Jesus Christ Cares for the Body and for the Salvation of the Soul

Luke 9:10-17

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.

“The eyes of all look to You,
And You give them their food in due time.
You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
Psalms 145:15-16

• Jesus takes us to a private deserted place to be with Him.
• The crowds follow after Jesus as He heads towards a private and deserted place.
• The need we have for Jesus is greater than what humanism offers.
• We need to sit down in the presence of Jesus and be obedient to His word.

Jesus takes us to a private deserted place to be with Him. “And the Apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.” Luke 9:10a. The Apostles have just returned from exercising power over demons, curing diseases, preaching the testimony of Christ, healing the sick, forming partnerships with Believers, and separating themselves from unbelievers. Today, this would be like the followers of Jesus bringing people to God through Him, which is to draw people away from the society of the mark of the beast. Needless to say, the teachings of the Bible are unwanted in the communities. The ones who spread those teachings are ostracized from their social network, and we are taken aside with Jesus into a deserted place, “Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.” Luke 9:10

The crowds follow after Jesus as He heads towards a private and deserted place. “But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.” Luke 9:11 As followers of Jesus Christ, we can anticipate that having alone time in a private place is impossible. If we go alone into a prayer closet, then our thoughts, feelings, and emotions will be invaded by the thing that has power over physiology. If we find a quiet place in a city park or on a porch somewhere, then there are going to be intrusions of every type. And in public places the crowds are always there not allowing that intimate time with Jesus Christ. The best that we can hope to do is respond to the intrusions with the Word of God, to always have the Gospel of Christ flowing within us. Let every encounter be an opportunity to be a verbal or non-verbal witness for the kingdom of God.

The need we have for Jesus is greater than what humanism offers. The Apostles wanted to send the crowds away into another town in the name of providing bodily rest and food. The Apostles would choose to stay with Jesus in the private and deserted place, “When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” Luke 9:12 Today, humanism governs communities and are empowered by the mark of the beast, they put prime importance on the needs of the human being and discard the Deity of Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus Christ, we want to make Him the prime source of what we need, and with that a day is coming, and we already see it today, when there will be economic difficulties. The basic human need of food will not be plentiful, as prophetically written here, “But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men.” Luke 9:13-14a.

We need to sit down in the presence of Jesus and be obedient to His word. The world is filled with turbulence in cities everywhere as multitudes protest in favor of and against the government of the mark of the beast. What we should be doing is sitting down with Jesus and living according to the teachings of the Bible. In that humility, Jesus Christ prepares us to be fed with the Bread of Life, the food of Salvation and eternal life. “Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” And they did so, and made them all sit down.” Luke 9:14b-15 Whereas humanism, empowered by the mark of the beast, only cares about human needs, Jesus Christ cares about the needs of the body and the soul. Our soul is fed by the Holy Spirit when we come to God through Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Jesus gives us the Bread of life for the soul and gives us meat for the body, “Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.” Luke 9:16

With Jesus, there is plenty for the body and soul. “So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.” Luke 9:17 With Jesus Christ, there is plenty of food for the soul and the body, which is very much different than what happens under the government of the mark of the beast, “So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” Revelation 6:5-6

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11