04.04. SHADOW: From Manna to Messiah

SHADOW: From Manna to Messiah

John 6:32-35 AUDIO http://www.exposingtheword.com/SHADOWS/MP3s%20Shadows/4%20Shadow-Manna.mp3 Jimmy and Joey, normal boys…Like fishing in the brook.

    Of course they dug in garden soil…For worms to bait their hook.

I’d wryly glance into their can…Then quickly look away To give each one a hasty hug…And send them on their way.

One day young Jim came grumbling home…"To get more bait," he sighed.

"You didn’t have enough?" I asked…. "Joe ate it!" he replied. My stomach churned …My color turned…Grey purple, green, and red—

    Till Jimmy, still disgusted, spoke-- "This morning we took bread!"

-- Mary Orr, Three Hills, Alberta. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."

Many people today have lost the glorious taste of corn-bread and milk. Many days in the past people have made a meal of corn bread and milk. In our society we have such a variety of foods to choose from that we cannot fully grasps how significant bread was as a staple of life in Bible times. Bread is a secondary food for us but it was the primary food in the Bible. In biblical times I understand in the towns there were public ovens, which were much made use of for baking bread; there were also bakers by trade." Bread came to symbolize food in general for several reasons. One dictionary says:

"…in ancient times, as now, most probably, when the peasant, carpenter, blacksmith or mason left home for the day’s work, or when the muleteer or messenger set out on a journey, he wrapped other articles of food, if there were any, in the thin loaves of bread, and Thus kept them ready for his use as needed. …Often the thin, glutinous loaf, puffed out with air, is seen today, opened on one side and used so as to form a natural pouch, in which meat, cheese, raisins and olives are enclosed to be eaten with the bread. The loaf of bread is Thus made to include everything and, for this reason also, it may fitly be spoken of as synonymous with food in general." International Bible Encyclopedia.

This sheds light on the prayer of Jesus when He said in Matthew 6:11, "Give us this day our daily bread." He was praying for provision. Genesis 3:19 "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Physically the bread we eat cost us of ourselves in most cases. Our text today if John 6:32-35 "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. ³⁴Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. ³⁵And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

    We will explore this text in a few minutes but allow first an understanding of the manna as the shadow of Messiah.

I- Manna From Heaven:

    Exodus 16:4-6 "Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. ⁵And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. ⁶And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt."

    The manna was provided for forty years in the wilderness each morning. They only had to gather it. The manna was provided supernaturally without a natural cause. Exodus 16:15 "And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat."

    Notice how it is referred to in Psalms 78:24-25 "And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. ²⁵Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full."

The manna was all that was needed for provision for the people as far as food. A couple of ways this foreshadows Christ is that it was sent from God. The Bible says, Galatians 4:4 "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…" The manna was sent each day in a timely way just as Jesus was sent in a timely way. It also came from heaven as He did. John 3:13 "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."

II- Multitudes Fed:

    On two different occasions, we find that Jesus fed the multitude. No place is the fact that the multitude was fed two times than in Matthew 16:9-10 "Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? ¹⁰Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?" The difference are also in the scant material He used to do the miracle.

    The first is found in Matthew 14:17 "And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes."

    The second is found in Matthew 15:34; Matthew 15:36 "And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.. ³⁶ And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude."

    Jesus, as He did many times, will take the occasion of the feeding of the multitude to teach them the lesson that He is the Bread of Life. The miracle was not done simply to feed the people but to teach a deeper truth.

III- Bread of Life:

     The great discourse of Jesus on the Bread of Life is found in John chapter six. Jesus used the feeding as a springboard to teach the deep truth. We also see here that the link is made to the shadow of the manna.

    John 6:48-51 "I am that bread of life. ⁴⁹Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. ⁵⁰This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

    Remember that bread was and is biblically symbolic of the nourishment needed to sustain life. Jesus took it one step farther however here. He said the bread was His flesh, given in sacrifice, and if we partake of Him we will live forever. Remember our text quotes Jesus saying, "…I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger…"    

    Loath the Bread: In the accounts of the children of Israel we find there come a time when the mixed multitude in Numbers 11:4-6 begin to And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? ⁵We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: ⁶But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.    Then again in Numbers 21:5 "And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread."

The feeling was that the provision of God was not enough. If we are not careful we will begin When the Manna Ceased: Joshua 5:12 "And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." I think the significance of this is that there is coming a day when we enter the promised land of heaven and all our needs will be supplied by God.

IV- Pass Along the Starter:

    I realize that in the Bible yeast or leaven is most often symbolic of sin. With that though in mind however the Holy Spirit brought another lesson to my heart. Today we have what is known as sourdough bread. San Francisco is famous for its bread. Some of the starters go back more than 100 years. The starter is used to infect the new bread so it will work and rise. May I say that we need to get infected with Jesus, the bread of life, and pass along the starter?