The Egyptian diet causes people to become Egyptian. For example, if people are consumed with watching television, they become television. Likewise, if they are given to a certain sport or amusement, they become constituted with that sport or amusement. These illustrations indicate that the Egyptian diet constitutes people with the Egyptian element and makes them Egyptian in composition.
Furthermore, the Egyptian diet fits the lust of the flesh (16:3; Num. 11:4-5). Anything worldly just fits the taste of our lustful flesh.
The people’s desire for the Egyptian diet provoked God’s holy anger (Num. 11:1). It was in His anger and displeasure that He sent them quails.
Finally, the Egyptian diet issues in death (Num. 11:33-34). The result of the Egyptian diet is always spiritual death. Because so many Christians still desire the things of Egypt, they suffer spiritual death, having been smitten by God’s holy anger.
The heavenly diet makes people heavenly. This heavenly diet is actually Christ Himself. He is the food, the manna. Therefore, by eating Christ we become Christ; that is, Christ becomes our very constituent.
The heavenly diet fulfills God’s purpose. Those who built the tabernacle were not Egyptians. They were those with a heavenly constitution. It was at least four months after the children of Israel left Egypt that they began to build the tabernacle. During these months, their diet had been changed and their constitution was at least in the process of changing and of being replaced with the element of manna. By feeding on manna, God’s people eventually became manna. As those constituted of manna, they could build the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. This picture shows that only those who have been reconstituted with Christ are qualified to build up the church as God’s dwelling place today. This is what it means to say that the heavenly diet fulfills God’s purpose.
The garlic, leeks, onions, melons, and cucumbers were only good to make God’s people Egyptian in their constitution. Such things could satisfy their lusts, but they could not enable the people to fulfill God’s purpose. In order for God’s purpose to be accomplished, His people had to be reconstituted with manna. This reveals that our constitution must be rearranged through the eating of Christ. Christ must replace the Egyptian diet. For the building of the church, we all need to be reconstituted with Christ. Remember that those who built the tabernacle had experienced a change of diet and had begun to be reconstituted with the element of manna. Only such people can build God’s dwelling place. In fact, after being reconstituted, they themselves are the dwelling place of God.
The heavenly diet also tests us in relation to God’s will and proves where we are (16:4-5, 16-30). Are we one with God and identical to Him? Where we are will be proved by the detailed regulations concerning the gathering of manna. These regulations prove whether or not we correspond to God.
The heavenly diet also keeps God’s people alive to fulfill His purpose (16:35; John 6:57). By means of the heavenly diet we are kept alive for the sake of God’s dwelling place, not for any other purpose.
It is crucial that we all recognize the need for a change of diet. We need to ask ourselves what we hunger and thirst for and what kind of appetite we have. Our diet must change from an Egyptian diet to a heavenly diet. We must turn from the fleshpots, the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the onions, the garlic, and the leeks to Christ, the unique heavenly food supplied by God. For Christ to be our diet means that He is everything to us. He is even our television, entertainment, music, newspapers, and sports. We all should be able to testify that the Lord has changed our diet from so many items to just one, the heavenly manna. In a forthcoming message we shall see the riches of manna in all its aspects. May the Lord change our diet so that we may be reconstituted with Christ and become God’s dwelling place.
Along with the change of diet, we need a change of appetite. I wonder if the children of Israel truly experienced a change of appetite. They might have eaten manna simply because they were forced to do so. They had nothing else to eat.
The Lord Jesus said, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides to eternal life” (John 6:27). Today all the people in the world are working for the food which perishes. This perishing food includes things such as television, sports, music, and entertainments. All satisfaction of this kind will perish. Christ Himself is the only food which does not perish. This food abides to eternal life.
By food we mean anything we take into us for our satisfaction. If we understand this principle, we shall realize that today’s worldly food consists not only of physical food, but also of all other things people live on, including education, money, position, promotion, sports, and entertainment. The worldly people have physical food and psychological food, but they do not have spiritual food. Instead of working for the food which abides to eternal life, they labor for the food which perishes.
The Lord Jesus is the real manna. In John 6 He indicates that we should seek Him and eat Him. However, not many Christians realize the need for a change of diet. All those who have been regenerated need to change their diet. This is the reason that Exodus 16 is even more crucial than Exodus 12. In chapter twelve we see a people who have been redeemed, but we do not see a people who have been reconstituted. At the time of chapter fourteen, God’s people had come out of Egypt, but Egypt had not come out of them. According to their constitution, they were still Egyptians. Thus, God’s intention was to change their constitution by changing their diet. By the time the children of Israel had built the tabernacle, their diet had been changed. Their constitution had probably begun to change also. When they were building the tabernacle, they did not eat Egyptian food. Instead, their diet consisted of manna.
Furthermore, after the tabernacle was set up, they spent much time in taking care of the tabernacle. They had to take it down, carry it, and set it up again. During their years in the wilderness, the children of Israel did nothing except eat manna and care for the tabernacle. They did not engage in any other industry or endeavor. This shows that God did not ask them to do anything, not even to engage in farming. God fed them by sending manna from heaven. The people simply gathered it, prepared it, ate it, and took care of the tabernacle. What a marvelous picture this is!
As we consider this picture, we see that God only wants us to eat Christ and to take care of the church, His dwelling place. We should not allow ourselves to lose interest in these things. Day by day, we should simply eat Christ and practice the church life. We are here for Christ and the church, not for anything else. In the opinion of the outsiders, we in the Lord’s recovery spend our time doing nothing. Some even condemn us because apparently we do not carry on any work for the Lord. However, just as the children of Israel daily gathered manna and cared for God’s dwelling place, we are daily eating Christ and caring for the proper church life.