As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, 'This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.' 16 Jesus replied, 'They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.' 17 'We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,' they answered. 18 'Bring them here to me,' he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Matthew 14:15-21This was a notable miracle because of the multiplication of the amount of food, but, even more remarkable than that is the prophetic revelation being unveiled at the end of this age!
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.Jesus is teaching the spiritual significance of the loaves they had just eaten. The loaves symbolize the food that endures to eternal life, which Jesus, the Son of Man, had just given them. Now, verse 29 reads: Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. To be offered the bread is to be presented with the gospel message, to have the opportunity to believe in the one God has sent. Verses 32-33 read:
Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'Just who is "he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world?"
Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.' John 6:35:And, in John 6:51-53, he clarifies it further.
'I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' 53 Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.'The barley loaves fed to the 5,000 represent Jesus, the true bread from heaven being "fed" to those in the Church Age! Five barley loaves are sufficient for the church age.
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.I believe this division of the people signifies that all the peoples of the world will receive the testimony of Jesus, every division - every people, every nation, confirming and expanding upon what we noted as the meaning of the 5000 men, plus women and children. (50 = 52x2 100=52x4) Now, did you notice where they were directed to sit? On the green grass. Colors like numbers are symbolic. Grass is also symbolic. Consider the following, just two of many very obvious scriptures.
A voice says, 'Cry out!' And I said, 'What shall I cry?' All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. Isaiah 40:6:Grass represents people, specifically in the context of their inconstancy, their impermanence. In these frail temporal bodies we are merely mortal. Here today - gone tomorrow. So what is green grass signifying as the people were particularly identified with it while they ate? A time wherein man would flourish. The grass is green only for a time. Its end is ever in sight. It shortly withers. While we are in the "flower of our youth," we will eat and serve the bread of life. Soon enough as this age rushes to its conclusion, a drought will come, a wasting famine. No longer will the figurative grass be green, friends.
For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,' I Peter 1:24
For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, 'Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men.'This "two fish" allusion to the harvest of men harmonizes beautifully with the "breaking five barley loaves" theme that precedes it, doesn't it? Five loaves and two fish - Amen!
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.Here we find the only place in scripture where fish are divided into two categories. Two fish equates to two categories of fish, or people. The divisions represent the wicked and the righteous. These are being and will be separated at the times of resurrection. Those who remain behind after the Bride meets her Bridegroom will all be thrown into the fiery furnace,4 according to verse 50. Each resurrection up to the last separates the two kinds of fish.