MANNA FROM HEAVEN
(Jim McDonald)

It is interesting to note that some of the subjects about which Jesus taught were based on the circumstances of the moment. In John, 4 Jesus was passing through Samaria and was weary. While His disciples went into the nearby village of Sychar to get food for them to eat, He sat by the well and waited for them. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus asked her for a drink and she, astonished that a Jewish male would speak to her, asked Him why He had. In the conversation which ensued Jesus told her that had she asked of Him, He could have given her “living water” which would forever satisfy her hunger and thirst. He contrasted the water which came from that well with water He could give. He told her that living water would “spring up to eternal life” forever replenishing itself (John 4:14).

 In John 6, after Jesus had fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, the next day some who had shared in that meal asked Him what sign He might offer them so they could believe in Him, adding, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.” This was the setting which followed when Jesus spoke both about the bread of life and the heavenly manna.

 Jesus, commenting on their mention of the manna God provided for Israel in the wilderness, told those who questioned Him, “It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (John 6:32-33). The mention of “manna” suggested the truth that God has given true manna to the world.

 The manna which these referenced was God’s provision to Israel at a very critical time in their journey. They had kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month they left Egypt, with that departure climaxing in the miracles at the Red Sea. Pursued by Pharaoh’s army, the people came to the Red Sea and could go no further. God preserved them by commanding Moses to divide the Sea by stretching his rod over it. The people were all able to safely cross over on dry ground but when Pharaoh’s army pursued the Israelites into the sea’s bed, God commanded Moses to stretch out his rod once more and the sea returned to its original state and Pharaoh’s army was overwhelmed. Israel stood on the opposite side of the sea and sang their song of deliverance in Exodus 15:1-21. They were free at last!

 A month later they were singing a different tune. They found it difficult to find food to eat and they murmured at Moses and Aaron. God had saved the nation from a return to bondage by dividing the sea. He then saved them from hunger by providing them manna. Dividing the sea was a marvelous miracle but God’s deliverance of Israel from hunger proved to be equally so. For the next 40 years, on every day of those years except the Sabbath, God gave the people bread from heaven which they called “manna.” What made this such an astonishing miracle was that it was daily evidence of the eternal God who had made them and delivered them from oppressive bondage. It was also evidence that He was leading them to the promised land of their great ancestor Abraham and his seed.

 Jesus took that salvation from physical hunger through physical bread and showed how God provides salvation from spiritual hunger through Him who is the “bread of life.” In John 6:33 He said, “The bread of God which cometh from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” The “wilderness manna” was confined to the nation of Israel; no one else could eat it. God’s present manna gives life to the world! The “wilderness manna” satisfied daily hunger, but the “manna from heaven” satisfies eternal hunger. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). The “wilderness manna” could prolong life yet not prevent death, the “manna from heaven” provides the assurance that Jesus will give eternal life to those partake of Him (John 6:40).

 Jesus told those who heard Him that no man could “come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone that hath heard from the Father and hath learned, cometh unto me” (John 6:44-45). We must not conclude that man has no choice in coming to Christ. To the contrary, although the Father draws, He draws through His prophets. Their words are His words. They speak and we hear. We must learn and then come.

 Despite the blessings of the earthly manna, Israel did not appreciate what they had. They became weary and tired of that manna and said, “Our souls loath this light bread.” How unthankful! There are few who cannot see the ingratitude of those people in their attitude toward the manna. Yet, despite the far greater blessings of the “manna from heaven” we see a world as ungrateful now as those people were then. Jesus is the bread of life — God’s manna. All can eat. All can come. And, if we wish to be filled with the manna from heaven, we must come. “All things are ready! Come to the Feast!”