Another type of Christ is the unleavened bread (Exo. 12:8, 15, 17-20; 1 Cor. 5:8). The children of Israel were to observe the feast of unleavened bread as a continuation of the feast of Passover (Exo. 12:15-20; 13:6-7). Exodus 12:18 says, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.” The feast of the Passover lasted just one day. It was held on the fourteenth day of the first month, the month Abib. Continuing from the feast of the Passover, there was another feast, the feast of unleavened bread, which lasted seven days. Therefore, the feast of unleavened bread was a continuation of the feast of Passover. In the Bible seven days indicate a complete course of time, a whole period of time. Hence, the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread signify the course of our life on earth.
Eating unleavened bread indicates that God’s people should not live in sin, that is, should not live a sinful life. Unleavened bread typifies Christ as the source and supply of a sinless life. In the Bible leaven signifies what is sinful, evil, corrupt, and unclean in the sight of God. In 1 Corinthians 5:8 Paul speaks of the “leaven of malice and evil.”
In 1 Corinthians 5:8 we have the fulfillment of the type of unleavened bread: “Let us therefore keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and evil, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The feast here refers to the feast of unleavened bread as the continuation of the Passover. As the unleavened bread, Christ is the spiritual and divine food that makes us unleavened. We have pointed out that the feast of unleavened bread lasted seven days, a period of completion, signifying the entire period of our Christian life from the day of our conversion to the day of rapture. This is a long feast, which we must keep, not with the sin of our old nature, the old leaven, but with unleavened bread, which is the Christ of our new nature as our nourishment and enjoyment. Only He is the life supply of sincerity and truth, absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality. The feast is a time for the enjoyment of a banquet, for a feast involves both eating and enjoyment. Whenever we eat without having enjoyment as the purpose of our eating, that eating is common. But when we eat for enjoyment, our eating becomes a feast. As indicated by Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 5:8, the entire Christian life should be such a feast, such an enjoyment of Christ as our banquet, the rich supply of life.
In 1 Corinthians 5:7 and 8 we have two feasts—the feast of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. When we were saved, we enjoyed the feast of the Passover. Now throughout our Christian life we should enjoy the feast of unleavened bread. According to 1 Corinthians 5:8, the Christian life is a feast of unleavened bread, a feast of the enjoyment of Christ as our life supply without any leaven. Day by day we need to keep the feast of unleavened bread. We should keep this feast throughout the course of our Christian life until we see the Lord.
In Exodus 16 manna is a type of Christ. Verse 31 says, “The house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” Concerning manna, Moses said to the people, “This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat” (Exo. 16:15). Manna is a type of Christ as the heavenly food that enables God’s people to go His way. In John 6:31-35 we see that Christ is the fulfillment of the type of manna.
The word “manna” means “What is this?” (Exo. 16:15). The manna that the children of Israel ate in the wilderness was different from the other foods they had known, for it was unlike any foodstuff on earth. When the people saw it they asked, “What is this?” In color, shape, appearance, taste, and in every other aspect it was absolutely different from anything they had ever seen before. The fact that the word manna means “What is it?” indicates that manna was a mystery. In describing manna, the Bible likens it to certain things. For example, Exodus 16:14 says that manna was as small as the hoar frost on the ground, and verse 31 says that it was like coriander seed and that its taste was like wafers made with honey. The Bible does not actually tell us what manna was because manna is mysterious.
As the real manna, Christ is mysterious; He cannot be explained scientifically. What is Christ? Christ is “What is this?” He is extraordinary, so special that He cannot be ranked with anything else. Because Christ is mysterious, we cannot explain Him. As manna, Christ is indeed a mystery.
Chapter six of the Gospel of John unveils Christ as the real manna, as the heavenly food given to us by God. In verse 32, He says, “My Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.” Then in verse 35 He declares, “I am the bread of life.” As the bread of life, Christ is the bread that came down out of heaven (vv. 41, 50, 51, and 58). He is the bread of God (v. 33), He is the living bread (v. 51), and He is the true bread (v. 32). Here we have five characteristics of Christ as our manna, our bread: heavenly bread, the bread of God, the bread of life, the living bread, and the true bread. As the bread that came down out of heaven, He is the heavenly bread. As the bread of God, He is of God, He was sent by God, and He was with God. As the bread of life, He is the bread with eternal life, with zoe. As the living bread, He is living. The bread of life refers to the nature of the bread, which is life; the living bread refers to the condition of the bread, which is living. As the true bread, Christ is the bread of truth or reality. Christ is true, real. He is the true food, and all other kinds of food are merely shadows of Him as the real food. Christ is the true bread of life sent by God to bring us eternal life.
As our manna, Christ is actually the tree of life. In Exodus 16 and John 6 the tree of life appears by the name of manna. In the Bible manna and the tree of life are interchangeable. This indicates that the manna in Exodus 16 was the tree of life in Genesis 2, and that the manna in John 6 will be the tree of life in Revelation 22. Manna and the tree of life are different terms to describe one thing. God does not have two different kinds of food for His chosen people. Because there is one God, there is also just one kind of food. Christ is our tree of life and our manna for eternity.
Exodus 17:6 says, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” The rock here is a type of Christ. In typology Moses signifies the law, and the rod represents the power and authority of the law. The smiting of the rock by the rod signifies that Christ was smitten by the authority of God’s law. In the sight of God the Lord Jesus was put to death not by the Jews but by the law of God. During the first three hours of His crucifixion, Christ suffered under the hand of man. But during the last three hours, He suffered because He was smitten by the power of God’s law.
The water flowing out of the smitten rock signifies the Spirit. John 7:37 and 38 say, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” This word was spoken on the last day of the feast of tabernacles. John 7:39 goes on to say, “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive.” This indicates clearly that the flowing water signifies the Spirit.
Paul speaks of the water from the smitten rock in 1 Corinthians 10:4, where he says that the children of Israel “all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” Paul tells us that the rock followed God’s people in their journey through the wilderness. Wherever the children of Israel journeyed, the rock went with them. The spiritual drink refers to the living water that flowed out of the cleft rock, which typifies the Spirit as our all-inclusive drink (1 Cor. 12:13). Literally, the Greek words rendered “a spiritual rock which followed” are “a spiritual following rock.” The rock that was smitten and cleft to flow out the living water for God’s chosen people was a physical rock. Yet Paul calls it a spiritual rock because it typifies Christ smitten and cleft by God to flow out the water of life (John 19:34) to satisfy the thirst of His believers. Hence, Paul says that the rock was Christ. Because it was a spiritual rock signifying Christ, it was able to follow the children of Israel. This indicates that Christ as the real rock is following His believers.
Paul was bold to say that the physical rock of Exodus 17:6 was a spiritual rock and that this rock was Christ. In actuality the rock in Exodus 17 was physical. However, we need to have a spiritual view of this physical rock and see through the physical into the spiritual. Because Paul viewed this rock according to his spiritual sight, in his eyes it was a spiritual rock. To him, that rock was Christ, and he boldly declared this in 1 Corinthians 10:4.
Through incarnation Christ came to earth as the rock. At Calvary, the appointed place, He was crucified, smitten by God’s law with its power and authority. His side was cleft, and living water flowed forth. This living water, which is the Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God, quenches our thirst and satisfies our being.