By C. Eldon McNabb

And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, ‘Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.’ And she answered and said unto him, ‘Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.’ And he said unto her, ‘For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.’ And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed." (Mark 7:24-30)

This is a somewhat perplexing passage in the Holy Scriptures. On the one hand, we can rejoice in the deliverance of the young lady from the unclean spirit. Yet, it seems, to some people, to put Jesus in a bad light as a bigoted person. Jesus would definitely be "politically incorrect" on almost any subject in our society today. We must remember, however that Jesus claimed that He did only what God gave Him to do, and said only the things which God gave Him to say. (John 8:28) We must know, then, that this miracle and the exchange of words all happened for the furtherance of the purposes of God, and for our understanding of God’s plan for mankind.

The ministry of Jesus Christ was carried out for the redemption of all who would accept Him, as well as to perform certain prophetic works among both Jews and Gentiles. But, in Matthew’s account of this event (Matt. 15:21-28), Jesus explained, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." God is, therefore, using this event concerning this Greek woman, in what amounts to a New Testament allegory, to help reveal to us a little of how His work would develop over the two thousand years or so of the age of "Grace and Truth." That work was to begin with His visitation (Luke 19:44) to the Jews and ultimately conclude with another visitation among the Gentiles. That visitation will be far more glorious than the one which was mentioned by Peter and James, the Lord’s brother, in Acts 15. (See Hag. 2:6-9)

The details of Jesus’ future work among the Gentiles is further expressed in another N. T. allegory in John chapter 6. In this amazing event, Jesus took five loaves and two small fishes and fed 5000 men, not counting the women and children who were there. That, in itself, was amazing, but Jesus took the miracle even further, and it is in that further part of the miracle which we more perfectly comprehend His prophetic intent. He said, "Gather up the fragments (crumbs) that remain, that nothing be lost." (Should we think that He is merely trying to be frugal? He certainly wasn’t frugal when it came time for Him to be anointed for burial. In that case, He simply gave the people to understand that the poor could wait, because it was necessary for Him to fulfill prophecy right then.)

Consider that miraculous "gathering of the fragments" related in verse 13, "Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten." If this gesture by Jesus was not for the sake of the people, then for what? It is revealed in the statement, "That nothing be lost."

Farther down, in John 6:25-63, Jesus even more fully showed that the miracle was not about natural bread. When many of the multitude followed Him to Capernaum, "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat (food) which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."

Note especially verses 37-39. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

God gave to Jesus those twelve apostles, whose labors turned the world upside down and still influence the activities of men around the world unto this day. However, all of them and their work have now vanished from the earth. They died for the testimony which they had, and later the Church went into apostasy as "grievous wolves entered in among them, not sparing the flock" (Acts 28:29-31; Jude 3,4)

By the end of the first century a.d., It looked as if all that God had given to Jesus had been lost, but He reassured us, in John 6:39, that He had every intention of "raising it up again at the last day." It is obvious that He is not speaking of the resurrection as some suppose. Besides, it is verse 40 which deals more with that point.

The twelve apostles of Jesus Christ distributed those five loaves and two fishes at the word of Jesus, and at His word they took up the fragments. Even as there were 12 loaves of "showbread" on the table in Moses’ day, Jesus gave bread to his twelve. The five loaves and two fish represent the five gifts of the ministry which Jesus later gave to them by the Holy Spirit, and the ministerial degrees of Bishop and Deacon. When they took up twelve baskets full of the crumbs they revealed that God intends to once again raise up among His people twelve apostles with a ministry of all five of the gifts which Paul listed in his epistle to the Ephesians.

In another such allegorical miracle (Matt. 15:36-39), Jesus similarly took seven loaves and fed 4000 men and they took up seven baskets full of the "broken meat." This miraculous allegory, together with the allegories of Samson’s "seven locks of hair" and Job’s "seven sons" prophesy of the seven whom the twelve apostles ordained in Acts 6:1-7, and their counterparts who will be ordained of God to those offices just prior to the return of our Lord.

In God’s Church, when He shall have "raised it up again," the offices of The Twelve, The Seventy (Luke 10:1-17) and The Seven, shall once again be filled by righteous Bishops and Deacons. Those offices will not be filled by Jewish men of God this time, but rather by mighty Gentile Apostles and Prophets. That is partly what the Apostle Paul was telling us in Rom. 2:6-11. He said, "(God) will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: ... To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God."

The Syrophenician woman did not take offence at the seeming insult with which Jesus had addressed her. She was not there for herself, but for her daughter. She wisely replied in such a way as to obtain the favor of the one whom she thought could help. She said, "Yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs." And "For this saying", Jesus delivered her daughter, and used her words to prophesy.

When God’s New Testament "Temple" is built again, it will be a group of Gentile believers who the Jews, then and now, consider unclean – dogs. The "Lion" is dead and the "Dog" is much alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. Well did the prophet say, "Better is a living dog than a dead lion." However, when "the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, the restoration of the Jews shall be accomplished. And of that Paul said, "what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?"

Those twelve baskets full of (crumbs), which Jesus’ twelve apostles took up, represent twelve Gentile apostles of which God also foretold in the promise and blessing to Ishmael in Gen. 17:15-21. "As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." (See Matt. 21:43)

With those twelve Gentile apostles and the unity of the faith which they shall foster, God shall manifest himself to this generation. Then those twelve apostles which Jesus ordained while he was here shall be resurrected, and together with the twelve Gentile apostles which are changed, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," shall all rule the world with Jesus Christ, as His "four and twenty elders," for a thousand years.

The government of God in heaven is extensively described in The Revelation of Jesus Christ. If we will prayerfully consider that description, we can better understand some of the things which Jesus said while He was here. For instance, in Matt. 19:27,28, Jesus made a very interesting promise to His Twelve Apostles. He said, "Ye that have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Apparently the Twelve Gentile Apostles shall judge the Gentiles during that time.

In Rev. 3:21, Jesus showed that His throne will be a copy of His father’s throne in heaven. Unto this end Jesus said, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Unto which prayer I heartily say AMEN!