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Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:8-9; 16:2-4, 14-16; 17:1-7; Num. 11:5-6
Today we will speak on the food of God's people. In Exodus we see three kinds of food. The first is the meat of the lamb, described in chapter twelve. The second is the manna in chapter sixteen, and the third is the water that flowed out of the rock in chapter seventeen. All these are the food that God prepared for the Israelites. No item could be missing from this provision. If there had been only the meat of the lamb without the manna and the water, it would not have been sufficient. If there had been the manna without the water, it would not have been sufficient either. There first had to be the meat of the lamb and then the manna plus the water before the Israelites could be led out of Egypt, pass through the wilderness, and enter into Canaan.
Let us first consider the lamb. The Bible clearly tells us that the lamb refers to our Lord Jesus. The Israelites not only put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts; they had to eat the meat of the lamb. Not only did they trust in the lamb to bear their sins and deliver them from perdition, they had to receive it into them for their strength. For this reason, we must not only believe in the Lord; we must also receive Him into us. The Israelites not only trusted in the blood of the lamb for the passing over of the destroyer's sword, but they ate the meat for their strength so that they could leave Egypt in the morning. Some have believed in the Lord and received forgiveness of sins, but they do not have the strength to renounce the world. The reason for this is that they have not eaten the meat in their heart yet. The blood has been applied, but they do not have the strength to leave Egypt. Therefore, in order to take our journey and obey the Lord, we need the meat, not the blood.
Exodus 12:8 indicates that the meat of the lamb had to be eaten on the same night. Although this was a commandment, the experience of many people is exactly the opposite. When you ask someone if he has believed in the Lord and if his sins are forgiven, he may give you a very clear and eloquent answer about the Lord's salvation. But if you ask why he still loves the world so much, he will say that he does not have the strength to give it up. (The world does not have to be something big. The extent of the world which we love and hold onto may be very small; it may be only a few dollars, or a few persons.) He is this way because he did not eat the meat in the beginning. The Bible tells us that the meat had to be eaten the same night. This is the way to be delivered from the bondage of Egypt. Eating the meat means to receive the Lord Jesus into our heart to be our Savior so that we can experience freedom in our practical daily life. Comments that are similar to the following often can be heard: "Why does So-and-so have such a holy living since he believed in the Lord? Why has there been so much change in him? I have believed in the Lord Jesus also. Why do I still love the world so much and find it so difficult to give it up?" Here we see that in order for a believer to be delivered from the world, it is a matter of eating the meat, not of applying the blood. All believers have experienced the application of the blood. Any difference between Christians is the result of whether or not they have eaten the meat.
We have covered the need to eat the meat, but how do we eat the meat? The second part of verse 8 speaks of eating the meat with two things. The first is bitter herbs. Bitter is not the name of an herb; it refers to the taste of the herb. Any herb, as long as it is bitter, can be used. The meaning of bitterness is hatred and displeasure in the heart. Spiritually speaking, it means to repent of past sins and mistakes. Repentance in the Bible carries only the sense of regret; it does not carry the sense of reform. It is better to understand it as a regret over past errors. The second thing we need is unleavened bread. First Corinthians tells us the meaning of the unleavened bread; it means the removal of sin. On the one hand, we have to regret our past sins. On the other hand, we have to repudiate our present sins. No one who has the strength can excuse himself from forsaking sin. No one can hold onto sin with one hand, and hold onto God with the other hand. Those who have Egypt in their heart cannot leave Egypt. Regretting past mistakes means to remove the past errors. If we do not remove the leaven, we cannot leave Egypt even if we eat the meat of the lamb. We have often said something wrong, and our heart feels condemned. At these times Satan says, "Help me a little! Just be wrong all the way to the end!" However, we should say that we would rather stand on God's side, and that we will not be Satan's companion. We would rather "lose our face" and tell those whom we have offended, "I have just said something wrong. Please do not take heart in that word." Some may say that it is meaningless to do this. But this is very important. I have done this kind of thing many times. For our past we need bitter herbs, and for our future we need unleavened bread. These qualify us to eat the meat. Many people do not grow spiritually because they are running around in circles like horses in a race. It seems that they have traveled a long way, but actually they remain in the same place because they are not willing to regret and remove their past sins. Whoever does not want to remove their past sins cannot go on, and whoever keeps their sins will never grow.
Is eating the meat of the lamb all that we have to do? No, this is not enough. We may have left Egypt, but there is still a wilderness journey which we have to take. In the wilderness we still need to eat the daily food. The meat of the lamb is eaten only once. This means that we need to receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior only once. But after this, we still need daily food in order to have strength for our daily life. Every day we have to face works, confrontations, affairs, and warfare. We need strength to deal with all of them. What is this food? John tells us that this food is the Lord. I would like to ask you a very frank question: Since the time you received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, how much experience have you had of eating the manna? Since the day you received the Lord, have you discovered new sins that you need to deal with? This is the most important issue. A person cannot stop eating after one meal; he has to eat every day. The same is true with our spiritual food. We cannot stop eating after taking one meal of the lamb at the Passover. After that meal, we must take in daily food. We can never neglect this. If we do, we will die in the wilderness, and there will be no possibility of going further.
What is this daily manna? Is it the reading of the Bible? It appears to be, but it is not. Is it prayer? It appears to be, but it is not. Is it waiting on the Lord? No. These are only the means. The manna itself is the strength of Christ. We merely use these things as the means to take in the strength of Christ. Why do we study the Bible in the morning? Is it for understanding the Bible? If it is merely for the understanding of the Bible, I feel sorry. We rise up early in the morning to study the Bible so that we would receive the strength of Christ to sustain us to live our daily life. We should rise up early to spend a half hour or hour to pray in order to contact God and draw the life-power from Him to be our strength.
Let me relate a real story. I have a friend who is a co-worker. She is very afraid of water buffalos and dogs. But we co-workers encounter these two animals all the time when we preach in the villages. Every time this sister saw a strong, black water buffalo, she would run away. Once she was walking along a country lane and a few dogs were barking continuously from behind, while a herd of strong, black water buffalos were coming toward her from the front. She was so scared that she almost fainted. If she tried to run away from the dogs, the water buffalos would be in front of her, and if she tried to avoid the water buffalos, the dogs would be in her way. The lane was narrow, and there was no way to turn. She was about to pass out under this double stress. At that instant, she prayed and said, "Lord, give me the life and the strength." As she took one step, she would repeat the prayer over and over again. Eventually she managed to pass all twelve water buffalos peacefully. This is what it means to appropriate His strength.
I have another friend who prays a wonderful prayer every morning: "God, I consecrate myself to You once again today." I asked him what he consecrated himself to God for, and he answered that he consecrated himself to God so that He would fill him up. This is indeed the best prayer for us every morning.
If we do not contact the Lord in the morning in this way, we cannot make it through our day. We study the Bible to gain Christ, and we pray to draw in strength. What does it mean to draw in strength? To draw in strength is like eating food; every time we take in food, the food becomes our strength. We draw in our spiritual strength in the same way. We have to taste Him day after day. Sometimes we are drawn by the taste of prayer. This is to eat of the manna. If we have a fresh touch with God every day in this way, He will take us on in our daily journey. The Bible tells us that no manna can be saved for the next day. Every day we have to touch God in a fresh way and receive fresh strength from Him. We have to develop such a habit of gathering the manna. Daily we need to receive a fresh message and fresh impact from God, and we need to have a fresh touch with Christ. Why do we have to read the Bible and pray every day? It is because this is a habit. We have to make drawing our strength and gathering manna a habit. It is useless for us to know the Bible without knowing Christ, so let us pursue after the precious experience!
We have read Numbers 11:5-6, which speaks of the murmuring of the Israelites. "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna before our eyes." One thing is certain: when we are tired of the manna, the food of Egypt will appear before our eyes. Leeks, onions, and garlic are strong in flavor. The Egyptian food has a strong flavor, and every food that has a strong flavor tends to stick in our memory; we remember it very readily. It is interesting that the Israelites only remembered the good food of Egypt; they had forgotten the sufferings in Egypt, how their male babies were drowned in the river, how they labored and toiled to make bricks, and how they were beaten by the taskmasters. Many backslidden ones have forgotten the frustration of sin, the bondage of Satan, and the struggle they experienced when they were under these things. They only remember that they could do this and that before they believed in the Lord, and that their present life is too much of a bondage and suffering. You can say that they have a good memory, because they can remember so much. You can also say that they have a poor memory, because they have forgotten even their own salvation. Many Christians cannot bear fruit because they have forgotten their initial salvation. Strictly speaking, it does not matter even if there are the leeks, onions, and garlic. These are merely strong in taste. What is indispensable is the manna. All those who are tired of contacting Christ have been distracted in their mind to Egypt; the smell of garlic is in their nose. Therefore, every Christian should maintain his daily portion of manna. Most Christians eat only once every three or five days, or only a little on the Lord's Day. This is not sufficient. We have to touch Christ every day. Only this kind of contact will afford us the strength.
Eating the meat of the lamb marks the beginning of our life, while eating the manna is for the sustenance of life and growth in life. Since this is the case, drinking the water must mean the enjoyment of life. Water signifies awakening, refreshment, and a kind of renewing power. Since water serves such a function, there is water in the wilderness as well as in Egypt. The meat of the lamb is for our life; it signifies the Christ who lives in us. The indwelling Christ requires the nourishment of the enthroned Christ before He has the strength to take the journey. But if we only have these two things, there is not much enjoyment, and a Christian will have a long face all day long. He will live in a miserable way and murmur like the Israelites, who complained that they only had this coriander-seed-like food; it was so plain that they were tired of it. Therefore, one cannot get by without the water of enjoyment.
How did this water come? Exodus 17:5 says that the first thing needed was the ancient rod. The Bible calls this the rod "wherewith thou smotest the river" (Exo. 17:5); it does not call it the rod of God. This served to remind the Israelites of the story of the smiting of the Egyptian river. The waters of Egypt became blood at the smiting of God's rod. Blood denotes death, and this signifies that all the enjoyment and pleasure of Egypt were under God's judgment. All of the entertainment in this world is blood. Many of these things were quite enjoyable to the Egyptians; they were as drinkable as water. But to us, they are blood; we cannot draw pleasure from them. We could do certain things in the past, but now they have all been turned to blood. This is why many people have said that being a Christian involves too much bondage. Does this mean that a Christian has no enjoyment at all? They have enjoyment, but the nature of Christian enjoyment is different from that of the Egyptians. This is why God reminded them of the ancient rod.
We have seen that we receive our life from Christ, and our life is sustained also by Christ. But where does the enjoyment come from? Some mothers derive enjoyment from their children. Our enjoyment, however, comes from the rock smitten by the rod. God told Moses to go up to Mount Horeb, which is one of the peaks of Mount Sinai, and He said, "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink" (v. 6). Our water comes from the rock before God. First Corinthians 10 says that this rock is Christ (v. 4). The smiting of the rod signifies His death, and the outflow of water signifies the Holy Spirit. Our joy and enjoyment are found in the Holy Spirit. This joy is enough to compensate for all our loss. In this age of darkness, many times our feet are sore, our hands heavy, and we do not find any enjoyment at all. During these times, the joy from God will compensate for all of our loss. Isaiah referred to the Lord as the One who grew up out of dry ground (Isa. 53:2). What does this mean? Roots cannot grow in dry ground. This shows us that the One the Lord trusted in was God. The world could not supply Him with anything. The same is true with the world today. We thirst for water, but only find blood. Even if we drink, we cannot quench our thirst. However, Christ is the living water; He can quench our thirst and satisfy us.
Today our God is standing on the mount. He is standing before the rock which has passed through death. Therefore, spiritual joy is not far from us, but right in front of us. Many years ago, during an earthquake in Italy, many people were moving things out of their houses and running for their lives with their young and their old. At that time, one woman stood at her door and roared with laughter. Although her house had collapsed and her possessions were buried, she was not concerned at all; she was laughing. When others asked why she was laughing so hard, she said, "All it takes is for my God to shake a little, and you can do nothing except run. How great is our God!" Indeed, often before our tears have dried, we are already filled with laughter and joy.
