In the last message we laid the foundation for knowing the manna. In this message we need to consider the hidden manna, the manna in the golden pot.
The term hidden manna is used in Rev. 2:17, where the Lord Jesus says, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.” This word was spoken to the church in Pergamos, a degraded, worldly church. If anyone overcomes degraded Christianity, the Lord will give him the hidden manna. Nearly everything mentioned in the book of Revelation, including the manna, can be found in the Old Testament. Exodus 16:32 and 33, referring to the manna, say, “Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.” The Lord commanded that an omer of manna be put into a pot. An omer is “the tenth part of an ephah” (Exo. 16:36). An ephah is a complete unit, and an omer is one tenth of a unit. This small portion was put into a pot and laid up before the testimony to be kept (Exo. 16:34). In Exodus, the testimony means the two tables of the law which were put into the ark. The omer of manna was put in front of the testimony, meaning that it was quite close to the ark. This portion of the manna became the hidden manna.
Manna came from heaven, from God, as a gift to His people. It was not a temporary gift; it was a gift lasting for forty years. Morning after morning, this gift came down from heaven to feed and satisfy the children of Israel. After they had been satisfied, God seemed to say, “Take an omer of what you have enjoyed and put it before Me as a testimony and a reminder that the coming generations may be reminded that you enjoyed this heavenly food as you wandered in the wilderness.” The open manna, the people’s portion, came from God, and the hidden manna, God’s portion, was offered back to God.
Now we need to consider the tithe, the basic concept of one tenth of the produce. The children of Israel were required to take the top tenth, the choicest portion of their produce in the good land, and offer it to God (Deut. 14:22-23). All the produce came from God. God ordained that one tenth of the produce which He had given the children of Israel be offered back to Him. The majority of the produce was for the people, but the tithe was offered to God as His portion. The tithe which was offered to God went to the priests and the Levites (Num. 18:21) who in turn took a tenth of the tithe they received and offered it to God. This tenth of the tenth went to the high priest who ministered in the Holy of Holies (Num. 18:26, 28-29). I repeat, the children of Israel offered one tenth of their produce to God as His portion. After this had been offered to God, it was given to the serving ones, to the priests and Levites who served the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites then took one tenth of this top tenth and offered it to God. It was then given to the high priest who ministered in the Holy of Holies. The Levites who served in the outer court and the priests who served in the outer court and in the Holy Place could only enjoy the tenth offered by the children of Israel. Only the high priest who served in the Holy of Holies was privileged to enjoy the tenth of the tenth, the topmost portion of the produce of the good land. Thus, the more we serve, the more we shall enjoy the topmost portion, God’s portion.
When the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, God gave them manna from heaven as a gift every day (except the Sabbath day). They all enjoyed this gift of manna. Then God seemed to say, “Take a portion, one tenth of an ephah, of the manna I have given you and place it before My testimony.” This portion of the manna was for God. The open manna was the people’s portion, and this offered, hidden manna in the pot before God’s testimony was God’s portion. The principle was the same with offering the produce after the children of Israel had entered into the good land. Once they were in the land, God no longer sent manna from heaven, for the good land provided all that was needed for their living. Thus, instead of gathering the manna, they harvested the produce of the good land. Regarding this, God seemed to say, “Give Me as My portion a tenth of all the produce you have harvested.” The children of Israel did so, giving this one tenth to the priests and the Levites who served in and around the tabernacle. Then God told the priests and the Levites to take one tenth of what they received from the people and offer it to God. This portion, which we may call the top of the top, was then given to the high priest as his portion. Only the high priest, the one serving in the Holy of Holies, was privileged to enjoy this topmost portion.
Based upon this principle, we see that the hidden manna is the portion for God. The basic concept of the hidden manna is that it is God’s portion. In the past, I was troubled whenever I read Exodus 16:36, which says, “Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.” I thought that this verse was unnecessary and wondered why Moses included it. I could not understand the significance of an omer of manna being placed in a pot and put in front of the testimony of God. But just recently the Lord enlightened me about this, and I saw that the tenth is the choice portion, the portion for God. Manna signifies Christ whom God has given to us as a gift. While we are enjoying Christ as our manna, we must take the best portion and offer it to God, offering Christ to God.
If we would eat the hidden manna, we must firstly eat the open manna. If we do not experience the open manna, we shall have no manna to offer God as the hidden manna. The hidden manna is the very manna which we experience, enjoy, and then offer to God. Eventually, because we are so intimate with God, He will say, “Come into My dining room and dine with Me.” Do not think that you will suddenly enjoy Christ as your hidden manna if you have never enjoyed Him as your open manna. No, the hidden manna comes out of our enjoyment of the open manna. We enjoy manna and, out of the manna we enjoy, we offer a small portion to God, saying, “God, I offer to You the very Christ whom I have been enjoying. You have given Christ to me as my portion, and now I give the best of Him to You as Your portion.” To this God will say, “Child, come into My Holy of Holies and enjoy this portion with Me.” This is the hidden manna.
Let us consider our experience. When we enjoy Christ in a general way as our daily supply, we spontaneously desire to offer the very Christ whom we have enjoyed back to God, saying, “O God, how I thank You for the Christ whom You have given me. I have enjoyed Him very much. Now I would like to offer the best portion of Him to You.” This is the omer of manna, the choice portion of the manna which is offered back to God. This portion is not for all of God’s people; it is only for those who serve Him in a very intimate way in the Holy of Holies. This is the hidden manna, which comes out of the manna we enjoy in a general way.
Again I say that God has given us Christ as our food. As we enjoy Him as food, we gratefully offer Him back to God. In this way Christ becomes the choice portion of our enjoyment which we offer to God as His portion. God is pleased with this, accepts it, and says, “Since you are now with Me in the Holy of Holies, not serving Me in the outer court or in the Holy Place, I would like to serve you with what you have offered to Me. I ask you to enjoy the choicest portion of Christ with Me.” How wonderful this is! It closely matches both our experience and the whole revelation of the Bible and fits in with Revelation 2:17. Enjoying Christ as our hidden manna is not a sudden experience; it must have a history behind it.
The hidden manna was hidden under at least four layers. Among the children of Israel was the tabernacle, within the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, within the Holy of Holies was the ark, and within the ark was the golden pot. Anyone who wanted to enjoy the hidden manna firstly had to be among the children of Israel. Secondly, he had to enter into the tabernacle. Then he had to enter into the Holy of Holies. After that, he had to get into the ark containing the golden pot in which was the hidden manna.
Applying this to our situation today, we see that outside the church life it is impossible to enjoy the hidden manna. In the church life we have the various service groups. But these service groups, being the Levitical service, are only in the outer court. Nevertheless, by this outer court service, we are ushered into the Holy Place. Through the Holy Place we enter into the Holy of Holies. As many of us can testify, before we joined a service group, we were not even in the outer court; we were on the street. But as we serve with others, we have the sense that we are in the Holy Place enjoying Christ. Through this enjoyment we enter into the Holy of Holies where the hidden manna is.
In the tabernacle there are three stages of eating: eating the sacrifices around the altar, eating the showbread in the Holy Place, and eating the hidden manna in the golden pot in the Holy of Holies. Enjoying Christ at the altar ushers us into the Holy Place, where we enjoy Him in a finer way. The showbread on the table is much finer than the sacrifices on the altar. This is not merely a doctrine; it can be proved by our experience. As we enjoy Christ as our showbread, we experience something still different and say, “I am in the Holy of Holies eating something which I have never experienced before.” This is the hidden manna.
In the Old Testament there were two special offerings — the wave offering signifying the resurrected Christ and the heave offering signifying the uplifted, ascended Christ (Exo. 29:26-28). The tenth of the tenth which was offered to God for Aaron was a heave offering (Num. 18:28). As we experience Christ in the outer court and in the Holy Place, we enjoy not only the wave Christ but also the heave Christ, not only the resurrected Christ, but also the uplifted, exalted Christ. This means that eventually we shall be in the Holy of Holies enjoying the special portion of Christ hidden in God.
We have seen that Revelation 2:17 says that the Lord will give the overcomers to eat of the hidden manna. Colossians 3:3 says that our life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is hidden in God. The hidden manna mentioned in Revelation 2:17 was hidden in a golden pot (Heb. 9:4). In the Bible, gold signifies the divine nature. Hence, the hidden manna in the golden pot signifies the topmost portion of Christ hidden within the divine nature. The divine nature is in the ark, and, as we have seen, the ark is just Christ. This ark today is in our spirit, which is joined to the Holy of Holies. In our spirit we have the Holy of Holies, in the Holy of Holies we have Christ, the ark, and within Christ we have the golden pot, the divine nature. Here, within the divine nature, is the hidden manna. What is the hidden manna? It is Christ as our special portion of food hidden in the divine nature. When we are in the place where we touch the golden pot, we are absolutely outside the world, our self, and our natural man. We are touching the divine nature, and in the divine nature we partake of the hidden manna.
I ask you to check with your experience. After joining a service group, you were ushered into more of the church life and you began to experience something finer. Eventually, you were close to God and became intimate with Him. On some occasions, you were so close to God that you were beyond the world, your self, and even your natural being. You were another person with God in His nature. As you touched the divine nature, you touched the golden pot and enjoyed the manna hidden within it, enjoying Christ as your hidden portion in the divine nature.
As we shall see, the budding rod comes after the hidden manna, and the law of life follows the budding rod. These three crucial items, the contents of the ark, are arranged in such a sequence. Firstly, we must enjoy the hidden manna. Then out of our enjoyment of the hidden manna our rod will bud, and after that we shall have the law of life. Because so few Christians experience the hidden manna, their rod does not bud, and we very rarely find one who lives by the law of life. They do not understand the record in the Bible concerning the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life because they lack experience. However, in the Lord’s recovery, all these riches are being recovered among us.
When we partake of the hidden manna, we are not experiencing a Christ on the altar, nor are we partaking of a Christ on the showbread table. We are enjoying a Christ who is in the golden pot within the ark. Here we are beyond the world and every situation. We are beyond ourselves and our natural being, touching the divine nature and partaking of it. Second Peter 1:4 says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” Unless we touch the golden pot, it will be difficult for us to partake of the divine nature. The divine nature is here with the golden pot in the ark. In the golden pot, that is, in the divine nature, there is the hidden manna as the special portion for our enjoyment. It is here that we enjoy the hidden Christ, the Christ who is hid in God with us and the Christ with whom we are hid in God. The Christ hidden in God is the manna hidden in the golden pot. Here Christ is the hidden manna, and here we also are hidden with Him in the divine nature.
If we are in the wilderness far off from the tabernacle, we can, by God’s mercy, still enjoy the open manna as a normal experience in the wilderness. But this is too shallow, too outward, and too far off. God wants us to enter into the Holy of Holies and to be so intimate and close to Him, touching the golden pot. The hidden Christ as the heavenly hidden manna is here in God’s divine nature. We cannot find Him in any other place. Today God’s divine nature is in our spirit. Although we have the golden pot, the problem is that often we are far off from our spirit. You need not be quarreling or fighting with others in order to be out of the spirit. Even when you joke with the brothers you are outside the spirit. Also being religious is much different from being in the spirit. By being religious we are carried out to the wilderness. The golden pot is in the ark, and the ark is in the Holy of Holies, and the Holy of Holies is joined to our spirit. I like the hymn which says,
In my spirit deeper stillI would touch the Lord I love,Touch Him in His hidden depthAnd His hidden manna prove.
Within the Holy of Holies is the very Christ who is the ark of God containing the golden pot. This Christ comprises the divine nature and contains the hidden manna, for the hidden Christ is within the divine nature. In order to touch this special portion, this topmost portion, of Christ, we must touch the divine nature. In principle, everyone who enjoys this portion is in the Holy of Holies.
Everyone who enters into the Holy of Holies is with the High Priest. Christ, our High Priest, is in the Holy of Holies, and we also must be there. We must not only be the priests in the outer court or in the Holy Place; we must also be the priests where the golden pot is — in the Holy of Holies. If we would be in this place, we must be beyond the world and every kind of situation. We must be beyond being bothered by people. Sometimes we are offended by a small, unpleasant word. Some are troubled to such an extent that they cannot sleep well for months. If we are troubled in this way, we are far off from our spirit, and thus it will be difficult for us to be in the Holy of Holies. When we are beyond all situations, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, then we are in our spirit touching the ark and the golden pot. I say again that in this golden pot is the hidden manna, the hidden Christ, as our special portion. If we would partake of the hidden manna, we must constantly be in our spirit touching the divine nature. May we all go on and enter into this experience.
