Message 33
Scripture Reading: Exo. 16:1-4, 8-13a; Num. 11:1-6, 10-23, 31-34
The book of Exodus presents a picture of God’s full salvation. In God’s salvation two matters are crucial. The first is that God wants to be everything to His chosen people. He wants to work Himself into those whom He has predestinated unto Himself. Second, since God wants to be everything to us, He does not want us to do anything. Rather, He wants to do everything for us.
As we apply these two matters to the book of Exodus, we see that it was God Himself who dealt with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God did not ask the children of Israel to fight in order to be released from Egyptian tyranny. God did everything to bring about the total defeat of the Egyptians. When Moses confronted Pharaoh, all he had was a rod, a dead stick. It was God who did everything for His people.
Consider what God did for His people within less than forty days. He sent the plagues upon the Egyptians, and on the night of the Passover He slew the firstborn. Then He delivered the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh and brought them through the Red Sea, in which the Egyptian army was drowned. Furthermore, God brought the people to Marah, where He changed the bitter water into sweet water. Then He led them onward to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees.
According to 16:1, the children of Israel “came unto the wilderness of Sin...on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.” The Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month. Therefore, the record of chapter sixteen describes what took place just thirty-one days after the Passover. When I first realized this, I was very surprised. During this short period of time, God’s people had seen a number of miracles. However, they were not adequately impressed with the Lord’s sufficiency. The Passover was a great event, and the crossing of the Red Sea was even greater. Furthermore, the experiences at Marah and at Elim were significant. Nevertheless, when the people came to the wilderness of Sin and murmured and lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt, it seems as if they had had no experience at all.
Not many readers of Exodus have given adequate attention to chapter sixteen. Actually this chapter is greater than either chapter twelve or chapter fourteen. In chapter twelve we have the Passover, in chapter fourteen the crossing of the Red Sea, and in chapter sixteen the eating of the manna. The eating of manna signifies that God’s people had reached the point where they had begun to be a heavenly people, a people whose nature had begun to be transformed with the heavenly element.
Many of the miracles in the Scriptures were carried out with the physical things of God’s creation. For example, the Lord Jesus fed the multitude with loaves and fishes (Matt. 14:19). But can we say that the manna in chapter sixteen was an item of God’s old creation? No scholar can tell us what was the substance or element of manna. Whatever the substance of manna was, surely it did not belong to the old creation. In God’s old creation there is no such thing as manna.
In chapter sixteen there are two miracles: the sending of the quails and the sending of manna. The quails belong to the old creation. A wind went forth from the Lord and brought quails (Num. 11:31). This was no doubt a miracle, but it made use of natural and physical things. The sending of the manna, however, was different. Manna came from heaven (Exo. 16:4). Although we know that manna came from heaven, we do not know what the element of manna was. We cannot say what was the essence of manna, but we do know that it was food of a category different from all earthly food. To partake of manna was to have a heavenly diet. This heavenly food did not belong to the old creation.
People invariably live according to what they eat. Dietitians tell us that we are what we eat. For example, if we eat a great deal of fish, we shall become a composition of fish. Day by day for a period of forty years, the children of Israel ate manna. As a result, they became constituted with manna. We may even say that they became manna. Although we do not know the essence of manna, we know that it was the kind of food that caused people to become heavenly. By eating such heavenly food we become heavenly people.
By giving His people manna to eat, God indicated that His intention was to change the nature of His people. He wanted to change their being, their very constitution. They had already undergone a change of location. Formerly they were in Egypt. Now they were with the Lord in the wilderness, a place of separation. However, it is not sufficient merely to have a change of location, for this is too outward and too objective. There must also be an inward, subjective change, a change of life and nature. The way for God to produce such a change in His people is by changing their diet. By eating Egyptian food God’s people had been constituted with the element of Egypt. The element of the world had become their composition. When they were in Egypt, they did not partake of anything heavenly, for everything they ate was according to the Egyptian diet and was Egyptian in nature. Although God’s people had been brought out of Egypt into the wilderness of separation, they were still constituted with the element of Egypt. Now God’s intention was to change their element by changing their diet. He did not want them to eat anything that came from a worldly source. They were no longer allowed to eat Egyptian food. God wanted to feed them with food from heaven in order to constitute them with the heavenly element. His desire was to fill them, to satisfy them, to saturate them with food from heaven, and thereby to make them a heavenly people.
Before God sent manna from heaven, He sent the quails (16:13). The quails caused the people to be even more fleshly. The nature and substance of the quails corresponded to the nature and substance of the children of Israel. Manna, however, did not, for it was of another category, of another kingdom and realm. Thus, by sending manna God showed that His intention was to change the composition of His people. He is not satisfied with a mere change of place. There must also be a change of constitution. We, God’s people today, are a composition of earthly things, a composition of the Egyptian element. Hence, God’s goal is not simply to change our behavior; it is to change our inward being, the very inner fabric of our constitution. Although we have been constituted with the substance of Egypt, God intends to constitute us with a heavenly element. It is vital for all of us to see this.
God knew that the children of Israel were in need of food. If they had had faith in the Lord, they would have encouraged one another simply to rest in Him. They would have said, “Our God knows our need. There is no need to murmur or complain. Let us trust in Him and be at rest. Remember what the Lord has done for us in recent days. He dealt with Pharaoh, He slew the firstborn, He defeated the Egyptians, He brought us through the Red Sea, and He has supplied our every need.” But instead of exercising faith in the Lord, the children of Israel seemingly forgot everything the Lord had done for them. Instead of praising Him and thanking Him for what He had done, they murmured and complained. Their words were sharp and ugly as they spoke to Moses: “Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into the wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (16:3, Heb.). Even Moses was touched by the people’s murmuring. This is proved by the fact that Moses said, “What are we, that ye murmur against us?” (16:7). In uttering this word, Moses was not victorious. To the contrary, this was a sign that he had been defeated, having been touched by the murmurings of the people. If I had been Moses, I would have spoken a much stronger word. I might have said, “Have you forgotten everything I have done for you? You remember the fleshpots, but you don’t recall the tyranny, the labor, and the sufferings in Egypt. I brought you out of that tyranny. Why do you murmur against me?” Compared to us, Moses was victorious. Nevertheless, he was not victorious in an absolute way.
We have pointed out that in His salvation God intends to be everything to us and to do everything for us. He is real, living, faithful, and purposeful. Because God has a purpose in His salvation, there is no need for us to beg Him to have mercy upon us and to rescue us. God is working for us, and He knows all our needs. If we know the Lord and His ways, we shall not complain or murmur whenever we have a need. Instead, we shall say, “Praise the Lord! He knows our every need. If He wants us to miss a meal, then let us have a fast with praising and rejoicing before Him. Even if He withholds food for several days, we shall still rejoice. He knows our need, and He will send the supply at the right time. If He chooses for us to fast instead of feast, let us still praise Him. He knows what is best for us. Let us accept with rejoicing whatever He gives us.”
If this had been the attitude of the children of Israel, God would not have sent the quails. He would simply have sent manna early the next morning. His purpose in sending manna was to change the constitution of His people. Manna produces a metabolic change in which the Egyptian element is replaced by the heavenly element. Such a heavenly metabolism causes God’s people to be transformed. In name, the children of Israel were not Egyptians. But in nature and in composition they did not differ from the Egyptians in the least. By giving the people manna God seemed to be saying, “I have rescued you from Egypt positionally, but you have not yet been changed dispositionally. Now I shall change your constitution by changing your diet from an Egyptian diet to a heavenly diet. In this way I shall change your nature and your being, and I shall constitute you into a peculiar people. Because I want you to be heavenly, I shall not feed you with anything which has its source in the earth. Day by day, I shall send heavenly food, food from My dwelling place in heaven. This food will change your constitution.” May we all see that God’s intention in His salvation is to work Himself into us and to change our constitution by feeding us with heavenly food.
Let us now go on to see how God dealt with His people when they murmured and complained about the lack of food. As we consider this matter, we need to realize that we all have the tendency to understand the Bible in a natural way. According to our natural understanding, we may think that in Exodus 16 God was merely testing the children of Israel. We may believe that God purposely withheld food in order to test His people and to expose their lack of faith. Some may even refer to Hebrews 3:12 regarding an evil heart of unbelief. According to this point of view, the children of Israel did not have the faith to wait on God, to trust in Him, to rest in Him, and to praise Him. Because of an evil heart of unbelief, they complained. Therefore, God rebuked them. Then He sent the quails in the evening and the manna in the morning.
This understanding of Exodus 16 is very superficial. To understand the chapter in this way does not require the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Those who understand this portion in such a way read the Bible like an elementary school child who can read the words, but has nothing more than a natural and superficial grasp of what he reads.
If we have spiritual vision, we shall see that Exodus 16 reveals that God’s redeemed people still wanted to live a natural life. God’s intention, however, was for them to live a heavenly life. Desiring to live in the same way they did in Egypt, the people remembered how they sat by the flesh-pots enjoying the food of Egypt. But God’s desire was that they no longer eat Egyptian food. He wanted them to change their diet and to live a heavenly life. He wanted them to forget the Egyptian diet and to partake of heavenly food, a kind of food that no one had ever eaten before. God seemed to be saying to His people, “Until now, no one has eaten heavenly food. I want to make you a heavenly people, and I want you to have a heavenly life and live in a heavenly way. From now on, I shall feed you with a heavenly diet.”
In reading the Word I have learned not to place any trust in my natural understanding. As I was reading this chapter of Exodus, I was not satisfied with the natural understanding of this portion of the Word. I do not want to waste the saints’ time by speaking according to the natural concept. Therefore, I said to the Lord, “If You require me to speak from this chapter, You must give me Your light and Your vision. Show me what is in Your mind concerning this chapter.” As I prayed, looked to the Lord, and considered this chapter in His presence, the light began to shine. Under the shining of the light, I saw that the main point here is that although God’s people wanted to continue living the old Egyptian life, God’s intention was to cause them to live another kind of life. Because His aim was to change their diet, He did not send them food immediately after they came into the wilderness. In His wisdom, God purposely delayed in providing food for them. If He had changed their diet earlier, the people would not have been impressed adequately. He realized that if He waited until His people had a need and then sent the heavenly manna, they would be more deeply and lastingly impressed.
The children of Israel fed on manna in the wilderness for a period of forty years. The Bible tells us that only twice were they troubled with respect to manna. In Exodus 16 the people were disciplined by God. This discipline trained them not to desire the Egyptian diet. But, according to Numbers 11, a year later the people once again lusted for the food of Egypt. But after they had been disciplined by God more severely at Kibroth-hattaavah, they no longer had any problems with the heavenly diet provided by God. God certainly was a good Father to His people. Firstly the children of Israel were disciplined in the wilderness. Then, a year later, they were disciplined at Kibroth-hattaavah. If God had sent manna before the people had come to the wilderness, they would not have appreciated it, and they probably would not have learned anything. After the people arrived in the wilderness and realized that there was no food, they began to murmur and complain. On the evening of that day, God sent quails to satisfy their lust. Then, the next morning, the manna came. No doubt, this made a deep impression on the people.
The food in Egypt suited the flesh of God’s people. The more they ate of Egyptian food, the more fleshly they became, for the Egyptian diet corresponded to the people’s flesh and nourished it. Manna, however, was food of another category. It came from heaven and it caused those who ate it to become heavenly. When the children of Israel were murmuring in the wilderness, their murmuring was according to their flesh. This means that they were murmuring according to the old self, according to the old person. In their murmuring they were not living as God’s redeemed people, but as natural people.
The flesh here does not signify only the lustful part of our being; it signifies the totality of our fallen being, the whole of our old person. Although God’s people had been redeemed, they were still living like Egyptians, like those who had not been redeemed by God. For this reason, God sent quails to satisfy their fleshly lusts. The first time He sent quails was in Exodus 16. Although He disciplined the people, His discipline on this occasion was not severe. The second time “the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague” (Num. 11:33, Heb.). Numbers 11:34 goes on to say, “And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.” Kibroth-hattaavah means the graves of lust.
Before God smote the people with a great plague, He sent quails in abundance. In a miraculous way, the Lord fed the people with quails for thirty days (Num. 11:19-20). In Numbers 11:31 we have a description of the vast number of quails: “And there went forth a wind from Jehovah, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth” (Heb.). What an abundance of quails! At first, the people were pleased. But eventually the quails became loathsome to them, for the people had to eat them until the flesh came out of their nostrils (Num. 11:20). In Numbers 11:33 we are told, “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against the people” (Heb.).
We need to apply the record in Numbers 11 to our experience. If we continue to lust for worldly things after we are saved, God may give them to us. For example, suppose you lust after a new car. God may give it to you in order to fulfill your lust, but He will not be happy in doing so. Rather, He will give you what you lust after in order to show you His glory, His anger, and His sufficiency. Just as God sent an abundance of quails to the children of Israel, He may give you so many cars that they become loathsome to you. God will give you what you lust after, but you may experience His displeasure. Sooner or later, the very cars you lust after will become loathsome to you.
I have known some believers who had a great love for money when they were young Christians. But after they became rich, the money they loved became loathsome to them. Furthermore, they suffered spiritual death. All Christians today need to hear the teaching of the Word concerning this.
I would encourage all the saints not to love the world and not to lust according to the flesh after worldly things. But this is the very thing many Christians are doing today. In order to satisfy their lusts, they are pursuing the things of Egypt. God may allow them to have what they desire. This, however, is not a positive sign. Do not think that if God gives you what you lust after, He agrees with you, He is happy with you, or He intends to edify you. On the contrary, this is a sign of His anger and displeasure. Most of today’s Christians have been smitten by God in His anger. For this reason, with them there is no life, only spiritual death.
I hope that all the saints in the Lord’s recovery, especially the young people, will learn to forget the world and not to lust after Egyptian things. The God who has saved us is real, living, faithful, and purposeful, and He will take care of our needs. There is no need for us to lust after worldly things. We are no longer worldly people. We are God’s chosen people, and He wants us to live a heavenly life. I can testify that the Lord is faithful and worthy of our trust. Through my experience I have learned not to act on my own. Anything I do in myself will displease the Lord. I repeat, the Lord wants to be everything to us and to do everything for us. It is His desire to give us heavenly food, to rain manna upon us. By partaking of this heavenly food, we shall be a heavenly people living a heavenly life. This will make us altogether different from worldly people.
By means of God’s discipline the children of Israel saw His glory. However, they did not see it in a pleasant way. In the foregoing message we pointed out that often when we are murmuring against the Lord, His glory appears to us. However, when we are right with Him, His presence may not seem particularly noticeable. For example, in the meetings of the church you may not sense the Lord’s presence in a special way. But if you attempt to indulge in some form of worldly entertainment, you may have a strong awareness of His presence. The Lord within you may be very active, even aggravated. This is the glory of the Lord appearing to you. When you are doing the Lord’s will, you may not sense that the Lord is with you. But when you are disobeying the Lord, you will have the definite impression that He is with you. This is the appearing of the Lord’s glory, but not in a positive way.
Furthermore, usually through some kind of negative experience, many of us have come to know the Lord’s sufficiency. We have learned, perhaps in a shameful way, that the Lord truly is sufficient. For example, a brother from the Far East may arrive in this country very poor. But several years later, he has a doctoral degree and a high-paying job. Now he can testify of God’s sufficiency. Others can testify that although they wanted a home with three bedrooms, God gave them a five-bedroom home. In this matter, God showed them His sufficiency. However, He did so not in a positive way, but in a negative way.
With the Lord there is no scarcity. However, in Numbers 11 Moses did not realize this. He told the Lord that among the people there were six hundred thousand footmen (v. 21). Then he went on to ask the Lord, “Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?” (v. 22). Here we see that Moses wondered how God could supply meat for six hundred thousand men plus women and children for a period of thirty days. According to verse 23, the Lord answered Moses, “Is Jehovah’s hand become short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not” (Heb.). The Lord did not need flocks, herds, or fish. His intention was to send a vast quantity of quails.
Many of us can testify that, after we were saved, we did receive what we lusted after. In fact, we received it in such abundance that it came out of our nostrils and caused us to suffer spiritual death. For example, the more cars and houses a brother has, the more problems he may have. Eventually, these things became loathsome to him. Although it may be in such a negative way, we come to see that the Lord is sufficient. Then we worship Him for His sufficiency.
Like the children of Israel in Numbers 11, we need to see God’s anger and His sufficiency. Then we shall truly know that the Lord is faithful to meet our needs. Because He is our Shepherd, we shall not want. In fact, we may sometimes have much more than we need. Sooner or later, we shall learn not to lust after anything. We may even have to tell the Lord that we do not want any more cars or houses. In other words, we do not want any more quails. Rather, we are content with heavenly manna. The manna comes in a simple way, and it is never troublesome.
At the beginning of their years in the wilderness, the children of Israel learned not to lust after Egyptian food. For a year, they were not troubled by their diet of manna. But when they complained again, God disciplined them and trained them in a severe way. After this discipline, they learned a lasting lesson. From that time onward, they were satisfied with the heavenly diet. They continued to feed on manna for more than thirty-eight years. Have you learned to be satisfied with heavenly food and not to lust for the things of Egypt? As God’s redeemed people, we should not lust after worldly things. We need to realize that our God is real, living, faithful, and purposeful. Because He has saved us with a purpose, He will surely lead us and care for us in His own way. There is no need for us to worry or to lust after anything. He knows all our need, and He will meet our need at the right time according to the heavenly diet.
The more we enjoy the food the Lord sends us, the more heavenly we shall become. Let us forget the fleshpots of Egypt and be happy and satisfied with the heavenly diet. Let us enjoy God’s heavenly supply so that we may be a heavenly people in every way. Then, although we walk in a wilderness on earth, we shall be a heavenly people with a heavenly diet. The source of our supply is not on the earth — it is in the heavens. Day by day, God rains the heavenly food upon us so that we may eat of it and become a heavenly people.
God’s way to deal with the flesh of His people is to change their diet. This is the real dealing with the flesh of God’s people. Viewing this matter of dealing with the flesh in a superficial way, some Christian teachers say that the flesh is dealt with by the cross. But whether the flesh remains whole or is cut into pieces, it is still the flesh. The proper dealing with the flesh comes through a change of diet.
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they wanted to live in the old way. They desired the foodstuffs of Egypt. According to Numbers 11:5, they said, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.” This Egyptian diet constituted the people with the element of Egypt, an element that corresponded to their flesh. God’s intention is not only to deal with the flesh of His people; it is also to cause the flesh to be set aside. His intention is to give His people another diet and thereby to reconstitute them. In Exodus 16 we see that their diet should no longer consist of foodstuffs from Egypt; it should consist only of heavenly food. This is God’s way to deal with the flesh.
As fallen beings, we, in the totality of our fallen nature, are nothing but flesh. Even if this flesh is cut into pieces, it remains flesh. God’s way to deal with the flesh is to put it aside and not to feed it. For this reason, He changes the diet of His people and sends them food which their flesh does not like. By changing their diet and feeding them with manna from heaven, He causes them to have a different constitution. This is the crucial point in Exodus 16. In this chapter we see the change of diet that results in the reconstitution and transformation of God’s chosen people.
