What a beautiful vision this is! The nation sees destruction and cannot
believe this is not the final word and yet the Lord says, "you ain't seen
nothing yet." The restoration of
Israel is more glorious than anything they have yet seen or known. The vision is of so many children in old age
that there isn't room for them all and how amazing would the literal
fulfillment of this vision be: "Kings shall be your foster fathers, and
their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall
bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet." Indeed they would know that the Lord has done
this thing, no other possibility exists.
We are called to wait upon the Lord, not take matters into our own
hands, and if we do we will see such things.
Mark emphasizes that the place where the crowd gathered was
"desolate." Three times he
uses this word in setting up the miracle.
He wanted to leave no doubt that this was the work of the Lord, no other
explanation would work, so why are there those today who give alternative
explanations like the people had food with them but were anxious about sharing
it until Jesus offered up the meager provision?
Mark is very clear that this was a miracle, he leaves no room for any
other means by which food could be provided and in the process makes the
parallel to the provision by God of food in the wilderness explicit. They knew the truth, no matter what anyone
might say, the Lord is capable of anything at all.
Paul points to miracles as evidence that it is not the Law
but faith that is the Gospel. Miracles
don't happen by Law. They are
excluded. That is the rationalist
objection to miracles, they contravene known laws of nature. Miracles are themselves acts of God who is
able to do what we cannot and they point then to His action being a miraculous
intervention in the chain of cause and effect that we know. Such is the action of grace, it interrupts
the cause and effect of sin and death by transferring our sin to Jesus and His
righteousness to us and the transaction is accomplished through faith not some
act on our part. The good news is better
than anyone ever imagined but it was there all along, beginning in Genesis 15
when Abraham believed God and that was accounted to him as righteousness, before
the covenant and the Law. Take this day
to stand on the promises of God to you and live with faith, hope and joy.
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