Manna

Now I would like to read with you this morning in the book of Exodus and chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16 in verse number one it says, and they took their journeys their journey from Elam and all the congregation of the children of Israel came onto the wilderness of Sin which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then said the Lord unto Moses, behold I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or no.

Verse number six and Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel even then shall you know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt and in the morning when you shall see the glory of the Lord then you shall see the glory of the Lord rather for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord and what are we that you murmur against us. Verse number 10 it came to pass as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they look toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. Verse number 14 when the dew that lay was gone up behold upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing as small as the hoarfrost on the ground and when the children of Israel saw it they said one to another it is manna for they wist not what it was.

And Moses said unto them this is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. Verse number 17 the children of Israel did so and gathered some more some less and when they did meet it with an omer he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack they gathered every man according to his eating. Verse number 30 so the people rested on the seventh day and the house of Israel called the name thereof manna and it was like coriander seed white and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey and Moses said this is the thing which the Lord commandeth fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt and Moses said unto Aaron take a pot and put an omer full of manna therein and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generation as the Lord commanded Moses so Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept and the children of Israel did eat manna 40 years until they came to a land inhabited they did eat manna until they came onto the borders of the land of Canaan now an omer is the tenth part of an ifa and if you're like me you're likely saying what in the world is that there for an omer is the tenth part of an ifa like what has that got to do anything we'll uh hopefully take a little look at that but I guess I want to I entitled my message this morning an incomplete study based on this expression the omer and you know I kind of thought I chuckled to my mind I suppose what study have I ever done in the bible that has has not been incomplete I'm sure you would have felt the same way so uh without going into the whole typical approach to the story of the manna here I just want to put my comments and especially surround them around this little measurement that we find here the omer that with which they would measure the gathering of the manna that God would provide to them I suppose that it's uh it's typically and of course in the new testament we have no doubt in our minds that this is a picture of salvation the Lord Jesus the bread of God from heaven that has come down to give life onto the world and the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ then as the manna that is pictured here for us is beyond all question and it's a very beautiful study and of course this morning I think that would be an opportunity too good to miss that if you're here this morning and you're not saved I can tell you that there is a manna there is manna that is provided for you in the Lord Jesus Christ he is the bread of life and he has promised that if you come to him you will never you will never hunger he that drinks of this person will never thirst he is the bread of life to whom if you come you will never be disappointed he that believeth on him will never be confounded and if you are hungry and if you are empty this morning and if you are unsatisfied there are numbers here perhaps the majority of the ones that are here this morning have all personally vouch for the reality that there is a salvation that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and there is a satisfaction that is found in him that is not to be compared with anything or with anyone else and our sympathies to you this morning if you do not know the Lord Jesus as your savior and how wonderful if this weekend should be the the weekend that is memorable for you if for no one else memorable for you as the occasion when you found the Lord Jesus Christ as your satisfaction as your manna as your bread from heaven that has given you life it is interesting that of the various synagogues that they have unearthed by the shovel of the archaeologist that uh in only one of the synagogues have they found a vessel that was uh that was to have contained the manna and that was in the synagogue and capernaum in the very place where the Lord Jesus stood up in John chapter 6 and announced that he was the bread of heaven in that synagogue on that day the Lord Jesus was in front announcing the fulfillment in literal flesh invisible format in front of them the living bread of God from heaven while at the back was the container of that which would uh symbolize the Lord Jesus the manna himself what a significant episode that was on that particular day but I want to go with you this morning in relation to this measurement of the of the manna the omer that really the provision of the manna was beggared by this minuscule measurement or memorial that was going to be kept before the Lord on the instructions that were given in the final part of this chapter and so I want you to notice that what we have here is by way of contrast standing out in a very demarked way is the satisfaction the fullness of the provision of God in the Lord Jesus Christ an omer was approximately three liters just under three liters and I don't suppose that that was a very large amount it was um hardly a milk jug full of of this manna and it just reminds me of the fact a very simple little point and that is it doesn't take much of Christ to satisfy and I don't know if you've had some barren stretches in your experience as a Christian and then suddenly the Lord gives you a little glimpse gives you a little handful a little touch of the Lord Jesus Christ and that makes your day that might even make your week and that is something that is a great blessing and that's something that every true believer uh craves and every true believer needs as is exemplified in the story here they would go out on a day-by-day basis to go out and gather the manna and I need not remind our hearts this morning that that is so critical in the experience of every believer it was estimated um that approximately 2.4 million people would be there in the desert that would that would add up to approximately seven million liters of the manna on a daily basis and you could double that on a on a Friday so there was a great amount of people and there was a vast volume of the manna that would come down on the dew in the morning hours and would lie outside around the camp there for the taking over 38 years of traveling in the desert would add up to nearly 14,000 different times on a consecutive without exception without fail the faithful provision of God and I suppose if you did the math that over that same time period you would not only have those almost 14,000 occasions of the manna being provided in the faithfulness of God but it would actually turn out to be approximately uh just over almost 96 billion liters over that time frame in which the children of Israel would gather there would travel through the desert and you just think of how that one man would go out and he would gather and measure it in his omer in that little vessel and he would have approximately on a normal day he would actually only be gathering 1 21 100 millionth part of the amount that would have come down and that's only calculating according to what the 2.4 million people might have required and so those are no those are all approximate numbers of course but it would seem to me that God didn't simply send them a certain measure of manna that he would only send them x amount according to the appetite or the quantity of the people it would seem to me that there would be even in excess of that so what I'm trying to underline for you this morning is that we have uh every reason to be completely satiated every reason to be completely satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ there is more than enough of the Lord Jesus Christ to satisfy the need and appetite and longing of every heart of every believer of every assembly that is represented here this morning there is more than enough in the Lord Jesus Christ he is not only a satisfying Christ but we can tell you this morning that there is a surplus in the Lord Jesus Christ a surplus and in Christ will always find a surplus he is surpassing in every way there is a scale in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that is more than sufficient for every and all believer it is interesting then to my mind that the quantity that was left behind was always multiplied multiplied uh ways more than whatever any man or all of them could take away back to their tents there was um there was a there was a I suppose underlining to our hearts this morning that in a coming day we are we are going to have to admit that the half has not been told us that there is in the words of John when he said there are also many other things which Jesus did the witch if they were written one by one I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written what's he trying to underline for us that there is a profusion that there is an abundance that there is a surplus in the person of Christ that there is no reason for any one of us as believers to be dissatisfied to go away hungry to go away empty to go away without having a a happy full vibrant Christ filled and a Christ thrilled life is what God would like to put before all of us as a free opportunity free for the taking within reach of every believer I'm I'm sure as we sing sometimes unseen we love thee dear thy name but when we first behold with joyful wonder we'll proclaim the half has not been told we're just beginning and eternity is going to be more of that I think of this this same point as it is it is exemplified for us I think in even the paschal lamb it's exemplified for us not only in the manna in the desert it is exemplified for us in the corn or the food of the land because in each of those three cases I think we see that there is more than enough because you remember when it came to the Passover lamb that it was anticipated that sometimes the lamb would be too much for one family and so what would happen well then they were instructed to share it with their neighbor next to them and as I'm just telling you here I think that it comes to my mind that even even when it came to the participating in the gathering of the manna it was the head of the homo it seemed to me that would go out and he would gather it not only for himself but he would also gather it with his family in mind and we could thank God for every father and in this case mother as well that would have a concern in their heart to be gathering manna for the for the instruction and for the tending to the spiritual need of their family they would bring it back into the tent but it would seem to me that there's a there's a thing here as we read about it where some would gather a little bit and some would gather would have would have more and yet there seemed to be an equality there seemed to be an evenness between it all and some would suggest that maybe they pulled it and measured it accordingly I'm not really sure but I'll tell you one thing that this particular passage that is found here where they measured it and so on is quoted for us in the New Testament in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 in which there was the Corinthian assembly that was being encouraged by Paul to uh to try to step up to the plate and to shoulder their share of the material gift that was going to be sent to the poor believers at Jerusalem and in contrast and perhaps stirred by the generosity of the poor believers in Macedonia Paul is trying to tell them and he cites this very passage in which in which he tells us I mean not that other men be eased and ye burdened but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want that their abundance also may be a supply for your want that there be equality as it is written he that had gathered much had nothing over and he that had gathered little had no lack what's the point I think it's the same as in the paschal lamb as here in the manna and no doubt when they ate the corn of the land in the one case in each case what do we have we have the idea of a sharing with Christ I don't suppose that it's any surprise to any of you here this morning if I tell you that one of the most effective tools to prepare your heart to be able to share the paschal lamb with an unsaved loved one or an unsaved neighbor or an unsaved person at work or in the classroom wherever it might be or sharing the gospel and telling it out when it comes your turn to present the gospel message on a Sunday night in the gospel meeting or in some rented hall or some rented building where you're engaged in gospel outreach that a heart that is full of Christ will have little difficulty in sharing the sweetness of the Lord Jesus in the message of the gospel and sharing the lamb with others that are not saved and it will not be so big a deal or difficulty to share the manna of the Lord Jesus Christ with others around you among the believers and if you're anything like me you would aspire to be able to do that more than once or twice every 10 years you know you would love to be able to share the Lord Jesus Christ to be able to have a heart that is full of the Lord Jesus Christ I guess it was rebuking my own heart that how empty and how poverty stricken is oftentimes our spiritual experience absolutely unnecessarily so because of the fullness and the abundance of the provision of the Lord Jesus Christ within the reach of every single child of God the surplus of Christ the satisfaction of Christ the sharing of the Lord Jesus Christ with others when is the last time you shared the paschal lamb with your neighbor next on to you when is the last time you took manna home and as you were taking out home you shared it with another fellow believer to help to to sweeten their experience and maybe it's just at this particular point that we could highlight another lesson that's in the many lessons that are found in exodus chapter 16 it's practically scandalous the outrageous nature of these people so blessed the way they retaliate with such viciousness against Moses and against God I mean the irrationality the irrationality their complaint at the beginning of the chapter like just listen to these words would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt come on guys I mean where's your heads like what is the matter with you fellas you know it seems sometimes when we get melancholy and depressed and negative and and everything else and things are not going our way well I tell you it's a it's it's wild the things we can come out and say totally baseless I was going to say totally brainless totally senseless is maybe a little more nicer term to put it and then they exaggerate when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full you thought it was a paradise in Egypt and then they turn around and they slander Moses and Aaron and they say you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger you guys are just a bunch of thugs and murderers you know whoa you know boys as we would say in in Spanish tranquilo you know like settle down whoa what's all this about and isn't it surprising at times in in assembly life the the little extremes and the uh the way sometimes people will get irate and will get irrational and will use all kinds of baseless things and even dip into the extreme of slander you know what's wrong they haven't eaten on any they haven't eaten any manna for quite a while so that I think we see here something of the sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ because before the chapter is is done you got this same rabble crowd that were so ripping mad and so hostile and so ready to duke it out with with the leaders and just with God and with everything and what has happened inter introduce a little bit of manna and they've all gone quiet they're all feeding now on the sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ and how many times in personal experience can we not identify with that the wild extremes of our flesh the wild extremes of our emotions the wild extremes of our ungratefulness before the Lord and then the Lord in his grace you know what he does here he rains he rains bread as it says in the book of the Psalms he commanded the clouds from above he opened the doors of heaven he rained down man upon them to eat and gave them of the corn of heaven man did eat angels food or bread of the mighty and he sent the meat to the full provision to the full the sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ will go a long way there's no one size fits all but you could almost say that when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ he's one solution that we can bank on for the bitterest acrimony that is in the heart of some disgruntled believer be it you or be it myself may God help us this morning if there's any kind of a bitter spirit any kind of root of bitterness springing up any kind of hostility any kind of a tendency and a repeating cycle of wanting to bottle it out with others may we learn something of the sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ to quell such quarreling to quiet these kind of qualms that come along and that there might be instead of division instead of anarchy instead of anger there might be a quiet feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ a happiness a satisfaction a peacefulness a healthiness in our experience as God's people I was thinking of of how that we come to the end of the chapter and we not only have the satisfaction of the Lord Jesus Christ and the surplus of the Lord Jesus the sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ in contrast to the bitterness of their complaining at the beginning the sharing of the Lord Jesus Christ with others but I think at the end of this chapter we have the safeguarding it's it's the the particular interest that heaven has in the safeguarding of this memorial before them so that at the end of the chapter Moses says this is the thing which the Lord commandeth fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread were with I have fed you in the and Moses said to Aaron take a pot and put an omer full of manna therein and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations so I want you to notice not only the not only the provision of it and not only the participation of it but the preservation of it I want you to notice this preciousness as we learn from Hebrews chapter 9 this was a golden pot that golden pot with that white round mysterious manna that was sweet to the taste and light like wafers that was in color like the coriander seed that was put in this golden urn to be kept before the Lord the preciousness of it its materials tell me of the gold of his deity and the manna of his humanity it's like God never wanted the sojourn of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world to ever be forgotten and so it's going to be laid up before the Lord the preciousness of it to God it's the golden pot of his deity existed before the manna of his humanity was put in it but now we have this wonderful combination of his deity and his humanity carefully preserved before God Christ forever before the Lord as a perfect man in the glory and the measure of it where it says in the last verse of the chapter and omer is the 10th part of an ifa and there's others here that maybe know more about what that actually means and I'll just give you what I'm guessing at and that is that over in Leviticus chapter 5 we have a reference to the poor man's offering when it came to his to the sin offerings according to the status according to the level and rank of the person that had failed so they would bring something that was commensurate with that but sometimes there was envisioned a man that if he was not able to what the others needed he was not able and able to bring what he himself would have something commensurate for his own need if he was not able to bring the two turtle doves or the two young pigeons then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ifa a fine flower for a sin offering and so this is what I wanted to try to get across to you this morning and that is I don't know about your assembly but I've seen it in other places and I've felt it in my own experience as well that sometimes to sit at the Lord's supper and to remember the Lord Jesus Christ in the breaking of bread it's an intimidating experience to sit in there and to know that you're expected as a as a brother in the assembly to get up and participate in worship and sometimes the intimidation gets the better of us and it can trip into a day it can trip into a week and pretty soon it stretches into months and pretty soon it becomes the status quo as far as we're concerned and the months and the years roll on their course and our voice is scarcely ever heard in worship at the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm not up here to be harsh on anybody I remember a man in our own assembly that garnered the highest esteem and respect of believers and I never ever heard him get up and worship on a Sunday morning so we need to make allowances for for people but you know I think most of us if we're honest we'd have to say that there are times when we'd been intimidated because well we really hadn't prepared for the worship meeting whatsoever we didn't have anything to give even if we wanted to and then the other thing that intimidated us was some other fellow got up and prayed and I mean he took us up to the ozone level I mean he just he cleared the decks I mean he gave a worship that was so second to none that nobody wanted to get up and pray after him you know and somebody saved the day and gave one to him oh you know that was a close call save a little embarrassment here you know so there's all different kinds of situations and factors go into why we are silent on a Sunday morning but out of all this whole message this morning I just want to pick up this little point and that is this the 10th part of anifa something so minuscule something that is such a small portion God says I want you to put that in front of me because the smallest poorest appreciation of my son is something that is precious to my heart so don't be ashamed I suppose really the opposite side of that would say swallow your pride and be it ever so infinitesimally fragmented and broken and disjointed I want to encourage every brother here this morning the Lord says now uh now uh an omer is the 10th part of anifa and God says I want you to I don't want to just enjoy that once I want you to lay that up before me because that precious small presentation of my son I'm talking the figure of it right is exceedingly valued and precious and I want it to be perpetually prolonged and valued I God is saying I will never forget it so maybe this Sunday at the conference not on your life are you going to be getting on your feet to pray there that's all right don't sweat it everything will go back to normal and you'll be back in your normal assembly a little less intimidating circumstances but let me encourage your heart today the smallest portion is something that thrills the heart of God lay it up before Jehovah its position before Jehovah put it there before Jehovah and its peers I want you to notice it's set right there alongside of the tables of the law and Aaron's rod that budded his manhood the manhood the the manna his his um his godhood the tables of the law and his priesthood the the rod of Aaron that budded and it's to be protected it's to be kept and guarded safeguarded God wants the truths concerning Christ to be carefully guarded its purpose throughout your generations I thought it was a it's an interesting thing that he says I want you to put it before me in the holiest of all in the ark if you'll allow that and then it says so that all the subsequent generations will see it they didn't see it how could you see it it was in the holiest of all no one's going to see it and if it's in the ark even the high priest that goes in once a year he's not going to see it while the generation has long gone that saw it literally on the desert floor but all the subsequent generations like ourselves we by faith will see him we by faith enjoy the presence of this one who trod the desert sands in his lowly and humble guise in his humiliation in his incarnation upon this upon this world is the one who is at the father's right hand by faith we see him and you know I just want to say that that which was so useful for sustaining them and giving them strength one step ahead of the other as they would move through the desert is the same thing that will sustain and strengthen us in our journey here through the desert as well but that's not all end of the bible we jump across revelation chapter 2 verse number 17 to him that overcomes will i give to eat of the hidden manna god knew that it was hidden what's he going to tell us what do i learn by that that it's not only enough to sustain me in my walk right now through the desert he's putting it ahead as a bait not to deceive me but as something to stimulate and stir me to tell me this that everything i can learn about the lord jesus now is going to strengthen and sustain me but he's got more in store and he's got it ahead to to encourage me as part of my reward to stir me to faithfulness like people that were faithful in pergamos conditions of satanic hold of of moral decay of doctrinal error and god says be faithful hang in there stay true to the course until the end and when it's all over you'll find out it's just begun i'm going to begin to tell you about the hidden manna may god encourage all of our hearts today by what lies before and what lies within our reach and our grasp even right at this moment and at this day to go in for filling our hearts and lives with more of the sweetness of the bread of heaven may he truly fill us and feed us evermore god bless his word