As we have pointed out, the entire book of Hebrews is focused on Christ as the heavenly Minister with His kingly and divine priesthood. As our heavenly Minister, His main responsibility is to minister the Triune God into us as our supply. He is now ministering such a wonderful supply, not in the outer court, but in the Holy of Holies, and not on the cross, but on the throne of grace. We have seen that the book of Hebrews calls us to come forward to the Holy of Holies, to the throne of grace, and to God. In the Holy of Holies we are not gathered around the cross for redemption; we are meeting around the throne of grace for the life supply. Here we enjoy Christ as our Melchisedec ministering to us the bread and wine as our life supply. This also is absolutely a matter of eating. Hence, this book brings us from the outer court to the Holy of Holies, where there is one unique item—the ark of testimony, which represents Christ. In the Holy of Holies there is nothing but the all-inclusive Christ. According to the outward appearance, He is only one item, the ark of testimony. But when we experience Him as the ark, we see not only one unique item; we see three items—the golden pot containing manna, the budding rod, and the law of life.
These three items are the kernels within the kernel. After entering into the tabernacle, we find ourselves in the Holy Place where everything is rather outward. After passing through the second veil, we enter into the inner chamber of the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. Once we have come into the Holy of Holies, we are in the heart, the kernel, of the tabernacle. But within the Holy of Holies we have the ark of testimony, and within the ark we have the golden pot containing manna, the budding rod, and the law of life. Because these items are all in the ark in the Holy of Holies, we may say that they are the kernels within the kernel.
As we touch the first of these items, the golden pot containing manna, we find something even deeper. After passing through four layers, the layer of the tabernacle, the layer of the Holy of Holies, the layer of the ark of testimony, and the layer of the golden pot, we come to the manna. When we touch this, we have truly come home. If we are only in the Holy of Holies but are not feeding on the manna in the golden pot, we are not yet home. Even if we touch the ark of testimony, we are still not home. The tabernacle is for the Holy of Holies, the Holy of Holies is for the ark, the ark is for the golden pot, and the golden pot is for the hidden manna. In Revelation 2:17 the Lord Jesus said, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.” Where is this hidden manna? It is in the golden pot which is in the ark in the Holy of Holies. The one main kernel, the living kernel among all the kernels, is the hidden manna. The Lord Jesus promised His overcomers that they would eat this hidden manna.
Before we learn how to eat the hidden manna, we must first know what manna is. The word manna means “What is this?” (Exo. 16:15). The manna which the children of Israel ate in the wilderness was different from the other foods they had known, for it was unlike any food stuff on earth. It was neither wheat, corn, nor barley. When the people saw it, they asked, “What is this?” In Numbers 11 we see a comparison between manna and the foods with which the children of Israel were familiar. Numbers 11:5-6 says, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.” Here we see the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Although the children of Israel knew what these were, they did not know what manna was. In color, shape, appearance, taste, and in every other aspect it was absolutely different from anything they had ever seen before. They could only ask, “What is this?” They seemed to be saying, “What is this? It is neither fish nor leeks, onions nor garlic. Is it animal or vegetable? It seems that it is neither one.” No human language can explain what manna is. Manna is simply manna. Manna is “What is this?” Everyone knows what onions are, but when you speak of manna they can only ask “What is this?” Manna is simply “What is this?”
Manna is a type of Christ. What is Christ? Christ is “What is this?” He is extraordinary. He is so special that He cannot be ranked with anything else.