Message 37
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 16:13-15, 31-36; Num. 11:6-9
In the previous message we pointed out that manna came from heaven (Exo. 16:4), that it came with the dew (Exo. 16:13-14; Num. 11:9), and that it came in the morning (Exo. 16:13, 21). In this message we shall consider a number of other characteristics of manna.
Contrary to the human concept, manna was something small (Exo. 16:14b). People usually appreciate something that is great, and we often praise the Lord for His greatness. However, where can you find hymns of praise for the smallness of Christ? We have looked through many hymnals, but have not found any hymns on Christ’s smallness.
Building materials may be very large, but food must be small enough to fit into our mouth. The food taken in by us must be small enough to eat. If we want to eat a large piece of meat, we need to first cut it into small pieces.
Throughout the centuries, few of those who believe in the Lord have had an adequate appreciation of the preciousness of the Lord’s smallness. Many regard the four Gospels as the record of the life of a great person. Actually the Gospels do not emphasize Christ’s greatness. Yes, the Lord Jesus was a descendant of David, a descendant of a royal family. However, He was born in a manger, and He was raised in the home of a carpenter in a small, despised town. This indicates that the Lord did not make a display of His greatness. On the contrary, He preferred to be small in the eyes of man.
According to John 6, the crowd wanted to enthrone the Lord Jesus as a king, but He fled from such an exaltation of Himself. The next day He returned and presented Himself as the bread of life (John 6:35). He did not want to be a king; He wanted to be food that His people may receive Him as their life and life supply. Instead of being great, the Lord wanted to be small in order to be food for us.
From the time of Christ’s ascension until now, Christian teachers have tended to stress the greatness and exaltation of Christ. Nevertheless, Christ still wants to be small so that we may eat Him. The great revivals in the history of the church have not focused on Christ’s smallness. This is the reason that such revivals usually have not lasted very long. Furthermore, the corruption in Christianity has always come in through the door of greatness. If we would close this door, no element of corruption could enter into the church.
In His smallness the Lord is altogether different from our natural concept of Him. Even we in the Lord’s recovery may desire to see great things. Because of the desire for greatness, many of those in the Pentecostal or charismatic movement are given to boastfulness and exaggeration. For this reason, we should discount a large percentage of the reports of healings and miracles that supposedly take place in today’s Pentecostalism. Some may boast that many healings took place in a particular meeting when there was not even one genuine healing.
Some years ago reports were circulated about a great revival that supposedly was taking place on the island of Timor. According to these reports, miracles were commonplace. Claims were even made that people had been raised from the dead. A former missionary who was there and is now in the Lord’s recovery attended some of these revival meetings to observe what was happening. In one meeting the leader announced that during the course of the meeting water would be changed into wine. At a certain point, this brother saw the leader take out a bottle he had hidden and pour wine from it into a container of water. What falsehood! Falsehoods such as this are allowed to creep in because so many Christians have the desire for greatness.
Miracles are not food. Even a genuine miraculous healing may not be food to us. The Lord Jesus wants to be our food. It is possible to be healed by the Lord without receiving Him as food. Healings may be great and miraculous, but still not have the nature of food. However, it is possible to receive divine healing in the proper way so that through the healing the Lord becomes a supply of life to us. This kind of healing is not outwardly great; rather, it is small in appearance.
Those things in our Christian life which do not supply life to us either are not genuine or are not normal; they are contrary to the nature of food. According to the Gospel of John, people tried to exalt the Lord Jesus, but He always fled from such exaltation. In John 2 the Jews saw miracles performed by the Lord Jesus. However, He would not commit Himself to them. He would not trust in those who were impressed by miracles. In John 3 Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus by night. Without anything miraculous taking place, the Lord was life to this man in a very ordinary way, in a way that was calm, hidden, small, and silent. This is the divine way.
Even we in the Lord’s recovery may expect to see great things take place. Such a desire has often opened the door to trouble. The desire for greatness invariably results in suffering. However, this suffering may help to terminate the desire for greatness.
Because the Bible does not give us the dimensions of manna, we do not know how small manna was. Both in His greatness and in His smallness, Christ is immeasurable. The detailed description given of manna in the Scriptures simply includes a word about its smallness. Manna is small in order to be taken in as food. As the real manna, Christ is small enough for us to take in, digest, and assimilate.
Another characteristic of manna is its fineness (16:14a). Manna was very fine and even. By nature, we are coarse and unbalanced. Even in virtues such as kindness or humility, we may be rough and unbalanced. Rarely do we find a person who is fine, even, and balanced. However, when we take the Lord Jesus as our food, enjoying His word as our life supply, we are balanced. We become fine and even.
In 16:14 we see that manna was round. It is difficult to determine whether the manna was round like a flake or round like a ball. The roundness of a flake is circular, whereas the roundness of a ball is spherical. The Hebrew word seems to indicate that the manna was like a flake. But elsewhere we are told that manna was like coriander seed. This implies that manna was like a ball.
The roundness of manna signifies that Christ is eternal, without beginning or ending. Christ is eternal food with an eternal nature for eternal nourishment without limitation. Whoever eats Him will have eternal life with the eternal nature and will receive eternal nourishment. By eating Christ, we become eternal people, those who are beyond time. The eating of Jesus brings us out of time and into eternity. The life we received in regeneration is an eternal life with an eternal nature. Because we have received such a life, we have become eternal people. In a sense, we are eternal already, although, of course, we are still in time. The more we eat the Lord Jesus, the more eternal we become.
The roundness of manna indicates that Christ is eternal, perfect, and full. With the manna there is no shortage. The Lord Jesus and His word are perfect and full. By eating Him we are transformed. The more we eat the Lord Jesus and His word, the more eternal, perfect, and full we become. In this diet of heavenly manna there is no defect or shortage.
Exodus 16:31 indicates that manna was white. It was clean and pure, without any kind of mixture. No earthly food is like this. Everything we feed on apart from Christ and His word is a mixture. Only Christ and His word are pure. The more we feast on Christ and eat His word, the more we are purified and saved from every kind of mixture.
If we come daily to the Lord Jesus and take Him into us and feed on His word, we shall undergo a process of purification that makes us more and more pure. Those who feed on Christ eventually become simple and pure. Most people are complicated. How can these complicated people be simplified? The only way to be simplified is to eat the Lord Jesus. The more we eat Him and receive His word, the more we are simplified. In this way we become single and pure.
As we partake of Christ as our manna, we are not only purified and simplified, but we also become white. To be white means to be without stain. As we feed on Christ, the stains within us are eliminated. Although we may be good in certain respects, we may not be white. For example, our love and humility may have a certain natural color. Actually, none of our human virtues is white. But the more we take in Christ as our life supply, the more our natural color is eliminated, and the whiter we become.
The manna was also like frost (16:14). Frost is something between dew and snow. Both dew and frost are refreshing. But although dew refreshes, it does not kill germs. Frost, however, does kill germs. As manna, not only does Christ refresh us; He also kills the negative things within us. Whenever we experience Christ as the life supply, we are watered and refreshed, and the negative things within us, such as our negative attitudes, are put to death. We experience both the refreshing of the frost and its killing.
As the best kind of air conditioning, frost also cools us. All the worldly people are too hot in their pursuit of sinful pleasures and worldly amusements. Many of today’s Christians are also too hot, too feverish; they need to be cooled down. This is especially true of those in Pentecostalism or in the charismatic movement. Those who are involved in the charismatic movement need to eat manna and experience the frost. Actually, we all need the experience of frost. Because we are so hot in certain matters, we need to become cool and sober. We all need to be cooled down in order to be refreshed in a proper way. As we partake of Christ and His word, we are cooled down and refreshed by the frost.
In 16:31 and Numbers 11:7 we are told that the manna was like coriander seed. This indicates that as food Christ is full of life. When we eat Christ, He comes into us as a seed. Compared to corn or wheat, the coriander seed is tiny. Although this seed is very small, it is full of life, and it brings the life element into our being. As such a seed, Christ grows within us.
If we try to receive Christ in His greatness, we are mistaken. The Christ we receive as nourishment is small, like a coriander seed. The normal and proper enjoyment of Christ is to take Him in as a small seed full of nourishment.
As the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, Christ is not great; He is actually very small. If He were not small, how could He dwell in us? In our daily experience the Spirit is small, not great. However, those in the charismatic movement desire to have the Spirit in a great way. They want the whole world to be stirred up by a mighty move of the Spirit. Some Christians have been praying for this for years, but no such move of the Spirit has taken place. In the church the life-giving Spirit moves in us and among us in a small way, here and there capturing people for the Lord. Although the Spirit’s working is on a small scale, it never stops.
In many cases those who are saved in a spectacular way do not go on with the Lord. But those who are converted in a seemingly uneventful way often go on with the Lord steadily and absolutely. Like coriander seeds that grow quietly and without excitement, they grow gradually and positively. With them there is nothing special, nothing unusual, but life grows and multiplies. This is the way to enjoy Christ as coriander seed, full of life.
The fact that manna also was solid is implied in the description of how the people prepared it; they “ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in pots” (Num. 11:8, Heb.). In order to be ground, beaten, and boiled the manna had to be solid. Perhaps it was hard like certain grains.
In your experience is Christ soft or hard? Often in my eating of Christ I find that He is solid, even hard. Contrary to our natural concept, Christ is not soft. However, many Christians like to think of Christ as being very soft. But the manna was so solid that it had to be ground, beaten, and boiled in pots. Before cakes could be made of manna, the manna first had to be ground.
Perhaps you are wondering what this means. When I was young, I thought that the children of Israel simply gathered the manna, brought it to their tents, and ate it. Numbers 11:8 troubled me for a long time. Eating manna is not a simple matter. After gathering it, we need to grind it, beat it, boil it, and then make cakes of it. Many Christians read the Bible, but they do not receive any food because they lack the grinding, beating, and boiling. Daily in our experience we need to grind Christ, beat Christ, and boil Christ. Our experiences are the millstones, mortars, and pots for grinding, beating, and boiling Him. Certain experiences are like grinding stones, whereas others are like mortars and pots. Through different kinds of circumstances and situations the Bible is food to us. We may have gathered manna but may not have ground, beaten, or boiled it. We may have only raw manna, which is not good for eating. After the manna is ground, it is made into cakes. To make these cakes we need certain situations and circumstances. We also need other saints with more experience to help us grind, beat, and boil the manna. Apart from this process, the manna is not yet suitable for eating.
Although we may gather manna during our time with the Lord in the morning, this manna may still not be ready to eat. But through our experiences in different circumstances, the manna is ground, beaten, and boiled. Then it is ready to eat.
In Numbers 11:7 we are told that the appearance of manna was like the appearance of bdellium (Heb.). It is difficult to translate this verse properly. The King James Version says that the color was as the color of bdellium. Bdellium has been interpreted to signify two different substances, both a white transparent gum and a white pearl. The pearls produced by resin from certain trees are very much like pearls produced by oysters. When the resinous gum that flows out of these trees hardens, it forms pearl-like balls. The word bdellium in this verse may refer to these balls. Hence, two substances may be called pearls, one produced by oysters and the other produced by the secretion of resinous gum from trees. Both kinds of pearls are bright and transparent.
The Hebrew word rendered “color” or “appearance” in this verse actually means an eye. Manna has an eye. The eye of the manna is like the eye of a pearl. A pearl somewhat resembles an eye. If you examine a pearl, you will see that it is like an eyeball. Every piece of manna looked like an eyeball, round, bright, and transparent. Do you realize that your eyeball is transparent? Otherwise, we would be blind. Our eyeball is transparent like the lens of a camera.
The more we eat Christ, the more eyes we shall have and the more transparent we shall become. The four living creatures in Revelation 4 are “full of eyes in front and behind” and “full of eyes around and within” (vv. 6, 8). Eyes are for living things to receive light and vision. The fact that the four living creatures are full of eyes indicates that they are crystal clear in every respect.
An eye signifies transparency. With the exception of our eyes, which are transparent, our whole body is opaque. If we do not have Christ, we do not have any eyes, and we are altogether opaque. When we were saved, we began to be transparent. Now the more we enjoy Christ as the heavenly manna, the more transparent we become. Whenever we are with saints who enjoy Christ as food, we sense that they are transparent. As the manna, Christ is transparent. When we eat Him, we become transparent also.
This transparency will eventually become our appearance. If we enjoy Christ day by day, eating Him as the manna with the appearance of bdellium, we shall have the appearance of Christ, the appearance of an eyeball, and this appearance will become our color. By eating Christ our color becomes the transparency of Christ. In this way, transparency becomes our appearance and our color.
Eating Christ causes us to have more eyes. The more we eat Him and eat His word, the more we become living creatures full of eyes. Sometimes I wish that I were not limited to two physical eyes. With more eyes I could see a great deal more. If we had more spiritual eyes, we would be much more bright and transparent. The way to have more eyes is to eat more of Jesus as the real manna with the appearance of bdellium, the appearance of a bright, transparent eyeball. When we are in the New Jerusalem, our whole being will be transparent, like the wall of the city. Because the wall of the city is wholly transparent, the glory of God can shine through it. By eating Jesus, we shall eventually become transparent throughout our entire being.
Numbers 11:8 says that the taste of manna “was as the taste of fresh oil,” or of “oil cakes.” Oil typifies the Holy Spirit. When we eat Christ as our manna, we taste the Spirit of God. The oil here is fresh. The Spirit we taste when we enjoy Christ as manna is always fresh.
Exodus 16:31 says that “the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” Honey is sweet. Honey is the mingling of two lives, the produce of the animal life and the vegetable life. The honey bees which produce honey receive the supply from flowers, from the vegetable life. As our manna, Christ has this element of the mingling of the animal life with the vegetable life. This mingling is our sweet nourishment.
We have pointed out that the taste of manna is like that of fresh oil and also like that of wafers with honey. The taste of fresh oil is fragrant, whereas the taste of honey is sweet. Fragrance and sweetness are the two most important aspects of taste. The taste of oil signifies fragrance, and the taste of honey, sweetness. Tasty food is always either fragrant or sweet. Christ tastes like oil and honey. The oil is mingled with the cakes, and the honey is mingled with the wafers. As our food, Christ has the flavor of oil and honey.
In our enjoyment of Christ, we sense His fragrance and sweetness. Within Him there is the taste of oil and honey. Christ is never bitter or salty to our taste. He is always fragrant and sweet.
After the manna had been ground, the people made cakes of it (Num. 11:8). These cakes were a form of fine bread and were nourishing. As the cakes made from manna, Christ is rich in nourishment. The Bible says that Christ is the bread which came down from heaven (John 6:41). The fact that Christ is bread signifies that He is food rich in nourishment. This aspect of Christ as manna is typified by the cakes. The difference between bread and cakes is that bread is somewhat rough, whereas cakes are fine. Praise the Lord that He is a fine cake full of nourishment!
Finally, manna was a mystery. In fact, the word manna means, “What is it?” None of the children of Israel knew what manna was. Have you noticed that in describing manna the Bible likens manna to certain things? For example, 16:14 says that manna was as small as the hoar frost on the ground, and 16:31 says that manna was like coriander seed and that its taste was like wafers made with honey. Again and again, the words “as” and “like” are used. The Bible does not actually tell us what manna was because manna is mysterious.
Although manna came from heaven and did not belong to the old creation, it could nourish man’s physical body. To do this, manna must have contained certain elements and minerals which were part of the old creation. This shows the mysteriousness of manna.
As the real manna, Christ is mysterious; He cannot be explained scientifically. In the New Testament there are various indications of the mysteriousness of Christ. For example, after His resurrection Christ entered into a closed room where the disciples had gathered. The disciples “were startled and became frightened and thought they beheld a spirit” (Luke 24:37). Knowing they were troubled, the Lord said, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you behold Me having” (v. 39). In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Nevertheless, He had a body that could be seen and touched. The disciples could even see the nail prints in His hands and feet. It is difficult to say whether Christ today is spiritual or material. On the one hand, He still has a body of flesh and bones. On the other hand, the Bible tells us that Christ lives in us and is being formed in us (Gal. 2:20; 4:19). We simply cannot explain Christ because He is mysterious. As manna, Christ is indeed a mystery.
