of death" is echoed by "dead and buried" (11:). The thirty-eight years of infirmity are

exchanged for blindness from birth (9:).

A prophetic meaning attaches to the words of Christ when He found the man in the

temple, "Behold thou art made whole: SIN NO MORE, lest a worse thing come unto

thee". There will be some who will sin even during the Millennium, and a worse

punishment than wandering and dying in the wilderness will befall them.  The

Millennium must not be confounded with the new Creation. The seventh day is the last

day of the week, not the first. The new creation follows the age of the Kingdom, and in

that new day sin and sorrow shall be found no more.

The first set of signs indicates what might have been had Israel repented. The second

set indicates what did and will take place, for Israel has now entered into blindness and

death, from which nothing can save them but the personal advent of their long-rejected

The signs already considered have been indicative of Israel's condition and prophetic

of the nation's restoration. The fourth sign (Feeding of five thousand) reveals the way in

which this restoration will be accomplished, and leads on to a crisis. It is the last of the

The feast of the Jews which is mentioned in the sign is suggestive ("The Passover a

feast of the Jews was nigh"), for here we shall read of the blood of Christ, without which

no man shall have life. Both of these central signs take place after the Lord had ascended

into a mountain. Israel's restoration is connected with the Mount of Olives both in the

prophets (Zech. 14: 4), the Lord's own prophecy (Matt. 24: 3), and the angel's

announcement (Acts 1: 12).

The Lord to test Philip asked him, "Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat".

He replies that "Two hundred pennyworth would not be sufficient to provide every one

with a little". Andrew remarks, "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves and

two small fishes", but adds, "what are they among so many?" Clearly "buying" or

"sharing" will not go far, for there are over 5,000 hungry people to feed. The Lord now

says, "Make the men sit down" and then begins, after giving thanks, to distribute the

loaves to the disciples. When all had eaten "as much as they would" twelve baskets were

filled with the fragments that remained "over and above." The apostles were thereby also

provided with a full supply of food. The effect of this sign upon the multitude was to

make them say, "this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," and they

contemplated taking Christ by force and making Him King. "When Jesus therefore