Address—Jim Hyland
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And 75 Our body is lightened, though we go across attractive, wild our Jesus footsteps ever show the path for every child.
275 as someone will please start it.
Our God is light, and there we go.
Across that time when I fall.
Our Christians and were outside and I'm going to show love. Forecasts, forecast.
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Granny blah blah blah blah blah.
I don't know. So uh.
Appreciate it.
Going on for everything, so uh. So I'm appreciated. Uh.
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Long time.
Uh, we're going to go on in our little handout here. Yesterday we spoke of, uh, how the children of Israel got to the wilderness. But today and UH, this morning and UH, this afternoon, we're going to speak a little more specifically as to the wilderness. We're going to start in Exodus Chapter 15 with Elam. And I'll just say this while you're turning there.
That I believe the thought in a wilderness, in scripture is it's a place where there's nothing to sustain life For the children of Israel, it was a physical wilderness and again, having traveled throughout the Sinai Peninsula, it certainly is a place where there's nothing to sustain the the natural man. In fact, you realize very quickly how miraculous the whole thing really was and we'll speak of those some of those provisions.
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That God made in the course of the of today, as the Lord allows and directs now for you and for me. We're not in a physical wilderness. We've enjoyed, uh, a lot of good things, naturally speaking. Today, uh this weekend. And uh, we're not in a physical wilderness, but young people. We are in a spiritual wilderness. In other words, there is nothing in this world to feed the new man. You and I have the very life of Christ now.
We have the new nature, and that new nature, I should say. In this world there, there's nothing to feed that new Northeast, that new nature. There's plenty to feed our lust. Plenty to feed the flesh. Seems like you can hardly drive down the highway or stand at the checkout counter anymore without seeing something to feed our lust. We hear it every day at school and at work. And how are we going to feed and sustain the new man?
Well, it's God's provision for provisions for us, which we're going to speak of. And so you and I are in a spiritual wilderness, and we need God's provision and the resources that he has made through Christ and the finished work of Calvary. Let's start here in the 15th of Exodus at verse 23.
And when they came to Mara, they could not drink of the waters of Mara for the water, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Mara. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
And he cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, And there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes. I will put none of these diseases upon me which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam, where there were 12 wells of water.
And three score and 10 palm trees and they encamped there by the waters. Before we comment on Elam, I'll just make a couple of brief comments on the previous verses in connection with Mara. So here we find the children of Israel. They have come out now they're in on the Sinai Peninsula and they come to this place called Mara where there was no water for the people to drink. That is, the waters were bitter.
And I want to apply it in a practical way in your life and mine, because we come sometimes, don't we, to some very bitter circumstances in our lives.
You think of our brother Jonathan that we've mentioned today. He's going through a bitter circumstance in his life with the loss of his shop and his equipment, and we go, we come to those mirrors in our lives. And I realize that sometimes when we come to those circumstances, it's very hard perhaps to see the love of God and His purposes for blessing in our lives. We say, I just don't understand how the Lord is working all this out for good.
I just don't see his love in my circumstance. But we find that the answer to the problem at Mara was they were to cast the tree into the water, and the tree was the only thing that would make the water sweet. Now the trees so often in Scripture speaks to us of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want to encourage you as you go on with life. If the Lord leaves us here because you're gonna come to more bitter waters, you think you've had some problems as a young person.
Believe me, it doesn't get any easier. We come to those difficult circumstances in our lives, but throw the tree into the water. In other words, bring the cross into the into the circumstance. Because you might not see God's God's love in your circumstance, but you can always see it at the cross. When we look to the cross, how can we doubt His love? How can we doubt His purposes of blessing in our lives? And so we always need to have the cross before us.
And so they threw the tree into the water, and there they were able to drink of those waters. The waters were made sweet.
And I just challenge you if you bring the cross into your circumstances, what seems like very bitter waters.
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Will always be made sweet, but then they come to Elam. This little Oasis, if you look on a map today, it's called the Wells of Moses. Very interesting to stand there, right where the children of Israel were. They've excavated those wells. The palm trees are long gone, but they've excavated those 12 wells. They're spread over a pretty big piece of real estate and they're pretty large wells in the Middle East back in those days when they dug wells.
They were often fairly large around and they had stone steps that went down to a ledge at the bottom where they would walk down with their buckets or perhaps sometimes they had equipment, but they would walk down and stand on this ledge and fill their buckets with water. And that's the way the wells of Elam that have been excavated were built. Very interesting to see those 12 wells of water. And so they come to this, these little Oasis and don't we often come to those points in our Christian life?
I suggest, and I I hope, that this camp this weekend has been a little Elam, a little time of shelter, a little time of relaxation and being away from the world and the cares and responsibilities of life. You notice they didn't stay at Elam very long because we have to go on, don't we? Some of you said to say you're gonna have to leave this afternoon, and all of us are going to have to leave tomorrow morning if the Lord doesn't come. But we God brings us to these little times of special.
Refreshment and encouragement. And so there they came, and they encamped by those waters.
But I want to make a little application here because we might wonder why it's so specific that there were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees. I believe it was last night in the question and answer period that we mentioned and even quoted the verse that is on your hand out from John chapter seven. Let me just read it. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this he spake, This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
And so I believe, as I said last night, that when you trace through the word of God running water, a book, brook a well, a spring, a stream, running water is usually a figure of the spirit of God. And that's the way the Lord Jesus brings it out in those verses in John 7. And what do we learn from the fact that there were 12 wells of water? There was one for every tribe and everyone of us here who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
Have the Spirit of God indwelling us, and he doesn't give the Spirit by measure.
If I can put it this way, the 12 wells typifying the spirit of God speak of power for our pathway. You know, there was a long trek ahead of the children of Israel, and maybe you sit in meetings like this as a young person. I know I did. And I used to think, how am I going to get along in the path of faith? I used to look at the older brethren and think, well, they have it made and they've they've arrived. Don't ever think that as we get older, the enemy has.
Different kinds of problems and difficulties to present to us.
And we'll speak of this a little in the Bible study this afternoon. But it doesn't get any easier as you get older. But the power is the same. Every one of you have the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is the power for our divine life to walk through this wilderness world for God's glory and to give light and testimony for him. And so we have 12 wells of water. That's power. But then there were three score and 10 palm trees.
I used to ponder why were there three score and 10 palm trees. Well, we touched on it last night in connection.
With the verse in the Psalms, and I have it quoted here on your handout, the days of our years, our three score years and 10. That is, there's provision for the whole journey. And uh, so you're young now. You wonder how you'll get along if the Lord doesn't come as you get older, but there's provision for the whole journey, all the days of your life for three score years and 10:00. So at Elam we have in tight this play, little place of refreshment, this little Oasis.
And we learn that there's power and provision for the whole journey. I'm not going to stand here and tell you it's easy to follow the Lord and live for the Lord. But I can attest to the fact in my own experience that there's plenty of power and provision if we're only willing to avail ourselves of it. But then they take their journey on. And so if you turn the page, we're going to spend the rest of the meeting this morning speaking about the manna. And if you'll bear with me, we're going to read some scripture here. I'll take some time and read a good chunk of scripture.
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We won't read all of this 16th chapter of Exodus, but I want to get the gist of what is brought before us in connection with the mana. We'll start at verse four of Exodus chapter 16.
Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven, for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or know, and then just drop down.
To verse 14. And when they do that lay was gone up. Behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as an hoar frost on the ground.
And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, it is manna, for they wist not what it was.
And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.
Gather of it every man according to his eating, an Omar for every man according to the number of persons.
Take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more and some less. And when they did meet, and when they did meet it with an Omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered it every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning, notwithstanding they hearken not unto Moses, But some of them left it until the morning.
And it bred worms and stank, and Moses was wroth with them, and they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating. And when the sun waxed hot, it melted, and then just dropped down to the 31St verse. And the House of Israel called the name of thereof manna. And it was like the coriander seed white, And the taste of it was like wafer, like wafers made with honey.
Now just hold your finger here. We're gonna come right back to this portion, but I wanna read a portion in the book of numbers.
Chapter 11.
Numbers, Chapter 11.
And verse 7. And the manna was like coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bedellium. And the people went about and gathered it and grounded in mills, or beat it in a mortar and baked it in pans and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was the as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Now I want to connect this with John, Chapter 6. John's Gospel, chapter 6.
John's Gospel, chapter 6 and verse 48. I am the bread, that bread of Life your Father's did eat man in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If a man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give in is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And the Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him as the living Father hast sent me, and I live by the Father.
So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your Father's did eat man in the wilderness. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Well, this is a lot of scripture, and we're gonna refer to some others. And so we can't hope to comment on just a few of the things that we have here. We're going to, in a few moments, speak of the man in connection with it being a type of Christ.
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The mana is a type of Christ as the man down here in this world. It's the man in the circumstances of life in this wilderness world. And that's why, as we said yesterday in the little Bible studies we're having, we're taking up the Lord Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness. We'll speak of that in a moment, but I want to make a couple of practical comments in connection with the gathering of the manna. First, you'll look at the picture that I have here.
And uh, I'm gonna ask someone if you can spot the inaccuracy of this picture.
Give you a minute to think about it. There's an inaccuracy here and we read about it.
Well, I'll tell you the inaccuracy of this picture, and this is usually the way you see the mana. The gathering of the mana depicted is that, as we noticed from the 16th verse of the 16th of Exodus, it was not the women and children that gathered manna. Now we're going to talk about the need for gathering man of food in our personal lives in a moment. But I want to talk for a moment to those of us who are older here, who are heads of our homes, and you young men, who, if the Lord leaves us here and in the natural course of things.
Will become head of your home. Because I believe from the 16th verse of the 16th chapter, it was the men that went out and gathered. They were to gather every man for himself and for his household. And now you've heard me say this before, At least most of you have. And that is that I have the memory of growing up in a Christian home where my father sat at the breakfast table every morning with an open Bible.
So that he could catch his children and young people as they trickled out to school and hurried off to catch different school buses. So he could read us a little portion of the word of God. It was never much. Sometimes he didn't even really make a comment on it. But I believe there was a man who gathered for himself and for the his household. And so the men were to get up every morning and go out and gather a little manna responsibility of the head of the home.
And I want to encourage you as the Lord leaves us here and you young men, become heads of your home, be exercised to gather for yourself and for for your family gathering. The man is really opening this book, the word of God and feeding on Christ and then sharing it with with your family. You know, I'm saddened to find that there are many homes of believers, sincere believers, where I don't believe there is a regular reading of the word of God together.
You know, the children of Israel were told after they entered the land that they were to have the word of God posted in their home. The father was to share it.
With the family, they were to be able to explain certain things that had happened to them in the wilderness and the crossing of the Jordan and why stones were set up and all these kinds of things. It's a it's it's important if we're going to have a vibrant Christian home and be light and testimony in our community, and if our young people and children are going to grow and be healthy, happy, fruitful Christians.
There must be the reading of God's word in the home. Now I realize that there's different schedules, but I enjoyed what a brother told me one time as he was raising his family. He had to get up and go to work very, very early. And So what he would do is he would read a few verses of the Bible before he went to work. Then he would post those verses on the fridge with just one little sentence or two of something he had enjoyed.
And when his wife got up to get the children ready for school, she would share what dad had left posted on the refrigerator. There was a man that gathered for himself and for his his family. And it takes real exercise and real discipline to do that. Now, having said that, young people, there's another application I want to make, and that is that I believe it's important for each of us to gather a little food from God's word every day.
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Job said in. I think it's the 23rd chapter of Job, he said. I have esteemed the words of his mouth.
More than my necessary food. You know, when the food is served out in the dining room at meal time, I don't see anybody heading the other way. No, it's important to eat good, healthy food if we're going to grow and be healthy naturally. But it is just as important, or perhaps even more important, that we feed on the word of God. Now, as I said yesterday, there are some illustrations and types in the Old Testament that are so important for us to get a hold of.
And not make some way out application that they're given to us in the New Testament, that the type is given to us in the New Testament and what it actually means. And when we say the manna is a type of Christ, that is not an application because we read at length the Lord Jesus explaining it in John chapter 6. The manna speaks of Christ. Now how do we feed on Christ? He speaks there of the need to feed on himself.
And how do we feed on Christ? Well, we open this book and we read a little bit of it, and we take it in and meditate on it, and then we hopefully digest it. Because remember, it's not what we eat that does us any good, it's what we digest. That's why we so often stress not just casual reading of the word of God, but meditating on the word of God. He uses the analogy of eating, because when we eat something, we take it in and it becomes part of us. Now, wherever you read in the word of God.
I believe the subject is always Christ. You don't have to read very far to realize that it's Christ. In the Old Testament, the types and shadows, the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. In the Gospels we have the life of Christ. In the Acts we have the the beginnings of Christianity and the Lord Jesus sending the Spirit of God down, and so on. And the work of God in the the work of Christ, in the power of the Spirit. In the Epistles we have the truth of Christ.
Developed as to Christian position and so on. In the Revelation we have the full exaltation of Christ in a coming day. But it all speaks of Christ. And I want to encourage you to read the word of God like that. Read the Word of God and see Christ in every verse, in every page of the of the Word of the Word of God. Now just say this in passing you We won't turn back to it for the sake of time, but you can jot this down as a reference.
When we go back, if we were to go back to John's Gospel chapter 6.
When the Lord Jesus spoke of eating there in connection with himself, there are two tenses. I'll just give you the reference and you can look this up. We don't get it in our English, but if we were to look in the best manuscripts, we would see that there are two tenses to eating here in verses 51 and verse 53. It's a one time tense. It's a past one time tense. That is if eating of Christ, it's appropriating Christ.
For salvation, that's the beginning. We appropriate the person and work of Christ for our salvation. Give you a second to write that down. I realize I talk fast, so.
Then we find in versus 545657 and 58. It's an ongoing tense. It's not just a one time thing. So if I can put it this way.
In verses 51 and 53, it's eating to obtain life. OK, it's eating to obtain life. But then as you go on in the other verses I've just mentioned, it's eating to maintain life. The divine nature, the divine life that we have is a perfect life. It's the very life of Christ. But it is a dependent life if we're going to grow and be happy, healthy.
Fruitful Christians, we must feed on Christ, and we must feed on Christ every day of our lives.
You notice they had to go out and gather the manna every day. They had to gather it in the morning. Now, young people, I realized some of us are more morning people than others. I'm a morning person. I have no trouble getting up early in the morning, and even before my cup of coffee, I can get a lot of reading and studying and writing done before my wife imessages me down in the office that she's up and we can get on with with the day. We're all different. Some of us are morning people, some are not.
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But I want to encourage you in this regard. You, whether you're a morning person or not, whether you have a lot of time in the morning before you head out to school or work or not, be sure to have something of God's word. Because we read here that some gathered more, some lot less. If you're a morning person and you have time to read a couple of chapters in a little ministry with it, and before you head out, wonderful, that's great. You need all you can get of the word of God. But maybe you only have time for two or three verses.
It says some gathered more and some less. He that gathered much had nothing over you need all you can get.
But I love this. It says he that gathered little had no lack. It wasn't how much they gathered, it was what they did with it. When they put it into their Omer and took it with them and dipped into their Omer during the day, God knew just what they were going to need. And so take a few couple of verses with you and dipping into your Omer during the day speaks of meditation. Take time every once in a while to just go over what you've read.
And you're gonna have to discipline yourself to do it, because there'll be no such thing in this day and age of pressure of saying, well, I had lots of time to meditate on the word of God. Maybe years ago. A couple of generations ago, a brother could walk behind the plow or work at his bench with his tools and have a Bible prop there and or have time to think about what he read in the morning and the word of God. But you can't drive down the freeway like that. You can't run a computer like that. You can't manage A-Team at work like that.
You can't work on a project like that. So there's an old hymn we used to sing Take time to be holy. You're always gonna have to take time to stop during the day and dip into your Omar. And as I say, you'll find he that gathered little had no lack. We learned too that if they kept it over it read worms and stank, they couldn't eat it the next day. What is God teaching us? That we need fresh food every day? You know we don't eat a big meal on Lord's Day and expect it to last us till next Lord's day. No, we eat good, healthy food. I trust every day. And so we need that man every day.
In the simplicity in which they gave it, it was palatable and will speak of that a little late in a few in a few moments. But it's they they were too. They could eat it just the way they went out and gathered. Now one other comment before we speak quickly about these eight aspects that we are going to speak of in connection with the person of Christ, and that is if you notice the context carefully, The manner did not fall at their tent door. They had to go out of the camp. It fell round about the camp. What do we learn from that It what do we learn from that, That it takes energy to get up in the morning?
And gather a little food from God's word. They had to get up, leave their tent and go outside the camp and gather the manna. And so again it takes discipline, it takes real energy of of faith. But now I want to speak of these eight aspects of the manner as you notice we have here and you can list them as we go along and some references.
It's a type. The man is a type of Christ as a man in the circumstances of life. And this is going to be borne out, I believe.
By these eight characteristics that we're going to quickly mention, the first characteristic is in the 16th chapter of Exodus here and the fourth verse. I'll just read it. Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will reign bread. Now notice this from heaven. Now this corresponds with what we have in John's gospel. The Lord Jesus spoke of himself as the bread that came down from heaven.
It speaks of the heavenly man, the Lord Jesus, in the circumstances of life down here.
But we want to make this very clear that he was the man from the man from heaven. In the 6th chapter of John and verse 38 he says I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. So that's the first characteristic. But now let's notice, let's drop down in our chapter here to the 14th verse where we have some further characteristics.
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It says and when the due I wanna notice that.
Now again, let's go back to numbers 11. Let's take a minute to turn back there.
Because I wanna notice another comment made about the due that I believe is very very significant. I just I just wanna pick this up again.
Notice verse nine of numbers 11. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night now notice this, the manna fell upon it. Very interesting comment here now.
We know that the when the dew melted, the Manor was gone, so they had to get up early and it is very interesting to see how much do there is. Even today on the Sinai Peninsula they only get about 1/10 of an inch of rain a year. But quite often when we're out there, I get up very early and try to go for a walk and there is a lot of dew that falls. And so when the dew fell, the manna fell on it. Now we're gonna notice the manna isn't really again what we normally picture it. We normally picture the man and the artist depicted by white fluffy stuff all over the ground.
But we're going to see that that's not what it was. We're going to notice that it was little coriander seeds, these little seeds of manna. We'll talk about that in a in a moment. But these seeds of man, I believe fell on these drop, were placed by God on these drops of dew and the manna never touched the ground. What do we learn from that? We learn from that, That the Lord Jesus walked through this world in complete separation.
He was not an isolationist, you know. He was the most accessible man, I believe, that ever walked the face of planet Earth. And individuals could come, even children could come, and he picked them up in his arms and he blessed them and so on. But he was wholly harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. I don't want to go too far from with applications, but as I said to sometimes water is a picture of the spirit of God, and I've wondered if it isn't a little picture too of the Lord Jesus walking through this world.
In separation in the power of the Spirit after his public ministry, and I'm sorry, after his baptism and his temptation in Luke and his public ministry began, he goes into the temple, and they hand him the Old Testament. And he read in that very spot where it says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For he has anointed me to preach the gospel and so on, and his whole public ministry in life was one.
In the power of the Spirit. So this is the manna that fell on the on the dew. Now back in the 16th chapter and that same 14th verse we have another characteristic. Later on down the verse it says it was small. Now I suggest this corresponds with a number of verses, but perhaps we think of Philippians chapter 2, verse seven and eight where it speaks of the Lord Jesus.
It says he made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself and so on. The Lord Jesus was here as the humble lowly man of grace. You know when it says he made himself of no reputation. I want to take that just the way for a moment, make an application just the way it is in our King James Bible. I know some translations, including Mr. Darby, translated a little different, but.
He made himself of no reputation. You know, that's a remarkable statement because we all have a reputation. You know, it doesn't take us long to develop a reputation. Even you young people amongst your peers, you've got a reputation for something. It might be a good reputation, it might be a bad reputation, but it doesn't take us long to develop a reputation as individuals. But the Lord Jesus came into this world. He made himself of no reputation.
And that's why when he was reproached as a man, he never spoke back. Often been pointed out that there was on one occasion they accused the Lord of two things. They said Thou art a Samaritan and hast the devil. It's interesting that as to being a Samaritan accused of being a Samaritan, he never answered that, because that was a slur on his manhood. The Samaritans were a despised people. Even the woman at the well said the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The Lord never answered that. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. He made himself of no reputation. Now he did answer.
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When it was a question of his deity and the glory of God, and so as far as having a devil, he did answer that.
It's interesting too in in front of pilot. There were times he did answer pilot. We sometimes quote that verse unequivocally. He answered him never a word. That was when again it was a question of who he was as a man. But when it came to the glory of God or his deity, he did answer in that regard. And so that this is what is typified. I believe in the man of being small. We also find in conjunction with that in that 14th verse it was round.
Young people, I'm only making applications and I'm not saying this is the only application that there may be.
In connection with these characteristics of the manna, but I have enjoyed it in in as to being round in this connection, it speaks of perhaps two things. One, the eternity of his person. We always want to guard that he was the eternal Son of God, the eternal word. And so This is why this typified in being round, you have a ball, you have a spear, There's no beginning or no, no ending. But I think there's something else too, and that is the evenness of his character. Remember, we're Speaking of the Lord as a man here in the circumstances of life.
You know, the Lord Jesus could say I am altogether what I saith unto thee. We have an expression. You know, that person has a lot of rough edges. Or we say, well, that person, the rough edges, will get knocked off as they interact at work or with their brethren or whatever it might be. You know, we are extremists by nature. That's what man is. He's an extremist by nature. But the Lord Jesus was. Again, it's typified in the fine flower.
It's the evenness of his person. I can't stand here and say I'm all together. What I Seth unto thee, You bring my wife in and she'll straighten you out very quickly. No, We sometimes appear to be something that we're not, and we put on a front. Sometimes we tend to be hypocritical. But the Lord Jesus, he could say I am altogether what I saith unto thee. And there was no characteristic that overrode the other. It was the evenness of his person.
As as a man, then just drop down in the 16th of Exodus.
To the uh.
So the uh six UH characteristic.
All right, perhaps it's the. I guess it's the 5th characteristic, verse 31. And the House of Israel called the name thereof Manna, and it was like coriander seed. Now again, as I say, the manna wasn't what we picture it as an artist draws depict depicts it. It wasn't quite fluffy stuff over the ground. It was like a coriander seed. And like I say, those coriander seeds were on those drops of dew they never touched.
Uh, the ground. But what do we learn from it being a seed? Well, it makes us think, does it not? Of John chapter 12, verse 24, the Lord Jesus said, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And so the Lord Jesus was that corn of wheat. He was that seed that fell into the ground and died. And what's the result? Well, you're the result if you know the Lord Jesus as your savior, because the Lord Jesus.
In resurrection came forth and it was Christ the first fruit. It's Christ the first fruit Afterward, they that are Christ that is coming. But you're part of that fruit now as a result of the Lord Jesus being that coriander seed. And there may be other thoughts in connection with it being coriander and so on, but we won't take time for that at the present. But then again, notice in that 31St verse, there's another characteristic.
It was white. Now again this speaks of the purity of his person. White in scripture speaks of the perf perfection of Christ. We sometimes quote that verse. He he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I believe we had that scripture before us. The other day you find with the Tabernacle there was that fine twine linen which again spoke of the perfection of the Lord Jesus. I I stress that because I realize again.
There's so much false teaching in so many Christian circles as to the sinless humanity of Christ. It's one thing.
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We never wanna give up tenaciously. Hold on to that precious truth of his sinless humanity. But notice another characteristic in this same verse. It uh, the taste of it was like wafers and honey. Now it's interesting that when they tried to do other things with it, they beat it in a mortar and they baked it and so on. It tasted like fresh oil, but when they took it the way in, the simplicity in the way God gave it to them.
It tasted like wafers and honey. Now I would rather eat wafers and honey than fresh oil. Wouldn't you? And so I believe what we learned from this is it. It speaks to us of the sweetness of the person of Christ. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. The prophet said how sweet are thy words to my taste. Yeah. Sweeter than the than honey and the honeycomb. You want some. You want sweetness in your soul. You wanna be encouraged in your soul. You've gotta feed on the manna. The man Christ Jesus. It's the wafers and honey is that which is going to sustain you. And.
Give you that sweetness in your in your soul, and again, I believe it speaks of enjoying Christ in the simplicity in which God has given it in His word. Six of the simplicity of Christ. You know, sometimes we try to complicate things. We try to make a formula out of things, perhaps, but if we do that, it's going to be more like the fresh oil rather than it being palatable like the wafers.
And honey, now go back to Numbers Chapter 7 for the 8th characteristic.
I mean Numbers, Chapter 11, I'm sorry, and verse 7.
We've noticed the first part of this verse, the manna was as coriander seed and the color thereof. And now this is what I wanna notice as the color of beddellium.
Now there's umm, the the Bible. Scholars and those who know, uh, these things from ancient history will have a little difference of opinion about what medallion is. And I'm not about to split hairs.
Over it. But it is interesting. If we were to go back, you can note this down Genesis chapter 2.
Verse 11 and 12, you'll find that there were four rivers went out of Eden, and one of those rivers was the river Python. And in that area of the world at that time there were a number of things that are mentioned and that were precious, and one of them was Vidalia. And so I want to make this application. It speaks of the preciousness of Christ.
How precious is the person of Christ to your soul this morning?
Have you enjoyed something this morning in your personal reading of the person of the Lord Jesus? You know, the Lord Jesus is very, very precious to the heart of God. When the Lord Jesus was here in this world, heaven opened up on on occasion, and heaven would be occupied with that precious man walking here in this world, and the Father would declare his delight in the sun. You know the Lord Jesus is the one that God would always occupy his people with.
And so it says unto you, therefore which believe he is precious. I'm quoting from first Peter chapter 2. How precious is the Lord Jesus to you? And so these are the 8. These are 8 characteristics. Maybe there's more, but they're eight that I have enjoyed in application to the person of the of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I would like for a moment to go to the book of Hebrews.
Where we have the mana mentioned again.
Hebrews Chapter 9 I believe it is.
Yeah, Hebrews Chapter 9.
And he is recounting here in connection with the uh items. Uh in the UH worship in the Old Testament. Umm. Let's read verse 3 to get the connection. And after the second veil the Tabernacle which is called the holiest of all and the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid roundabout with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tables of the covenant?
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So we find here there were three things that were laid up in the.
I'm sorry. In the ark of the covenant and these three things again speak of of Christ. I've thought of them in this way. The Lord Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. There may be other applications, but we find here there was the.
The golden pots that had mana, that was the sustenance for their pathway. It speaks of the man down here.
Who left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps? I am the way. Then it says there was Aaron's rod that budded, that was of course speak to us of the life, and there was the table of stones written with the finger of God that would speak to us of the truth that which never changes again. I'm not saying that's the only application, but you can see again and I point this out to show that wherever you read in scripture.
The subject is that is brought before us is the person and work of Christ in one way or another. But we find here there was the golden pot that had manna. This Omer we're not told, I don't believe in the Old Testament that was gold, but here is gold because the Spirit of God in scripture is very very, very careful when we He brings before us the manhood of Christ is always very careful to guard His deity.
Very careful. In fact, I've noticed as I've gone through the word of God when it speaks of the manhood of Christ, you don't read very far till you have something either in type in the Old Testament or by doctrine in the New Testament that reminds us that he was not just man, but that he was God, God manifest in the flesh, the eternal Word. I'll give you another example. It's out of context, but I think it'll be helpful.
In Isaiah's prophecy in connection with the incarnation of Christ.
It says unto us, a child is born. That's his humanity. The Lord Jesus was born. That holy thing that shall be born of thee is begotten of the Holy Ghost we read in the New Testament. That's his manhood. And immediately it says unto us, the Son is not born but given. You know what it talks about the Son. The Lord Jesus is the Son. He's never born. He's always sent or given. The Father, sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Unto us the Son is given.
Very, very important. That is the eternity of his person, the eternal sonship of Christ.
Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Spirit of God is very careful to guard this. You know, I don't have any sons.
So I could never send a son to be a help to you, or to or to get you out of some situation. I don't have a son, but God had a son from a past eternity, and in the fullness of time he sent forth his Son born of a woman. You see again his his deity, his the eternity of his person, and then his manhood. Mary was the instrument used by God to bring the Lord Jesus into this world. And so it was the golden pot, that man that held the man. And now one other thing.
One other mention of the manna, it's in Revelation chapter 2. We'll just mention it very quickly in closing.
Revelation Chapter 2 in connection with the letter to the Assembly of Pergamos that John was used to write.
It was a uh. There was much wanting in uh in in Pergamos, in the assembly. In in Pergamos there was fellowship with the world, and that which they ought not to have been uh uh in communion with. But notice what he says in the 17th verse of Revelation 2. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, and to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna this.
I believe is the privilege of enjoying the hidden things of Christ, even in the midst of circumstances where there may be a lot of failure in giving up and a lot of.
Those who are having their communion and fellowship with the world, like they say in Pergamos, things we're wanting in that regard, but there were those in Pergamos who were enjoying the manner that is, they were enjoying.
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The per the personal relationship, personal communion with the Lord Jesus. And it was sustaining them and giving them the the power to overcome, even in a difficult situation. Because young people, you might sit here and you might say, you know Jim, it's OK to talk about all these things, but you don't know how difficult it is. In my circumstances. You don't know the situations in the little assembly I come from.
You don't know what I have to go through at work. You don't know what happens at school. You don't know how bad it is in the neighborhood that I operate. Well, perhaps I don't. But I do know this, that every one of us can be overcomers in the measure in which we are feeding on the hidden manner. Why is it hidden? Because it's the personal enjoyment in the soul of those precious things concerning the person of Christ that are given to us in this blessed book.
And I can't stress enough the importance of reading this book every day. And young people we talked about reading it in the morning.
But you need it for more than just the morning. I'm glad when I go to the dorms at night. And some of you young people have your Bible open. And even though you've had scripture all day and you're reading a little bit of the word of God before you go to bed, that's wonderful. We need as much of this blessed book as we can get. And so I trust that what we've taken up this morning will encourage you. Are we in a wilderness? Yes, we are in a wilderness. Is there anything to sustain the new man in this world, wilderness, world? Not a chance. There is nothing.
But there is everything provided by God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
To give us refreshment and power and courage and food for our souls to go on.
In spite of what we find around us, we can go on until that day when we're going to feed on the manna for all eternity. I believe that. I believe we're going to have a personal enjoyment of Christ when we get to heaven. There's going to be a vast host, a vast host of redeemed in heaven, but every one of us are going to be able to enjoy, and will enjoy fully a personal relationship and enjoyment of the person of the Lord Jesus. He's going to remain a man for all eternity.
And it's going to thrill and sustain us throughout the ages.