Mystery Of The Manna

Introduction:

A The first shadow we see of Communion is found in Genesis 14.18, Melchizedek (King of Salem) offering Abraham And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. Gen 14:18 (NASB)

1 Jesus was declared to be in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7.17) which meant He operates as our High Priest and our Sovereign King.

a Our priest & king has brought the bread and wine for us.

b 15 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

Luke 22:15-16 (NASB)

aa “desired” means longing, coveting, lusting/lustful in certain contexts.

bb I believe Jesus waited with baited breath in great anticipation of when the time would be right for Him to gift the gift that He was about to give His followers, friends, disciples, church.

2 Some Churches, Christians, Denominations have all but done away with a meal that Jesus couldn’t hardly wait to share with friends. (Some churches have made it nearly impossible to partake in the Lord’s Supper when it is offered.)

B

1 Imagine feed 2 million people living in tents everyday in a desolate wilderness for 40 years.

a There were no running trains, OTR Drivers, delivery trucks: no local bakeries, No Rough House Pizza.

aa Each morning God provided nourishment and sustained the Hebrews during their journey in the wilderness.

bb 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it. Num 11:7-9 (NASB)

b From Sunday to Friday, after the dew had evaporated, small white droplets fell from heaven onto the ground and they were collected early each morning.

aa 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. 15 When the sons 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, " It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. Ex 16:13-15 (NASB)

bb Ex. 16.14 KJV “ . . . as the hoar frost on the ground.”

c We know what frost on the ground is but the hoar frost is different, unique. (Hb. Kephower: akin to Kippur)

aa Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement when blood was poured out on the Mercy Seat for the sins of Israel.

bb The process of covering the mercy seat and appeasing God is KEPHOWER.

cc It is as if God was looking ahead in time when the true bread of heaven, Jesus Christ, would come down and spill His blood on the ground to atone for our sins.

2 Israel had never seen anything like this so that said, “Manna”, the root being mah, which simply means “what.”

a Manna is a kind of bread from heaven, called angel’s food (Ps. 78.24- 25)

He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven. 25 Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance .Psalms 78:24-25 (NASB)

b The Bible does give a detailed description of the manna: (Ex. 16.31; Num11.7)

aa Looked like a coriander seed: the outer shell has “stripes” on it. (Today, coriander is used as a spice)

bb Manna had a taste like honey, texture of a wafer, fell during the night, color of pearly white, manna fell for six days and a double portion fell on Friday.

c John 6.32 “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.

aa This was the first time God had sent His people bread from heaven but it would not be the last.

bb John 6.33-35

d Like the manna in the wilderness, Jesus was sent from the Father in heaven to Earth for God’s people, Israel.

aa Just as He sent the manna in the wilderness to give them bread to live, God sent us the bread of life so we too may live (John 10.10)

bb Manna was something Israel had never seen, and Christ was someone mankind had never seen before on earth.

cc When Israel saw manna in the wilderness they said, “What is it?”, and when the people of Israel saw Christ, they wondered, “Who is He?”