LAST month we looked a little into the story of the manna sent from heaven to feed Israel in the wilderness. We will now turn to the sixth chapter of the gospel by St. John, where Jesus speaks of the Bread of God. The gift of the manna is part of the sweet story of old, teaching us, as it were, by a lovely picture of Jesus. He is the true Bread sent to us by God, so that we may eat of Him in our hearts, and not die. Those who do not eat by faith of Him, have not life everlasting.
After the Lord had fed the five thousand people on the mountains of Judea, the people said to Him, "What sign showest Thou then, that we may see,' and believe Thee? what dost Thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
To their unbelieving question Jesus replied, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true Bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." (John 6:30-3330They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. (John 6:30‑33).)
The manna which the people of Israel gathered in the wilderness only fed their bodies; they lived on its nourishment while they were in the wilderness; it did not keep them alive for even one hundred years-far less did it sustain their souls; neither did it give them new life, nor did it make them holy men, and women, and children. No; it is Jesus only, the Bread of God, who gives life to us dead in sin, and who makes all who feed on Him in their hearts holy people. All the people who ate of the manna in the wilderness are dead, but the Lord said, "If any man eat this Bread, he shall live forever" he shall have the life which death can never touch.
Jesus is the Life-giver, and as much so for little children as for grown persons. All alike need Him. Without Him no one can live to God. As the people went out and gathered the manna for themselves, and ate it for their own nourishment, so must all go to Jesus for themselves, and eat, as it were, "that Bread of Life," in their own hearts for their own need.
Jehovah-Jesus gave Israel the manna; He gives us Himself. He gave for our souls' salvation, and our everlasting life, His own body and blood— that is, His own precious death. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.”
The people who gathered the manna in the wilderness believed, did they not? We do not hear of anyone saying, "I don't believe that the bread which comes from heaven can keep anybody alive in this wilderness!" Oh, no; they were hungry, and so they ate and lived. Do you know in your young heart what it is really to long for, to hunger for Jesus? "I do want to know Jesus as my own Saviour," is the cry of the heart which really desires Him. Jesus said, "He that cometh to Me shall never hunger"; and what He said eighteen hundred years ago, when He spoke to the Jews, He says to you and to me to-day as He speaks to us by His Spirit.
It was at night-time, when the dew fell, that the manna was rained from heaven, and it lay at the top of the dew. God made a clean place for the manna to lie on. But when we think of His dear Son coming from the holy heavens to this wicked and dark world, how wonderful it is! He came from the glory and purity of heaven to give life to poor sinners of and in this world. I trust that you can say from your heart, "Jesus is mine.”
You remember, that the Israelites might not hoard up the manna, but had to gather it fresh, morning by morning, except on Friday morning—the last day but one of their week—when a double portion was sent them by Jehovah, for no manna fell on the Seventh day.
You do not like bread that has been kept till all its sweetness has gone. And it is your happy portion to go day by day, hour by hour, to Jesus, the Bread of God, and to find His love ever fresh. As your body needs food several times daily, so does the soul require to be frequently fed by eating by faith of the Bread of Life.
The people had to get up early in the morning, before the sun was up, to gather the manna, and a Christian child spends a happy day when he begins it with Jesus. He must have the first place in our hearts. Early in the morning, before the sun was up high, they gathered the manna; which signifies for you, before your school hours begin, before the day's work commences, you need to gather something of Jesus for yourself. Never forget early morning prayer and reading of the Word of God.
“The children of Israel did eat manna forty years"! What a long time this seems.
When I was a little boy I thought forty years must be an immensely long time. You remember that the Israelites were in the wilderness forty years, therefore they ate manna all the time they were there. The little child of a year old, who began his journeyings with his life, traveled on in the wilderness till he became a tall, strong man, and all that long time manna was his food. If you live to grow up to be quite an old Christian, still Christ will always be the food of your soul. There is none other food for our hearts but Jesus.
Jesus is as much needed by the little child as by the grown man. We always need Him. I am sorry to say that sometimes the people of Israel grew tired of the taste of the manna.
Said they, "Now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes." (Num. 11:66But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. (Numbers 11:6).) So it is still, sometimes we see those who began brightly and happily as Christians turn to the world, and pine after its pleasures. It is impossible to delight the heart in the things of the world, and in Christ also.
We call to mind some who once professed to be the children of God, and who we believed were Christians, who have now gone back into the things which once they shunned. The truth is, they lost heart taste for Jesus, and so, alas! made light of His love, and then made the things which He hates their pleasures. May you all gather the manna for yourselves! May each of you eat the Bread of God!