Exodus Types: 3. The Manna, A Type of God’s Provision Through Christ and the Word
(Exodus 16) The children of Israel needed the manna in the
wilderness as Gods children need the Bible every
day. "I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people
shall go out and gather a
certain rate every day" (Exodus 16:4). In the wilderness
this great people needed a supply of
bread from Heaven, and they needed it every single day. "And
Moses said, Let no man leave of
it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto
Moses; but some of them left
of it until the morning and it bred worms, and stank: and
Moses was wroth with them"
(Exodus 16:19, 20). We need a fresh study of God Word every
day. Yesterday’s experience
becomes stale today The prophet learned to feast on the
Word: "Thy words were found, and I
did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing
of mine heart" (Jeremiah
15:16).
Israel gathered manna in the early morning; and the best
time for Bible reading is early in the
day. "And they gathered it every morning, every man
according to his eating: and when the
sun waxed hot, it melted" (Exodus 16:21). If Israel did not
gather the manna early in the
morning, by the time the sun became hot, it melted.
Similarly, if the Word is not read early in the
morning, other things crowding in will be apt to melt away
the opportunity. "The Lord God
hath given me the tongue of the learned [taught ones] that I
should know how to speak a
word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by
morning, he wakeneth mine
ear to hear as the learned [taught ones]" (Isaiah 50:4). We
are taught from the Word in order
that we may help others who are in need of help. Israel used
the manna during their entire wilderness experience; and we
must depend upon the
Word during all of life’s pilgrimage. "And the children of
Israel did eat manna forty years,
until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna,
until they came unto the borders
of the land of Canaan" (Exodus 16:35). Even so Christians
need the Bible through all of the
experiences of life up to Heaven’s portals. "Teach me, O
Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I
shall keep it unto the end" (Psalm 119:33).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the antitype of the manna that came
down from Heaven. "Then said the
Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for
you" (Exodus 16:4). Jesus Christ
Himself claimed to be the fulfillment of the manna which
came down from Heaven. "Then
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from
heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he
which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the
world" (John 6:32, 33).
The manna satisfied the hunger of the Israelites; and Christ
satisfies the hungry hearts of men
who trust Him. Exodus 16:3 tells of Israel’s hunger: "For ye
have brought us forth into this
wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Verse
4 tells how the hunger was
satisfied: "I will rain bread from heaven for you." And
Jesus claimed to do the same thing for
the hearts of men, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread
of life: he that cometh to me
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst" (John 6:35).
The manna was mysterious in character; and so is the
salvation of Jesus in some respects. "And
when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to
another, It is manna [i.e., "What is it?"],
for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them,
This is the bread which the Lord
hath given you to eat" (Exodus 16:15). And even as the manna
was mysterious in its character
and origin, so the Lord Jesus indicated that His salvation
was likewise mysterious. "The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born
of the Spirit" (John 3:8). In some
respects the wind is mysterious, and so the work of the
Spirit of God in the New Birth is unseen
and mysterious, but nonetheless real.
The manna came down to where the people were; and the
salvation of Jesus is available to all
who will take it. "And 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
hoar frost on the ground" (Exodus
16:14). The manna lay where it was easy to reach and gather.
And so the Gospel of our salvation
is easy of access. "But the righteousness which is of faith
speaketh on this wise, Say not in
thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to
bring Christ down from above:) or,
Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up
Christ again from the dead.) But
what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and
in thy heart: that is, the word
of faith, which we preach" (Romans 10:6-8).
The manna had to be gathered by individuals, and so
salvation today must be appropriated by
each individual person for himself. "This is the thing which
the Lord hath commanded,
Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for
every man" (Exodus 16:16). Individual faith in Christ is
required: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life: and
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life" (John
3:36).
The manna was despised by some of the Israelites, as the
salvation of Jesus is despised by some
men today. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell
a lusting: and the children
of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh
to eat? We remember the fish,
which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the
melons, and the leeks, and the
onions, and the garlic: but now our soul is dried away:
there is nothing at all, besides this
manna, before our eyes" (Numbers 11:4-6). They were making
light of that upon which their
sustenance depended. How like many in modern times who are
doing nothing about the salvation
of their immortal souls! "How shall we escape, if we neglect
so great salvation" (Hebrews 2:3)
[Old Testament Types - FHW]
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