Manna Lessons

Good morning, everyone. Blessings to each one. Thank you for this time of worship. It's a real blessing and a gift from the Lord. And hopefully that something can come out of the message that will encourage you and strengthen you and draw you closer to our Lord.

I would like to talk about manna blessings, or manna lessons, I should say. How many of you have ever eaten manna?

Are you sure?

Maybe till the end of the message you maybe will be able to say that you have eaten some manna.

At the outstart here, I want to read three different passages. One from Exodus, of course. That's the very familiar account of the manna that was given to the children of Israel. And then a passage in Psalm 78, and then a passage in the Gospel of John, chapter 6.

So I'm going to read the whole chapter of Exodus, 36 verses.

Chapter 16 of Exodus. And they journeyed from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in that land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread down from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, "At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we that you complain against us?"

And Moses said, "This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning bread to the full. For the Lord hears your complaints which you make against him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Lord." Then Moses spoke to Aaron, "Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, come near before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints."

Now it came to pass as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'" So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground.

So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for each person according to the number of persons. Let each man take for those who are in his tent." Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need.

And Moses said, "Let no one leave any of it till morning, notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, "This is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil, and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning."

So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, "Eat that today, for tomorrow I'm sorry. Then Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field.

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day the Sabbath there will be none." Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep my commands, commandments, and my laws?

See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day, and the house of Israel called its name manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Then Moses said, "This is the thing which the Lord has commanded.

Fill an omer with it to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt." And Moses said to Aaron, "Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations." As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept. And the children of Israel ate manna 40 years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is one-tenth of an epha.

Before we go to Psalm 78, an efa is 50 pounds. An omer is 5 pounds.

So for each person every day, they were together 5 pounds for each person. But if you had four people in your household, while you gathered 20 pounds, so that every person had 5 pounds of manna.

It says there in verse 36, "Now an omer is one-tenth of an epha." And that's exactly right. 50 pounds, one-tenth of that is 5. And that's what they were supposed to gather. No more than that and no less.

All right. Let's go to Psalm 78,

verse 17 to 33.

The context here is God's kindness to rebellious Israel. And we know as far as the water, how that was miraculously given as well. But verse 17 says, "But they sinned even more against him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for food of their fancy.

Yes, they spoke against God. They said, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?' Behold, he struck the rocks so that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he provide meat for his people? Therefore, the Lord heard this and was furious. So a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation. Yet he had commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them of the bread of heaven.

Men ate angels' food. He sent them food to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power, he brought in the south wind. He also rained meat on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sands of the sea.

And he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings, so they ate and were well-filled. For he gave them their own desire. They were not deprived of their craving. But while their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came against them and slew the stoutest of them and struck down the choice men of Israel. In spite of this, they still sinned and did not believe in his wondrous works. Therefore, their days he consumed in futility and their years in fear."

The Gospel of John, chapter 6.

I'm sure you're all very familiar with this chapter and what it talks about. I'll read verse 35, and then I'll go to verse 41 through 59.

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." Verse 41. The Jews then complained about him because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God.

Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Assuredly, most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.

This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead, he who eats this bread will live forever." These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.

Who can tell me the meaning of manna? What's the meaning of manna?

What is it? That's the meaning of manna. What is it? What is it? They said that themselves. The Israelites did.

As we looked there in John, we know that Jesus is our manna today.

And it was said of him what Israel said of the manna. What is it? What manner of man is this? Who can this be? The word manner has whatever of what possible sort is this man?

Matthew 8:27 says,

it was after the disciples were in the boat and the storm came up, and Jesus was there sleeping. And they went and woke him up and said, "Lord, do something. Save us. We are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you fearful, or you have little faith?" Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And here's what they say.

So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him?"

Just exactly what the children of Israel said about the manna. What is it? What is it?

And then in John 7:36 sort of says the same thing.

It's talking about do I have the right thing here? John 7:36 talks about the Jews said among, "Where does he intend to go that we shall not find him? Does he intend to go to dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What is this thing that he said, 'You will seek me and not find me, and where I am, you cannot come'?"

They did not accept him. Who is this person? What is it? What is it? What kind of a person is he?

You know, when it says that the children of Israel were to gather the manna every day, it reminds us of what? Prayer.

Give us this day our daily bread.

That's how, I mean, they were supposed to gather this manna every day, every morning. And that's what Jesus was saying in his prayer there that, yeah, we need to do the same thing. Ask for the manna of Christ every day. Now, I know it's talking about our natural bread in the prayer, but also thinking of Christ as our manna.

We need to remember that the children of Israel were in a desert.

And they were a number of several hundred thousand to possibly a million people. But after seeing God miraculously delivering them from Egypt and the miracle of God parting the Red Sea and walking across on dry land, they spoke against God and said what?

In Psalm 78, "Can God prepare a table in this wilderness?"

I know the older King James says, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" The word furnish means to set in a row or put in order. And probably a lot of you are going to be doing that on Thursday.

Thanksgiving Day, you're going to be setting your tables in order, you know, in a nice row for everybody that's going to come and share Thanksgiving with you.

Really, the question that they asked there or said was a rhetorical question.

To me, what they are saying is God cannot prepare a table in the wilderness. That's what they were saying, really. They asked this rhetorical question as to, "Can God, you know, do this?" Really, they were saying, "No, you can't do it, God.

There's just no way you can do it." I mean, come on, God, there's no water out here and for sure no food. I mean, God, look at the reality. Look at reality. Even if there were some animals to kill, there wouldn't be near enough for all of us, even if there was something out there to provide food.

But you know, I am really, really amazed at God's mercy.

Instead of if you followed along there in Exodus there, I don't know, maybe if I was maybe I shouldn't if I was God, I'm not sure what I'd have done.

Anyway, he was very merciful, and he just immediately said, "Well, I'll provide for something for you. I'll give you something." He mercifully proved that he indeed can prepare a table in the wilderness.

You know, the Christian life does not guarantee a wilderness-free life.

Fact is, Jesus made it very clear that you will have some wilderness experiences. Every one of you, everyone that names the name of Christ, you will have some wilderness experiences.

And we need to believe that they are for our good and well-being.

Without them, we would, I think, become very weak Christians.

Because those types of experiences, those types of wilderness experiences help us to grow.

It helps us to grow.

Testing, you know, teachers give their students tests. Why?

To help them get a hold of what they are teaching them. It helps the student then when he takes a test to really think about what the teacher had taught them. And so may we never say to God, "Can you prepare a table in the midst of this wilderness experience I am going through?" Please do not question God whenever he takes you through a wilderness experience.

The children of Israel didn't realize it, but that's what he was doing with them, was testing them and trying to make their lives much better.

One of the main wilderness experiences I believe that Christians go through is discouragement. I think that's there's other wilderness experiences as well, but discouragement is one that really affects, I think, all of us at times, some more than others, maybe.

You know, things can look quite bleak. Are we convinced that God can provide us with the needed resources to take us through this wilderness? He has an unlimited amount of manna to meet our need.

Well, let's see if we can learn some lessons and truths about God from this account of manna. This manna was a miraculous gift, but we have been given a far greater gift of manna in Christ. In Christ. Let's never forget that. Let's never forget that.

I have six things listed as far as some lessons we can learn from this account. Number one is we can learn his care over them and us. You know, God cared for each one of those million individuals. It says each person, each person had his own omer of manna.

To me, that's amazing.

All at once, every person's taken care of. You know, God cares for every one of you sitting here today in a personal way.

He could very easily relate to every one of those million people individually. I don't know how many is here today, probably 150 of you, of us. And he cares deeply in a personal way to you.

And I think that account just proves how much God cares for each one of us personally.

How often does God show us this care? Every now and then?

Well, you see these signs open 24/7. That's exactly the way it is with God. He shows his care 24/7. God told Todd Israel that his care was specific to their need. They wanted bread. They wanted something to eat. And so he specifically met that need. It's the same with us. You know, it's not a smorgasbord type thing.

Help yourself to what you think you may help you on, you know. God doesn't do it that way. He doesn't lay out a smorgasbord up here, but he specifically meets every one of your needs, exactly what you need. Because you don't know what you might need off of that smorgasbord to help your problem.

No, it's specific to our need. That's how much he cares about you. That's how much he loves you and wants to make you more of a follower of him.

Number two, God showed them his greatness. And this is another lesson we can learn from this manna. God showed them his greatness. He taught them his greatness by the quantity of the manna.

God's inventory of manna never ran out. Did you notice that? For 40 years. Now, I did try to do some figure in here.

And my calculator almost didn't handle the last one. But anyway, we're using the one million people that would be that was there. That would be five million pounds per day. At five pounds per person, if there's a million people, that's five million pounds per day.

It would be 1 billion 825 million pounds per year. And then my calculator didn't know for sure what to do, almost. But I came up with 73 billion pounds in 40 years.

I don't know if that means anything or not to you. But it tells me something. It tells me that God's inventory of what you need, specifically need, is limitless. There's no limit to what he can do. The quantity of God's resources has no ending. And I ask myself, do I believe that? And I'll ask you, do you believe that this morning, that his resources have no ending? Is Jesus enough to bring salvation to the billions of people that have lived on this earth? Was he enough for every person that ever lived and will live yet?

So God showed them his greatness. And along with that, number three, God showed his liberality combined with his greatness. Isaiah 55:1 says, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him."

Yeah, he doesn't keep a little bit for himself. He just liberally shares with our need.

Number four lesson we can learn is that God showed them his immutability. That means God cannot and will not change.

Malachi 3:6 says, "For I am the Lord; I do not change."

Israel could count on there being manna on the ground every day for 40 years. God said that's what he was going to do. And since he cannot change, that's exactly what happened for 40 years. And we can rest assured that God will meet our needs every day for however many years he gives us on this earth.

Again, do I believe that? Do you believe that?

Jehovah lives. His eye is not dim. His ear is not heavy. His arm is not short.

Amen. Yeah, he cannot and will not change.

And that story there in Exodus just is continuing continued proof of that.

Okay.

The fifth thing is God showed them his wisdom. It's another lesson that he gave. He showed them his wisdom.

Without them realizing it, he had given them the best food that he could give them.

In that hot climate of the desert, if they had eaten meat continually, they would often have been sick. God had adapted their food to their position in the wilderness. No doctor could have drawn up a dietary table that was equal in wisdom to the one prepared by God for his people while in the wilderness.

I think we all know that today, that if all you would eat was meat, you're going to be in trouble. If all that you would eat is meat, things wouldn't go too well.

Romans 11:33, "Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways, past finding out!"

So I just challenge all of us to trust the great wisdom of God. We need his great wisdom with the issues of our day, don't we? We really need his wisdom. Very much so.

Number six, God showed them his goodness. Another lesson that this account gives us that God showed them his goodness. And one way, just one of the ways is was not supplying them with tasteless food. What did we read there? How did it taste?

A wafer with what? Honey.

Yeah, he showed them his goodness. You know, here they are in the midst of this desert. And he gives them this wonderful food. The Apocrypha says, "Each man tasted the manna to his own liking." There was something about it that enabled the mouth to give its own flavor to it. And they're marching through the wilderness. And then their weariness would often add a sauce to it that made it extremely sweet to them.

Is that the way it works?

That's what the Apocrypha says. It enabled, in other words, the mouth to give its own flavor to it. And they're marching as they marched. And their weariness would often add a sauce to it that made it extremely sweet.

After all, the Psalmist said what?

What did we just read? The Psalmist said it was what?

Okay. It was angels' food. If it was angels' food, folks, it must have been superfood. It had to be.

He said in Psalms there that it was angels' food. But God showed them his goodness just in that one small way. And he did it in many other ways too. We know that. But that was one thing. Yes.

Well, who does all these lessons remind you of? Of course, it's Christ himself.

Just some practical thoughts yet.

Every day, we need to get food for our spiritual life. Yes, we do.

Your spiritual life needs food. And that food is also manna from heaven. Just as their manna came down from heaven, so does ours. Ours came down from heaven. Christ himself is our manna. He came down from heaven.

He is that bread of life which came down from heaven. And you must feed on him. The Israelites were up early to gather the manna which fell morning by morning.

They didn't waste any time. They weren't supposed to anyhow because, as we know, when it got hotter in the day, it melted.

So I'm not sure what happened if you didn't get your omer. Is that the amount? Yeah, your five-pound.

So they were up early to gather that. So my encouragement is to feed on God's word in the morning. Get that food in the morning if at all possible. If you can't do that, please do it sometime in the day. But make sure that you daily eat this wonderful bread of Christ.

The manna was always encased in dew which made it sweet and fresh. Sweet and fresh. So it is with Christ. He is always sweet and fresh.

And I've often thought about that fact. You know, we read through the Bible and we read all these things. And then we go back and read it again. What happens?

You learn something new, something fresh. I'm just amazed at that, how that works.

Seek out your spiritual food continually, not just when you feel like it. Because you know how we are. If I don't feel like it, it won't get done. It won't get done. So seek out your spiritual food continually. Manna was always ready for immediate consumption.

They didn't have to prepare it. They didn't have to take it into their tents and put it on a fire or something like that. It was instantly ready to eat as soon as you picked it up. It was always ready for immediate consumption. So it is with God's word. It is always ready to be used right away. When you read something, take the sermon on the mount that we're studying here.

Try it out. Do something with it immediately. Do something with it immediately.

Eat the manna as soon as you get it. By eating it, it becomes a part of you. Just as food gives you strength, so this bread of heaven will give you the strength you need to grow more and more into the likeness of Christ.

I need that practical admonition as well as you do, just as much as you do, if not more.

So my prayer is that this message will inspire all of us to continually eat of the true manna of heaven, who is our Christ Jesus, our Lord. Anybody have any thoughts or?