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Speaker: Rev. Shine Thomas
Posted on: 2010-09-12
Series: Exodus

John 6:48-51 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

What is the bread that Jesus is referring to? Jesus said the Israelites ate manna, bread that came from heaven and yet died. Jesus said He is the bread from heaven and if anyone eats of Jesus he will not die.

Scripture: Exodus 16

For better understating the bread of heaven let us go to Exodus 16.

A month has passed since Israel departed from Egypt. Water had already been a problem and God made bitter waters sweet. Now they are in the Desert of Sin and they ran out of a meal or two.

Exodus 16:3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

The growling stomachs soon produced grumbling and complaining lips. Hunger made the Israelites to think about the old days back in Egypt when they used to sing and eat. Now they were ready to go back to the slave camps of Egypt.

Complaining does not solve the problem. When food got short the Israelites grumbled and complained. We too when faced with difficulties and problems give in to despair and complaint and grumble.

Grumbling is a contagious problem. Exodus 16:2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

Once someone complained in the Israelite camp, it spread and spread and every one except Moses and Aaron complained and grumbled. It was a good thing that Israel was not ruled by democracy at this point. Things would have gone rather badly for Moses and Israel had they listened to the majority.

In a worldly viewpoint complainers usually get their demands. You complain and complain and get your demands met. Biblically speaking complainers are Losers. You complain you lose.

Examples of complainers

a. In Numbers 11:4-6 the Israelites wanted better food. They wanted meat and soon all the Israelites began complaining. God gave them so much of meat that the Bible says that they ate until it came out their nose, and hated it.

b. The Israelites came near the Promised Land and were to fight the native people to claim the land. They were scared of losing and complained saying they would better go back to Egypt than the Promised Land. God said every one of them who complained will die.

Complainers are always losers. Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing.

Our nature is such that we complain almost for everything. Complainers are in fact complaining against God.

Exodus 16:7-8 Who are we, that you should grumble against us?" 8 Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."

Complaining does not change things. It is only God who can change situations, therefore, do not complain but take our complaints to God in prayer.

Why do we complain?

We complain because of lack of gratitude. Grumbling or complaint comes as a response to pain and problems in life. We complain because we think that we should experience pleasure and prosperity rather than pain and adversity.

See how they complained. Exodus 16:3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

The problem is that when we grumble our thinking becomes distorted. When we grumble or complain we have selective good memory of the past and negative expectations of the future. The children of Israel exaggerated in their minds the benefits of Egypt. They said they “sat” by their flesh pots and ate “all they wanted.” As slaves this could hardly be true. They forgot about the lash of the taskmaster and the anguish of their hearts to be free. Their perception of the imminent danger of starvation was also greatly exaggerated. They accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them to the desert to starve and die which was also wrong.

Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

God responded gently and graciously to the grumblings of the Israelites. God said he will meet their need for hunger, but the meeting of that need will bring another test to them. When we grumble God says. ‘I’ll provide the way out but I will test you with my provisions.

Have you found this to be true? We grumble, complain and pray for certain needs and God provides an answer which starts a whole new set of tests and trials of a different kind. So while we are relieved of one problem, we gain a new one.

Exodus 16:11-13 11 The LORD said to Moses, 12 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.' "13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

Now God provides them with meat first. Quails are small, bullet-headed birds, with a strong but low flight. They are usually roosting on the ground or in the low bushes at night. The birds are good to eat and were a favorite delicacy of the Egyptians.

The quails mentioned here are migratory birds that migrate regularly between south Europe and Arabia across the Sinai Peninsula. On the way they rest for the night in the desert. When exhausted, they would be unable to take off again.

The children of Israel ate meat after one month. Everyone would have had stomach full and had a good night of sleep. When they woke up in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

Exodus 16:14-16 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.' "

The bread from heaven came with the dew each morning. As the due would melt manna would be seen. It was small, round and fine as frost on the ground. It was therefore not easy to gather. It had to be "swept" up from the ground.

Exodus 16:31: The people of Israel called the food manna. God called it bread from heaven or angel’s food. Psalm 78:24-25 24 He rained manna down on them to eat; he gave them grain from heaven. 25 So they ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.

Exodus 16:31 It was like small white seeds and tasted like wafers made with honey.

I know you sisters are feeling jealous about the Israelite housewives. We feel they just had to gather the manna and serve. No cooking, no burning the stove, no washing vessel etc. What an easy job. Just go outside the tent every morning, pick up the bread and serve. If God gave us manna it would have been great isn’t it sisters. No just hold on, we will see whether it was really easy for them or not.

Numbers 11:8 The people would go to gather it, and then grind it in handmills, or crush it between stones. After they cooked it in a pot or made cakes with it, it tasted like bread baked with olive oil.

Now they have only one food, manna. We usually get fed up eating the same food again and again. When God provided them manna from heaven, the Israelites experimented on various methods to cook it and it was tasty in every form.

Manna could be eaten raw. When raw it tasted like wafer or biscuit make of honey. The children of Israel would grind manna in handmills or crush it in between stones. Then they boiled it in a pot and make porridge out of it. For a variety they would bake manna which would taste like bread baked with olive oil.

God just provided manna but the women had to prepare it just like any of our homes. They had to collect it, then they had to grind it, then they either boiled it or baked it. Therefore all process cooking that our ladies do were involved then.

Jewish legends Louis Ginzberg, a rabbi said the same food had a different taste to everyone. To the little children, it tasted like milk, to the strong youths like bread, to the old men like honey, to the sick like barley steeped in oil and honey.

Manna was not only a providence of material needs but it thought them to depend on the Lord. God provided bread from heaven and this bread was a test of their obedience.

Animals are often taught or trained through food. When they could not be trained in any other way they are left to be hungry and then the trainer gives food only if they are obedient. Circus lions, tigers, monkeys, and domestic dogs too are trained this way. It is so sad that God had to use almost the same method with the complaining Israelites. God sometimes uses the same with us. When we disobey God He sometimes stops our provisions whereby we learn obedience the hard way.

Exodus 16:15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

When God provided manna they did not know what it was. When God's provision comes, we often do not recognize it. God met the needs of Israel but He did it in a way they did not expect.

Exodus 16:16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.' "

Heavenly bread had to be gathered on an individual or a family basis. There was no manna distribution center. A rich family could not hire a poor family to do their work for them. Everyone had to gather their own manna - one omer for each person. Omer was the measure those days and it may come up "cupful."

Exodus 16:17-20 17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed. 19 Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning." 20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

They cannot keep manna until morning. Some of them collected more and left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. The people were complaining for lack of food but when God provided food they became greedy. It is sad that the more God provides the more greedy people become. The bad experience of their disobedience led them reluctantly to obedience. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. The bread from heaven had to be gathered and prepared early in the morning.

Exodus 16:22-26 22 On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food—four quarts for every person. When all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses,23 he said to them, "This is what the Lord commanded, because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the Lord's holy day of rest. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil today. Save the rest of the food until tomorrow morning." 24 So the people saved it until the next morning, as Moses had commanded, and none of it began to stink or have worms in it. 25 Moses told the people, "Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the Lord's day of rest; you will not find any out in the field today. 26 You should gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day. On that day there will not be any food on the ground."

God provided double on the day before the Sabbath. This was the first time God spoke to Israel about the Sabbath. God essentially forced them to honor the Sabbath by not providing any bread from heaven on the Sabbath day.

Exodus 16:27-30 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they couldn't find any.28 Then the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you people refuse to obey my commands and teachings?29 Look, the Lord has made the Sabbath a day of rest for you. So on the sixth day he will give you enough food for two days, but on the seventh day each of you must stay where you are. Do not go anywhere."30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Despite what God said, some went looking for bread from heaven when He said there would be none. God's word was true and they found none. People today still look for life and fulfillment in places God has said there would be none. Keep your Sundays for God. Do not look for manna on Sunday, you will not find it.

Exodus 16:36 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to the land where they settled—the edge of the land of Canaan.

They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Now an approximate number of Israelites who came out of Egypt would be two million for they had 600,000 men able to go forth to war (Numbers 1:45-46). Therefore, 10 trains, each having 30 compartments and each compartment having 15 tons would be needed for a single day’s supply. Over a million tons of manna were gathered annually by Israel.

God who freely provided bread from heaven stop providing it after 40 years. Now they have reached the Promised Land and it was essential that Israel be put again in the position to receive God's normal provision, through hard work.

Bridge: In the OT manna was the bread of heaven; in the NT it was Jesus who is the bread of heaven.

John 6:31-35 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. This is written in the Scriptures: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "32 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33 God's bread is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 The people said, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 Then Jesus said, "I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

God gave bread from heaven for the Israelites in their journey God has given Jesus for you and me as the bread from heaven for our spiritual journey. Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life.” God gave the Israelites manna to sustain them on their journey to the Promised Land. Jesus said "I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The life Jesus refers to is not just our breath. To life fully we need to live in relationship with the living God. This is what Jesus makes possible for us - a loving relationship with the God who created us. Apart from Jesus no on can enter that kind of life and relationship. Are you satisfied with mere physical existence or do you hunger for real life? Jesus offers himself as spiritual food and water which produces the very life of God within us. As the manna sustained the Israelites on the way to the Promised Land the bread of life, Jesus can sustain us on our way to heaven. Feed from the Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ! Amen.