Tuesday, May 16, 2017

May 17, 2017

"This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." John 6:58

What sort of bread is this that comes down from heaven? What kind of bread can you eat and live forever?

Manna was bread that came down from heaven in the days of the Exodus. God called Moses to lead His people from the bondage of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. There was one minor complication - they had to cross a wilderness. Several millions of people traveling through the desert need food in order to survive. How would that happen? That's a lot of food!

God's answer was manna, an amazing substance that appeared each morning like dew. It was white and sweet and nutritionally perfect - and non-fattening! They had never seen anything like this before so they called it "manna" which means "what is it"?

Every day for forty years they fed on this manna from heaven. They were allowed to take as much as they could eat for that day and a double portion before the Sabbath. But anything they did not eat would spoil. It would not keep. God doesn't deal in leftovers!

This "Wonder Bread" was one of a number of miraculous ways that God provided for His people. He brought them out from under the rod of Pharaoh by demonstrating his power through a series of plagues. Then He opened the Red Sea so they could escape the Egyptian army and then closed it over the army to destroy them. He gave them water from a rock, quail from the sky, clothes that never wore out, and fresh bread daily. There is no way that millions of people can survive - and grow - for forty years in a desert, but they did!

Now God sends a new Deliverer, His Son, Jesus. And after having miraculously feeding thousands of people in the wilderness with only five loaves and two fishes, He identifies Himself as "Manna from heaven" and "the Bread of life". That is pretty simple and straight forward - feed on Him and live or choose not to and die.

Think about Jesus as Manna. It fits! He is sent from heaven by God. He is sweet and life-giving. He supplies all of our needs. You can feed on Him as much as you desire. He is fresh each day and doesn't work as a left-over. Feeding on Him will get you to the Promised Land.

Are you hungry this morning? How about some "Manna"? Eat, enjoy and live!