When the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, God gave them manna from heaven as a gift every day (except the Sabbath day). They all enjoyed this gift of manna. Then God seemed to say, “Take a portion, one tenth of an ephah, of the manna I have given you and place it before My testimony.” This portion of the manna was for God. The open manna was the people’s portion, and this offered, hidden manna in the pot before God’s testimony was God’s portion. The principle was the same with offering the produce after the children of Israel had entered into the good land. Once they were in the land, God no longer sent manna from heaven, for the good land provided all that was needed for their living. Thus, instead of gathering the manna, they harvested the produce of the good land. Regarding this, God seemed to say, “Give Me as My portion a tenth of all the produce you have harvested.” The children of Israel did so, giving this one tenth to the priests and the Levites who served in and around the tabernacle. Then God told the priests and the Levites to take one tenth of what they received from the people and offer it to God. This portion, which we may call the top of the top, was then given to the high priest as his portion. Only the high priest, the one serving in the Holy of Holies, was privileged to enjoy this topmost portion.
Based upon this principle, we see that the hidden manna is the portion for God. The basic concept of the hidden manna is that it is God’s portion. In the past, I was troubled whenever I read Exodus 16:36, which says, “Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.” I thought that this verse was unnecessary and wondered why Moses included it. I could not understand the significance of an omer of manna being placed in a pot and put in front of the testimony of God. But just recently the Lord enlightened me about this, and I saw that the tenth is the choice portion, the portion for God. Manna signifies Christ whom God has given to us as a gift. While we are enjoying Christ as our manna, we must take the best portion and offer it to God, offering Christ to God.
If we would eat the hidden manna, we must firstly eat the open manna. If we do not experience the open manna, we shall have no manna to offer God as the hidden manna. The hidden manna is the very manna which we experience, enjoy, and then offer to God. Eventually, because we are so intimate with God, He will say, “Come into My dining room and dine with Me.” Do not think that you will suddenly enjoy Christ as your hidden manna if you have never enjoyed Him as your open manna. No, the hidden manna comes out of our enjoyment of the open manna. We enjoy manna and, out of the manna we enjoy, we offer a small portion to God, saying, “God, I offer to You the very Christ whom I have been enjoying. You have given Christ to me as my portion, and now I give the best of Him to You as Your portion.” To this God will say, “Child, come into My Holy of Holies and enjoy this portion with Me.” This is the hidden manna.
Let us consider our experience. When we enjoy Christ in a general way as our daily supply, we spontaneously desire to offer the very Christ whom we have enjoyed back to God, saying, “O God, how I thank You for the Christ whom You have given me. I have enjoyed Him very much. Now I would like to offer the best portion of Him to You.” This is the omer of manna, the choice portion of the manna which is offered back to God. This portion is not for all of God’s people; it is only for those who serve Him in a very intimate way in the Holy of Holies. This is the hidden manna, which comes out of the manna we enjoy in a general way.
Again I say that God has given us Christ as our food. As we enjoy Him as food, we gratefully offer Him back to God. In this way Christ becomes the choice portion of our enjoyment which we offer to God as His portion. God is pleased with this, accepts it, and says, “Since you are now with Me in the Holy of Holies, not serving Me in the outer court or in the Holy Place, I would like to serve you with what you have offered to Me. I ask you to enjoy the choicest portion of Christ with Me.” How wonderful this is! It closely matches both our experience and the whole revelation of the Bible and fits in with Revelation 2:17. Enjoying Christ as our hidden manna is not a sudden experience; it must have a history behind it.
The hidden manna was hidden under at least four layers. Among the children of Israel was the tabernacle, within the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, within the Holy of Holies was the ark, and within the ark was the golden pot. Anyone who wanted to enjoy the hidden manna firstly had to be among the children of Israel. Secondly, he had to enter into the tabernacle. Then he had to enter into the Holy of Holies. After that, he had to get into the ark containing the golden pot in which was the hidden manna.
Applying this to our situation today, we see that outside the church life it is impossible to enjoy the hidden manna. In the church life we have the various service groups. But these service groups, being the Levitical service, are only in the outer court. Nevertheless, by this outer court service, we are ushered into the Holy Place. Through the Holy Place we enter into the Holy of Holies. As many of us can testify, before we joined a service group, we were not even in the outer court; we were on the street. But as we serve with others, we have the sense that we are in the Holy Place enjoying Christ. Through this enjoyment we enter into the Holy of Holies where the hidden manna is.