Matthew 14 - Rejected scraps, Walking on water

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Rejecting Scripture kills the Word in your mind

Be careful what you reject spiritually. You kill what you reject.

If you reject the truth you will never be able to understand it.

Herod rejected John the Baptist and then killed him.

The Jews rejected the Messiah Who alone could save them, and then they killed Him.

Those Scriptures that you ignore because you do not understand them are far more important than you realize.

54-1219  DIVINE  HEALING

You don't have to nail Him to the cross; just deny Him; you crucify Him again.

They're doing the same thing today. You crucify Him.

MATTHEW 14:1   At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,

"Tetrarch" meant Herod was “ruler of a quarter” of Israel. He ruled Galilee and Perea as a client state of Rome. Perea was big but was generally desert and covered with rugged mountains. Herod was the son of King Herod the Great who tried to kill the two-year-old Jesus.

MATTHEW 14:2   And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

He thought he had gotten rid of John the Baptist, but a greater Man than John now appeared on the scene.

John was killed for condemning marriage after divorce

John the Baptist was killed because he condemned and opposed Herod's desire to divorce and remarry.

MATTHEW 14:3   For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

John the Baptist stood up for truth and got thrown into prison. He did not believe that a ruler had the right to disobey Scripture. John condemned what Herod had done. Unlike most of us, John was not scared to oppose the ruler.

MATTHEW 14:4   For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

Herod divorced his wife to marry his brother Philip’s ex-wife Herodias who had divorced Philip in order to marry Herod.

MATTHEW 14:5   And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

Herod wanted to kill John but was scared of the people who had realized that John was a prophet.

It was always dangerous to dare to reprimand and contradict an important leader. John the Baptist had been exceptionally brave.

MATTHEW 14:6   But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

The only New Testament birthday. Herod, living in adultery with his brother’s ex-wife, is impressed with a dancing girl. He foolishly offers her whatever she wants, though he later regrets making that offer.

What is God telling us about birthdays?

But both the foolish and the wise virgins (all the saved church Christians) are fast asleep, not listening.

MATTHEW 25:5   While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

Christians at the end time are simply unaware of what is actually happening. They just huddle complacently in their churches, convinced that they are right, despite all the differences in the churches.

Emotions are a dangerous guide.

The Bible never mentions drums. But modern churches depend on drumbeat music to whip up emotions and entertain church-goers.

Charmed by her sexy dancing Herod's emotions overrule his common sense.

MATTHEW 14:7   Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

That was a dumb move. She wanted John the Baptist dead. So, the only New Testament birthday is stained with the prophet’s blood.

MATTHEW 14:8   And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

This is a total disgrace.

The Bible never said to celebrate the birth of the Lord

We offer Jesus the 25^th December as His birthday, copied from the birthday of the Roman sun god that was started in AD 274 by the pagan Roman emperor Aurelian after he killed the Pope on 22^nd December. God must be deeply insulted. The only birthday in the New Testament is that of an adulterous murderer, fooled by a dancing girl. God is obviously not impressed with birthdays.

Paul said we must not be in bondage to any specific day of the year for Christian festivals.

GALATIANS 4:9   But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,

how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements,

whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Paul describes a specific day of the year as a weak and beggarly element.

GALATIANS 4:10    Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

A day, month, time, and year.

25^th day. 12^th month. Christmas time. Every year.

GALATIANS 4:11   I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

When we celebrate the unscriptural word Christmas (Christ’s mass, a Catholic mass introduced by Pope Julius I around AD 350 who shamelessly copied the sun god’s birthday and changed it to the Son of God's birthday) then Paul regards us as “waste of time Christians”.

Such Christians do not know God in a close relationship because He never asked us to do this, but God does know of them. Just like God knows of other pagans too.

MATTHEW 14:9   And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.

A prophet died to keep a dancing girl and her vicious, adulterous mother happy. What a disgrace.

MATTHEW 14:10   And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

About 9 years later Herod and his so-called wife Herodias were exiled to Gaul (France) in AD 39. They died at an unknown date at some unknown place in Gaul, leaving a miserable memory of their lives behind them.

MATTHEW 14:11   And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.

The daughter obeys the mother. A woman symbolizes a church as the true church is the Bride of Christ. This is a preview of the end-time Protestant daughter churches that will end up obeying the Roman Catholic mother church.

Typical Catholic doctrines: One man is the head of a church. God is a Trinity and thus has no name. Christmas. Good Friday. Easter Monday. Lent. Ash Wednesday. A man is the head of the church and is infallible. The Bible is not the Absolute.  What the church says is believed rather than what the Bible says. All these Catholic ideas have crept into various non-Catholic churches and message-churches.

John’s corpse represented the Jewish Old Testament nation. A complete body that awaited its head. The Jewish nation had been built up by their prophets who had brought them the Word of God. The Jewish body was now complete and all they had to do was accept their true Head, Jesus.

John the Baptist's ministry had been the neck stage of the Jewish nation.

MATTHEW 14:12   And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

The body of John was buried and thus kept separate from his head. This symbolized the Jews who would reject Jesus as their Head and cut Him off from the land of the living. This was the fatal mistake of the Jews, their rejection of the Messiah at the end of His First Coming.

This would also reflect in the 7^th or last church age when the church would reject Jesus as the revealed Word of God and Jesus would be pushed outside the church. Today's churches do not want to be strictly Scriptural because church leaders do not understand much of the Bible. The churches will continue with man-made opinions that cannot be proven just by using Bible verses. Instead of the Bible being the infallible Voice of God, a man becomes the infallible Voice of God. Each church follows its own elevated leader as they copy the unscriptural Roman Catholic example of a man being the head of the church. The Protestant daughters copying the example of the Roman Catholic mother church.

The King James Version of the Bible is now criticized as having mistakes and is condemned as no longer being the Absolute. The church is thus effectively cut off from its Head which is the revealed Word.

What makes it worse is the way that the people who insist on being strictly Scriptural are then condemned by the church-goers who flaunt their man-made ideas that do not reflect in the pages of the Bible.

We must understand why there were 12 baskets of scraps

12 baskets of rejected scraps of bread and meat were collected. Why 12?

MARK 8:19   When I brake the five loaves among five thousand,

how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?

They say unto him, Twelve.

MARK 8:21   And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?

We are in awe of feeding 5000 men from a schoolboy's lunch. Jesus put the emphasis on UNDERSTANDING why there were 12 baskets of rejected scraps left over.

To us, that is a detail. To Him, Who created that precise amount of extra bread, it was a deeply significant lesson that He was trying to teach.

Everything that Jesus did, always had a deeper meaning that we easily overlook in our ignorance.

MATTHEW 14:13   When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

Killing the prophet John the Baptist who had pointed out Jesus to the Jews as a Man walking amongst men, was to be expected. Mankind, inspired by the Devil, hated the Word of God brought by the prophet John. The next target would be to kill Jesus Himself. Religious systems do not want the true Word of God to interfere with their man-made systems that give the religious leaders the double benefit of much money as well as undisputed power over the people.

Killing the anointed prophet John was the equivalent of blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Then the Word of God stops speaking to you.

That event made Jesus leave the shores of Galilee on the left-hand side of the Sea of Galilee (where Herod lived) and sail across to the right-hand side which is more of a desert, [to where the green oval is on the map], just below the city of Bethsaida (which means house of the hunt). Both God and Satan are hunting for our souls.

We have to decide who we reject and who we accept.

Thus, Jesus moved away from Herod who lived in Galilee. When a person blasphemes the Holy Ghost then the Word will no longer speak to them, no longer give them a deeper revelation. The Word of God just separates from them.

Three years later, when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for a trial, Jesus refused to speak to Herod. The Word was silent.

Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost kills any deeper response that a person can try to get from the Bible. It just remains a closed Book.

LUKE 23:8   And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.

:9     Then he questioned with him in many words;

but he answered him nothing.

There was another weakness of Herod which afflicts many Christians.

His interest was in some spectacular miracle not in the deeper truths that Jesus taught.

Herod rejected John the Baptist and then found out later that the Word of God (Jesus) would never speak to him to reveal deeper secrets.

But Jesus was ever ready to speak to the sick and heal them.

MATTHEW 14:14   And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

A big multitude followed Him and as it drew on towards evening there was an impressive healing campaign. Many people follow God to get the benefits of His healing power.

But searching for deeper truth would be a better motive for serving God.

MATTHEW 14:15   And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

The place was remote. The time was late. There was nowhere to buy food for the crowd.

MATTHEW 14:16   But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

Jesus gives the disciples a commission. The disciples must give the people food.

This has a deeper meaning. The disciples were being trained to reveal the true Word of God to the people. That was the real food. The spiritual food.

Praying for His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said,

JOHN 17:20   Neither pray I for these alone,

but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

The disciples were the leaders of the church, through whom Jesus would start to spread the Gospel truth. This truth would be written down as the New Testament and be the guideline of the church through all seven church ages.

MATTHEW 14:17   And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

7 items of food symbolized the 7 church ages.

There were 7 items of food in a schoolboy’s lunch that symbolized the 7 church ages.

Bread speaks of doctrine, the Bread of Life.

Fish speaks of the underground church that undergoes fierce persecution. Fish are out of sight under the water, in order to survive. Rather like the underground church in Iran and China and other countries today.

The third church age started when Constantine stopped persecuting Christians but then forced the churches to accept the unscriptural Trinity at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.

Christians who rejected the Trinity were severely persecuted and many were killed. This opened the door to more and more unscriptural doctrines. Roman Catholics rose to power and dominated Europe in the Dark Ages which was mainly the fourth church age. They killed off tens of millions of dissenters. So, the third and fourth church ages were represented by the two fish that speak of the hidden Christians who struggled to survive. A modern expression would be that they had to move below the radar, like fish below the water surface.

MATTHEW 14:18   He said, Bring them hither to me.

In order to achieve the impossible, a person must take their inadequate means and place them in the hands of Jesus. He alone can perform the impossible.

MATTHEW 14:19   And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

If you want results, look up to Jesus and His will in Heaven.

The Will of God does not focus on our selfish needs.

His kingdom must get pre-eminence. Not our will. Not our short-term needs.

MATTHEW 6:10   Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

What happens on earth can only be blessed if it reflects God’s will in Heaven.

MATTHEW 6:33   But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We must first seek God’s Kingdom in our day, which is the revelation of the Bible mysteries at the end time.

DANIEL 12:9   And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

We are at the end time when God wants to reveal the mysteries in the Bible's symbols.

We do not know what God wants from us, thus we should leave Him to supply us with what we need for His Kingdom. That is better than us just pursuing our own selfish ambitions and our personal opinions.

True spiritual food can only come from the hands of Jesus. The disciples took the food from Jesus and gave it to the people.

Later on, disciples received the inspiration of the Word from Jesus wrote It down as the Word of God called the New Testament. Thus, they gave us the Scriptures that Jesus alone can reveal to us as He breaks the bread of Scripture in a way that we can understand the mysteries of the Bible. The disciples wrote down the truth but Jesus alone can help us to understand that truth. Jesus would send a messenger to help and guide each church age.

ECCLESIASTES 11:2   Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

Each of the 7 messengers had a portion for their church age.

Eight men were given the responsibility of writing their portion of the New Testament.

Matthew. Mark. Luke, who also wrote Acts. John. Paul. James. Peter. Jude.

When the enemy comes in

MICAH 5:5  ... then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

The 8 principal men are those who wrote the New Testament that is our Absolute. The 7 shepherds are the messengers who guided each age back to Scripture as best they could.

The miraculously multiplying food went from Jesus to the disciples to the people. There was enough food for everyone. Today we can only hear from Jesus through the written Word of Scripture that they wrote, which has come down to us.

MATTHEW 14:20   And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

The Jews ate until they felt full, then they rejected and threw aside the rest of the bread and fish. This symbolized the Jews who would reject the Gospel of Jesus, thanks to the influence of their leaders. Bread will always symbolize the Word of God.

The disciples gathered up this rejected food. These 12 baskets of rejected scraps symbolized that the Bible truths that the Jews rejected would be stored up as the New Testament and finally given to the 144000 Jews from the 12 tribes of Israel in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

MATTHEW 14:21   And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Feeding the 5000 is the only miracle recorded in all 4 Gospels that He performed before He died.

Bread and meat symbolize the Gospel. This miracle symbolizes the preaching of the Gospel and the final rejection of the Truth as the Jews ate what suited them and discarded what they felt they did not need. That is also a symbol of the 7^th church age where the final mysteries of the Scripture, instead of being revealed to the church, will be rejected by the church of the Laodiceans who make up their own beliefs. They will keep rejecting Scripture until Jesus, as the revealed Word, stands outside the church. This is a sign of the end.

Peter tries to walk on water

MATTHEW 14:22   And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

Big crowds are not always a success story. Jesus sent them away.

It will only be a dedicated few who remain faithful to the revealed Word.

MATTHEW 7:14   Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The end will come quickly and unexpectedly. Straightway. God will act decisively and suddenly. The disciples are constrained or forced into the confined space of the ship. God expects His disciples to remain within the strict limitations of His Word. We must only interpret Scripture in terms of other Scriptures.

“Go before Him to the other side”.

They were going to cross over the Sea of Galilee back to the left-hand shore.

The final cross-over is when the seven Thunders utter to reveal how the Bride can cross-over from time to eternity.

Cross over out of these bodies into our new immortal bodies and thus receive rapturing faith. We must do this before Jesus returns.

That is why the Angel of Revelation 10 comes down to perform the resurrection of the dead and then declares that there is time no longer.

REVELATION 10:6   ... that there should be time no longer:

64-0119 SHALOM

... then, "time shall be no more."

When that Angel, of Revelation the 10th chapter,

puts one foot on land and one on the sea, and a rainbow over His head, He swore, "time shall be no more."

When that time comes, you'll rise up from among the dead.

While the rest of them lay there, you'll go in.

John’s Gospel says that the disciples aimed for Capernaum (shown by the black arrow) but the wind blew them off course (shown by the red arrow) into the middle of the sea of Galilee. (Where the black dot is in the next diagram).

Capernaum means the village of consolation that is protected by being sorry. But Capernaum, having seen all those miracles of Jesus, instead of being repentant and sorry for their sins preferred to reject Him. Thus, Capernaum was not a suitable destination. No church, however much supernatural has been performed by them, is going to be part of the rapture or catching up of the church, if they reject the revealing of the hidden mysteries of Scripture.

JOHN 6:16   And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,

Evening time. This is the last light before the 7th church age fades out into the night of the Tribulation.

JOHN 6:17   And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.

JOHN 6:18   And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

Jesus was not with them. They headed for the obvious closest city, Capernaum, where they could get a place to sleep for the night. Convenience is not always the right goal. God used a violent wind to get them to change direction.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that swept the world in 2020 was a violent interruption of our lives as God attempted to get us to change the smug complacency of our ways of thinking.

The storm drove the disciples into the middle of the sea, (where the black dot is on the above map), where Jesus was to meet them.

MATTHEW 14:23   And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

Jesus first sent the crowds away. Crowds have a herd instinct and end up being dominated by a one-man leader. People in a crowd very seldom think for themselves, they just follow the leader as that is the easiest option.

MATTHEW 14:24   But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

The wind was against them because they wanted to go to Capernaum to get some sleep. What we want and what God wants are two different things. So big waves were needed to push them to where God wanted them.

Adversity does us more good than comfort and convenience.

Adversity is a sign that God is still interested in us and is pushing us into the right position.

MATTHEW 14:25   And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

The night started at 1800 hours. (6 o'clock in the evening)

There were four 3-hour watches.  The first watch from 1800 – 2100.

Second watch from 2100 – 2400 (midnight).

Third watch from 0000 – 0300.

And then the fourth watch from 0300 – 0600. The men were tired as they had battled the storm all night and had been swept off their chosen course. We humans cannot get to where God wants us to be if we rely on our own strength and skills.

This symbolizes the fourth Seal where the Eagle-beast is to reveal the Bible mysteries so that the 7^th church age can be restored to the beliefs of the first church age.

MATTHEW 14:26   And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

Then the impossible happened. A Man walking on water amidst these huge waves. They were dead scared and imagined the worst.

This is a warning to us. In the end-time, world events are going to get scary. The 7 Thunders, whatever they are, will stagger us. The end-time supernatural will be very different from anything that we could imagine.

MATTHEW 14:27   But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

Jesus was His usual more-than-competent Self. Different though things were, He had everything under His control. The disciples had to learn to trust Him when they could no longer trust themselves.

"It is I". Jesus now revealed Himself to them. They saw Jesus as a Man.

We have to see Jesus in the revealed Word as He walks through the pages of the Bible. Then we must follow that revelation through the Scripture.

MATTHEW 14:28   And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

Peter was exceptionally brave. He believed that Jesus could enable him to walk on water too. However impossible that seemed.

At this dangerous moment when drowning was a distinct possibility, Peter was prepared to leave the safety of the group in the boat.

Are we prepared to leave the safety of our church group to go to the revealed Word?

One word sustained Peter. He believed that Jesus was the Lord. If Jesus is Lord God Almighty then He can do anything for us.

MATTHEW 14:29   And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

Jesus said one word, “Come”. As long as we come to Jesus, the revealed Word, then we can also achieve the impossible.

The full focus of Peter was on Jesus. No man stood between Peter and Jesus.

Then Peter made a serious mistake.

He took his eyes off Jesus and looked at his surroundings, the huge boisterous waves that threatened him.

The circumstances were disastrous. Alone on a wind-swept sea. This was insanity! He sank.

MATTHEW 14:30   But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

In his dangerous despair, one word saved him. Lord.

Jesus is Lord God Almighty.

COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

We lose sight that the entire Godhead is in Jesus bodily.

We are fooled into elevating brother Branham into the Godhead as the Absolute and infallible Son of man and Voice of God.

Then we sink in a morass of man-made misinterpreted quotes and can no longer find our beliefs in Scripture.

We forget that the first church age never believed that the seventh messenger was God in the flesh. They just believed that he was a star in the right hand of Jesus Christ, just like the other six messengers.

So promoting brother Branham to the Godhead takes our eyes off Jesus as the one and only God, and thus we sink in a raging storm of contradicting opinions where there are 45000 other kinds of churches with all their homemade beliefs as well.

What will save us? Only if we recognize Jesus alone as our one and only Lord.

Jesus is the Lord God Almighty.

REVELATION 1:8    I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

The God that we took from that sacred Book.

The revelation of Jesus as He walks through the pages of the Bible.

MATTHEW 14:31   And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Doubt is when we look for truth outside the pages of the Bible. The quotes were meant to explain the Bible mysteries to us, not to replace the Bible verses.

Your faith in the revealed Scripture is what saves you from sinking into unbelief. Unbelief is anything different from what is written in Scripture.

REVELATION 4:2   And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

REVELATION 4:6   and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

:7   And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man,

and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

The Eagle-beast is the fourth beast around the throne, symbolized by the fourth watch of the night.

The incredible Eagle eyesight symbolizes the very deep spiritual insight that reveals the mysteries of the Word which, when understood, is the strong arm of the Lord that saves us from drowning in human opinions and church errors. Nothing is stronger than the revealed Word.

The moon symbolizes the church as it reflects the sunlight to the earth that is in darkness. The moon has no light of its own. The church does not have its own opinions. It just reflects what the Bible says.

The first man on the moon was Armstrong (symbolizing the strong arm of the Lord) and he landed in a rocket called Eagle.

God was trying to tell us something.

MATTHEW 14:32And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

Once they had accepted Jesus into the ship, all the difficulties ceased.

MATTHEW 14:33Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Realizing that Jesus as a Man was the Son of God caused them to worship Him, as Jesus alone can occupy that position. Humans must only worship God.

Why was this Man Jesus actually God?

Because of the fulness of God’s Spirit dwelling in Him.

COLOSSIANS 2:9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Only with Jesus in the boat can they cross the sea

MATTHEW 14:34      And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

Only when Jesus was in the boat were they able to cross over the Sea of Galilee to reach the other side.

Cross-over.

The Jews were going to reject the Gospel in the same way that they had rejected 12 baskets full of scraps.

The image of the Gentile kingdoms that Nebuchadnezzar saw showed that they were outside God’s salvation plan. There is no life in the metals that represented them.

But then at the cross, salvation would cross over from the Gospel-rejecting Jews to the Gentiles.

The feet of the Gentile image represented the 7 church ages.

The clay in the feet represented life. Seeds can grow in clay soil.

The Seed of God’s Word germinated into Life as the Spirit of Christ entered repentant Gentile hearts.

Gennesaret means Garden of the Prince.

For rich soil, beauty, and fertility it is called the Paradise of Galilee. These are lovely representations of eternal life.

Symbolizing Jesus and His Bride ruling on earth for 1000 years of peace.

MATTHEW 14:35   And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;

Once people gain true knowledge of Christ they long to spread that knowledge to others. The diseased are disadvantaged. The Gospel appeals to those who struggle against adversity.

Adversity is the crucible of future greatness in the new Kingdom.

MATTHEW 14:36   And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.

Any touch from Jesus transforms a person.

Making them whole means restoring them to their original state.

In the 7^th church age, God wants to restore the church back to the original beliefs of the first church age.

Then the resurrection will happen and the whole Bride from all seven ages will be on earth, in their perfect immortal bodies, just before the Lord returns.