Living Manna

Do you believe that Jesus came to this earth and He is coming again?
This question is the most asked question of Christianity, about the humanity of Jesus, the fact that Jesus is a man. We need to think about this question and start from the beginning.

God is in heaven. In the spiritual world, He has everything. Why did God create mankind in the fleshly form? The Bible tells us God want this relationship to love us and dwell with us. The Bible tells us that God is love. That agape love is the strongest and most intense love we can ever imagine (1 John 4:7-10). He loved us first and it is unilateral. God created us so we can be the one to receive His love and to have this eternal relationship with Him. That is why He created us in His own image.

God put Adam and Eve in Garden of Eden, it was sacred place designated for God and His people to live in. In Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve was able to see and walk with Him because their spiritual eyes were open and God was there. The problem arose because of greed and serpent’s word, they started to feel burdensome with God’s word because they wanted to become like God and wanted things to be about themselves and not God. As a result they rejected the Word of God and they couldn’t stay in the Garden of Eden, which represent the spiritual realm of God’s presence.

Ever since, the story of the Bible is about restoring that presence of God in humankind. After being kicked out, Adam and Eve realised it was a great curse to live without the presence of God in their lives. There are people who try to attain that restoration of the presence of God in different ways; some through their own ways like building the tower of babel or worshipping idol. There were also people who listen to the Word of God and received the spirit of God. Through their faith and obedience, the people of God began to walk the path where they find God’s presence and to those people God made covenants.

Right after Adam committed sin, God gave the covenant of the seed of woman promising that there will be one that will come to restore the presence of God. God continue to make covenant with different people with the same message saying I will come back and make covenant with you (Leviticus 26:11-12). Through Moses, God gave the Sinatic covenant, the 10 commandments and the instruction for them to build the tabernacle. God wanted the law and tabernacle to work together to bring the people into His presence. After finishing the temple of God, King Solomon made this prayer in 1 King 8:56-61, which emphasised on God’s presence and the relationship with Him. The temple was a the central place where people can confirm the presence of God. However after a while, Israelites considered the temple and worship burdensome again. They wanted to serve their money and greed, and they felt God is in their way. As a result, the temple was destroyed, signifying the presence of God left and there was captivity and oppression.

God explained through Ezekiel why His glory departed from temple of Jerusalem. There was worshipping of idol in God’s sanctuary, and God said “if you repent, I will come back to you”. This is a repeating theme from Garden of Eden. People rejected God but God wants to come back and dwell with them again (Ezekiel 34:30). In Ezekiel 48:35, we see ‘Jehovah Shammah’ which means ‘I will be there’ and that is His eternal promise.

Then Jesus came, and went into the temple. He said destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in 3 days (John 2:19-21). Jesus is the God who came to this earth, but no one welcomed Him. They wanted restoration for the sake of politics and prosperity. But the true reason to seek for God’s presence in their lives was not there. Jesus came just as He promised, because human being can’t see the spiritual world, and can’t come into kingdom of heaven to meet with God. So He came down to take us and be with us (Isaiah 7:14). According to Matthew, Jesus is the Immanuel, which means God with us. This why Christianity is special and our God is real. God doesn’t want sacrifices or offering, He wants our hearts. Jesus came and said, I am the temple, meaning the presence of God is in Me (John 1:14).

The word became flesh and dwell among us, this is the answer and fulfilment of repeated covenants from God ever since the fall of mankind. He came down for a purpose, He died on the cross to forgive our sin. This ransom is needed to be paid for our sins (John 14:1-4). He said I am going temporarily so that I can bring you into this eternal world. Until then I send you My spirit so you can continue to dwell with Me in spirit (Matthew 28:20). In order for us to experience His presence, we need to receive the holy spirit (Acts 2:38, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16).

In Revelation 21:1-3, it tells us about the new Jerusalem. In 1st and 2nd Corinthians, it says that we are His temples. The new Jerusalem is the image of the bride adorned for her husband, He is our husband and we need to become that new Jerusalem. He is the God who created us and will take us into that eternal world so we can receive His love and experience that wonderful joy forever and ever. Let us receive Jesus into our lives today.

AMEN