The Feeding of the 5,000 and the Feeding of the 4,000 - Same miracles? or Different?

I saw a comment on a YouTube video where a person of Islam said that the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Feeding of the Four Thousand people were contradictions in the Bible as they were the same miracles. If one looks at the two accounts, one will see that they are, in fact, carried out on two separate occasions therefore are different miracles. The chapters the person cited were from Matthew 14:13-21 [Five Thousand] and Matthew 15:32-38 [Four Thousand].

Let's take the first account - The Feeding of the Five Thousand Matthew 14:13-21:

Back in Chapter 13 and verse 54 we are told when He had come to His own country... [Nazareth - about 25km approx 15.5 miles West of the Sea of Galilee]. Chapter 14:1-12 tells of the beheading of Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist. From verse 13 the account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand begins. 

When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.(14:1a) - we're not told where the deserted place was, but there was more than likely a lot of deserted places in that area. 

The multitudes heard where Jesus was and came to Him with their sick and healed them. 
In v 15 we see it's evening and the disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away to buy food for themselves as they [the multitudes] would have been hungry. 

Jesus was going to test the disciples' faith - they had seen many miracles (even that day they had seen Jesus healing many sick), so here was going to be an amazing one.  Jesus tells the disciples to give them something to eat, but they only had five loaves and two fish and that wouldn't feed five thousand+ people! 

Jesus commanded the people to sit down on the grass [Greek word 'chortos'] [chortos means: (1)the place where grass grows and animals graze; (2) grass, herbage, hay, provender [of green grass; of growing crops] ]

The disciples took the bread and fish to Jesus and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. Matthew 14:19b

After the people had eaten the disciples ...took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Matthew 14:20b

Verse 21 tells the reader how many people had been fed. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. So in fact there were more than 5,000 fed, that day. 

Let's look at the second account - The Feeding of the Four Thousand Matthew 15:32-38

Jesus had come from Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21), He skirted [NKJV] (came nigh [KJV]) the Sea of Galilee and went on a mountain and sat down there. Again great multitudes came to Him and there is a list of those whom they brought to Jesus (v30): lame, blind, mute, maimed and many others. The multitude marveled at the miracles Jesus performed and they glorified the God of Israel.

In verse 32 Jesus said I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. Now comes the test for the disciples who had seen the previous miracle - will they turn to Jesus and say - guess what we have bread and fish again, or will they not have remembered/learned from the last time?

Verse 33: Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  

Oh dear they had forgotten! This time there were 7 loaves and a few little fish (v34)

v35 says: So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground [Greek word ge] [ge means: (1) arable land; (2) the ground, the earth as a standing place; (3) the main land as opposed to the sea or water; (4) the earth as a whole [the earth as opposed to the heavens; the inhabited earth, the abode of men and animals] (5) a country, land enclosed within fixed boundaries, a tract of land, territory, region] 

v36: And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude

v37: So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of fragments that were left.

v38: Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. Again there were more than 4,000 who were fed. 

Let's look at both these accounts now:

Matthew 13 - Jesus had come from Nazareth (v54)
Matthew 15 - Jesus had come from Tyre and Sidon (v21)

Matthew 14 - Jesus went to a deserted place [eremos]
Matthew 15 - Jesus went to a mountain [oros]

Matthew 14 - it was evening and the people had only been with Jesus that day
Matthew 15 - the people had been following Jesus for 3 days

Matthew 14 - they had five [pente] loaves and 2 fish [dyo ichthys]
Matthew 15 - they had seven [hepta] loaves and a few little fish [ichthydion]

Matthew 14 - Jesus told them to sit on the grass [chortos]
Matthew 15 - Jesus told them to sit on the ground [ge] 

Matthew 14 - 12 [dodeka] baskets of fragments remained 
Matthew 15 - 7 [hepta] baskets of fragments remained

Matthew 14 - 5,000 [pentakischolioi] men were fed (besides women and children)
Matthew 15 - 4,000 [tetrakischilioi] men were fed (besides women and children)

As we see from the passages and the comparison above - these were 2 different occurrences. The disciples had to learn lessons over and over again (as we all do). We also have to remember that although these events were only 1 chapter apart - it could have been months between each one and as Jesus was performing many miracles all the time, the disciples could have easily forgotten the former one. 

Unity and All Lives Matter

I think the murder of George Floyd sent shock waves around the world! How could a servant of the public put his knee on a man's throat and keep it there as he begged for his life, saying "I can't breathe, I can't breathe"? The police man had others with him, who made no effort to help Floyd out!  It saddens me that this kind of thing has happened (although, it doesn't surprise me).  

I have been a Christian for nearly 30 years, this year and as I have gone on with my walk, I have grown to understand so much of the gospel. Christ's coming to earth and what He has done for millions (if not billions) of people throughout the past 2,000+ years. One of the things He has done is to UNITE different groups of people together. 

It doesn't matter whether you are Jew, Gentile, Male, Female, Slave, Free, Black, White - Jesus UNITES those people groups who may not have got on before. 

I remember hearing a missionary who worked for Christian Witness Israel, saying that in Israel there are former Jews and Muslims (Israelis and Arabs) worshipping together, fellowshipping together, loving one another because of Christ! 

In the church I attend we have blacks, whites and Asians worshipping together, loving one another, having fellowship with one another. 

I read in Corrie ten Boom's book The Hiding Place, that after the war she went around places preaching the love and forgiveness of Christ in churches. After one talk a man came up to her to shake her hand - he was one of the guards in Ravensbruck, the concentration camp where Corrie and her sister Betsie were put because they hid Jews in their house/watch shop. Her sister Betsie died in the camp! She found it difficult, at first, to shake his hand, as she remembered the horrors of the camp, but after praying for a heart of forgiveness, she shook his hand and felt the warmth of Christ's love flowing through her!  Jesus unites, heals and repairs relationships! 

ALL Lives Matter and if only people would build bridges instead of thick walls... 

Jesus built a bridge between God and man! In our natural state we are enemies of God and there is a massive gulf caused by our sin which only Christ through His death on the cross can bridge!

Why Christianity?

I love hearing about and reading about other religions, but why is Christianity the one faith I have held onto? Please read the whole passages of Scripture quoted, for context.

A. Christianity changes people - not on the outside, but on the inside. A person can ritually clean themselves from top to bottom, can clean their clothes, every single moment of every day, but all that does is - clean your outside. When the Holy Spirit convicts somebody of their sin [falling short of God's standards as laid out in Scripture]  and they repent - He enters into their soul/heart [innermost being which is unseen] and cleanses them

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

We become new creations - He gives us a new heart.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

No religion does that.

B. There were witnesses. The world's religions have some kind of book or script giving their adherents instructions, or people can read the history of the religions, but how many have witnesses?

In the Old Testament (the Jews call the TaNaKh - Torah [Teaching], Nevi'im [Prophets], Ketuvim [Writings]) the prophets had witnesses to their miracles, in the New Testament Jesus Christ had thousands of witnesses to His miracles and teachings. He had witnesses to His crucifixion - He even had the witnesses who were guarding His tomb, then 500 people after His resurrection. The apostles had witnesses to their miracles as well!

The feeding of the five thousand (read Matthew 14) - 5,000 MEN (that was without the women and children) witnessed this.

The casting out of the demons - (read Matthew 8)

The healing of the man with the withered hand (Mark 3)

The healing of the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9)

The healing of the lame man (Acts 3)

The rising of Eutychus (Acts 20)

C. God comes to dwell within His people (this is linked with point A)

John 14:17  ...for He [the Holy Spirit] dwells with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

D. It's vibrant, dynamic, living because we worship the living God (Read my post HERE)

Ephesians 2:1, 4, 5 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins... [in our natural state we are dead to God - we don't know Him, we can have our own ideas of who He is, but they are OUR ideas] ...But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses...

E. New eternal perspective (don't just live for this age)

As Christians our hope is in the future. We are pilgrims in the world, heading for a better place. Our perspective on the world changes because we have God dwelling in us. We now are friends with God, whereas before we were enemies (we may have believed in Him, but we didn't rest on His finished work in Christ)

F. All religions have humanity working for them - pray so many times a day, give this, do that, but Christianity is the ONLY faith which has God doing something for humanity.

Romans 5:6-8 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

G. Christianity doesn't exactly put forward an appealing message:

Matthew 10:22a And you will be hated by all for My name's sake...

Matthew 24:9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.

John 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you

Acts 14:21,22 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they turned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

If you're trying to recruit people to your way, surely giving a more appealing message is the way to go.

What a burden religions place on their adherents whereas God has said - My work is complete - you were once My enemies, but now you can freely come to Me and be My friends, My children (God is a Christian's Father) because Christ has paid the price YOU should have paid.

Dynamic faith

The other day I was pondering on the Christian faith and I was excited to think that it is dynamic and living! 

When somebody accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, something wonderful happens - they are raised from spiritual deadness into everlasting life through Jesus Christ. Not only are they raised from spiritual deadness, but their spiritual eyes are opened and they receive new and dynamic sight, not only into the present hope, but into a future hope of glory. Their perspective broadens. 

The Holy Spirit enters their souls and they become a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament God dwelt in the tabernacle (first of all) and then the temple. Only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, once a year, to offer atonement for the sins of Israel. God's Shekinah glory was in the Holy of Holies, but during Christ's crucifixion, the veil into the Holy of Holies was ripped from top to bottom because it was no longer needed. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in every redeemed believer! Now every believer can gain entry into the very courts of heaven and bring their prayers and petitions to God their Father because of Christ's finished work and because they have God dwelling within them.  

1 Corinthians 6:19,20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God  in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

John 14:15-18,26 If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. 
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 

Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,  Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

Every believer is brought out of spiritual darkness into a glorious spiritual light! 

Matthew 5:14a You are the light of the world...

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord...

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.