Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day.” Exodus 16:4.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Manna. What is it? And that is what the Israelites named it, “What now?” Just when you think there is no way and that My mighty works for you have been exhausted, up shows a new wonder beyond all you can imagine and think up on your own. A life of wonders. That is who I am, the Master of the breakthrough and the God of glorious surprises. Often you will find these words in Scripture describing My Works among you, “Suddenly,” “But God . . .,”
“But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God; who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.” Job 5:8-9.
What now? Something wonderful. The voice of thanksgiving brings wonders. I am always doing something new. Don’t you perceive it?
The Manna in the wilderness. I rained down the perfect food for forty years on My people so long as they were in the wilderness, but the minute they entered the abundance of the Promised Land it ceased. But that did not mean My provision ceased, it just found new and more abundant avenues to flow in.
Manna is a sign fulfilled in the One who gave His life so you might live forever with Him. He has proved He is all in all to you. Everything you need is found in Him. Everything.
In the Manna, I gave My people years of provision to give them a vision of My divine providence. I taught them that life was not just about seeking to earn your necessities, such as food, clothing, and shelter but was way beyond those things. I took them out in a desert where there was nothing they could earn or do to provide for themselves and gave them everything they needed for life and godliness and not just a little bit but an overflow. Quail higher than two cubits and stretching out a days journey on either side of the camp. Numbers11:31. Abundant clean water gushing out of a flinty rock giving enough for two million people and their livestock to drink, collect, bathe in, wash in, and enjoy. And I rained down Manna on the dewfall every morning before dawn that provided enough for every person and family plus a double portion the day before Shabbat every week. And I gave them all so much silver, gold, fabric, jewels and garments that Moses finally had to stop them donating to the building of the Tabernacle as they had already given more than enough.
I was teaching them that man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that comes from My mouth. I was teaching them how to profit and the way they should go.
“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18.
In the wilderness, I was teaching them how to hear My voice and follow instructions so they would each know Me, walk with Me, and have a wonderful life. The abundant life I prepared for each of you before the foundation of the world.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.
I took them through the wilderness to the Promised Land so they could step apart and spend so quality time with Me, which they never did while they were spending their days in the hard labor of slaves in Egypt, so they could know Me and make their way prosperous and successful. So they could know the true source of all provision and indeed of your very life, is Me. And when you have Me you have it ALL. When you do not have Me, you have nothing at all and will lose even what you think you have.
And the Manna was a main part of that lesson. My provision is without fail. Each morning My mercies are new.
This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 321-23.
And now let us go back to the first time the Manna fell and what I tell you about it. And it did not fall only once but for forty years so much Manna fell that it provided complete sustenance for and kept over two million people in perfect health. And not just one generation but two. And as we studied in the first life lesson herein, Jesus likened Himself to Manna but as beyond it, as the true bread that came down out of Heaven for a man to eat and never die.
After I redeemed My people out of Egypt because of the Covenant I had with their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with outstretched arm and signs and wonders as had never been seen and never were again, My hand fed them and provided all they needed on their journey to the land flowing with milk and honey where great cities they did not build, and houses filled with lovely things they did not fill, and vineyards and fruit trees they did not plant, and wells they did not dig awaited them to take possession of. There was cause for rejoicing. But the rejoicing wore off quickly and the people began to grumble and complain against Moses and Me when they experienced anything that appeared challenging to their flesh. They sought short term satisfaction of their lusts, even if it would take them back into slavery, over walking in faith seeking the long term achievement and glory that I swore to them by My Word.
So, after they left Egypt and finished celebrating the victory with festive dancing, they fell into doubt and unbelief that I would supply them with bread and water for the journey.
Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Exodus 16:1-3.
First difficulty and there was no faith. I told you to ask and you shall receive. But I took their grumbling as asking. So I answered in love. I was teaching them to trust Me. And I gave them a long term answer but it also, like any course of instruction, had a test in it to see if you had learned how to walk in the instruction yourself. When you make the instructions your own and operate in them, you are mature, trained, and fit to go forward. This is true of everything in life, whether it is how to tie your own shoe laces, add numbers, use a computer, fly a plane, do a job that requires skill, or play a musical instrument. The Manna was a simple way to teach you how to rely on My Word for a miracle if you will only carry it out.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, for He hears your grumblings against the LORD; and what are we, that you grumble against us?” Exodus 16:1-7.
I called the Manna provided on the dewfall each morning from Heaven seeing My glory. The miracle of provision in a place where there was none obtainable by your own efforts. Jesus is My glory, My power, and My wisdom. He makes a way to Me where there was no way. He is your Shabbat. He is your promised land for in Him are ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When you have the true bread I opened up Heaven to give you, yes, Jesus, you have everything. Everything is summed up in Him. Ephesians 1:10.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumblings.’” It came about as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons 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 grumblings of the sons 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.’” Exodus 16:9-12.
My glory appeared in the cloud preceding the fall of the Manna. Do you recall the night My Son was born in Bethlehem (which means House of Bread) at the time it is darkest right before the dawn, like the daystar, like the dew, My glory appeared in the sky over the fields of Bethlehem to the shepherds announcing the good news of the birth of the true bread from Heaven for you to eat and never die.
My bread comes down to give life to the world. My glory shining in the face of Christ. Remember the holy bread that was on the golden table in the inner holy place before the Holy of Holies was called “The Bread (לֶ֥חֶם) of the Face (פָּנִ֖ים).”
So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. When the sons 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, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.” Exodus 16:13-15.
And today, even believers look at the communion bread and fail to see what it is. What is it? It is the Bread I have given you to eat and be healed, whole, and never die. Jesus. My Word who is for you.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 1 Corinthians 11:29-30.
Do you recall that there was only one time when My people grumbled and complained out of fear and unbelief that they opened themselves to attack by the serpents in the wilderness, though the serpents had been there all the time? But I had kept them back by the hedge of My protection encircling My people. What opened that hedge for the enemy to so viciously attack? They complained about the Manna. They called it wretched food that they loathed.
Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and no water, and we (our souls) loathe this miserable food.” Numbers 21:4-5.
And the snakes that were all around came in and bit the people and many died. They had let them in by hatred for holy things. When the people saw the results of their words against My provision that never ceased each morning and sustained them, they repented and came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. And I had the answer: “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard (cross); and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” Numbers 21:8. Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard (cross); and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:7-9.
Jesus told Nicodemus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15.
And when He spoke to the crowds after He had multiplied the bread and the fish, as He gave them a deeper meaning of the Bread of Life, He said,
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40.
The Manna, the quail, the water from the rocks, the Tabernacle I gave them to build for which I had given them all the supplies and details, the sacrifices offered there, and My Word revealed to them in My voice and in the writings I began with My own finger were to instruct them in four basic things. And your time with Me in the wilderness should teach you the same:
- My abiding presence. I am with you. I never leave you or forsake you.
- My care for all your needs—including healing (I AM the LORD your healer was one of the first things I taught them in the wilderness), provision (the Manna begun almost immediately), protection (the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night and so much more, I am the LORD your banner, your miracle), guidance (My Word, the Torah, being led by My glory cloud), and victory (I am your strength and song). They had no reason to worry or fear. I showed them My power, My presence, and My goodness every moment of the day. And that is My glory.
- My love and forgiveness time and time again. From the Passover lamb to the sacrifices and the offerings of the Tabernacle by which I covered their sins and took away their guilt and shame. I taught them about the atonement in the blood upon My altar. The burnt offering was continually burning before Me on the bronze altar of sacrifice.
- My rest. I gave them the Shabbat to sanctify them and the double portion the day before so that they could learn how to prosper from entering My rest and not from toil. I work from My rest.
He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:15-18.
I love you. Do you know that? Do you love the Bread that came down from Heaven for you to eat and never die? They did not and it proved fatal to their protection and their destiny. Learn the lessons in the Manna and pass the test so we can go higher.