authority for saying that the time will come when the human race will disappear in a body from the earth, and the planet itself and all things therein be burned up. Exactly when this greatest of last days will come we are not informed. The month, the year, the century, the millennium even, in which it will occur, is not foretold. So little hint is given of its exact locality in history, that its actual advent will take the world by surprise. Up rolls the last sun from the east as brightly and steadily as usual. Men get them to their business, their pleasures, without a thought of change.

(E. F. Burr.)

When a farmer holds in his hand the first ripe sheaf of corn he has in possession an unassailable proof that he will have a harvest. More decisive and satisfactory evidence to that effect could not be desired by any reasonable man. Long before this time the precious seed had been east into the dark bosom of the earth, when no tokens were visible that nature possessed any power of life. But in due season the sun began to warm the sleeping world, the gentle rain from heaven fell upon the place beneath, and the winds of the south whispered of a coming revival. Soon there was first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the car, soon the first ripe sheaf telling of a harvest at hand. Christ is the first-fruits of them that slept, the infallible proof that we shall have a resurrection from the gloomy winter of death.

(Archibald Craig.)

Trees, in the winter time, appear to the view of all men as if they were withered and quite dead, yet when the springtime comes, they become alive again, and, as before, do bring forth their buds, blossoms, leaves, and fruit, The reason is because the body, grain, and arms of the tree are all joined and fastened to the root where the sap lies all the winter time, and from thence, by reason of so near conjunction, it is derived in the springtime to all parts of the tree. Even so the bodies of men have their winter also, and that is in death, in which time they are turned into dust, and so remain for a time. Yet in the springtime, that is, in the last day, at the resurrection of all flesh, by means of the mystical union with Christ, His Divine and quickening virtue shall stream from thence to all the bodies of His members, and cause them to Live again, and that to life eternal.

(Strode.)

Andrew, Jesus, Joseph, Judas, Peter, Philip, SimonCapernaum, Sea of Galilee, Sea of Tiberias, TiberiasFeast, Festival, Jewish, Jews, Nigh, Passover1. Jesus feeds five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes.
15. Thereupon the people would have made him king;
16. but withdrawing himself, he walks on the sea to his disciples;
26. reproves the people flocking after him, and all the fleshly hearers of his word;
32. declares himself to be the bread of life to believers.
66. Many disciples depart from him.
68. Peter confesses him.
70. Judas is a devil.

John 6:4

     7406   Passover

John 6:1-13

     4418   bread

May 9 Evening
It is I; be not afraid.--JOHN 6:20. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.--I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Woe is me! for I am undone; . . . mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 22 Morning
Your work of faith.--I THES. 1:3. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.--Faith worketh by love.--He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.--We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.--Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

August 8 Evening
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.--ROM. 10:13. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.--Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.--What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. If ye . . . being …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 21 Morning
Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.--JOHN 6:37. It shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.--I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.--I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 29 Morning
His commandments are not grievous.--I JOHN 5:3. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.--Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.--If ye love me, keep my commandments.--He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 14 Evening
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.--JOHN 6:63. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.--The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Christ . . . loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 23 Evening
It is the spirit that quickeneth.--JOHN 6:63. The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.--That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.--Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 17 Morning
Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.--PSA. 80:18. It is the Spirit that quickeneth.--The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.--Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 29 Evening
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.--I SAM. 30:6. Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.--I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 14 Evening
Give us this day our daily bread.--MATT. 6:11. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.--His bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.--The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.--Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 8. "He that Eateth Me, Even He Shall Live by Me" (John vi. 57).
"He that eateth Me, even He shall live by Me" (John vi. 57). What the children of God need is not merely a lot of teaching, but the Living Bread. The best wheat is not good food. It needs to be ground and baked before it can be digested and assimilated so as to nourish the system. The purest and the highest truth cannot sanctify or satisfy a living soul. He breathes the New Testament message from His mouth with a kiss of love and a breath of quickening power. It is as we abide in Him, lying upon …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

June 22. "This is that Bread which came Down from Heaven" (John vi. 58).
"This is that bread which came down from heaven" (John vi. 58). We had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivereth us from so great a death, who doth deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. This was the supernatural secret of Paul's life; he drew continually in his body from the strength of Christ, his Risen Head. The body which rose from Joseph's tomb was to him a physical reality and the inexhaustible …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Fourth Miracle in John's Gospel
And 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.'--JOHN vi. 11. This narrative of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand is introduced into John's Gospel with singular abruptness. We read in the first verse of the chapter: 'After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,' i.e. from the western to the eastern side. But the Evangelist does not tell …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Fragments' or 'Broken Pieces'
'When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.'--JOHN vi. 12. The Revised Version correctly makes a very slight, but a very significant change in the words of this verse. Instead of 'fragments' it reads 'broken pieces.' The change seems very small, but the effect of it is considerable. It helps our picture of the scene by correcting a very common misapprehension as to what it was which the Apostles are bid to gather up. The general notion, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fifth Miracle in John's Gospel
'So when they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20. But He said unto them, It is I; be not afraid.'--JOHN vi. 19,20. There are none of our Lord's parables recorded in this Gospel, but all the miracles which it narrates are parables. Moral and religious truth is communicated by the outward event, as in the parable it is communicated by the story. The mere visible fact becomes more than semi-transparent. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

How to Work the Work of God
'Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye, believe on Him whom He hath sent.'--JOHN vi. 28, 29. The feeding of the five thousand was the most 'popular' of Christ's miracles. The Evangelist tells us, with something between a smile and a sigh, that 'when the people saw it, they said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world,' and they were so delighted with Him and with …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Manna
'I am that bread of life. 49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.'--JOHN vi. 48-50. 'This is of a truth that Prophet,' said the Jews, when Christ had fed the five thousand on the five barley loaves and the two small fishes. That was the kind of Teacher for them; they were quite unaffected by the wisdom of His words and the beauty of His deeds, but a miracle that found food precisely …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Redemption (Continued)
"He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath life eternal."--JOHN VI. 54. We were made for holiness, union with God, eternal life. These are but different expressions for one and the same thing. For holiness is the realisation of our manhood, of that Divine Image which is the true self, expressing itself and acting, as it does in us, through the highest of animal forms. That perfect self-realisation is not merely dependent upon, but is union with God, at its beginning, throughout its …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

The Study of the Bible Recommended; and a Method of Studying it Described.
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life. IT was probably in that synagogue which the faithful Centurion built at Capernaum [243] that our Saviour had been discoursing. At the end of his discourse, it is related that "many of His Disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." Thereupon, He asked the Twelve, "Will ye also go away?" the very form of His inquiry (Me kai humeis) implying the answer which the Divine Speaker expected and desired. And to this challenge of Love …
John William Burgon—Inspiration and Interpretation

The Attractive Power of God
THE ATTRACTIVE POWER OF GOD St John vi. 44.--"No one can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." Our Lord Jesus Christ hath in the Gospel spoken with His own blessed lips these words, which signify, "No man can come to Me unless My Father draw him." In another place He says, "I am in the Father and the Father in Me." Therefore whoever cometh to the Son cometh to the Father. Further, He saith, "I and the Father are One. Therefore whomsoever the Father draweth, the Son draweth …
Johannes Eckhart—Meister Eckhart's Sermons

The Gospel Feast
"When 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?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Care of the Soul Urged as the one Thing Needful
Luke 10:42 -- "But one thing is needful." It was the amiable character of our blessed Redeemer, that "he went about doing good," this great motive, which animated all his actions, brought him to the house of his friend Lazarus, at Bethany, and directed his behavior there. Though it was a season of recess from public labor, our Lord brought the sentiments and the pious cares of a preacher of righteousness into the parlor of a friend; and there his doctrine dropped as the rain, and distilled as the …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

On the Words of the Gospel, John vi. 53, "Except Ye Eat the Flesh," Etc. , and on the Words of the Apostles. And the Psalms. Against
Delivered at the Table of the Martyr St. Cyprian, the 9th of the Calends of October,--23 Sept., on the Lord's day. 1. We have heard the True Master, the Divine Redeemer, the human Saviour, commending to us our Ransom, His Blood. For He spake to us of His Body and Blood; He called His Body Meat, His Blood Drink. The faithful recognise the Sacrament of the faithful. But the hearers what else do they but hear? When therefore commending such Meat and such Drink He said, "Except ye shall eat My Flesh …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, John vi. 55,"For My Flesh is Meat Indeed, and My Blood is Drink Indeed. He that Eateth My Flesh," Etc.
1. As we heard when the Holy Gospel was being read, the Lord Jesus Christ exhorted us by the promise of eternal life to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Ye that heard these words, have not all as yet understood them. For those of you who have been baptized and the faithful do know what He meant. But those among you who are yet called Catechumens, or Hearers, could be hearers, when it was being read, could they be understanders too? Accordingly our discourse is directed to both. Let them who already …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

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