Another characteristic of manna is its fineness (16:14a). Manna was very fine and even. By nature, we are coarse and unbalanced. Even in virtues such as kindness or humility, we may be rough and unbalanced. Rarely do we find a person who is fine, even, and balanced. However, when we take the Lord Jesus as our food, enjoying His word as our life supply, we are balanced. We become fine and even.
In 16:14 we see that manna was round. It is difficult to determine whether the manna was round like a flake or round like a ball. The roundness of a flake is circular, whereas the roundness of a ball is spherical. The Hebrew word seems to indicate that the manna was like a flake. But elsewhere we are told that manna was like coriander seed. This implies that manna was like a ball.
The roundness of manna signifies that Christ is eternal, without beginning or ending. Christ is eternal food with an eternal nature for eternal nourishment without limitation. Whoever eats Him will have eternal life with the eternal nature and will receive eternal nourishment. By eating Christ, we become eternal people, those who are beyond time. The eating of Jesus brings us out of time and into eternity. The life we received in regeneration is an eternal life with an eternal nature. Because we have received such a life, we have become eternal people. In a sense, we are eternal already, although, of course, we are still in time. The more we eat the Lord Jesus, the more eternal we become.
The roundness of manna indicates that Christ is eternal, perfect, and full. With the manna there is no shortage. The Lord Jesus and His word are perfect and full. By eating Him we are transformed. The more we eat the Lord Jesus and His word, the more eternal, perfect, and full we become. In this diet of heavenly manna there is no defect or shortage.
Exodus 16:31 indicates that manna was white. It was clean and pure, without any kind of mixture. No earthly food is like this. Everything we feed on apart from Christ and His word is a mixture. Only Christ and His word are pure. The more we feast on Christ and eat His word, the more we are purified and saved from every kind of mixture.
If we come daily to the Lord Jesus and take Him into us and feed on His word, we shall undergo a process of purification that makes us more and more pure. Those who feed on Christ eventually become simple and pure. Most people are complicated. How can these complicated people be simplified? The only way to be simplified is to eat the Lord Jesus. The more we eat Him and receive His word, the more we are simplified. In this way we become single and pure.
As we partake of Christ as our manna, we are not only purified and simplified, but we also become white. To be white means to be without stain. As we feed on Christ, the stains within us are eliminated. Although we may be good in certain respects, we may not be white. For example, our love and humility may have a certain natural color. Actually, none of our human virtues is white. But the more we take in Christ as our life supply, the more our natural color is eliminated, and the whiter we become.
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. As manna, not only does Christ refresh us; He also kills the negative things within us. Whenever we experience Christ as the life supply, we are watered and refreshed, and the negative things within us, such as our negative attitudes, are put to death. We experience both the refreshing of the frost and its killing.
As the best kind of air conditioning, frost also cools us. All the worldly people are too hot in their pursuit of sinful pleasures and worldly amusements. Many of today’s Christians are also too hot, too feverish; they need to be cooled down. This is especially true of those in Pentecostalism or in the charismatic movement. Those who are involved in the charismatic movement need to eat manna and experience the frost. Actually, we all need the experience of frost. Because we are so hot in certain matters, we need to become cool and sober. We all need to be cooled down in order to be refreshed in a proper way. As we partake of Christ and His word, we are cooled down and refreshed by the frost.