In this message we come to the manna in the golden pot (Heb. 9:4).
If we would understand what the hidden manna, the manna in the golden pot, is, we must understand a basic concept in the Bible, a concept which most Christians have not grasped. After God created man, He did not do anything with him, nor did He charge him to do anything for Him. According to Gen. 1 and Gen. 2, the basic requirement for living in the presence of God is to eat properly. What matters the most in God’s presence is what and how we eat. Hence, in the Bible eating is a basic concept concerning our relationship with God. God has created everything, including man. If He can make the heavens and the earth and billions of items, what is there that He cannot do? He can easily do everything. Actually, there is even no need for Him to do anything, for He just speaks and what He desires comes into being. Nevertheless, there is one thing which God cannot do — He cannot eat for us. Although a mother may do many things for her children, she cannot eat for them. The children must eat for themselves. As far as our relationship with God is concerned, the basic matter is eating properly.
In Gen. 2, man’s eating was a matter of the tree of life. After man fell, God came in to redeem him. But when God brought in redemption in Exodus 12, the eating was changed to include more than just the one item, the tree of life. Eating was no longer simply to have the supply of life; it was also related to redemption. In Exodus 12 the children of Israel were instructed to eat a lamb. The tree of life is of the vegetable life, and a lamb is of the animal life. While there is no blood with a tree, there is blood with a lamb. In the Bible, blood is for redemption. At the time of the exodus, the children of Israel struck the blood that they might be redeemed and they ate the lamb that they might have the life supply. In the first stage, eating was only for man’s life supply, but in the second stage, eating was for both redemption and the life supply.
During the years in the wilderness, the children of Israel ate manna. Since there certainly was no blood in the manna, the eating of manna was unrelated to redemption; it was altogether for the life supply. How could the children of Israel, who wandered in the wilderness for forty years, continue to live and move? They lived and moved by the supply of manna which they ate every day. In chapter six of John, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). This troubled the Jews. Then the Lord said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves” (v. 53, Recovery Version). In this chapter the Lord firstly said that He was the bread of life. Then He said that we must drink His blood. How could the bread have blood in it? This bread is not only the bread of the vegetable life but also the meat of the lamb. In John 6:51 the Lord said, “The bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Recovery Version). The bread is of the vegetable life and is only for feeding; the flesh is of the animal life and is not only for feeding but also for redeeming. Before the fall of man, the Lord was the tree of life (Gen. 2:9), only for feeding man. After man fell into sin, the Lord became the Lamb (John 1:29), not only for feeding man, but also for redeeming him (Exo. 12:4, 7-8).
I want to say again that after the creation of man and even in God’s redemption of man, the basic concept regarding our being in the presence of God is this matter of eating. Thus, we must devote our complete attention to it. Do not try to learn so many things — just continue to eat well in the presence of the Lord. I was a Christian for over thirty years before I knew anything about eating in the spirit. I was never taught about this. Many of us can testify that before we came into the church, we were never told that we could eat Jesus. But from beginning to end, the Bible covers the matter of eating. The Bible begins and ends with the eating of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7; 22:1-2, 14).
As we have pointed out, the entire book of Hebrews is focused on Christ as the heavenly Minister with His kingly and divine priesthood. As our heavenly Minister, His main responsibility is to minister the Triune God into us as our supply. He is now ministering such a wonderful supply, not in the outer court, but in the Holy of Holies, and not on the cross, but on the throne of grace. We have seen that the book of Hebrews calls us to come forward to the Holy of Holies, to the throne of grace, and to God. In the Holy of Holies we are not gathered around the cross for redemption; we are meeting around the throne of grace for the life supply. Here we enjoy Christ as our Melchisedec ministering to us the bread and wine as our life supply. This also is absolutely a matter of eating. Hence, this book brings us from the outer court to the Holy of Holies, where there is one unique item — the ark of testimony, which represents Christ. In the Holy of Holies there is nothing but the all-inclusive Christ. According to the outward appearance, He is only one item, the ark of testimony. But when we experience Him as the ark, we see not only one unique item; we see three items — the golden pot containing manna, the budding rod, and the law of life.
These three items are the kernels within the kernel. After entering into the tabernacle, we find ourselves in the Holy Place where everything is rather outward. After passing through the second veil, we enter into the inner chamber of the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. Once we have come into the Holy of Holies, we are in the heart, the kernel, of the tabernacle. But within the Holy of Holies we have the ark of testimony, and within the ark we have the golden pot containing manna, the budding rod, and the law of life. Because these items are all in the ark in the Holy of Holies, we may say that they are the kernels within the kernel.
As we touch the first of these items, the golden pot containing manna, we find something even deeper. After passing through four layers, the layer of the tabernacle, the layer of the Holy of Holies, the layer of the ark of testimony, and the layer of the golden pot, we come to the manna. When we touch this, we have truly come home. If we are only in the Holy of Holies but are not feeding on the manna in the golden pot, we are not yet home. Even if we touch the ark of testimony, we are still not home. The tabernacle is for the Holy of Holies, the Holy of Holies is for the ark, the ark is for the golden pot, and the golden pot is for the hidden manna. In Revelation 2:17 the Lord Jesus said, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.” Where is this hidden manna? It is in the golden pot which is in the ark in the Holy of Holies. The one main kernel, the living kernel among all the kernels, is the hidden manna. The Lord Jesus promised His overcomers that they would eat this hidden manna.
Before we learn how to eat the hidden manna, we must first know what manna is. The word manna means “What is this?” (Exo. 16:15). The manna which the children of Israel ate in the wilderness was different from the other foods they had known, for it was unlike any food stuff on earth. It was neither wheat, corn, nor barley. When the people saw it, they asked, “What is this?” In Numbers 11 we see a comparison between manna and the foods with which the children of Israel were familiar. Numbers 11:5-6 says, “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: but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.” Here we see the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Although the children of Israel knew what these were, they did not know what manna was. In color, shape, appearance, taste, and in every other aspect it was absolutely different from anything they had ever seen before. They could only ask, “What is this?” They seemed to be saying, “What is this? It is neither fish nor leeks, onions nor garlic. Is it animal or vegetable? It seems that it is neither one.” No human language can explain what manna is. Manna is simply manna. Manna is “What is this?” Everyone knows what onions are, but when you speak of manna they can only ask “What is this?” Manna is simply “What is this?”
Manna is a type of Christ. What is Christ? Christ is “What is this?” He is extraordinary. He is so special that He cannot be ranked with anything else.
Let us now consider the various aspects of the manna in the Old Testament. Numbers 11:9 says, “When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” Manna always comes early in the morning with the dew. What does the dew signify? Psalm 133:3 says, “As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.” In the Bible, dew signifies God’s gracious visitation from the heavens. When God comes from the heavens to visit us as grace, He is like the dew, so precious and watering. That manna always comes with the dew signifies that the very Christ who is our manna today always comes with grace, with God’s gracious visitation from the heavens. Whenever we touch Christ as our life supply, we have the deep sense that heaven has come to us in a soft, watering manner. This watering is so well proportioned that it does not trouble us, but it certainly refreshes us. As we enjoy touching Christ as our manna, we have the sense that heaven has come down to visit, water, and refresh us.
Exodus 16:14 describes manna as “a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.” Although some hymns have been written to praise Christ for His greatness, we also need to praise Him for His smallness. Manna was small; yet the Bible does not give us its dimensions. Although manna is small, it is immeasurable; we cannot say how small it is. This indicates that we cannot tell the size of Christ. Our Christ is without size. Nothing is smaller than He is, and nothing is greater than He is. He is the smallest as well as the greatest. Nothing can exceed Him. Who can measure the greatness or the smallness of Christ?
We are also told that the manna was round (Exo. 16:14). In typology, this signifies that manna is eternal, without beginning or ending. Christ is the eternal food with the eternal nature for the eternal nourishment without any limitation. Whoever eats Him will have the eternal life with the eternal nature and receive the eternal nourishment.
Manna was like the frost (Exo. 16:14), which is between dew and snow. Dew is refreshing, but it is not as refreshing as frost is. Although dew refreshes, it does not kill the germs. Frost does kill germs. As manna, Christ not only refreshes us; He also kills all the negative things within us. He comes with the dew, and He comes as the frost. Whenever we experience Christ as the supply, we sense that heaven has come down to visit and water us. While we are being watered and refreshed, we also sense that the negative things within us, such as our negative attitudes, are being killed. I enjoy the refreshing and the killing of this frost. If two brothers are upset with one another, it means that they need the killing of the frost.
The frost not only kills the negative things in us; it also cools us down. Although the young people love the Lord, sometimes they are “hot” for sports. If they do not have the time to go to a football game, they may at least try to watch a game on television. When, while they are so “hot” for sports, they touch Christ, the “frost” will come to cool them down. Other brothers and sisters like to talk, talking in vain words about many things. When we talk like this, we are “hot.” But when we touch Christ, the “frost” cools us down. The older brothers and sisters also need to be cooled down by the “frost.” Although the older sisters love their husbands, if we would ask the husbands to speak frankly, they would say that they cannot stand the bothering of their wives. Neither can the older sisters bear the bothering of their retired husbands. Many of the retired brothers have little to do every day except to bother their wives. By this we see that even the older ones need to be cooled down. The older we are, the more bothersome we are. Hence, we all need the “frost” to cool down our hot temper. In a sense, this “frost” is our spiritual refrigerator. The very Christ within us who nourishes us is also the frost which freezes us.
The manna in the wilderness was white (Exo. 16:31). This means that it was clean and pure. No earthly food is as white as manna. Manna is the purest food. The more we feast on Christ, eating of Him as our manna, the more we are whitened. We are not only cleansed and purified; we are whitened. To be white means to be absolutely without stain. As we feed on Christ, all our stains are eliminated. Although we may be good in certain respects, we are not white. Although we may be loving, our love is not white; it is colored. Our humility is also colored. In fact, none of our human attributes is white; every one of them is colored. But the more we take in Christ as our life supply, the more our color will be reduced and the whiter we shall become.
An excellent Chinese food is sea cucumber. But because it is black in color, the American brothers are unwilling to eat it. Although I have tried my best to convince them to eat it, they are all afraid of its black appearance. Manna, on the contrary, is white and does not frighten anyone. Rather, it gives us the feeling of peace.
The manna was eaten as bread (Exo. 16:15), as cakes (Num. 11:8), and as wafers (Exo. 16:31). As our manna, Christ has different aspects and nourishes us in different ways. When we eat Him as our manna, sometimes He tastes like bread and at other times He tastes like a cake or like a wafer which is thin and easy to eat and digest.
The manna was also like coriander seed (Exo. 16:31; Num. 11:7). This food is a seed. When we eat Christ, He comes into us as a seed. The coriander seed, unlike corn, is very tiny. A seed is something of life which brings the life element into our being. As such a seed, Christ will grow within us.
In Exodus 16:31 we are told that the taste of manna was like wafers made with honey. Honey is sweet and is the produce of two lives, the animal life and the vegetable life. Honey is the mingling of these two lives. 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 which becomes our sweet nourishment.
Numbers 11:8 says of the manna that “the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.” Oil typifies the Holy Spirit. When we eat Christ as our manna, we taste the Spirit of God. The oil here is the fresh oil. The Spirit we taste when we enjoy Christ as manna is always fresh. As our manna, Christ tastes like fresh oil and has the flavor and nourishment of honey.
According to the original Hebrew, Numbers 11:7 says, “The manna was as coriander seed, and the eye thereof as the eye of bdellium.” It is difficult for anyone to translate this verse properly. The King James Version says that the color was as the color of bdellium. Bdellium is a pearl produced by the resin from a tree and is very much like the pearl produced by an oyster. The color of manna is the color of bdellium. Other versions use the word appearance instead of color. However, the Hebrew word here is eye. Manna has an eye, for its appearance is like that of an eye. A pearl somewhat resembles an eye. If you examine a pearl, you will see that it is like an eyeball. An eyeball has the appearance of pearl, and this appearance is its color. In other words, the appearance and color of bdellium are like an eye.
When we eat the manna, we eat many eyes, and all these eyes get into us. As the manna, Christ resembles an eye. The more we eat of Christ, the more eyes we shall have. The four living creatures in Revelation 4:6 are “full of eyes before and behind.” At the front and at the rear, within and without, they are full of eyes. If you go to a greenhouse, you will see that none of the walls is opaque; every side is transparent. An eye means 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 absolutely opaque. When we were saved, we began to be transparent. Now the more we enjoy Christ, the more transparent we become. Whenever we are with a brother who truly enjoys Christ, we can sense that he is transparent. Standing before him is like being in a transparent greenhouse. However, anyone who is not in the enjoyment of the Lord is altogether opaque. If you are with four such persons, you will feel like you are in a dungeon surrounded by opaque walls. But if you are surrounded by several brothers who love the Lord and feed on Him, you will sense that everything is transparent. As the manna, Christ is transparent. When we eat Him, we eat eyeballs and we become transparent.
This transparency will eventually become our appearance. If we enjoy Christ day after day, eating Him as the eyeball, we shall have the appearance of Christ, the appearance of an eyeball, and this appearance will become our color. By eating Christ, we are colored with the transparency of Christ. In this way, transparency becomes our appearance and color.
Finally, as the manna, Christ is not legal. Numbers 11:8 says, “The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it.” Christ can be ground, beaten in a mortar, or baked in pans. He is not legal. Nearly every Christian, however, is legal. If you experience Christ in a certain way, you make that a legal way. But Christ would say, “To you, I am ground. But others prefer to beat Me. I feel quite good when I am beaten in this way. Still others bake Me and put Me into an oven. I also feel good about this. Why are you so narrow and legal?”
What a wonderful record we find in the Bible regarding the manna. If we are asked what it is, we must simply say that it is manna. It comes with the dew and is like the frost on the ground. It is small, round, white, and like a coriander seed. It can he eaten as bread, cake, and wafers, it has the taste of honey and fresh oil, and its appearance is like an eyeball. Although we might have read Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 many times, we probably have never noticed all these aspects of the manna. We need to eat more eyeballs that we may have the transparent sight.
