2 Corinthians (Program #45) – The Apostle’s Fellowship Concerning the Needy Saints (4)

2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 are often used in campaigns for money-raising for various Christian causes or ministries.  But it’s interesting, although they both deal with the matter of giving, they don’t focus on the word “giving”.  In chapter 8, Paul refers to our giving as a kind of gathering, as the children of Israel gathered manna each day for their daily supply.   In chapter 9, our giving is called sowing, as a farmer sow seeds in order to produce a crop, in order to meet his family’s daily need.  Gathering and sowing, this is the renewed thought concerning the offering of material items to meet the needs in the Body of Christ.

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2 Corinthians (Program #44) – The Apostle’s Fellowship Concerning the Needy Saints (3)

The apostle Paul devoted two chapters in 2 Corinthians to  the matter of taking collections for the needy saints in Judea.  It must have been something weighing heavily upon him to devote the better part of two whole chapters.  But actually these two chapters present all believers with some very profound principles that should guide and direct the matter of giving.

In chapter 8, Paul liken our giving to the gathering of manna in Exodus 16.  In chapter 8 verse 15 he writes “..He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack.”  Then in chapter 9, our giving is liken a farmer, sowing seeds to produce a crop.  Chapter 9 verse 6, “now this I say, He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully;”  But the verse that follows is the concluding word for both of these portions; chapter 9 verse 7, “Each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

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Exodus (Program #39) -The Heavenly Diet—Manna (5)

When Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, what they have to eat became a major concern.  To sustain and nourish them, God provided a mysterious food called manna.  These small round wafers appear on the ground every morning and this was their sole diet for 40 years. 1600 years later, God brings manna back to His people in the book of Revelation.  But this, rather than being out in the open as it was in Exodus, is hidden in a golden pot, within the Ark, in the Holy of Holies.  What is this hidden manna?

We have seen a lot by now  regarding eating Christ as our manna.  We are talking today about manna  in little different aspect.  What is the hidden manna and where do we see it in Scripture?

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Exodus (Program #38) -The Heavenly Diet—Manna (4)

After the exodus out of Egypt, God’s people needed food.  In His sovereignty, He provided for them with manna, daily bread come down from heaven to be their supply.  But after they begin eating this manna, He commanded that they take a small portion and place it in a pot to be kept perpetually in the Ark of the Tabernacle.  This hidden manna shows up again in the New Testament book of Hebrews and Revelation.  What is all this mean for us?  There is a word for us in the living word of God on today’s life study of the Bible.

We are talking about manna today and the hidden manna and the new diet that God had in mind for His people.  We have been looking at the characteristics of this manna that Jehovah had provided for His people as they were journeying through the wilderness.  But today we come to the deeper aspect, the hidden manna.

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Exodus (Program #37) -The Heavenly Diet—Manna (3)

The food that man eats is the focus of the Bible from the first pages of Genesis to the final pages of Revelation.  Man’s eating represents what he takes into his being.  Manna, the heavenly bread given by the Lord for His people in Exodus is one of the Bible’s meaningful types of our Lord Jesus.  A careful consideration of the details and characteristics of manna can open up a great insight and appreciation of Christ.

The last couple of days we’ve been looking at the characteristics or details that are given in Scripture related to manna.  Yesterday in particularly we saw 3 items that first it came from heaven, second it came with the dew of the morning and third it came every morning.

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Exodus (Program #36) -The Heavenly Diet—Manna (2)

Manna was the food that God gave to the children of Israel to eat during their 40 year journey in the wilderness.  We know that it was small and white and round, but beyond that description we don’t know much else.  In another word, it was mysterious. Though numerous words have been written about the Lord Jesus Christ, He also remained in may ways a mystery.  It’s hard to say exactly what or who He is.  Yet like the manna of old, He can surely feed and sustain His people.

We began this topic of manna a few days ago and Witness Lee put chapter 16 of Exodus on the same plain as chapter 14 and chapter 12 where the Passover feast and the crossing of the Red Sea are all depicted.  It is quite remarkable that this chapter has the same kind of stature.  Manna is mentioned in two places at least in Scripture in the Old Testament; this portion in Exodus 16 that we’ve been looking at and also comes up in Numbers chapter 11.  more…

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Exodus (Program #35) -The Heavenly Diet—Manna (1)

Listen to these brief words from Exodus chapter 16, “in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  And when the layer of dew lifted, there upon the surface of the wilderness were fine round flakes, fine as the frost on the earth.  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.”  It is easy to see why the people ask “what is it?”  They needed what we need; vision and revelation as we touch the matter of manna, the unique food for God’s people.  In this broadcast will be a tremendous help to us in our Christian journey to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

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Exodus (Program #33) – God’s Dealing with the Flesh of His People

Chapter 16 of Exodus is a chapter in one sense a miracle, two great miracles in fact; first the Lord sent thousands and thousands of quail in the wind to His people for a meal of flesh.  The other miracle is that on the following day, they people awoke to find the ground covered with small round wafers called Manna, bread from heaven that would miraculous feed His people for 40 years.  One way to study this passage is to examine the miracles that God wrought and marvel at His great power to do such miracles.  Another way is to see the divine revelation of the Scriptures in the way of life.

For 400 years, God’s people lived in Egypt and understandably they really became Egyptians in their constitution and particularly in their diet.   But once God brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, He was very definite they could not continue the Egyptian life.  What was His wise way reconstituting them?

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Exodus (Program #32) – The Experience of Manna

In Exodus the Lord performed miracle after miracle in rescuing His people Israel.  Once through the Red Sea, He continue to bless them with rich experiences such as quenching their deepest thirst.  Yet despise His merciful treatment, they murmur bitterly at the first sign of difficulty.  How can we explain such pitiful behavior by the people of God?  Well, the same way we can explain much of our own shameful behavior before the Lord.  Stay with us as we get another view of our savior God on today’s life study of the Bible.

We see something very remarkable in this journey with the children of Israel in the wilderness.  They had a remarkable series of experiences with the Lord; His miraculous deliverance of them through the Passover and going through the Red Sea, and this marvelous experience of the bitter water at Marah and finally the flowing stream and the growing palm at Elim.  Yet after all of these, there is a very ugly, an ugly display of their dissatisfaction toward the Lord.  more…

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Hebrews (Program #59) – The Manna in the Golden Pot

In the Old Testament, manna was something given by God to his people openly and freely. But, a small portion of this manna was offered by the priest back to God and hidden within a golden pot in the Holy of Holies. This hidden portion in the golden pot represents something so rich in experience.

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