Furthermore, Exodus 16:31 indicates that manna was white. It was clean and pure, without any kind of mixture. Christ as our life and our life supply is so pure, so white. The manna was also like frost (16:14). Frost is something between dew and snow. Both dew and frost are refreshing. But although dew refreshes, it does not kill germs. Frost, however, does kill germs. The life of Christ is so refreshing, so cooling, and it kills the negative things within us.
The manna also came with the dew in the morning according to Exodus 16:13-14. The dew not only refreshes but also waters. The life, which is Christ, is a watering life. The dew is softer than rain and not as cold as frost.
In Numbers 11:7 we are told that the appearance of manna was like the appearance of bdellium (Heb.). This means that Christ as our daily life supply is so transparent. Furthermore, the meaning of transformation is implied here. The more we enjoy Christ as our heavenly food, the more we will become transparent and transformed into material for God’s building.
The manna was eaten as bread (Exo. 16:15), as cakes (Num. 11:8), and as wafers (Exo. 16:31). As our manna, Christ has different aspects and nourishes us in different ways. When we eat Him as our manna, sometimes He tastes like bread and at other times He tastes like cake or a wafer which is thin and easy to eat and digest.
Finally, as the manna, Christ is not legal. Numbers 11:8 says, “The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it.” Christ can be ground, beaten in a mortar, or baked in pans. If you experience Christ in a certain way, you may make that a legal way. But Christ is not legal. He can be taken and experienced by us in many ways.
We have to realize that manna is the continuation of the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb was the beginning of the children of Israel’s eating, and manna became the continuation of that eating for forty years. Every morning for forty years, wherever they went and wherever they were, manna was there for the children of Israel to eat. This was a real miracle. The fact that we could eat Christ day by day is a miracle. Day by day, week after week, month after month, and year after year we eat only one thing-Christ Himself as our heavenly manna.
With the matter of eating there is no oldness involved. When the children of Israel ate the lamb, they were to let nothing of it remain (Exo. 12:10). When they ate the manna in the wilderness, the same manna was fresh every day. A person could never eat old manna. The children of Israel, however, did not have the faith. They tried to save the manna and went against what Moses told them. The manna that they tried to save “bred worms, and stank” (Exo. 16:20). We cannot store the manna, but we need to eat Christ in a fresh way day by day every morning. Some people buy groceries once a week and store these groceries in their refrigerator, but it is not possible to store manna in this way. Day by day the same heavenly food comes from the heavens in a new and fresh way. We have to keep up-to-date with the Lord. We always have to eat today‘s manna.
Finally, the children of Israel went into the good land to enjoy the produce of the land. The lamb, the manna, and the produce of the land are types of Christ. Christ is our lamb, our manna, and our land. As the land, Christ is rich to the fullest extent. This land is “a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it” (Deut. 8:8-9). All this produce of the good land is Christ Himself for our enjoyment. Joshua 5:10-12 says, “And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. 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.” In this short portion of the Word, Joshua puts these three items together. He mentions the Passover lamb, the manna, and the produce of the land. These items are Christ as food to us for life. Thank the Lord for the lamb, the manna, and the land with all its rich produce.
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