Passage: Exodus 16; John 6:30-58
The Big Idea
The manna pictures God’s Word, and it also pictures the Word made flesh. Jesus Himself said, “Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven; My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. I am the bread of life.” Like the manna, Jesus was sent to complaining sinners, came with the glory of God, came down from heaven, was a free gift, came close, is received personally and daily, was pure, was “ground” in suffering, and is now the hidden manna we feed on by faith.
The Book Is About Him
Last time we saw how God feeds our souls through His Word, the Bible. But the Word of God is also our precious Lord Jesus.
How closely are the Bible and Jesus connected?
- The psalmist, speaking prophetically of Messiah, says, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me” (Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:7).
- Jesus said the Scriptures “testify of Me” (John 5:39).
- “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me” (John 5:46).
As we read the Old Testament, it’s a joy to find Jesus in the types and pictures on every page. We’re supposed to. It’s a treasure hunt. And when we turn to Christ, the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).
So is the manna really a picture of Jesus? Let Jesus answer.
The True Bread (John 6:30-35)
The crowd asked Jesus, “What sign will You do so we can see it and believe You? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread always.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
Here’s how the manna points to Jesus.
1. Sent to Sinners
Who did God send bread to? Ungrateful, complaining people who wished they’d died in Egypt (Exodus 16:2-4).
God sends His Son to save sinners. He came to us while we were still sinners. God shows His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
2. With the Glory of God
The manna came with the glory of the Lord. “In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD,” and while Aaron was speaking, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud (Exodus 16:7, 10).
Jesus is the glory of God revealed and given to us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
- Jesus shows us God’s glory. He’s the only one who can.
- His truth shows God’s glory, and so does His grace.
- You can know what God is like by looking at Jesus. Relationship with Jesus is relationship with the Father (John 14:9).
“We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
- As we trust Jesus, we begin to see the glory of the Lord.
- Then we’re transformed into that same image. We take on His character as we relate to Him in faith.
- You become like your friends. You are what you eat. Feed on Jesus and become like Him. His life flows in you, His love poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).
- We see and understand God’s glory by looking at the face of Jesus.
- That vision is in our hearts: invisible, internal, real. It can’t be faked.
3. Came Down from Heaven
“No one has gone up into heaven except the One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man” (John 3:13). “He who comes from heaven is above all” (John 3:31).
In John 6 Jesus keeps saying it: “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.” The crowd grumbled, just like Israel in the wilderness: “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son? How can He say He came down from heaven?” But Jesus insisted, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. … Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:38, 41-42, 51, 58).
What are you feeding on every day?
- Replace some of the news with the Word of God.
- Replace personal pursuits with seeking Jesus in the Bible.
- Replace entertainment with the truth and grace of God in the life of Jesus, received by faith through His Word.
Are we eating the bread from heaven, or scavenging the wilderness? What fills your time? What are you chewing on and digesting?
I’m learning to turn away from the emptiness of this world’s wilderness. Those who live by the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live by the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5).
Babies don’t like chewing. But as we grow, we learn to enjoy it. At first we may not get much out of the Word. But as we mature, we learn to feast on it, and we can’t get enough.
4. A Free Gift
“It’s the bread the LORD has given you to eat” (Exodus 16:15).
Jesus gives His life as a free gift of grace to everyone who will receive it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Believing is eating. “Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:35).
5. Close at Hand
The manna lay right around the camp, in the wilderness where they were (Exodus 16:13-14).
Paul says the righteousness of faith doesn’t ask, “Who will go up to heaven?” (to bring Christ down) or “Who will go down to the abyss?” (to bring Christ up from the dead). Instead it says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we proclaim: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:6-9).
- Jesus is as close as faith. As close as believing.
- He’s all you need, and He offers Himself completely to satisfy your hunger.
- But we don’t eat because we don’t believe He’ll really meet our need.
- We think the TV will. Or our job, our family, our politics, even our church or religion. Those are idols.
- Jesus is ready to meet with you every day.
6. Personal
“Each one is to gather as much as he needs” (Exodus 16:16).
- Now that Jesus has come, we need no other mediator between us and God (1 Timothy 2:5).
- The veil is torn (Matthew 27:51).
- A personal relationship with Jesus is offered to everyone, and it has to be personal. You have to believe and come to Jesus yourself. You can’t ride on your parents’, pastor’s or spouse’s faith.
- Do you believe?
7. Daily
“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Jesus is our daily bread.
Would your spouse be happy with one conversation a week?
8. White
The manna was white like coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31).
- White pictures purity, the sinless Son, without spot or blemish.
- And sweet. “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8).
9. Ground and Beaten
The people ground the manna in mills or beat it in mortars, then cooked it in pots or made it into cakes (Numbers 11:8).
- That pictures the suffering of our Savior. He was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).
- His suffering is meant to be at the center of our thoughts each day. We feed on it.
- And suffering is part of the flavor of the Christian life too (Philippians 1:29). We share in His sufferings, and we share in His comfort (2 Corinthians 1:5).
10. Now Hidden
“To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna” (Revelation 2:17).
- We can’t see Jesus with our eyes now.
- We believe without seeing. Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
- We’re the blessed ones. We eat a hidden manna. We’re satisfied in a wilderness where we should be starving.
- We don’t deserve it and can’t earn it. But we dive into the life of Jesus and feed on His promises every day.
Grace Takeaway
The world keeps calling us to come away and feast on its delicacies. But Jesus calls too, like the Beloved in the Song of Solomon: “Arise, my love, and come away” (Song of Solomon 2:10). He is the true bread from heaven: sent to sinners, full of glory, freely given, as close as faith, sweet and pure, crushed for us, and hidden for now from our eyes but not from our hearts. Whose voice will you answer? Come to Him and eat.