God Provides Food for the Hungry, Part 3

Turn with me in your Bible to Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. And we promise to feed your hungry soul this day. With the great manna from heaven. As we study this chapter, Exodus chapter 16, we begin to realize. The great and marvelous work of our God to people who begin to complain to Him for not having enough food. And our God, in His wonderful grace, instead of condemning them, instead of zapping them, He would provide for them food from heaven. And this now serves as a glorious illustration of what God does for his people for the rest of time.

Manna from heaven. Today, I want to pick up our study in Exodus 16 and look with you at our next point, and that is the collection of the manna. The collection of the manna. And then we're going to look at the preservation of the manna.

And then we're going to look at the application of the manna. You with me? Good. Some of you are still sleeping, I see. That's okay. We'll wake you up about halfway through the sermon. Understand this: about the collection of the manna. Listen to what the Bible says in verse number 4.

Th the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, I will 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 or not they will walk in my instruction. Now you see, this was a test. Go down in verse number 16. This is what the Lord God has commanded. Gather of it every man as much as he should eat. We'll stop there. God would give them a test. Why? Because you see, every man had to go out every day. Now, I want you to think about this with me for a second.

You get up in the morning, you meaning the Israelites get up in the morning, open the doorway of their tent, and every day there was a supernatural work of God before them. Every single day. And God says, This is the test.

I want to see whether or not they're going to obey me, whether they're going to do exactly what I say. Now I want you to notice something.

This test was significant because you see God needed them to trust him every single day. Now you think about that as it applies to your life. Because you see, what one family gathered wasn't good enough for another family. And what one individual in the family gathered wasn't good enough for the other individual in the family. You know, there are many people today, when they talk about the Word of God and the Son of God, who think that coming to church on Sundays is good enough. Just collecting enough manna on Sunday morning in the short time that we have together is good enough to last them the whole week through.

Doesn work that way, does it? It's true, fellas, that your time in the Word of God is not going to be beneficial for your wife. She, too, has to be in the Word of God, and vice versa. Ladies, your time in the Word of God is not a substitute for your husband's time in the Word of God. Every man, every day, collecting God's supernatural provision for them. And the size of that man that we talked to you about last week was like a coriander seed, a size of pea. Not very big, but the supernatural work of God comes in small packages.

And you hold in your hand the word of the Lord. It's not very big. Some of you have bigger Bibles because you need bigger print, because you can't see very well. Others of us who are not quite as up in years as you are have smaller Bibles, that even some people even have smaller Bibles. 1 Peter 1 verse number 3 tells us that everything that pertains to life and godliness is contained in these 66 books. Everything. And the word of God is supernatural. It's living, it's active, it's powerful, sharper than any two-ed sword, and this is what transforms people's lives.

You leave today, leave with this. Every day, every man had to collect his own. So important because it would be just enough to getting through the day. Just enough. And also notice this about the collecting of the manna.

Look at verse number 16. This is what the Lord God has commanded. Gather of it every man, as much as he should eat. You shall take an omer apiece. Now, listen, you had to collect for this day. You couldn't collect for tomorrow. Some would like to do that, and some even tried that. But we'll talk about that in a second.

Now I want you to think about an om. It 's about, not quite, it's about six pint. All right? Six pints. You begin to multiply that out. That comes to 12 million pints a day. If. There were two million people. And that's the conservative number of Jews that were out of Egypt during the Exodus in those days. About two million people, which is about nine million pound. Of man, which is equivalent to four th five hundred tons. man. Equivalent to 10 trains having 30 car each, each holding 15 tons. of manna, which is equivalent to over 1 million tons of man collected annually for 40 years.

40 million tons of manna. This was a supernatural work of God. This was an amazing act. But God provided just enough for every single person to collect. And verse number 19. Moses said to them, Let no man leave any of it until morning. This was a direct command from God: Take what you're going to take, eat it, but don't leave any of it till morning. Don't hoard it. Don't collect it and keep it for the next day. Because you'll see there would be some of you who would like to collect it so the next day you wouldn't have to do any work.

There are some of you who would like to collect it so that the next day you won't have to trust God to go out there. There are some of you who want to collect it and build up a whole reservoir of manna so that you can take a whole week off from getting up and collecting your manna. But you can't do that. Because you see, if you wait a day, it will collect worms. It'll spoil. That's what Moses goes on to say in verse number 20. But they did not listen to Moses. And some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul, and Moses was angry with them.

Now, I thought about that for a second. I thought, why would Moses get so upset? Why didn't Moses just say, come on, guys? I told you. God said, Don't do that. You ought to learn from your mistakes. Don't do that again, please. But Moses got angry. Why didn't Moses get angry? Because they didn't believe in God. They didn't trust God. And that made Moses angry. He was a great man because he was upset at the things that upset God. See, there's no excuse for sin, but in our day and age, we want to give excuses to people for their sin.

This is the way God provided it. But you know what it would do? It would promote an industrious life. It would promote a faithful kind of life. And it would not allow the Israelites to sit around and loaf. Listen to this. It would not allow the Israelites. Hear me out. To sleep in. If things go well for a while, then we can just forego our daily dose of manna, our daily dose of bread, our daily dose of angel food. And yet, God never provided an exception to your daily dose of manna except one day.

And that was on Saturday. Sabbath. On Friday, they would have to collect double the dose. And miraculously, the part they collected for that Sabbath day would not Become foul and would not collect worms because God would do something in a supernatural kind of way so they would have food the next day so they could rest on the Sabbath. Now, think about that for a second.

Exodus 20 is when the law is given, right? In Exodus 16, there is no law about keeping the Sabbath. And when you talk to people today and you talk about the Ten Commandments, say, well, you, it only nine comm because, you know, you don have to keep the Sabbath anymore because that was all Old Testament stuff. And you don't have to do that anymore, really. You can't prove that biblically. What you can prove is this: that God specifically designed one day where they wouldn't work, where they would rest.

And they would be able to do something different than they normally do every other day of the week, that they might be able to focus their thoughts entirely on their God. Remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy, remembering one day out of the week and keeping it holy is the propulsion that moves you to spend time in the Word of God every single day of the week and to realize the value that every day is the Lord's Day. And God designed it: look, before the law was ever given, this is what you got to do.

And you what? The instructions He gives here are not that big a deal, right? What's so hard about every man every day collecting enough for that day? Not that much. But it was a test, right? It was a test because one day God was going to give them 10 commands, 10 words. If you can't obey these, how are you going to obey the other ones, right? And that's what the Christian life was about: ob. To God and following Him. Because this was their nourishment. This is what they needed to make it through the day.

Then heaven, they'd be so hungry by the end of the day. And God knew that. Well, the same is true with the Word of God. It's that which takes you through the day. Also, notice with me the fact that our Lord would become very upset down in verse number 27.

And it came about on the seventh day that some people, some of the people, went out to gather, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions? See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh days that the people rested on the seventh day. There were some people who didn't take enough on Friday. But they thought they could get up on Saturday and collect it.

And they got up, went out, and there was nothing there. Can you imagine? Where did all the manna go? And the Lord would say, I didn't forget to get up. You, Mana. I gave it to you yesterday. And isn't it interesting that the people who refuse to do what God said will be caught in the realm of their disobedience for all to see? Because they refused to believe what God had said about the simple act of collecting twice as much on the day before the Sabbath, so you had enough to take you through the Sabbath.

But look at the preservation, that's our next point. The preservation of the manna. Verse number 32 says this: Then Moses said, This is what the Lord has commanded: let an omer of it be kept throughout your gener. they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar, and put an om of manna in it, and place it before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.

Now remember, in the Ark of the Covenant, there contained three things: the law of God, the Ten Commandments. The rod of Aaron that would bud, and thirdly, a pot, a golden pot of manna.

Why is that? Why is that? Because all of that would symbolize the coming of Messiah as prophet, priest, and king. The king is the lawgiver. He sets the laws. And so God gave the laws. They would be in the ark of the testimony. They would be in the ark of the covenant. There would be Aaron's rod that would bud. That would be placed in there. Because remember in Numbers chapter 17, it was the rod of Aaron that would bud, and that would be the symbol of the priestly tribe. And when the law was broken by any man, there had to be a priest that would intercede for that man for forgiveness.

And then there was that Omer golden pot that would symbolize Throughout generation after generation, how God provided for his people in a supernatural kind of way to feed them daily. And that would not spoil, that would not come to ruin, but God, in a miraculous way, would keep it and sustain it because it was a symbol of his living word as prophets. Prophet, priest, and king. Our last point: the application of a man. In Exodus 16 is representative of three things: the grace of God, the Son of God, and the Word of God.

T, I want to show you how the manna is representative of the Son of God. How do we know that the manna is representative of the Son of God? Answer, John chapter 6, verse number 32. Jesus therefore said to them, Truly Truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Verse 38. For I have come down. from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

So we know based on John 6 That the Son of God is the bread that came down of heaven, is the bread of life that came down out of heaven to earth. Now, let me help you understand how manna represents the Son of God by looking, number one, at the gift of the manna.

Did Israel ask for manna from heaven? No. They just complained that there wasn't anything to eat. But God gave them a gift, right? A gift that would come down out of heaven. A supernatural gift. And just as that physical manna that they were able to collect every day was a supernatural work of God, so it is that when the Son of Man came to earth, he was the perfect gift given to mankind. To meet a particular need. We all know John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

It was his great gift to man. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 9, verse number 15: Thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift, his unspeakable gift. So thanks be unto God for what he has bestowed upon us. Romans 6:2 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As the manna was a particular gift. Given to Israel, so too the Son of God was a particular gift given to man. Which leads me to this: who was the manna given to? Israel, right? It wasn't given to anybody else, but to who?

Israel. He came unto his own. John 1, 11. He came for Israel. You shall call his name Emmanuel. For he shall save his people from their sins. Who are his people? Israel. God came. God was a gift to Israel. It's important to understand that. Now, we are beneficiaries of that gift, right? Because Israel would reject that gift. And that was all part and parcel to the plan of God, but to understand the particulars on how the Son of Man is representative of the manna in the New Testament. He is the bread of life given to man.

You need to understand exactly the implications of Exodus 16 as well as John chapter 6. And where is the place, the place where the manna came? Exodus 16. The wilderness of sin, S-I-N. And where did the Son of Man come to the place? Of sin. He left his throne above. He left glory in heaven where it is absolutely sinless perfection to come to a place filled with sin. Right? Why? Because he had to save his people from their sin. That's why. For Israel to be saved physically, he had to come to them.

For us to be saved spiritually, he has to come to us. Say, so he did. That's the parallel of the manna with the Son of God. Also, notice that there was great praise given because of the manna.

In Exodus chapter 16, verse number 7, and verse number 10, it talked about the appearance of the glory of the Lord. It was all about praise being to God. They will know that I am the Lord. It was all about His glory. It was all about His presence. And what does the Bible say in John chapter 1 and verse number 14? What? That He pitched His tent among us, and we beheld what? His glory. His glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The giving of manna was the expression of God and His glory.

The giving of a son was an expression of God and his glory. That's why, when the angel said in Luke chapter 2, that the glory of the Lord shone round about them. It was the essence of his presence that would shine around the angels that day when they came to the shepherds, and they would sing gl to God in the highest because it was all about the praise. Of the bread of heaven. By the way, born in the house of bread called Bethlehem. Bethlehem is the house of bread. Also note this, that the Lord said in John 6, we read it earlier, that my Father give you the true bread from heaven.

As God provided for Israel physically, He would provide for them spiritually as well. He was the great provider of man's need. When He was hungry, God would feed him. When the soul is hungry, God feeds it. Note this, the purity of the manna. Remember it was white, it was pure, it was clean when our Lord came to earth. And throughout his ministry and throughout his death, he was a sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He knew no sin because he was clean and pure. And holy. He is the Holy One. And the Bible says there is none other that is holy, but the God of heaven.

Also, notice this, and that is the preservation of the manna. It would sustain them every single day for 40 years. It would be their life sustenance. Physically speaking. And Christ said that when he came, that he was the way, he was the truth, he was the life in John 14. In John 11, he said, I am the resurrection, and I am the life. In John 10, he said, I've come to give life and to give it more abundantly. And so as that manna would sustain the lives of the Israelites, Daily, physically, so too our Lord sustains us with true life from above because His life indwells our life.

Notice this, and yet Israel would protest. This manna. In Numbers chapter 11, about one year of having to get up every day, every man, early. This is what they said. And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires. And also the sons of Israel wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.

They would protest God's provision. And what does the Bible say about our Lord in Isaiah 53? He was despised. Rejected. They protested the divine provision of the Savior. We will not have this king rule over us. Crucify him. See the similarities? And yet, also notice that with the coming of the Messiah was the fact that how they would respond would prove their condition.

That's important. Now, God knew what was in their hearts. He wasn't giving them a test because he needed to know how they would respond. He knew how they were going to respond because he's God. He gave them a test to see how they would know how they would respond. To what God was doing and know whether or not they truly believed in God's provision. Just about a year later, Numbers 11, they began to protest the giving of the manna. They wanted something different. How do you see manna from heaven in the person of the Son of God?

What do you think about him? What do you think about him? And in closing, just a couple of things. Revelation chapter 2, verse number 17. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, who's the over? 1 John 5. He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Right? To him over. To him, I will give some of the what? Ooh, what's that? Hidden manna. To the believer in Jesus Christ, He's given hidden manna. What is that? And why is it called hidden? You know why it's hidden?

Because the world knows nothing of that food. The world knows nothing of that provision. They don't get it. But the believer, he gets it. He knows, he knows that the manna is Jesus Christ. Now, listen to this. Turn to John 4 for a second.

I know time is gone. But here it is, okay? Remember in John chapter 4, there's a conversation with Christ and the woman at the well? It says in verse number 7, his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Now, you need to mark that. They had to go get food because they had to eat. And Christ carries on this conversation with this woman at the well, and she comes to realize who this one is who's speaking to her. And it says in verse number 27: At this point, his disciples came and they marveled that he had been speaking with a woman.

Yet no one said, What do you seek? Or, why do you speak with her? Down in verse number 31, in the meanwhile, the disciples requested him, saying, Rabbi, eat. Eat. We went to the city to get food. Eat. You need to eat. Verse 32. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. Verse 33. The disciples, therefore, were saying to one another, No one brought him anything to eat, did he? What's he talking about? What happened? And listen to what Jesus says.

Here it is. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you know what sustained Jesus every single day of his earthly life was the nourishment he received from his Father who was in heaven? That, my friend, is the hidden manna. What sustains us every single day of our lives to be able to feed off of the Son of God? The true bread of heaven. He's the refresher of our souls. He's the healer of our souls. He's the food that we feed on. And when you can leave this place, And get up every day, every man, and collect his manna, you do so because you believe that your food, your daily sustenance, is to do God's will every single day.

And until you learn that, you haven't learned the lesson of Exodus chapter 16. But once you learn it, Exodus 16 becomes so vibrant in your life, and you take each and every day in daily dependence upon your God. Trusting him for everything because your will is to do, or your food is to do, the will of your Father who is in heaven. And you'll never be hungry again. Let's pray.