THE MANNA AND THE LIVING BREAD
Exodus 16: 13-15, 31
John 6: 27-58
AM We have been engaged with the Lord Jesus as the living One. Yesterday we were occupied with Himself, the living One, who has overcome death and the power of death, and has established an order of Manhood which is on the other side of death. He is able to impart life; He is able to sustain life; He is the Giver of living water, that life should be sustained, the Holy Spirit being viewed in that light.
I had in mind to look at John 6 - the living bread. I now have an impression that we might, first, look at the manna. The manna is not the same presentation of the Lord Jesus as the living bread. The living bread is in view of a new order of life, but the manna is Jesus down here in the lowliness of His life and circumstances here. He entered into the circumstances of men - in all their afflictions, He was afflicted, Isa 63: 9. Sin apart, He knew what men go through, and He entered into those circumstances. In that we see perfection in the Lord Jesus. It says in Matthew, “Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases”, Matt. 8: 17. He actually entered into men’s circumstances and through it all, we see a perfect sameness, a perfect evenness. He did not change and He was perfect under the eye of God whatever the circumstances. He knew what it was to go up the mountain and be glorified; He knew what it was to come down and face man in his need and degradation. It was a scene of need in the wilderness; the wilderness is a scene of need, and the Lord Jesus came into the scene of need and in it He displayed everything that God looked for in man. He displayed it all perfectly. And He is food for us, sustaining us through the circumstances of life. We find as we go through the circumstances of life that He has been here before in perfection.
Now in John 6, we have a different view of the Lord Jesus. He has come down out of heaven to give life to the world, not simply to sustain believers in the wilderness scene here, but to bring in another order of life. He came down to bring in that order of life that men should have part in it. He speaks of Himself here in different ways - “the bread of God is he who comes down out of heaven”, v 33. Think of what took place when the Lord Jesus came in. He came in with all the power and resource to give life to men, not simply in relation to men’s need, but that man should be set up for God. Then the bread of life (v 48) which sustains us, and then, “the living bread which has come down out of heaven”, v 51. And then, as the passage goes on, He speaks about the fact that He Himself would go into death, and that is food for our souls. We feed upon Him as He came with all the will of God in His heart and mind. He came in order to fulfill that will, and that involved that He would have to go into death. So He speaks about His flesh and His blood - that is a suggestion of the death of Jesus and we feed upon Him thus; and finally towards the end of the passage, He refers to Himself now in heaven: “he also who eats me”, v 57. That is the Lord Jesus where He is, the source of life. We are still in the condition of flesh and blood, but there is another source of life in relation to another scene, and as we feed upon the Lord Jesus in that relation, we live on account of Him.
WSC So we approach this from the wilderness standpoint. I am thinking as we begin in our pathway with the Lord, in our relationship with Him, should we not ask, ‘What is it?’?
AM I think that is a wonderful thing. This food was given that name, the name ‘manna’, Exod 16: 15. Somebody might ask what manna means. Why do you call it the ‘manna’? ‘What is it?’ - there had been nothing on earth like it before. I love to think of a householder getting up every morning, and saying, ‘I am just going out to collect What is it?’. It is something unique. It is the life of Jesus - there it was on the face of the wilderness; somebody said it was seen on every twig and thorn in the wilderness. It was lying there. How the wilderness was transformed, was it not?
WSC It is something like when you hear of someone just opening a Bible and there is a verse right there; and somehow they say, ‘What is this?’.
AM Yes, the dew is really a touch of grace, is it not? It is divine grace coming down. The dew comes down from heaven, it is divine grace and there conveyed on that dew, is the manna. You will remember Mr Bellett’s words about that:
But stores of heaven were oped each morn,
And angels’ food, or heaven’s corn,
Conveyed on dew, supplied the place -
Grand, gorgeous miracle of grace!
(The Lamb of God)
Every day the dew came down and there was the manna upon it. Well, there was also different food where we read. The first thing was that quails came up. That was the kind of food that they knew. They had wanted flesh, and God in His grace, said ‘Well, if that is what you want, that is what I will give you’. He gave them the quails. Then the next morning, He said, ‘I have got something better now’. The quails did not come back again for nearly forty years, I suppose. But God had something different for them; He had a Man before Him.
GMC I was jumping ahead a little bit, but I was wondering what was involved in naming the manna?
AM What is your impression?
GMC I wondered. They did not name it the first time it appeared. It is after experience comes in. The Spirit protects what comes in. As Numbers presents it the manna fell with the dew, chap 11: 9. It is protected but as they go through in their experience, eventually they come to a point that it is the house of Israel that names it. It was not a priest that named it or an individual, but it was the house of Israel that takes ownership of it. That is what I am wondering.
AM Yes, all that is good. It is really as partaking of this food that you can identify it. Anyone can read the gospels but if there is no work of God they will not appreciate what was seen in the Lord. The manna was to form them in the wilderness.
KAK I was noticing that the dew precedes the manna. That was God’s provision, was it not? Not to take away from the subject of the manna, but we were looking at the living water, and it was mentioned about John the baptist and his appreciation of what the Lord was, and then the Lord coming into light in the beginning of His public service. I am wondering about the way that God works to use the dew to introduce the manna. What would you say about that?
AM You are thinking that He prepared the way for the coming in of the Lord? I think God always prepares the way for whatever He is going to do; we even find that in our lives. And it is in order that we should learn Him, learn the wonder of His grace that He can prepare the way first. The dew was a suitable medium for the manna to rest on.
KNP Is the extent of the manna something we need to realise and recognise? That was all they could see on the ground. All they could see was the manna; every grain of sand was hidden by the manna.
AM That is right. Is not that wonderful? The trials of life are here, but you look at them in the light of One who has been here before. There is not an experience that a believer can go through that the Lord has not endured either actually or more intensely. The Lord knew what it was to suffer reproach; He knew what it was to be cast out, to be alone. All the experiences that a believer can go through, even as to natural things, the Lord endured. And through it all there was something there that was perfect: “There was something fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost”. You think of that; you might gather a portion of manna from one place, gather another portion elsewhere and they were just the same. There was never a difference - He was the same Jesus whatever the circumstances. He was the same and He still is; He still is the same Jesus.
WSC The grace of the whole scripture is that he that gathered little did not need any more, v 18. They could cook it, they could do everything with it, but they could not store it. It is something fresh each morning.
AM Yes, and that involves commitment. We lead busy lives and there is so much that occupies us, and we are all different. If the Lord comes into your life in a definite way, you begin to wonder, how was it that I ever went out to work or school, without speaking to Him first? Speak to the Lord first thing in the morning, and read the Scriptures, and read them for yourself. But I would say it is an important thing for couples, husband and wives, from the beginning of your married life, to read the Scriptures together. Read them; that will help to preserve you through the wilderness.
JKK Could you say something about what is granular? I was just thinking about what you were saying that there is something that can be taken account of, even at the smallest element. It was defined in that sense, and in relation to what you were just saying, even a small impression of that, is very definite.
AM It is. I am sure that you must have found that at times reading the Scriptures you see something that you have never noticed before. It is bringing out another feature of Him; it is another grain of manna. But being granular also shows that there is this perfect consistency. In our lives there are lumps and gaps - you do not get that when it is fine and granular. We feed upon it and become filled with it.
DMW So the manna is for this wilderness life.
AM Yes, it is. Say some more.
DMW Looking at the reference in Genesis 2, it was before the rain came that the mist went up that moistened the ground. So in the circumstances of this life it is important, to read the Scriptures for yourself, and to read them householdly before we go out into this life. This life comes to an end, but we need the manna for this life.
AM Yes, that is right. I think getting a touch from the Lord in the morning is a great thing, and as you go through the day, that will come back to you. It is a preservative from sinking into the level of what is in the world around us.
TWL Would it be right to think of the manna as the overcomer’s food?
AM It is in Pergamos, in Revelation, Rev 2: 17. Go on.
TWL I was thinking about it in the light of what you were saying, and what our brother just mentioned about it being food for this life. You start your day with Christ so that you can overcome in this life, to be serviceable to God and keep yourself for God. Christ always lived in relation to His God.
AM Yes. The word to the overcomer in Pergamos is, “To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna”, that is, the manna before God, “and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows”. Pergamos is significant there, because we know that these seven assemblies can be viewed in the light of the history of the church. Ephesus speaks of how things were set up, but decline came in. Persecutions came in at Smyrna; and then at Pergamos there is failure, there is breakdown, and the church began to align itself with the world. I remember a brother saying what a terrible thing it was when the emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as an official religion, because it brought Christianity to the level of the world; that is Pergamos. The promise to one who seeks to overcome there is the hidden manna. God treasured the life of Jesus and He shares it with the one who is exercised to overcome so that he should be here as a vessel pleasing to God.
WSC Paul says, “leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ”, 2 Cor 10: 5. I was thinking in relation to what our brother said about the overcomer, this is the food for that. It is what strengthens us - as you get a touch of the Lord, it produces something.
AM Yes, indeed.
There on the hidden bread
Of Christ, once humbled here –
God’s treasured store - for ever fed,
His love my soul shall cheer.
(Hymn 79)
DaJK I wonder if you can help us as to the “measure” a little more?
AM There is sufficient for everyone. We know as to the Lord Jesus that you can have as much as you want; there is no limit. He that gathered little was not hungry, and he that gathered much did not have excess. We each have our measure. In this room there are some brethren who have greater capacity than others of us. But the great principle in Scripture as to measure is not that we should view it as a limitation, but that we should fill it, and if we fill it, our measure grows.
DaJK I appreciate what you say. I think that is excellent, because our measure might not be much, but when my measure is full of Christ there is nothing left of the world that can be, so my whole thought is still Christ.
AM Exactly, yes.
CJB I am glad our brother brought that up. The woman who cast in the two mites – there was something that was really beautiful about that picture. Does that link a little bit with the measure?
AM Her measure was great, was it not? She gave the Lord everything. She had no human resources to provide even her next meal; she had given all to the Lord. Some might have said, ‘Well, surely in wisdom you should hold a bit back – you have got to eat’. But, no. Of course, the Lord in His faithfulness observed that woman and He would have made sure she was provided for, but she did not know that. No doubt she had faith that she could depend on God, but it shows how great her affections were. Our measure is really in our affections. How much do we love? That is the measure of a person. That woman, like the woman in Luke 7, loved much.
AML Could you say something about, “This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded”. Would it bring out the dignity and the responsibility of what is ordained to us?
AM Well, that is very good because the manna was never to be regarded as common. They were going to have the manna every day, and it should never have been regarded as ordinary. There was a commandment from Jehovah; there was regulation as to it. God had given it and it was to be taken in this particular way. The supply of it did not depend on them, but they were to regard it as a gift from God. When God gives something, what is He giving? He gives what is of Himself. This is a figure of the Lord Jesus. He gave Himself and we must regard everything that God supplies from Himself and of Himself. Is it not wonderful, that God should do that?
AML Is the thought in John 6 how much what comes out of heaven is mentioned?
AM Yes, that is right. It says in Psalm 78 that the manna came out of heaven, v 24. But in John 6 we have another view of the Lord Jesus coming in, and really John 6 is what I had in mind for this reading; but I think circumstances took us to the manna. In John 6 we have the Lord Jesus coming into this world with all the will of God in His heart and mind; He had the whole purpose of God before Him and He came to give effect to that purpose. You think of the greatness of that. He says, “the bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world”. This source of food is available to the whole world; the world is the world of men in John’s gospel, but this food is appropriated by whoever comes to Him and feeds upon Him. Let us feed upon Him more. John did: “we have contemplated his glory”, John 1: 14. He was feeding upon the bread of God which came down from heaven: “a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”.
GMC Does coming down out of heaven have in mind His deity? It does not say it came from God, that is what I am thinking; it is just “has come down out of heaven”.
AM It was a divine movement, was it not? We could not appropriate Him in this way apart from His manhood, but it was a divine movement from heaven and that is John’s presentation. It was a divine movement when the Lord Jesus came down; that was His own action. He came down out of heaven to give life to the world. Think of the world as going on its own way and not even appreciating the need for the life that God appreciated. And He came down to give Himself for the life of the world. This is the living One, coming down out of heaven to give life to the world, and He is there for our appropriation.
TWL In relation to John 6, this food is to make us acquire a taste for heaven, is it not?
AM Yes, that is right. The manna feeds us during the scene of need, but this is food to sustain us in view of a scene where there is no need.
TWL Yes, I was thinking that, and it is the food proper to heaven, but it is also the food to enjoy heaven. It is life that enjoys the sphere of God. That is what this food does.
AM We do not need to wait until we are actually with the Lord to feed upon it. The Lord was saying, “him that comes to me”; that is the present.
DMW In verse 40 of John 6 we have, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes on him, should have life eternal”. Life eternal is brought in here, not life as we have in the flesh in our circumstances. So the will of the Father takes us into another sphere, an area of things. Would it be right to say that we get His death later on in the chapter? But “even as he is, we also are in this world” and we are those who have life eternal, and are not just concerned with our circumstances where we need the manna to meet every one of those circumstances, but have another life and another order of things entirely accessible to us by or through His death.
AM That is right; if we were to go through this chapter as to its teaching, we would find that He has come to terminate everything down here according to this life and to introduce us into another realm, a realm where real life can be enjoyed. That is what eternal life is. We were speaking about eternal life yesterday. It involves a sphere where divinely ordered eternal relationships can be enjoyed together. And this food is in view of entering into that.
DMW He goes on to say, “and I will raise him up at the last day”; so the eternal life is now: “raise him up at the last day” is future.
AM Exactly. We have that day before us. It is not some day in the distant future; it is a day soon to come that we are looking for, when all the Lord’s people, every single one from Abel onwards, who have had faith, who have been secured through the blood of Jesus, will be raised in a moment.
WSC What would you say about collecting double on the sixth day? Is that related?
AM Go on, what is in your mind about that? Help us.
WSC I was just thinking they collected in view of another day. I supposed in the actual sense where you read in Exodus, it is really looking on to the oblation for the people, but for us, I think it would relate to John 6.
AM Yes, can you just explain what you said about looking on to the oblation for the people?
WSC The oblation was a handful of fine flour mingled with oil.
AM Yes, so that the oblation was primarily for God, the manna was for the people. What they offered to God was consistent with what God had provided for them. John 6 is looking to another day. God has brought man on to new ground. He has removed the old ground in the death of Christ. We were touching that yesterday. In the death of Jesus, God had come to the end of man in flesh and blood conditions. God does not terminate one line of things without introducing another; He introduces what He had in His heart all along.
DJK Is that seen in this expression, “Work not”? The energy is not into doing but receiving, do you think?
AM That is good, “Work not for the food which perishes”. What are we putting our energies into? Is it something that is going to abide, something that is going to form us after another Man in another world? Say some more.
DJK It is testing for myself, because maybe I feel I have got to do certain things and I need to read the ministry and all these things, and I am not against that, but sometimes just receiving what God has given in Christ, it satisfies the soul.
AM You have touched on something there which I feel very much. We have a lot of teaching. I do not say the truth is on our bookshelves; the truth is in Jesus. The doctrine is on our bookshelves, and we need to understand the doctrine. “Have an outline of sound words”, 2 Tim 1: 13. We need to understand it. Older brothers can provide guidance to the younger ones as to where they might start to read, because we need to understand the doctrine, otherwise you will find human thinking being introduced. But along with that, we need the daily food from the Lord Jesus Himself in heaven. And the Holy Spirit would minister to you a portion each day. We need that. You cannot have the doctrine without the daily food, and you cannot do without the doctrine; we need them both. And whether you are speaking of the teaching or the daily food, it is all concerned with the living One who is above.
LPC In verse 38 it speaks about that: “I am come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me”. He is referring to the will of the Father, that He has sent Him down as the Bread of life. So you have a gracious Father who spares not His Son - He sends forth His Son, not only for our redemption, but to feed us, as the Lord being the Bread of life.
AM He sent One whom He knew and to whom He could commit everything, One who was the source of greatest pleasure to Him. The Lord Jesus came out of heaven; He came down to this earth; He lived a private life down here for thirty years: those thirty years are treasured up in heaven. And then, the Father sends Him out. One who is the worthy object of His own affections, and He sends Him. He sends Him in order that there should be life available to men.
KNP They had to say, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”, Matt 8: 27.
AM Yes, you think of the greatness, what they could take account of. Mr Darby says,
We see the Godhead glory
Shine through that human veil,
And, willing hear the story
Of love that’s come to heal.
(Hymn 188)
There were glimpses there of His greatness.
LJG In John 3 it says, “He who comes out of heaven is above all, and what he has seen and has heard, this he testifies; and no one receives his testimony” (v31, 32), and , “He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true; for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure”, v 33, 34. I am thinking as to the truth that we see in Jesus, and what He speaks and how He speaks, and then how that would relate to us as the Spirit would help.
AM Yes, He speaks the truth. He is the truth. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”, John 14: 6. It would be impossible for Him to do anything other than that. “Every word of God is pure” (Prov 30: 5), and it came from the lips of Jesus. He is speaking the truth, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, brings it to us. In John’s gospel, the Lord Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit. In chapter 16 He says, “he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine”, v 13, 14. Now, we often quote that as if it says, ‘he shall take of the things of mine’ but the scripture says, “he shall receive of mine”. Who does He receive from? Christ above is dispensing through the Holy Spirit to His people here below, the truth, which will sustain us and keep us and set us free.
DMW So Christ lived on account of the Father’s living (John 6: 57), did He not?
AM Yes, that is later in the chapter, carry on.
DMW Just carrying on with what has been brought out. In John 14 it says, “The words which I speak to you I do not speak from myself; but the Father who abides in me, he does the works”, v 10. So He lived on account of the Father’s living, and as the footnote says, what we come to in John 6 is that we live on account of His living; and then the Spirit seems to be the link in our state with what we apprehend in Himself - “as the truth is in Jesus”, Eph 4: 21. We apprehend that the state is formed by the Spirit, without effort or studying books or all of that, which we appreciate, of course; is that the way it works out experimentally?
AM I think that is right. The Holy Spirit’s service is formative in the saints to bring about a state and formation after Christ; He lived on account of the Father. The Father was the source of everything for Christ; He was His every resource. When He was here as a blessed Man, He drew nothing from the world. Even as to His infancy, He drew nothing morally from Mary; His resource was the Father. We are to live in the same way, but our resource is Himself.
PMM I was looking in Mark 6: 39, 40. I was wondering if you had a thought as to that? “And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties”, and “And he ordered them to make them all sit down by companies on the green grass”. I am thinking that the Lord would bring in peace and rest. Would that link to what we had as to when there is food, and Christ is in our hearts and in our lives, there is rest and peace?
AM Well, He provided the environment, did He not? Elsewhere we read that the place was desert; that is not a very comfortable place, but He provided the environment; He provided green grass in the desert. Where there was a need, He Himself would meet it. To quote Mr Bellett’s poem again -
’Twas thine own heart that felt the need,
’Twas thine own hand the bread supplied.
Twas thine own lips the blessing breathed -
Heart, hand and lips the service weaved.
You think of the Lord Jesus being so fully involved in providing what was needed for the preservation of life.
PMM That is really good. I was thinking about when we come to the meeting, and we think about something else at work or school; but when we come and we sit down, and Christ is in our hearts and in our lives, other things all pass away, or do not seem as big; but do you think there is something in putting Christ in our hearts and in our lives, so that there is peace and rest?
AM That is right. And it is wholesome really to turn to the Holy Spirit, just simply, before an occasion to ask Him for help to control our minds. There are times when we may miss something because our mind has been far away. But speak to the Holy Spirit and ask Him for help to control our minds that we might receive what Christ would provide.
CJB There is great comfort in what our brother was referring to there, and I am really touched by verse 12 here in John 6, “And when they had been filled”; so they were full, but the fragments were gathered, and the Lord says, “that nothing may be lost”. Is there a comfort in that? That the Lord - everything He has, though we may miss something - is still available that we might be filled.
AM Yes, indeed. Whoever took those baskets away would have taken care of their contents, would they not? If asked ‘What have you in your basket?’ they could say, ‘I have got something from the hands of Jesus.’. Have we all got something from the hands of Jesus? I am sure we have - it is clear from the brethren’s faces that each one of us knows what it is to receive something from Him.
DMW Would it link on a little with our brother’s comment, “that nothing may be lost”; – is it a family thought? It is not individual; it is a family thought, I believe, that nothing may be lost. So does it stimulate us to fill out our part and find our place so that nothing is lost, even in remnant days?
AM In the divine family, everyone has a place. There is nothing formal about this these baskets. They just gathered them all up so that nothing should be lost. It is that circle, the family circle, where things are held, and things are enjoyed together.
TWL I was thinking about this scripture, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him”. That involves the death of Christ, and it is important. But is it the death of Christ not so much in what it meets, but in what it produces?
AM Yes, exactly. It is the death of Christ in a different aspect altogether. It is not need here. The Lord in His death has removed everything that belongs to the scene of need, but it is in view of feeding upon Him. You think of the One who has actually gone into death in answer to the will of God in order to secure for God what will be for His pleasure, and secure man in the fulness of blessing.
TWL Yes, it goes on to where we had reference to earlier, “As the living Father has sent me and I live on account of the Father”, and the note to that is very interesting. Christ served the Father because of His love for Him. We will live on account of Christ because we have eaten Him and have come to love Him, not simply because of what He has done in removal, but just because of what He is.
AM Yes, and our appreciation of Him grows. The love of the Lord Jesus for the Father never changed. It was perfect and full in every respect. Our love for the Lord Jesus grows; that is the service of the Holy Spirit, to cause it to grow. How much can we say about our love for Jesus?
TWL And we often speak about what it is to serve God, but we will never serve God in a character other than what was seen in Jesus; consequently, there is the necessity to eat Him.
AM Yes, that is right, and we feed upon Him in His death, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man. Just to make this clear, His flesh refers to His humanity, but where the blood is spoken of separately it will always refer to His death. I just say that so that we all understand.
DMW I am glad you said that because I was thinking of the Supper, and what you just said helps. Do we not get both sides there, the removal and the acquisition, so to speak? Would you say something about that to help us?
AM This actually is not the Supper, but it is a figure. We have the Supper before us tomorrow. We will come in on Lord’s day morning, we see the brethren there - wonderful! Most of us would never have met each other if the Lord had not worked in our hearts. Think of what the Lord has done. And then look at the loaf and think of the One who said, “This is my body which is given for you”, Luke 22: 19. Think of what the Father took account of when the Lord Jesus was here. We often sing,
Holy vessel of God’s pleasure
In His service day by day;
Nothing but His will Thy measure
- that is John 6, the will of God -
All along that suff’ring way.
(Hymn 30)
That holy body was given up in obedience to the will of His God and Father. In the book of Job, Satan appears before Jehovah and says, “all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2: 4), but God had another Man before Him who, in obedience, the obedience of love, would give His own life. We see the cup and we think not only of the basis on which everything has been dealt with - divine righteousness established - but also the way into the presence of God. In the tabernacle system, one could enter that great court and see the blood at the altar. Then there was the laver. If you were a priest, you could go inside and see that the blood had been applied to everything. The blood had also been sprinkled before the veil; the high priest could go in through the veil, and there was the ark and the mercy-seat, and the blood had been sprinkled on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat - the very ground of our approach to God is the blood of Jesus. At the Supper you have the two simple emblems, the loaf and the cup, before you, and when the service of God has proceeded and the meeting comes to an end, you may think, ’That is the basis of it all’.
Wheaton three-day meetings (3rd reading)
26th November 2022