When the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, they rejoiced at God’s mighty deliverance but then quickly forgot all that God had done in Egypt through His mighty hand. They soon became hungry and began to murmur against the Lord. At that time the Lord said, “I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instructions.”
That first morning that God rained His bread from heaven the people were amazed at what covered the ground and asked, “What is it?” The Hebrew word for “What is it,” is “Manna.” So literally they named the bread, “What is it?” It was this manna that God used in the lives of the Israelites to sustain them for 40 years.
There are three characteristics of this manna that we want to look at this morning.
I. Its Miraculous Nature
The first characteristic of the manna that we want to look at this morning is its miraculous nature. The reason we want to look at the miraculous nature of manna first is so that we recognize that what happened here was completely and totally of God’s doing. Manna does not have any naturalistic explanation but was given by God miraculously for His own purposes.
I do want to mention one item concerning miracles before we go any further and why God uses miracles. Miracles do compel acknowledgment but only strengthen faith. They in no way produce faith. Because there is no explanation for a miracle except that God has broken into our world and has done this then those who do not believe in God cannot see it for what it is. They begin to find other explanations. When God began to do miracles through Moses, Pharaoh compelled his magicians to conjure up the same kind of works. They looked for some other explanation than the LORD. This is why the Pharisees and Saducees, in seeing Jesus raising someone from dead, declared that they must do something to Him so that the whole world doesn’t believe on Him. Their hearts were so hardened to the fact that God could do that that they wouldn’t believe if they saw a thousand miracles.
If Pam were today to be miraculously healed of her cancer, if not a trace remained throughout her body, people with faith in the true God would have their faith strengthened but those without faith would begin to come up with various explanations and reasons for its occurrence.
So what I am saying is that I don’t think I necessarily need to prove this to you. Those of you here who do not believe that the provision of manna was miraculous will not believe unless the Spirit of God engenders faith within your heart concerning it. This does not mean that God does not verify the truthfulness of His own Word or that we cannot see evidence of its veracity. But these miraculous indicators of manna in this passage are here to bolster the faith of those who believe already. It ought to cause us who believe to sit up and say, “Wow, we serve an amazing God!” And in this passage we see that there are four such indicators that the manna was miraculous and not merely the collusion of several natural events to provide this food in the desert.
A. It appeared supernaturally
The first indicator that pointed out the miraculous nature of this manna is that it appeared supernaturally at God’s declaration. In verses 12-14, the Scripture says, “In the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake like thing, fine as frost on the ground.”
This was no mere accident that they stumbled upon this stuff called manna. God said that this bread like substance would be there. And God provided it in an amazingly large quantity. Since the number of Israelites was between 1-2 million the amount of manna needed daily was about 500,000-1,000,000 gallons of it. Daily! To give you a picture of just how great a work of God this is because numbers this big don’t really hit home unless you have something against which to compare it. Picture this. Assume that this manna was gathered in gallon plastic milk jugs. They just stuffed what they needed into these jugs. Now let’s assume that all the jugs were put up onto one of those milk racks that you see in a supermarket. You would need about 12,500 of those racks to place all the jugs. Assuming that each of those racks is 3’ x 4’ you would need 150,000 square feet of space to hold it all. 150,000 square feet is just over 200 auditoriums of this size. And that was how much God provided daily. And God did this for them, wherever they went, over the next 40 years. This wasn’t, as some attempt to say, the honeydew byproduct of certain insects from that region. Besides the fact that it doesn’t fit all the data concerning manna, the sheer amount of the stuff required daily would preclude such a preposterous idea.
B. There was an identical amount for each person
The second indicator that pointed out the miraculous nature of this manna is that each individual needed identical amounts. In verse 16, the Lord tells them that they are to take an omer apiece, which is about two quarts. It didn’t matter who the person was. An omer would satisfy each person. The miracle in this is that, due to metabolism, habits, or other differences, no person eats the same. Yet in this case everyone would be satisfied by eating the same amount, every day for forty years!
The miracle did not concern just the provision of the bread but also the provision for the individual person. Regardless of the individual, God’s provision was just right. Verse 18 says, “He who gathered much had no excess, he who gathered little had no lack, every man gathered as much as he should eat.” Because of this God provided just the right amount for each person.
C. It had various preservation times
The third indicator that pointed out the miraculous nature of this manna is that it had various preservation times. In this miraculous provision God allowed the manna to keep for only so long.
In one case the manna evaporated when the sun grew hot. The people had to collect it early otherwise they would miss it. The miraculous part about this is that though the sun would cause it to evaporate, the Israelites could apply any other kind of heat to it. The Lord tells them that they were to bake or boil it as they wished.
In another case the manna was not to be kept overnight. If it was kept overnight it would spoil and breed worms, unless it was the evening before the Sabbath. Then they could keep as much as they needed for the next day. And it would not rot.
And these various preservation times continued regularly throughout the forty years they were in the desert. Every day when the sun grew hot it would melt. Unless you gathered it then you could cook it. For five days in the week you couldn’t keep any left over or else it spoiled. But on the sixth day it kept. And finally the Lord commanded Moses to gather a jar of it to be kept indefinitely. And it never spoiled. This regular pattern showed that God had specific reasons for producing the manna in such a way but surely this is not something that could be explained naturally.
D. It had various replenishment cycles
The fourth indicator that pointed out the miraculous nature of this manna is that it had various replenishment cycles. The manna appeared every day. Except on the Sabbath. This wasn’t hit or miss. It only did not appear on the Sabbath. There wasn’t any other day that it did not appear. Only on the Sabbath. And this continued for 40 years. What natural process would cause something to take place every day, except one day in seven (for forty years).
The manna didn’t appear before they needed it. And when the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land and no longer needed it, it ceased. Verse 35 says this.
So we can see its miraculous nature. God provided sustenance for the nation in an amazing way. In a way that only God could have done. Now this brings us to the next characteristic of this manna and that is its remarkable provision.
II. Its Remarkable Provision
In verse 15, when the people first saw the manna on the ground and they asked, “What is it?” Moses said that it was the bread that the Lord has given them to eat. This was their remarkable provision. And it was a remarkable provision in two ways.
A. A provision for food
First, we see the obvious that this remarkable provision was a provision for food. And there were two qualities about it that make it extra special.
1. It was healthy
The first quality about this provision for food is that it was healthy. Except for a little quail meat at the beginning of their journey they ate nothing but manna for forty years. They had no vegetables. They had no fruit. They only had manna. So how did it affect them? At the end of this forty-year period, Moses the leader of the people died. In the last chapter of Deuteronomy, we find the last report of Moses’ condition before he died at the age of 120. Deuteronomy 34:7 says this, “Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.” After 40 years of eating this manna. Moses was just as strong as he was at 80. He died only because God had said he would not enter the land of Canaan for his sin of rebellion against Him.
So we that what God provided perfectly met their needs. Can you see the box it came packaged in? No artificial preservatives. Every essential vitamin and mineral known to man. Don’t you wish you could sell that at a health food store? But seriously, God in His graciousness provided everything they needed to be healthy through that bread.
2. It was sweet
The second quality about this provision for food is that it was sweet. Verse 31 says, “The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.” Remember that honey was like their sugar. It was their dessert taste.
This also shows the graciousness of God. God could have sustained their hungry and physical needs through a manna that didn’t have any taste. But He wanted them to enjoy it. And so God gave the manna the taste of honey.
B. A provision for rest
Next, not only do we see that this remarkable provision was a provision for food but also that it was a provision for rest. God provided the manna in such a way that they did not have to gather it on the Sabbath. Because of the large number of people, some individuals would perhaps have to travel a good distance to gather what they needed.
God wanted to ensure that they observed a day of rest unto Him. Notice verse 23. “Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.” This wasn’t just a day to sleep in or to nap. It was a day set aside from their regular activity to worship the Lord. They were not to work gathering food on the Sabbath because the Lord would provide for them by giving them what they needed on Friday.
Verses 27 & 28 shows that the Israelites didn’t follow the Lord’s instructions and He was angry with them. In verse 28, the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?”
By having the manna provided for the Sabbath on the day before, the people could use that day to rest from their labors and give themselves to the worship of God.
III. Its Spiritual Significance
Now we come to the part that ought to stir us up. The third characteristic of this manna is its spiritual significance. In other words what lessons was the Lord trying to teach them? And by corollary what is the Lord trying to teach us?
A. He alone is their source of life
The first lesson the Lord wanted to teach the Israelites and us is that He alone is our source of life. He alone is our source of physical life and He alone is our source of spiritual life.
1. physical life
First let’s look at the fact that God is our source of physical life. When the Israelites were in the dessert there was truly no way for the Israelites to obtain sustenance on a long-term basis. There was nothing except some grasses and brush that would not allow them to survive. There was the occasional date palm but nothing that would truly provide for their sustained nourishment (not for a group that large).
God was the only one who could have sustained their lives. He could have sustained their lives and assuaged their hunger without food at all. But they could not have survived physically without God.
In the same way too, we must recognize that our life comes from God. Each breath we have, we have by the grace of God. God sustains our physical lives and extinguishes our physical lives. If God would choose to take our lives right now, there would be nothing that we could do to prevent Him from extinguishing them. Your life is truly in God’s hand. You must recognize that God is the source of our physical life.
2. spiritual life (Deut. 8:3/John 6:26-35)
Secondly, we must recognize that God is the source of our spiritual life. Deuteronomy 8:3 describes the reason why God provided for the Israelites in this way. This verse shows that God was interested in more than just providing a social program for the Israelites well being. Giving them manna wasn’t food stamps or WIC or welfare. Moses said, “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
God is not our source of physical life alone but our source of spiritual life as well. God expects us to be sustained spiritually by His Word. That is why, in this passage, He gave Israel the commandment for Sabbath worship. They were to be spiritually fed through that worship.
In the same way coming to worship ought to revitalize us. And though we have a commitment to weekly corporate worship, our worship shouldn’t just be a weekly event. It should be a daily commitment. If God is our source of spiritual life don’t you think we need Him daily? Do you think that when Jesus said, “Give us this day, our daily bread” that He was merely speaking about meeting our physical needs.
If we need daily physical bread then surely we need daily spiritual bread. We surely need to seek Him early and often in our day. How many of you go all day without eating and then before you go to bed have a snack? I believe that none of us do that (at least not on a regular basis). But are there some of you who go all day without any kind of spiritual sustenance except a small snack before bedtime? (Now I lay me down to sleep and pray the Lord my soul to keep. I haven’t sought you through the day because I can do it my own way?)
How many of us are malnourished Christians because we don’t take the time to seek our spiritual sustenance from the Lord? As with any relationship we need to cultivate it. We need to spend time with the Lord in His Word and in worship if we are to grow in our love for Him.
And ultimately we are dependent upon Christ for our spiritual life in salvation. In John 6, Jesus had just fed several thousand people through the miracle of multiplied fish and bread. And when they sought Him for more, Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.”
What Jesus was speaking of here is that because every person is cut off from God due to his/her sin, everyone has a spiritual hunger and thirst. Some try to satisfy that hunger through a myriad of ways: drugs, alcohol, sex, amassing material possessions. They do this in the same way that a hungry person might attempt to lessen the feeling in his stomach by popping a candy in his mouth. It may take one’s mind off it but it doesn’t solve the hunger problem. Sooner or later it’s back and with a vengeance. Whenever we try to satisfy the longing for a relationship with God with anything else we are never satisfied. God is the only One who can quench that thirst. And God has to be the very center of our lives or else it won’t. This is a problem even with a man-centered gospel. Come to Christ and He will fix this and fix that. Put Jesus into your life like an add-on module. In a man centered gospel God is just something that is here for you to spice up your life. But the true gospel calls us to put God at the center of our lives so that we might glorify Him. The true gospel calls us to recognize the wretchedness of our lives without Christ and change our minds about who will run our lives.
When I say the wretchedness of our lives I don’t mean that everything in our lives is as bad as it can be, I don’t mean that we are as bad as we can be, but that in our condition we are enemies of God. And our final condition, torment in hell, is only the proper result of having rejected God and His provision for salvation.
The bread of life, Jesus Christ, has taken the punishment that is due you through His death on the cross. His sacrifice on your behalf has been accepted as evidenced by Christ’s resurrection. Will you give up your pride and humble yourself and receive the gift of eternal life through Christ? He alone is our source of spiritual life.
B. God expects our obedience
The second lesson that the Lord wanted to teach the Israelites and us by this lesson of manna is that God expects our obedience. In two instances the Israelites did not listen to the Lord. First, some kept the manna overnight. And it bred worms and became foul. Second, others went out on the Sabbath to gather manna when the Lord said that there would not be any. And because of that the Lord retorts, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?”
The reason that the bread of people’s lives is breeding worms and becoming foul is because they refuse to obey God. The Bible isn’t a smorgasbord in which we pick and choose what we desire to follow. We are to delight ourselves in God and in obeying His Word. To the followers of Christ His commandments are not burdensome but result in joy because we know that they are for God’s glory and our good.
Here is a caution however: Attempting to obey God’s Word without faith will result in failure and frustration. The reason is in that kind of thinking we are relying upon our own effort and forfeiting any kind of relational interaction with God. We are grieving the Spirit by our attempt to do what God wants without His help. We must live God centered and God strengthened lives if we are to please Him.
C. He is the One whom they should seek first (Matt. 6:31-33)
The third lesson that the Lord wanted to teach Israel and us is that He is the One whom they should seek first. In Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus speaking in the sermon on the mount, says, “Do not worry then saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear for clothing?” For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”
The Israelites did not have to worry about any of their physical needs. For 40 years they were provided food. For 40 years their clothes did not wear out. For 40 years they needed no shoe repair. Miraculously God provided it all for them.
Now today God does not provide food that we merely go and pick off the ground. He doesn’t cause our clothes to go without rips or tears. But He says that if we seek first His kingdom and righteousness, if we are desiring Him first and foremost in our lives then He will meet all our needs according to His riches. However, we must differentiate between what truly are our needs.
If we recognize this simple Bible truth that as we seek God’s kingdom first He will care for us, we will be worry free. Why are we not worry free? It is either because we do not seek God’s kingdom and righteousness or because we fail to believe His promises to us.
It brings glory to God when others see difficulties taking place in our lives and we are not fretting about them but trusting Him. This is the reason why He makes these promises. When we, as Christians, live in a manner that shows God’s trustworthy nature, it causes other people to see that they can trust Him too. And when people see God for who He is that brings glory and honor to Him. And this is why He gave them the manna. And this is why He provides for us who seek Him first.
So when others ask, “What is it?” We can say confidently, “Manna is God’s provision for His people.” And that provision continued for as long as the people needed it. Will you confidently trust in the Lord for the provision of all that you need? Daily, for as long as you need it (which is the rest of your life)?
Let us pray:
Father,
We come before you this morning recognizing that we are needy people. Lord I pray for those believers here who are struggling to trust You in every aspect of their lives. O God may that seek first Your kingdom and righteousness. May those who are grumbling against You O Lord recognize that they merely need to trust You so that You will work in them. Lord I pray that those who have recently discovered Your faithfulness, You will strengthen to trust You even more.
And Lord I pray for those who have not yet come to recognize You, the bread of life, that they would come to You and believe in You that their spiritual hunger and thirst would be quenched. That they would receive You today as their Savior.