EXODUS 16 - THE BREAD OF HEAVEN
Exodus 16
Chapter 16 sees the beginning of the long journey for the children of Israel. Having crossed the red sea, they have not only seen the Lord put an end to their enemies, but God has created a barrier (the Red Sea) to assure the Israelites cannot go back. The journey ahead is not just one of distance, but ultimately, and more importantly a journey of faith. It is not distance that will keep the children of Israel in the desert for 40 years, but their lack of faith. For
“…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
The desert is always God’s proving ground for faith.
The Israelites were in the desert 40 years, Joseph crossed the desert into slavery, we are told Paul the apostle was three years in Arabia after his conversion as God strengthened his faith, and even our Lord Jesus was led to a deserted place in Matthew 4:1 after he was baptized by the Spirit. God often forces His people to a place and into a position in which they are fully dependent on Him, in order to teach them to live by faith.
A month into their journey the Israelites are coming to grips with their situation. They are in the middle of the desert without resources and no way to sustain the estimated 3 million people that are on this journey. But God heard their grumbling and spoke to Moses:
“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to 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 they will walk in my law or not.”
And so God provided for the people, but with a test of their faith and faithfulness. They were told to only take a day’s portion and to trust that there would be sufficiency in every day. What a challenge. Jesus taught us to pray that God would give us each day our daily bread. But as Francis Chan famously stated, how many of us would be satisfied with only our daily bread?
We all like the security of a flush bank account or 401k. Why? Because if we are honest we lack faith. Even if we believe that God exists, we are rarely sufficiently comfortable in God’s goodness to rest in His provision. And so God often has to bring us to the desert, where we can learn to rely on Him.
The issue of faith becomes of eternal importance because Jesus tells us that the story of manna is really about Him. In John 6:48-51 we read:
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
And so the real lesson for which God was preparing the Israelites, and all of us, was the need to receive God’s ultimate gift of sustenance in the form of His son Jesus. We are meant to consume Jesus as we would food. To feast upon Him that we would not just live for another day, but live forever.
How do we feast upon Jesus? By acceptance of the truth of the bible.
In John 5:24 we read
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Therefore if you believe the simple truth that the Father sent Jesus to die for your sins, you can join the eternal feast that began when God sent us the true bread of heaven.