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GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
March 31, 2001 RADIO MESSAGE #365
Christ in Exodus #58
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The manna which God provided to Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4-36) typified Christ (John 6:22-59, especially vv.30-33), "the true bread from heaven" (v.32). Observe the following aspects of this type-Antitype relationship.
I. Manna was given by God to satisfy a need. That need was physical hunger (Exodus 16:3). Manna was "spiritual [i.e. supernaturally-given] bread" (1 Corinthians 10:3) given as the staff of life for Israel's physical health.
Likewise, Christ was given by God to satisfy a need. That need is spiritual hunger. Since we are dichotomous creatures comprised of a physical body and a spiritual soul (Matthew 10:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20), we need both physical bread for our bodies and spiritual bread for our souls. The spiritual bread for our soul is far more important than the physical bread for our body. God therefore instructs us, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life" (John 6:27). Physical bread is worthless after our soul has departed its body at death. And if we have not nourished our soul with spiritual bread before we die, our soul will suffer eternal death, a dying that never ends, in the lake of fire, the "second death" (Revelation 21:8). But if we have done so, our soul will live forever in heaven (Revelation 21:1-4).
This "food which perishes" is not only physical bread, but also any other physical thing or act intended to meet our spiritual need. He who attempts to meet his spiritual need of salvation by attempting to obey God's law will perish (Romans 3:20). He who attempts to meet his spiritual need of salvation by being baptized, or observing sabbaths or other divinely-given ordinances, or joining a church, will perish (as did Judas Iscariot). All such physical deeds and ceremonies "perish with the using" (Colossians 2:22). None but they who partake of the true spiritual bread will live forever (vv.49f, 59).
Christ presents Himself in John 6 as the true bread we need for spiritual life and well being (v.32) – "the bread of God ... who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (v.33). "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (vv.35, 48). "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (v.51).
To partake of Christ the Bread is to come to Him in faith (v.35). This act of faith results in Christ abiding in the believer, and the believer abiding in Him (vv.51-56).
II. Manna was incomprehensible when it first appeared (Exodus 16:15): "when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.'" (There is even incomprehensibility regarding the name manna. Some say it is from the Hebrew man+hu, "what is it?" Others say it is adapted from the Egyptian mennu, "food." Still others would combine the two to mean "Is it food?")
Likewise, Christ is at first incomprehensible. When He first came to earth, even His own countrymen did not recognize Him for whom He was (John 1:11): "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." When He is today presented to the unregenerate, they are incapable of recognizing Him for whom He is (2 Corinthians 2:14). As Israel needed Moses to explain what the manna was, the unregenerate need the Holy Spirit to explain who and what Christ is (2 Corinthians 2:9f).
III. Manna was bread which descended from heaven (Exodus 16:4): "I will rain bread from heaven for you." It was not brought by Israel from Egypt. It was not produced in the land around them. Rather, it came down like the rain.
Likewise, Christ is Bread which descended from heaven (John 6:33): "for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven." The bread which satisfies our spiritual need is not any which comes from the world, nor is found in the world. Neither mortal nor man-made religion can supply it. And as manna came down like refreshing rain, "He [Christ] shall come down like rain ..., like showers that water the earth" (Psalm 72:6; cp. Hosea 6:3). (To be continued.)