Living Manna

1. Concept of food and eating in the Bible

In the Bible, food and eating are very important. In the Garden of Eden, God’s first command to Adam and Eve was not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but they could eat from all the other trees, including the Tree of Life. However, they ate the wrong fruit, causing mankind’s fall.

Later, in the wilderness, God provided the Israelites with the heavenly food, manna, and trained them to observe the Sabbath. In the New Testament, Jesus said, “I am the food from above; unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you.” Jesus also provided bread and wine to His followers.

In Revelation, another strong angel gave a little book to the apostle John and instructed him to eat it. The Bible is about eating the right things from start to end. May we be able to eat the right food and eventually eat from the Tree of Life and receive eternal life.

In today’s passage, two important events took place after crossing the Jordan River: Circumcision and the Passover. After Passover comes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where God told them to eat unleavened cakes and parched grain from the produce of the land. After they ate from the produce, the manna stopped.

2. God’s command of food

The Israelites saw their enemies all around in Canaan, and God commanded them to be circumcised. After circumcision, you are paralyzed for 3-7 days and cannot fight at all. Would you be able to obey knowing you have to go to war?

God will fight and win the battle for His people who are sanctified. When we think we have to fight ourselves, we get anxious and cannot obey to be circumcised. For us to win our battles in the end times, we need to be spiritually circumcised and sanctified.

(i) Changes in the food that the Israelites ate
Food is very important in our lives, spiritually too. In order to win against the forces of Satan, we need to eat the right food. Manna was special food God prepared for the wilderness journey; they didn’t have to farm or prepare it, God gave it freely as grace. After crossing the Jordan River, food was no longer provided for them. The Israelites had to fight the Canaanites and also farm in order to harvest food to eat.

Are you still crying for God to spoon-feed you spiritual food? Or are you mature enough to get up and work for that food? Gideon threshed wheat in a winepress hiding from the Philistines, afraid that the enemies would take his food away. Satan grabs every opportunity to take the Word away from us while we are trying to eat the Word to gain strength to fight.

We shouldn’t let the Seed of the Word fall on the road. Satan tries to take it away, making us sleepy to lose our grace, distracted, angry, and forgetting the Word we received.

(ii) The food the Israelites ate after entering Canaan
First, they ate unleavened cake (bread without leaven). When we eat spiritual food, we must eat it without leaven. The teachings of the Pharisees are hypocrisy, which means having the knowledge of the Bible without action. And the teachings of the Sadducees are the knowledge of God mixed with secular worldly culture and thoughts (Matthew 16:11-12, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

We need to get rid of the leaven of malice (evil and sinfulness) and the leaven of wickedness (the false gospel). We must become the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, full of faithfulness, and only eat the pure truth of the Word of God. Jesus died on the cross to take away all the leaven from us.

Second, they ate parched or roasted grain (Leviticus 2:14). Grain is offered up to God in fire. Roasting the grain means you can eat the same food that God Himself is eating, at the Father’s table. Roasted grain represents Jesus’ death on the cross, the Word on the cross, and His resurrection. So this parched grain is the Word of training, suffering, and lamentations. Bread without leaven and parched grain is hard; that is solid food. We need to eat this grain to overcome and gain victory to the end.

3. Those who ate parched grain

What kind of faith do we need to have as people who have entered Canaan?

(i) Trained and tested faith
The Word that we come to understand through suffering allows us to withstand the tribulations in the last days. Without such a process, we cannot conquer the land of Canaan. Who will eat this parched grain? Those who really seek the spiritual food, those who are searching for strength to fight and gain victory, and those who become God’s family.

Here are three examples:

a) Ruth – A Moabite woman who is recorded in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1 (Ruth 2:21).

In Deuteronomy 23:3, God said Moabites cannot enter the assembly of God. Ruth was a Moabite, yet she became the great-great-great-grandmother of Jesus Christ (Ruth 2:14). Ruth represents you and me, and Boaz her husband represents Jesus Christ, the kinsman redeemer.

What kind of faith did Ruth have? Ruth had the faith to leave her country, relatives, and father’s house. She had faith like Abraham because Ruth met God through Naomi. It didn’t matter to Ruth that she would get persecuted as a Moabitess in Israel. She foresaw all her sufferings, but she didn’t care as long as she could be with God (Ruth 1:16). Secondly, Ruth confessed that only death could set her apart from Naomi (Ruth 1:17). Are we able to say this of our relationship with God and the Word of God? Even if I die, this Word and my relationship with God cannot be broken.

b) Abigail – one who became David’s wife (1 Samuel 25:32-35).

David symbolizes Jesus Christ. In Maon, there was a wealthy man, Nabal, and David sent men to him on a feast day. But Nabal, being a foolish man, replied, “Who is David? Why ought I provide for him?” Nabal represents people like the Pharisees during Jesus’ time; he didn’t recognize the person nor the time. Abigail’s name means “My Father delights.” She was an intelligent woman with a good understanding of God’s will, and she provided (1 Samuel 25:18). Abigail later became David’s wife and family.

c) Barzillai – A man who supported David and provided him with all he could during David’s flight from Absalom’s revolt (2 Samuel 17:28, 19:31-39).

Barzillai served David faithfully. David later instructed Barzillai and his children to take care of them (2 Samuel 17:27-29).

A common thing about these three people is they gave their hearts to become part of God’s work and God’s family. Parched grain appears in all three people’s offerings.

Conclusion:

Let us be the ones who will eat that parched grain. Let us be the ones who will become part of God’s family who will eat with Him. Let us eat the solid food of the end times (Hebrews 5:14). May Zion Church be mature enough to eat the solid food that will allow us to distinguish between good and evil, and allow us to overcome all the Canaanites and gain victory in the end times (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).

AMEN.

Summarized by Erica Cai