Title Exodus 16:21-26 Delivering Manna
Content 11. Dropping Manna
▨ Ex 16:21-26 ▧
This miracle of manna was performed during the third complaint of Israel. The first is the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea when Pharaoh's army appeared, the second is the drinking of bitter water from Marah, and the third is the miracle of the text.
Manna means "What is this?" in Hebrew. The Israelites complained about God because they were hungry and suffered from hunger. So God rained down bread from heaven, and in the evening quails came and covered the camp, and in the morning he gave manna.
When they got up in the morning and went out, they found something small and round and small like frost on the ground of the wilderness. When they saw a strange object they had never heard of or seen before, they looked at each other and asked, “What is this?” Moses replied, “What is this?” That is, the food for manna. (Deuteronomy 8:3) It is written, "The manna which you did not know, neither did your ancestors know."
The physical life made from the ground eats grain from the earth to sustain life, but God created our spirit so that the saints who go to heaven can eat the bread of life that comes down from heaven. Regenerated souls must eat heavenly food to gain life, grow, and vigorously go on a pilgrimage toward heaven.
Manna is the word of truth of God. It is taught that life is not lived by bread alone, but only by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
The Israelites did not only buy bread in the wilderness, but ate the heavenly spiritual manna that God gave them and could continue to live for 40 years.
1. Don't worry about food and living.
It is said that the wilderness at the time was too rough and barren to be cultivated, but there was enough water and grass to graze animals. In other words, in an area where grass-eating animals and grazing were necessary to survive, God sent manna and quails every day to provide daily bread.
If we live in a good location that is incomparable to Korea, not the environment we live in today, but worry about food, it is a human error.
(Matthew 6:25-26) "Therefore I say to you, do not worry for your life what you will eat or drink or about your body, about what you will wear. Is not life more precious than food? Look at the birds of the air. They are neither stored nor stored in storehouses, but your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not of more value than these?”
He said that God would not feed the most precious human beings among all things. If God solves the problem of eating and living for humans, it means that we should not worry because God is in charge of raising children just as parents take care of them. However, there is one thing to point out.
“You shall eat according to the toil of your hands, and you shall be blessed and prosper” (Psalm 128:2). For that reason, manna fell from heaven, but he had to work hard to gather this manna every day.
2. It is the infinite love of God.
Verse 3, "He said to them, "If we had died by the hand of the LORD, when we sat by the meat pots in the land of Egypt, and when we were full of bread, you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole congregation of hunger."
The forced laborers in Egypt could not sit in front of the kilns where the meat was cut off. This is clich d resentment. God, who knew this all too well, gave them manna every day, so you can see that it is His infinite love for God.
The Israelites forgot God's grace in saving them and did not trust God. God's love is so great that they accepted the disbelief that He would lead them into the wilderness and starve them there.
However, even today, God is dead. Even if they blaspheme that there is no God, He will not perish. He is the God who wants everyone to repent and reach salvation.
3. Don't worry about your life.
Verse 7 says, “In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord.” Verse 8 says, “In the evening he gives you meat, and in the morning he fills you with bread.” In verse 12 it says, “In the morning you will be satisfied with bread.”
If so, it was my daily bread. If you had to go out to gather manna in the morning, you could get food. It was also a daily supply of food. Those who gathered more and those who gathered less had a day's food equivalent to their own food. Those who gathered more than that, gathered worms and rotted them, giving off a smell. Verse 21 says, “Every morning the crowds gathered according to their food; and when the sun was scorching, it fell.”
Verse 4 says, “My people will go out and gather their daily bread.” It is the daily bread that we must go out and gather every day. Therefore, there was no need to worry about the diet. Saints, work every day, and there will be no worries about your diet. Let us not be fools who do not reap and seek to enjoy.
4. This form is a test to obey God's commands.
Verse 4 says, "In this way they will walk with me and obey the law, but I will test them." Their faith and character can be known through the gathering of this heavenly food.
The command given to them at that time was to go out to the fields every morning to gather, and not to gather on the Sabbath, and to gather only the daily bread, but not until the next day.
Here, they have two observances.
The first is to go out every morning and collect.
The second is to keep the Sabbath day well.
This command is what the Lord requires of us even today. He is telling us to keep the Sunday well, have spiritual fellowship with God, and work every day for our own livelihood and development.
However, you can see that the majority of people these days keep Sundays and do not have fellowship with God, try not to put in a certain amount of effort during their working hours, and fall into complacency and hedonism.
Therefore, even those who believe in God's commands are not keeping them.
5. It is to use holy water on Sundays.
This is the lesson of the miracle of manna, which is truly miraculously working. It goes without saying that the Sabbath is consecrated and celebrated as God's day, and God's system of rest is not only unique in individual, social, and spiritual, but also has great blessings in our religious life. Also, on the eve of the Sabbath, the food problem was solved by giving them a double amount, so it was only necessary for people to believe and obey.
Verse 22 says, “The sixth day ye shall gather it, but the seventh day is a sabbath, and there will be none on that day; but on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and found nothing.
Some of the people of Israel went out to gather food even on the Sabbath, but returned in vain without finding anything. They are those who do not heed the Word of God, and return to shame and in vain.
There are those who go to work today, breaking the Sunday. They end up reaping no benefit. If you work or conduct business without observing Sundays, you will not be able to get the rest you should be taking, and this will result in physical fatigue and disease.
In addition, those who do business on Sundays to collect wealth often lose money due to other things. You don't accumulate wealth just by raising your income a little more, but you can receive blessings only when God stops you from unnecessary spending.
6. It is to help people have faith in Jehovah.
Verse 4 says, “I have rained bread for them from heaven.” (Nehemiah 9:15) "He gave them bread for their hunger" (Psalm 78:24), "You rained down manna and gave them food from heaven."
Verse 35 says, “The children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; and they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.” Because it is work, it is to believe only in that God and live according to his instructions.
(Proverbs 16:1), "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of a word comes from the LORD." Saints, it is not that we are not able to obtain or succeed because our hearts are small in greed in this world. All things are done only with the permission of the Lord God.
Therefore, we will have to depend on God alone to live. Especially at that time, they were provided with new manna every day, so of course they had to serve only the Lord. Of course, this kind of work does not only exist in them, but also in us today, because God always protects us, so we can live, so we must live by believing in the Lord.
7. The manna that fell in the wilderness is Jesus today.
Manna symbolizes Christ in us today as the only way of life for the Israelites in the wilderness. In other words, Jesus Christ is the food of the believers in the New Testament era, who must eat and live every day (John 6:31, 37, 57).
This means that when we live in this world, we must take Christ as our food, rely on Him and live by Him. The Bible compares our life in this world to life in the wilderness and life as a stranger. (Betzen 1:17, 2:11) Therefore, we must live with Jesus Christ as our food every day until we go to heaven on this earth where we are sojourners.
Also, this manna was given abundantly to each of the people of Israel at that time, without any surplus or lack. Therefore, they lived each day of their wilderness life without lack. For us today, this means abundant grace given through Jesus Christ, the manna of God.
In other words, God has made us not want when we live in Jesus Christ and enjoy satisfaction in all our lives. However, satisfaction here means not only the blessings of the body in the ups and downs of faith, but also the peace of mind and the assurances of eternal life in the relationship of faith with God.
conclusion
(Matthew 4:4), "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
In the Old Testament times, the Israelites ate manna from heaven in the wilderness, but they died. Therefore, the Lord said that man should not live by bread alone, but by the word that leads to eternal life. Today, we will eat these words and live our lives rightly in the Lord.