Question:
Did our Lord exercise creative power in feeding the multitude, or was everything He did accomplished through angelic assistance?
Answer:
There is repeated evidence that our Lord exercised creative power. There were undoubtedly times when He worked through angels, but the only authority they had was the command given to them. The Roman centurion said, “I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus sent His word and healed him. The poor, decaying, corrupt leper said, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” The cleansing of that leper required creative power—the absolute renewal of his entire being. Jesus touched him and said, “I will; be thou clean.”
At another time, a man sick with palsy came to Jesus, and Jesus said, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” The multitude murmured, saying that only God could forgive sins. However, in order to demonstrate that He had the power of God to forgive sins, Jesus said to the sick of the palsy, “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.” Creative power restored the man who was incurable due to the palsy.
It was not angels who declared, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” but Christ Himself; and it was not angels who healed the sick of the palsy, but Christ alone. The same was true when the multitude was fed. As the bread left the hands of the Master, it multiplied, continuing to do so in the hands of His disciples, all through His own power.
The only hope that a poor, sinful soul has lies in the creative power of the Lord Jesus Christ and in receiving His Word. This does not imply that He did not occasionally use angels—most likely, He did on various occasions. He does not do this because angels are necessary, but to create that blessed and divine cooperation which brings joy to other hearts as well as His own.
Similarly, He uses human beings. He could have simply told Paul, “Thy sins are forgiven thee. Arise and be baptized,” but He wanted Ananias to have a role in it. He also wanted His angel to participate, so He sent an angel to Ananias, who then informed Paul. Both Ananias and the angel were blessed in the work they did, but the power remained with Christ. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,”—literally, a new creation.
