TURNING STONES TO BREAD
Matthew 4: 1- 3
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Matthew 7: 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Jesus did not turn the stones into bread.
“TURNING STONES TO BREAD”
- Bread From the Father.
- The Stones of Life
- Turn Your Stones into Bread
- Bread When The Stone Turned
In His Sermon on the Mount, the child in Jesus’ example asked his father for bread, which is something that is right, good and necessary. And we would expect a loving father to give what is right, good and necessary to his child.
I. BREAD FROM THE FATHER
It is the Father’s pleasure to always provide bread for His children.
- bread in the Garden of Eden.
- bread from heaven for God’s people in the wilderness.
- bread by ravens to Elijah at the brook.
- bread for the widow of Zarephath.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “give us today our daily bread.”
BREAD – is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water. It is more than a universal FOOD.
It also means SUSTENANCE – “our daily bread”
And also means LIVELIHOOD – “earns his bread as a laborer”
slang : MONEY
The Hebrew word for bread is “lechem” (לָ֫חֶם).
Bethlehem – or Beit Lechem, meaning “House of Bread”
Genesis 3:19. There, the LORD is explaining the consequences of “the fall” to Adam. He says, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
God lets man know that he will live by bread until his death. It is only a temporary source of life for him.
Bread is mentioned at least 492 times in the Bible beginning in Genesis and continuing right through Revelation with a variety of uses and symbolism.
A. BREAD AND ITS USE IN THE BIBLE:
- Bread and Hospitality
Relationships develop when we care for one another. Hospitality focus on serving and caring for another person.
Abraham not only offered bread, but he instructed his wife to use the finest flour to make the bread [Genesis 18:6]. He offered his guests the best food.
David chose to honor the memory of his dear friend Jonathan with continual hospitality to his son Mephibosheth. In 1 Samuel 9:7 David said he would show him kindness and Mephibosheth would eat at his table continually.
Part of the hospitality is spending time with the individuals. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. [Hebrews 13:2]. Relaxing at meals with bread inspires conversation and sharing what’s important, including our faith.
- Manna and the Bread of Presence
When God guided the Israelites through the wilderness, He gave them bread daily in the form of manna. That showed them He was continually with them and providing for their needs.
When the raining down of manna from heaven ended God instructed Moses to preserve an omer of manna in a jar [Exodus 16:33].
God also had commanded the priests to always keep twelve loaves of bread on the golden table. This display served to remind people of God’s presence.
- Grain Offerings and Sacrifices
God commanded that the priests make sacrifices and offerings for the people. These included grain offerings as described in Leviticus chapters two and six. Oil and incense accompanied the grain the priest lifted up. They also prepared cakes of grain and oil and offer them up in chunks on the altar.
Bread was used for hospitality, as bread of presence and sacrifices.
B. BREAD AND ITS SYMBOLS
- Bread Symbolizes God’s Provision and Survival.
God provided daily manna to sustain the Israelites as they wandered in the desert. He did this because He provides for His children and their survival depended on it.
We still depend on God for our sustenance. He allows the crops to grow and gives us everything else we need to live this side of heaven.
- Bread Symbolizes Life and Salvation.
The Israelites had to leave Egypt without having time to allow their dough to rise. Bread symbolizes God saving His children from Egyptian slavery.
The Holy Communion.
The broken bread symbolizes His broken body on the cross. He died for us! Communion is a small way that we can tangibly remember this incredible act that changed history and us.
- Bread Symbolizes Fellowship.
Bread draws us together in fellowship. Abraham used bread for hospitality when he shared bread with his three visitors [Genesis 18] and enjoyed bread serve to him by Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-24).
Jewish tradition includes breaking bread at the beginning of a meal with the words “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth.”
- Bread Symbolizes Covenant Relationship.
The grain offerings and the bread on the altar in the Old Testament were part of the covenant symbols between God and the Israelites.
Jesus, when he broke bread and shared wine at the Last Supper, said, “This is the new covenant…” (Luke 22:20). In the Bible, faith, bread, and relationship are all connected.
Bread symbolizes provision and survival, life and salvation, fellowship and covenant relationship. It is also an element of personal pleasure and satisfaction. But a stone is the opposite; it has no excitement or stimulation.
II. THE ‘STONES’ OF LIFE
The bible talks about stones and different kinds of stones. And they represent the kind of life we are in.
There are precious stones or gems but some stones are ordinary and are just trodden by foot of men. There are stones that cause us to stumble and fall. There are grounds that are stony which prevent the roots from going deeper and wither the plants.
What makes life’s stones?
– Draining emotions.
Life can make you scream, cry, or rage as much as it makes you laugh or smile.
Life can be full of inexplicable beauty and indescribable joy, but it can also hold extremely difficult and emotionally draining things like grief, loss, rage, hate, regret, sadness, and feelings that make life hard to get through.
– Unfairness and discrimination.
Rich vs poor
Stone instead of gem
Accusations instead of appreciation
– Counterfeits.
‘Mock’ bread.
This referred to a round, flat stone one could find on the shore that resembled round, flat bread.
According to Spurgeon: “There were many stones in those days that were in appearance wonderful like the bread which they used in the East; but would any father mock his son by giving him one of those stones to break his teeth on, instead of bread that he could eat? Never.”
God will give us the real thing. But sometimes we are quite satisfied with the imitations. We are prone to being deceived.
“The real makes, the imitation breaks”.
It is dangerous when you fall into serious counterfeits.
Eg.
– Being involved with a person which looks fine but not the will of God for you.
– Or having a seemingly good paying job but is affecting your spiritual life.
Life has many counterfeits. We always thought what we have is real and we set our hearts into it and we only get hurt.
– Upside downs.
Your bread can turn into stone because of disobedience and sin.
We have the tendency to turn God’s forgiveness, salvation, covenant and relationship with us into nothing. We go back to sinning and we take God’s covenant and relationship with us lightly. In the end we lose because life becomes worse.
Hebrews 6:4-6 warns, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance.”
Do not allow sin and disobedience turn your bread into stone. Have a change of heart. Repent!
The difficult situations, unfairness and discrimination, counterfeits, disobedience and sin can bring misery. They can put our feet on stony ground and prevent us from growing and from blessedness. But miseries can still be turned into bread.
III. TURN YOUR STONES INTO BREAD
We want to do everything to avoid or escape the hard stuff. Often we are ready to go to any length just to get on the good side of life, where it’s all a bed of roses with the glitter of prosperity and the pamper of comfort.
And yet, one of the effective places where God fashions and builds his men and women is upon the stones of life and not the soft pillows we tenaciously cling to.
The “stones” of life that God delivers to us shape, sharpen and strengthen us to grow up and mature in our faith.
These “stones” may not deliver us over to our perception of the good life, but they will pave the way that leads to living the godly life when you know whom to turn to, and that is the only life worth living.
Sometimes the only way to see the stones of life better than bread for that moment is to see life from God’s perspective and live in the light of eternity. The key to unlocking the door to understanding this truth is in seeing our God as a loving Father who knows what is best for us.
IV. BREAD THROUGH A TURNED STONE
Jesus did not turn the stones to bread but He gave Bread.
Matthew and Mark include two miracles of the same kind. The feeding of 5,000 and 4,000.
The feeding of the 5,000 took place near Bethsaida, close to the Sea of Galilee. In contrast, the feeding of the 4,000 took place in the region of the Gerasenes, in the region around the Decapolis.
In the first miracle, Jesus takes five loves and feeds five thousand, which is reminiscent of the five books of the Jewish Law. Not only that, but when everyone had finished eating, twelve baskets of left-overs were collected, which was probably alluding to the twelve tribes of Israel and certainly the twelve disciples.
In the second miracle, seven loaves are used and seven baskets are collected. The number seven is symbolic of completeness and the number seven is reminiscent of the seven days of creation when God created all humanity.
In these miracles, Jesus feeds them with miraculous bread in preparation for the day when He would have His own body broken like bread upon the cross, offering spiritual and eternal nourishment to all who would call upon His name and place their faith and trust in Him.
Jesus did not turn the stones to bread but He gave his body as Bread. Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” He is saying that ultimately, he can satisfy our deepest needs and longings. He can make us “full” and overflowing with blessing.
But before we can receive the bread – the fullness of His blessing, the stone has to be moved.
So when Jesus rose from the dead on the 3rd day, the stone of His tomb was removed.
The stone was turned aside, rolled away, so we can have a taste of life and its fullness which is the Bread that gives Life. The resurrection of Jesus moved the stone to produce the life-giving bread. This bread will not only give eternal life but a new kind of living.
Both the cross and the resurrection can turn our stones to bread. All you need to do is to come to the cross or go back to the cross where His body, the Bread of Life, was broken and allow Him to turn your life around.
CONCLUSION:
Our Heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts to His children and He gives us our daily bread. But because we are fallen human beings, we are stormed with the stones of life. Stones within like rage, hatred and worries and stones thrown against us, we are disliked or discriminated. Sometimes the only bread that we have can even be turned to stones because of sin and disobedience.
Jesus experienced storms of stones throughout his life, too. Stones of infirmities, loneliness, sorrows, burdens of life, insults, shame though He did not sin. And the worst of all stones are the nails, thorns and the cross that brought His death.
But on the 3rd day he turned the heaviest stone – death, into life when He rose from the dead. He removed the stone from His grave and He can turn and change your life.
If you know there is nothing you can do to turn your life around, Jesus says, “come to me”.
He said, “I am the Bread of Life. He offers you bread and new life. Allow him to move in your life. Let him turn those stones into bread.
