CRAVE FOR THE HIDDEN MANNA!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY MAY 30, 2023.

SUBJECT: CRAVE FOR THE HIDDEN MANNA!

Memory verse: "He who has an ear, Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden Manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” (Revelation 2 vs 17.)

READ: John 6 vs 31 - 35:

6:31: Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

6:32: Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give gave you the bread from heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

6:33: For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

6:34: Then said they to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 

6:35: And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life: he who comes to Me shall never hunger; and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

INTIMATION:

“Hidden manna” suggests the spiritual nourishment that the faithful believers in Christ will receive. Christ is our daily bread who satisfies our eternal, spiritual need. In John 6 vs 48 - 51 Jesus compares Himself to manna: “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Jesus is the Living Bread (the hidden manna), which provides spiritual nourishment that satisfies our deepest hunger. To eat living bread means to accept Christ into our lives and become united with Him. We are united with Christ in two ways: (1) by believing in His death (the sacrifice of His flesh) and resurrection for our hope, and (2) by devoting ourselves to living as He requires, depending on His teaching for guidance, and trusting in the Holy Spirit for power.

The bread from heaven (the manna) was a special meal from God to His people that sustained them for forty years in the wilderness. Manna was the survival food given to Israel in the desert during their wilderness wanderings. It gave them life. As the Israelites travailed in the wilderness for forty years, traveling toward the Promise Land, God provided the bread from heaven (manna) for their physical nourishment. 

The bread—Manna—that God provided for the Israelites in the desert satisfied a temporary hunger that returned the following day. In contrast to the physical bread provided in the wilderness, the bread that comes from the Father in heaven through Jesus will satisfy one’s spiritual thirst for eternity. Jesus is the bread of life that was sent from the Father in order to nourish the spiritual poverty of humanity.

Every morning, the desert floor east of the Red Sea was white with this mysterious substance. Like snow it lay evenly on the ground. Like frost it began to crystallize and evaporate in the midday sun. The wandering Israelites harvested the manna each day of their 40-years trek in the wilderness of Sanai. On the day it first appeared, their leader Moses declared this unusual seedless crop "bread from heaven." Most of the people were so hungry that they spent less time questioning the dietary value of the manna than they did collecting it. It tasted sweet like honey. It resembled coriander seed with a waferlike consistency. 

The manna was nutritious enough. Men, women, and children survived on this bread substitute. But "bread from heaven" was an awesome creation of God, a customized never-before-heard-of food just for His chosen people, the Israelites. The manna kept a whole nomadic nation of Israel alive when their survival seemed in jeopardy. It even fueled the amazing growth of the nation of Israel so that they could supplant the people's living on the edges of the desert—the Edomites, the Midianities, and eventually the Canaanites. 

People eat bread to satisfy physical hunger and to sustain physical life. We can satisfy spiritual hunger and sustain physical life only by a right relationship with Jesus Christ. No wonder He called Himself the bread of life. But bread must be eaten to sustain life, and Christ must be invited into our daily walk to sustain spiritual life. 

Jesus was both the bread of life and the water 

of life. The two things that man needs to sustain his physical life are bread and water. The two things that man needs to maintain his spiritual life are the bread and water that flow from Jesus. He is the bread of life that would preserve all who came to Him. They would be preserved for eternity.

The same perplexing nature and nutritional value associated with manna in sustaining the life of the nomadic Israelites, is inherent in our believe in Christ. Our believe in Him is the hidden manna which satisfies our deep spiritual and eternal needs. In the hidden manna do all our need to live for God consist. Therefore, crave to have it.

Prayer: Abba Father, I crave for the hidden manna. Satisfy my thirst and quest for spiritual nourishment to eternity. Jesus Christ, I invite You into my life as Lord and Savior. Feed me with the bread and water from heaven, that I may never thirst again, and consequently live for You forever, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!