THE FOOD QUESTION
[p. 304] THE FOOD QUESTION
John 21: 19 - 25: Luke 24: 41 - 43
We are to consider the question of food. What marks John’s record in regard to food is that the Lord gave it directly to those who needed it. In the other gospels, when feeding the multitude at different times He used His disciples to hand the food to those who needed it, but according to the New Translation by J. N. Darby, John omits the disciples’ service in this respect. The Lord having given thanks (John 6), He distributed the food, and in this passage in chapter 21 we see how He had the coals of fire and fish and bread all ready, and He invites the disciples to dine, as if to indicate in the recovery of His people in these last days that we not only have food, but we have it as prepared by the Lord, who in a formal way issues an invitation to dine.
Now in the gospel of Luke we have another picture. The Lord would Himself partake of food, and in asking the gathered company if they had any, He asked them to bring out what they had. In John 21 it is what He had, and, dear brethren, there is no limit with Him; His resources are unlimited. The sea is a kind of type of the resources He has, He could command a hundred and fifty-three great fishes, but without these He had already a dinner prepared.
He would have us who have part with Him prove these resources. This chapter shows how great they are with Him, and the people of God are proving what these resources are, and that not only is there the means of sustenance in the way of food, but there is a formal meal prepared by the Lord Himself. Many of us have enjoyed being invited to dine. There is something peculiarly dignified in an invitation to dine.
In the instance we have earlier in the Lord’s service, we have multitudes fed, five thousand at one [p. 305] time, but in no instance have we an invitation to come and dine. In Luke, as I remarked, it is that He would partake of food, and the question should be raised with us, in each locality in some way or other, as to what we have. In John it is what He has, but in this passage in Luke it is, “Have ye here any meat?” The Lord would inquire thus in this city.
We may be able to give an account of how many there are nominally in fellowship, we may be able to answer easily many such questions, but if the question is asked: Have ye here anything to eat, what shall be the answer? What is there the Lord could partake of? Those addressed here (Luke 24: 41) knew Him; they had been in His company and at meals with Him on many occasions, they knew what He was accustomed to eat, hence they would understand His inquiry. He does not say: how much? but, have you any? “They gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them”. Now I need riot enlarge on this. What I mean is obvious to all, that the Lord would have in each company of His own something to eat. God said in Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house”. You see the idea of old was that the people were to bring tithes, and full tithes, and God said if they brought full tithes, “I will ... pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” Malachi 3:10.
You see, if we accept the obligation and each brings his tithe, God will add to it. God abhors poverty, and He would lay it upon us that each should be prospered. If I am not prospered, why not? If I have nothing, why not? If others are prospered, why am I not? God would have us to prosper. What we have in 1 Corinthians is that each shall lay by in store on the first day of the week as he is prospered, so that as I prosper I bring my part, my tithe, and God adds [p. 306] to the aggregate of the tithes, so that in His house there is food, for if there is no food there, it loses its character and is of no moral value. If there be no food in it, it loses its character as God’s house. Even the prodigal knew there was food in his father’s house. As he went there, he found it, for the fatted calf was there.
Now I want to refer to a few scriptures in the Old Testament to show that from the outset God’s thought was that man should be sustained by proper food. Unless we have suitable food we shall not be sustained in the sphere of the responsibility in which we are set, nor shall we have sufficient strength of constitution to enter upon our privileges.
As the people of Israel were about to cross the Jordan they were to provide victuals. In Egypt there was the Passover lamb and the unleavened bread. That is the food which the believer needs to sustain him in his exit out of the world. That the young believer should move on out of the world is perfectly obvious, but we need to be fed for that, and so, as I said, there is the Passover lamb, and the bitter herbs, and unleavened bread.
Then, as having once passed outside the world, it has become a wilderness to me and I need food to sustain me there, hence the manna, the food that came down, for it is now a question of carrying out the will of God; then His will should be done on earth as it is in heaven, and for this I have to eat angels’ food. As it is said, “Man did eat angels’ food”. Psalm 78:25. Angels eat that food as subject to the will of God. The manna refers to the life of Jesus in this world. As I appropriate Him in His death and feed upon the Lamb, so I accept His path here. I have to walk as He walked, hence I need the food that came down from heaven.
But if I am to cross the Jordan and live in Canaan, I must have a constitution suitable for that great position; hence the manna ceased on the morrow [p. 307] after the passover as the people entered the land. A new food appears, the old or store corn of the land becomes the food. There is plenty there, but it is Christ as He is in heaven, and if I am to be in communion with Him, then I have to feed on that food. But this question appears strikingly in the book of Genesis. The position was to be of a man set up as representative of God and sustained by the fruit of the ground the evidence of spontaneous life. Man was to eat of every herb producing seed and every tree in which there is the fruit of a tree producing seed.
The principle is producing seed. Every time man ate it, he was reminded of the principle of trees producing seed, as earlier it was said the seed of which is in itself; Genesis 1:11. Therefore in partaking of food man would be reminded of the seed-producing principle, and it was to be of its kind. If we bring this principle into our houses, dear brethren, it will be to maintain us in the proper thought of God, that seed is to be of its kind.
How easy to bring something wild into the house. We read in 2 Kings 4: 38, “Set on the great pot”, and someone went out and gathered wild gourds, and cast them into the pot and death was there. Worldly principles brought into the house bring in death. Adam was to know the tree he was eating, which had seed in itself and bearing fruit after its kind. If I bring into my house something wild, there will be death in the pot.
We have to be on our guard as to what we admit. The Lord as He raised up Jairus’ daughter said something should be given her to eat. He did not say what. It was the parents’ responsibility. It was for them to know what to give a girl like that to eat. The principle is laid down here in regard to food, and God would have us take notice of it.
Now in Genesis 9:3 we have another food. Man has now new responsibilities, for the sword of government [p. 308] is put into his hand, and he is to be sustained by suitable food; hence he has the animals for food, but the blood belongs to God. The principle that comes out here is that life belongs to God; this is another feature that has to be noticed. God has rights over us. If death occurs so that man should have food, the life taken was God’s. Further, according to Psalm 104, man should have wine to make his heart glad, and oil to make his face shine. These two things were also available to Noah, but he failed and disgraced himself; God never intended wine to make a man drunk. Typically the oil and wine refer to the Spirit.
In Genesis 27: 37 you see a man made lord over his brethren, and he is sustained with corn and new wine. This is a remarkable passage as bearing on what is before us, how God in placing a man in supremacy supports him with corn and new wine. We may easily transfer the thought to our own portion, for the reference is no doubt to Christ, who is made Lord and sustained in that position of supremacy with corn and new wine. But what He has we have, and so in the New Testament He speaks of new wine. There was the corn there, He Himself indeed was that; His disciples, you remember, plucked the corn. He was the Bread of God which came down from heaven, but then there is the new wine. Genesis 27 fits in here with what we are enjoying. The Lord says (Luke 5: 39), “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better”.
Those who have drunk it do not desire it straightway. Old wine refers to what the world has, and if we admit worldly things in our houses we need not he surprised if our offspring do not straightway desire new wine. You see the position is sustained by corn and new wine, so if we admit the old, we must not be surprised if there is no taste for the new. How often we have seen this — the old is better.
[p. 309] But to return to what I was saying: the Lord has got His meal prepared, and He invites us to it. He says, “Come and dine”. John 21: 12. I wonder if this invitation is understood.
The point is that in the position the Lord has brought us into we are to be sustained. We shall quickly fail in our responsibility unless we understand what it is to live on the food the Lord provides. The Lord is dealing out food to us all, and He will satisfy His poor with bread; but this is not quite the same as the invitation to come and dine. It is not feeding five thousand at one time, but a small company — seven restored disciples — that we get in this chapter; it is quality rather than quantity. The Lord has a portion for five thousand as well as for seven, but the invitation to come and dine is to seven. You say, A poor lot, but they were a very great company. Think of Peter, see what a nobleman you have there! He had a shady history, but he is now dining at the Lord’s invitation.
One would not disparage any effort to feed numbers, but there is the thought of dining. There is the thought of dignity. When they made the Lord a supper, Lazarus was one of them that sat at table with Him; the Spirit in this reference indicates what we are speaking of. At the Lord’s supper one has to examine oneself and so eat. The king came in to see the guests; when you have a special occasion, you look for suitability in the guests. As we understand this passage, we shall understand the passage in Luke — what the Lord can partake of, broiled fish, and an honeycomb. They had this, thus indicating they had learnt something of divine resourcefulness and mutual relationships. The honeycomb is what He can partake of, and refers to mutual spiritual relationships which should mark the people of God walking in the light of Christ as Head of the assembly.