We have seen from Matthew 11 that the Lord Jesus told us we have to learn from Him (v. 29). He is our prototype and also our model. We have to be His reproduction and His copy. When the Lord fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, as recorded in Matthew 14, He did that for the disciples to learn from Him, not just for them to see a big miracle. The Lord cares for the lessons of life.
In the performing of the miracle of feeding four thousand people with seven loaves and a few small fish (Matt. 15:36-39), He trained His disciples again to learn from Him. This was the second time that He fed a great multitude. The first time, when He fed the five thousand, He blessed the loaves and the fish, looking up to heaven. His blessing was under the blessing from the Father who is in heaven. Before feeding the four thousand, He gave thanks to God (v. 36). I believe the Lord did this purposely for the training of the disciples.
His giving thanks indicated that He honored His Father as the source of the supply of the people’s necessities, standing on the position of One sent by the Father. This indicated to His disciples that His Father, not He, was the source of all the necessities of the people. Otherwise, people would give the glory to Him, thinking that He was the source. As the sent One, the Lord Jesus gave thanks to the Sender. He stood on the position of One sent by His Father.
Satan is the opposite of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus stood on His position as a sent One, a subordinate, not the source. But Satan rebelled against the source to exalt himself. That became a rebellion which caused the entire universe to become chaos. Not only are humans fighting on this earth, but also, according to Daniel, the angels are fighting (10:13, 20). The Bible shows us clearly that there are two kinds of angels: the good angels standing with God and the bad ones following Satan. In Revelation 12 Satan is likened to a great red dragon whose tail drags away the third part of the stars of heaven (vv. 3-4). The stars of heaven here signify the angels (Job 38:7; Isa. 14:12). The third part of the stars of heaven are the fallen angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God. There is war taking place both on the earth and in the heavens. Today the earth is full of rebellion and fighting. The United Nations attempts to keep the peace but there is no way for them to do it. Even in the church, disorder appears, so according to the New Testament teaching the Lord Jesus set up a model to keep a good order. He always stood on the position of a sent One from the Father.
When He performed miracles, He was also in the status of a man. During the three and a half years of His earthly ministry, He acted as a man submissive to God. This put Satan to shame. This is why the Lord said that in Him Satan had nothing (John 14:30b). Satan has nothing in Him because His submission to the Father cuts off Satan. Today in the Lord’s recovery, we must learn how to keep a proper order of submission in the Body. Brother Watchman Nee stressed this greatly. The Lord did not teach this much, but He behaved in this way to train His disciples. That was why He told His disciples to take His yoke and learn from Him. Today we have to follow the Lord’s pattern. We have to take Him as the model to copy, honoring the Father as the source of the supply of the people’s necessities, standing on the position of the One sent by His Father.
He also trained His disciples to give thanks to God the Father for their necessities and in everything. In both 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Ephesians 5:20 Paul told us to give thanks to God in everything. This is very important. We do not want to make anything a mere formality. But still in doing everything, even in common things, we have to say, “Lord, I thank You for this. Everything You have created has been prepared to meet my need by Your mercy and by Your divine provision.” We need to thank the Lord for all of His physical and spiritual blessings.
After He fed the five thousand, He left the crowd to go to the high mountain privately to pray (Matt. 14:23). After feeding the four thousand, He also left the crowd and went to the borders of Magadan (15:39), indicating that He would not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowd for the enjoyment of their appreciation. This is a pattern to us. Whenever we speak and have a good meeting, we want to stay with the crowd to enjoy people’s appreciation. That is fleshly. In the first feeding, the Lord left and went to the mountain privately. The next time He left the appreciating crowd and went to the locality of Magadan.