They took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. Mark 15:20.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
When I first rained down bread from Heaven upon the earth in the wilderness near Sinai, My glory appeared the night before when I gave the promise before the whole congregation. And as the Manna fell upon the earth on the dewfall a whole new level of provision for an entire nation had begun. My Covenant people were introduced to the open Heaven where they were not toiling by the sweat of their face to eat bread as I had passed judgment on Adam. Why? It all began by the blood of the lamb bringing about the redemption of a people from slavery and the Manna. Redemption and deliverance included provision. The hidden Manna. Hidden deep in Me was their provision that poured out of Heaven to the earth, with no toil on their part, all they had to do was receive it by gathering it up. Making themselves available in the flow where it fell.
He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3.
The LORD your God brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 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 8:14-18.
The Manna was there without toil or work on man’s part. It came from within Me who looks ahead and provides. It was in Me before the world began and so is everything that is needed for life and godliness, for the spiritual and the physical. The hidden Manna, the hidden provision, like the path under the Red Sea, you cannot always see but it is there in Me for the appointed time. Just know all has been provided for you. There is no reason to worry. That is Covenant.
When the Manna began to fall, I instructed Moses to put an omerful of it in a jar to keep throughout the generations that they would see the bread that I fed them with in the wilderness when I brought them out of Egypt. This would testify to My provision and care so that people would live at a higher level, the Kingdom level, where the blessings chase you down and not vice versa. You are not living to acquire things by toil and pain, they are to be running to you.
Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33.
Do you see? I was already teaching My people this in that barren wilderness where there was no food, water, or clothing. Did they lack anything? Nothing for 40 years out there. To eat they had Manna and quail, both coming in with no toil, just falling around their camp. To drink I made rivers of water gush out of dry rocks. For clothing, I gave them an abundance of fine fabrics and jewels when they departed from Egypt that not only provided the materials for the construction of the tabernacle but left over an abundance for the people. And I tell you quite clearly that those 40 years in the desert their shoes and clothes never wore out nor did their feet swell. Why? They were on a journey seeking Me and My Kingdom. And I gave them the way of righteousness, My Word in commandments and teachings, and the sacrificial offerings for sin, especially the morning and evening offering of the unblemished lamb, the unleavened bread and the hin of wine. And the lamps on the golden lamp stand were always lit before Me.
And I told Moses to keep the jar of Manna in the ark of the covenant. Exodus 16:32-34. The ark of the covenant was kept behind the veil in the Holy of Holies and was made of wood covered on all sides with gold. It was My presence among them, in their midst, to accept their sacrifices and give them instruction and lead them in the way they should go. And what was inside the gold covered box of the ark under the lid of the Mercy Seat? A golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tablets of stone on which I wrote the ten commandments of the covenant. Hebrews 9:4.
All these represented Jesus, shadows and symbols of Jesus. The ten commandments are My Word, the first Words I Myself wrote down for you. Jesus is My Word, generated from deep within Me that by My Spirit manifests in action, in flesh. The rod covered with almond blossoms and almonds is another story, but it represents the High Priest, for it was Aaron’s rod that bloomed among those of the heads of all the tribes showing that he was the one I chose for High Priest in the rebellion against Moses in the wilderness.
This is the rod of resurrection and of the first fruits, for the name for the almond tree in Hebrew is the word for “watching,” it is the first tree that blooms in the spring. So you watch it to see spring has come, new life. Jesus is the first one to bloom, to rise, the first born of many brethren and the first fruits of all who believe. And in Him I am watching over My Word to perform it.
And the Manna of course is the bread from Heaven, foreshadowing Jesus, the true bread come down out of Heaven for a man to eat and never die.
The hidden Manna, this is secret of Communion and of the Last Supper. Deep within Me, from the foundation of the world was hidden the body and blood that would give new life to those who would partake of it and, there was much more, those partaking would become His body on earth, doing His works and greater, showing forth the glory of the Head and the precious Body given for you in which you have the opportunity to become a member. And that will give you and bring you into eternal life. In giving you His body, He would heal and die for you, and in pouring forth His blood He would redeem you.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden Manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. Revelation 2:17.
The hidden Manna is for the overcomers and gives you a new name with Me.
He rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them food from heaven. Man did eat the bread of the mighty (valiant). He sent them provision in abundance. Psalm 78:24-26.
I am your refuge. Deep in Me you are safe now and forever.
Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. Psalm 34:21-22.
In Jesus I condemned sin in the flesh and you are free. Let us continue on the journey of the Eucharist in the secret man of the heart and walk the Way to Calvary, the place of the skull, the road to freedom, with your sweet Savior.
Jesus had to wear His own garments in this journey to the Cross for many reasons that were the fulfillment of many prophecies, but without realizing this but to preserve the purple robe, the soldiers took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. In His weak and mangled condition, Jesus was falling under the weight of the Cross and going very slowly, so they pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus who later were in the community of the first believers in the Way), and placed on him the cross to carry along behind Jesus to relieve some of the burden of the weight. Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. They had seen the trial of Jesus and the things that had taken place as well.
And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. But Jesus turning to them and addressed them as “Daughters of Jerusalem.” Jesus, as always, is speaking from My Word
Jesus was bringing up the Song of Songs. He addressed those along His path that came to mourn over Him as “daughters of Jerusalem.”
“His mouth is all sweetness. He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” Song of Songs 5:16.
In the midst of His sufferings, under the heavy weight of your sins, under the weakness of His mangled flesh and flowing blood, as He pulled that Cross there was a sweetness in His soul, the sweetness of the beloved. You are precious in His eyes, you are honored and He loves you. He is the faithful and true who loved you and released you from your sins by His blood.
And this song, the song of the Lamb that the redeemed now sing in the Kingdom, kept sounding in His heart as He stumbled along the way to Calvary. He would not give up. He would not draw back. The song was too sweet.
And that song of the bridegroom, the song of the precious unblemished lamb, dying under the weight of your sins, sprung up in His heart and echoes in your heart to this day, that is, in the hearts of those who have heard His call and opened the door of their hearts to Him so He can come in to dine with you and you with Him. Revelation 3:20. Hidden Manna.
Right now, turn within, and call to Him, do you feel the sweetness of His presence in your heart? He is there, the mystery of Christ in you, your hope of glory. You are My garden enclosed.
“My Beloved has gone down to His garden, to the beds of balsam, to pasture His flock in the gardens and gather lilies. I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine, He who pastures His flock among the lilies.” Song of Songs 6:2-3.
Are you partaking of His body which He is giving for you and are you drinking of the sweet wine of His love, poured out as His blood spilling over to cleanse all sin away? Are you being drawn into the Holy of Holies by the sweet odor of the anointing? Is the living water of the Spirit He pours down from My throne filling the once empty well of your spirit and leaping up as a well-spring in your heart unto eternal life?
“A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.” Song of Songs 4:12.
Do you hear the song echoing softly? Do you hear the song of the dove in your land? The songs in the night that wake the light of the dawn? Have you come to the garden enclosed filled with the sweet wind of the Spirit and the fragrance of My love? The fragrance of the sacrifice of Jesus for your life?
“Awake, O north wind, and come, wind of the south; make my garden breathe out fragrance, let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into His garden and eat its choice fruits!” Song of Songs 4:16.
And Jesus, as He kept going forward to Calvary, was opening a new and living way to you to My throne of grace. A covenant pathway of blood. Do you remember the shadow of the substance? I did nothing without showing My friend Abraham. He saw the day of Jesus and was glad. Overjoyed. He too heard the song.
After Melchizedek had come bringing the bread and the wine to Abraham, then Abram, and Abram gave him the tithe, I spoke to Abram about his descendants, but he at that time was childless and Sarah was barren. But I took him outside and showed him the stars and the story in the stars and the vast number of the stars and told him so his seed would be. And he put his faith in My Word (said “amen” to My Word to him) and I credited it to him as righteousness. I then promised his descendants the land on which he was sojourning to be their own. And to confirm this to him, I made Covenant with him. I had him prepare a sacrifice of clean animals and split them in two so that a path of blood was between the pieces and I walked that path with My Son while I put Abram into a deep sleep so that he would not be the weak link to the covenant. My Son covered for him as He does for you.
It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven (Yahweh) and a flaming torch (Adonai) which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.” Genesis 15:17-21.
As Jesus went up the hill of Calvary He walked in the path of blood, not the blood of rams and bulls, but His own precious blood given for you in the everlasting Covenant of love. He was making Covenant with Me as He had with you when He gave you His body and blood at the evening Seder. And thus, He would be your way to Me. Sins gone and reconciliation done.
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a [h]sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:19-23.
In the flesh, it looked like a path of defeat as He pulled that cross in the path of blood, but not so in the Spirit, for what did I see?
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12.
I saw the great High Priest entering the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the precious blood of the unblemished Lamb on the mercy seat, the propitiatory, to take away all sins from before Me legally so that your sins and offenses I remember no more. And what did I hear? The tinkling of the bells on the hem of the High Priest’s seamless robe, the song of the Lamb.
And the redeemed in the Kingdom are singing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb. Revelation 15:3. Moses knew the song of the Lamb very well. It was the blood of the Lamb that covered them and redeemed him and My people out of the affliction of slavery in Egypt and protected them from the wrath of justice that fell that night. And it was the blood of the lamb offered morning and evening in the tabernacle, offered as the burnt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, and the guilt offering that kept them in favor all the time of their journey in the wilderness into the Promised Land. And if His shadow could do that, think of the substance! And that is yours in the communion meal, the fulfillment of the Passover perpetual memorial. The Lamb slain since the foundation of the world. Jesus is your Song of songs, the sweetest and most fragrant of songs.
Do you still not understand?
Tomorrow we will continue to walk the way of the Cross, but this time as My walk with Jesus that I had already revealed to you in the walk taken by Abraham with Isaac.
I love you. Do you feel the sweetness in your heart? If you do, you will hear the song of the Lamb. Will you join the sweetness of that song and let it echo in your heart at all times? It will turn the bitter sweet as the wood of the cross did to the bitter waters at Marah. Exodus 15:23-25. For I AM the LORD your healer. Exodus 15:26.