Exodus 16 - The Bread From Heaven / John 6 (Bible Study)

The Complaints of Israel in the Wilderness

Exodus chapter 16. We'll pray and then then play the video. Lord we are thankful for this evening together. We are thankful for your word and the things that we've been learning as we go through the book of Exodus and how you used your servant Moses to deliver the children of Israel and how exciting it is when we see these Old Testament passages and stories that we know so well and how we are starting to see Christ and in just about every chapter Lord and I pray that will happen again tonight and that Christ would be glorified and everything that we say and do and we pray these things in his name.

Amen. Exodus 16.

And they journeyed from Eden, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Eden and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.

Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of.

Israel said to them, Oh that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, and when we ate bread to the full. For.

You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly.

With hunger. And the Lord said to Moses, and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice.

As much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your complaints against the Lord.

But what are we that you complain against us? This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full, for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against him.

And what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Lord. Then Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.

Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, and the Lord spoke to Moses,.

I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, say, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the.

Lord your God. It was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp, and when the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground.

So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat, this.

Grumbling, Complaining, and a Poor Testimony

Okay, I'm stopping there because we're going to have to break this chapter down into at least two two lessons, so I'm sorry to abruptly end it, but I think we've all probably encountered and and seen and heard Christians that really are a poor testimony, and one of the ways a person can be a poor testimony is when they are just kind of known for and constantly grumbling and complaining.

I think we've probably all known people like this, and it's so much so that you don't even want to go and ask them a simple question like, Hi, how are you? Because you know it might turn into a whole big, whole big thing.

So while it is helpful to have people to talk to, I think we all need people to talk to to kind of share our burdens and get things off our chest. That's one thing, but it's another thing to be known as someone who's just given over to negativity, and you're just always complaining about everything all the time.

And that's kind of what we see with the children of Israel. We're starting to see this pattern of their grumbling and complaining no matter what the Lord does for them. It's just never never enough, never good enough.

Philippians 2 14 and 15 do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world.

And isn't that kind of what we're seeing? A crooked and perverse generation that has nothing but one grievance after another, and it's never enough. They can never be satisfied. So in Exodus 16, what do we see?

The children of Israel grumbling and complaining in the wilderness. And it's worse than that because now they're leveling accusations against Moses. But really, if you listen to the accusations, who are they really complaining against?

Right. Their accusations really are against the Lord. So no matter how good God has been to them, no matter what he has done for them, it's just never enough. So we're going to we're going to look at that.

We're also going to look at how despite their complaining and their poor behavior, God is still gracious to them. And then the third thing we're going to see is the bread from heaven, the manna, right?

And what is the manna symbolize? What does it point towards? Right. Because Christ is the bread from heaven. Jesus says in John chapter six, 41, Jesus says, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

So we'll end our study in John chapter six. So if anyone ever asks you, or if they ask me, uh, why do you guys spend so much time looking and reading and studying the old Testament? You know, we're new Testament Christians.

Shouldn't we be in the new Testament? Well, we usually are on Sundays, but, uh, you know, we focus on the old Testament because the old Testament has a lot to say about Jesus. Jesus is in just about every chapter of the old Testament scriptures.

All right. Look at Exodus 16, verse one says, and they journeyed from Elam and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.

And this is really an appropriate name, isn't it? They came to the wilderness of sin. Now, technically it's a different Hebrew word. It's not sin as in an offense against God. Um, but I still find that interesting.

Look at verse two. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt.

When we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. So once again, we see what the, the short memory, uh, of the children of Israel, this is exactly what we saw back in chapter 14, before the Lord delivered them through the red sea.

You remember the Israelites were stuck between the red sea and the Egyptian army. And what did they say? They said, because there were no graves in Egypt, you've taken us to, to die in the wilderness.

And yet the Lord delivered them in the most miraculous of ways. And here it is about a month later. And it's like, they forgot all about that. I mean, God delivered them through the red sea. Don't they maybe think that God can feed us?

God can find another way to, to fix this situation, but no, they, they grumble and they complain. What are they basically saying that it was the Lord's hand that killed the Egyptians. You know, we wish he had killed us.

That's basically what they're saying. I don't think they really believe that, but it's just their ungrateful kind of sarcastic attitude towards Moses and Aaron. And of course that's really directed at God because God's the one who told Moses and Aaron to lead them out there in the first place.

And this is what they say in verse three, you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. You know what I call that? That's slander because that's not true. It's an accusation against Moses and Aaron that is false.

So, um, here's something to consider, uh, cause we're all prone to this maybe, or at least at times we can fall into this. When we start and just getting negative and we find ourselves complaining, think about who you're complaining about.

You say, well, I'm complaining about this person. I'm complaining about that person. Well, maybe our complaints are really against God. If we believe that God is sovereign and in control of our situation, maybe our complaint is with God.

Probably not the way we think of it, but that's what was happening with them. They were grumbling against the Lord. That's not really how they saw it, but I think we need to, uh, be mindful of that. Now, verse two says Israel complained against Moses and Aaron.

They say you brought us here, but look at verses six and seven, six and seven, Moses and Aaron. Basically they say, no, it's the Lord who brought you out. And he heard your complaints that are against who the Lord.

So here we are reading about the children of Israel. And I think it's easy for us to stand back and say, don't they ever learn or shouldn't they know better, but don't we kind of do this too? We grumble, we complain, we're given over to negativity.

And if someone could watch us, they'd stand back and say, what's this person's problem? Don't they learn? So it's better to evaluate our own behavior and fix it. Um, yes, Jim, you had your hand up. Um, when you, when we,.

When we looked at this and, you know, uh, you think it's like you get stated that they're ultimately their sin, their grumbling was against God. Yeah. Um, David recognized that in Psalm 51, uh, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

He gives thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that those, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges. Okay. God, at this point in there, in the Israelites life could have said, you know, and he does later on.

I've had these people. I don't want them anymore. And Moses went to bat for me,.

Prayed for them and God changed his mind. Right. Right. Any other comments or questions? Don't let this lead to any anti-Semitism. No. Well, I guess we're going to want to do that. Um, we're all prone to it, right?

I mean, I know, what does he say? The, the children of Israel were what is stiff, stiff neck, but, um, you know, that really describes, uh, mankind and such were some of us. That's true. So first Timothy, here's a few verses that, that come to mind.

First Timothy six, six says now godliness with contentment is what great great gain. And then in Philippians four 11, the apostle Paul says for, I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. And he continued.

He wasn't in a very good, uh, state and yeah, Philippians, he was in, these are the prison epistles. You didn't even get to paint the sanctuaries. No. And he said, I know how to be a based. I know how to abound everywhere and all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I just kind of want to stop on that verse for a second. This is one of the most famous, one of the most popular verses in all of the Bible. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I saw one guy online. He was selling t-shirts that says I can do all things through a verse out of context. And that was this shirt. But what does that mean? Does it mean, well, I can do all things. I can run a marathon.

I can succeed in the business world. I can accomplish anything. I set my mind to, is that what Paul's saying? Uh, that's what some people do. They'll take the verse and try to apply it to something like that.

Well, what Paul is saying, you say, I can endure suffering. I can endure hardship. I can be content when I have nothing. I can be content when I'm in prison suffering unjustly. So that's what he's saying.

And the Israelites in the wilderness, um, they really couldn't say that, uh, not this time because they're given over to this, this complaining. So now that the Israelites are in the wilderness, because I've been quoting this passage now for quite some time, now's the perfect time to look at it.

So let's turn to first Corinthians 10 markets. Can we look at Philippians four 19?

Again, have you noticed it says I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. So maybe what that's saying is I can do all the things that strengthen me because that's what Christ wants to do with me.

Okay. All right. Yeah. Why does it say which instead of who? What's new King James? You must have new. Yeah. I don't know. I'd have to say,.

Um, I would have to, when you say the things, well, of course, Christ means the Messiah. So.

Maybe you could say that who I have, who you have, who are, there you go. There you go.

All right. So first Corinthians 10, one through 12, Paul says, moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud.

And in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, but they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. But with most of them notice, he doesn't say with all of them, but he says with most of them, God was not well-pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Remember this generation did not, uh, was not permitted to enter into the promised land because of what we're reading about now, these things, verse six became our examples. Who's Paul writing to the new Testament church.

Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted and do not become idolaters. As were some of them, as it is written, this is referring to when they build the golden calf, that the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play, nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did.

And in one day, 23 ,000 fell, nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all these things happen to them as what examples.

And they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. So all the things that we're reading about in Exodus and the things that we are going to read about going forward, the complaining, the grumbling, um, it's all written for us.

It's written as an example of what not to do. Right? So go back to Exodus 16. What does Paul say? All scripture is profitable for doctrine. You think, well, the old Testament is long time ago, different covenant.

How does that apply to us? Uh, it all is written for us. Okay. It's just a matter of, you know, rightly dividing the word and, and understand that not all of it applies to us, but it is all for us. We can all learn from what's written.

Grace, Covenant Promises, and Contentment

So despite their complaining, was God still good to them? Yeah, he was. Does God still love them even when they didn't deserve it? And what's the word we use to describe that grace, grace, and this is one of the ways we describe grace, getting something that you don't deserve.

And the Lord was gracious, especially, especially in light of their, their attitude. Um, and we say, well, the Lord doesn't owe them anything, but let's not forget that God is obligated to a certain degree here.

God actually does owe them something. Why is that? Exactly because of the covenant that he made with Abraham and his descendants because of his promises. So God made a promise that he would deliver the children of Israel.

He said this to Abraham that I'll deliver them out of the land of Egypt. I will make them into a great nation. So God is obligated in that regard. Marcus grace. Have you heard the one God's reward at Christ's expense?

No, I haven't. That's good. Okay. Write that down for me or I'll get that. Okay. But this should have been their whole basis of faith in God. Uh, God made promises and they should have just been patient and depended on God's promises.

So instead of complaining, they should have called out to God and said, Lord, I know you've promised this. Um, we're really in need right now. Lord, we're asking that you would please provide and Lord sooner, the better.

Maybe, you know, they could have prayed and, and appealed to God's covenant and God's promise. And I think he would have, he would have answered their prayers. God wants to answer our prayers, doesn't he?

Now, if we pray for things we shouldn't be praying for, that's another story, but God has made promises in his word. So go and find out what God has said in his word, pray, according to that, according to his will.

And then you're going to see him answer those prayers. Larry.

Well, the book of Psalms, I mean, David was crying out all the time. It was, you know, most of them are, are prayers. You know, why are you doing this? Why are you allowing this? You know, just crying out to God with what he's gone through and what he's feeling.

Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.

You're feeling, no matter how down you might be, you can go to God and tell him all about it and he'll listen and he'll answer accordingly. But that's totally different from saying, Lord, you let me down.

I'm in this situation because of you. You just brought me here to, that's a totally.

Different thing. Yes. This is these, I'm afraid all of this is just pointing right to my friend, Giles, who suffers chronic pain constantly. And the only thing that really helps him is to try to memorize.

And that's, that's Psalm 61 is the one we're doing. Hear my cry. Oh God, from the end of the earth will I pour out my heart unto thee. And verses like that. My grace is sufficient for thee. Amen. For my strength is made perfect in weakness.

And just the act of focusing his mind as hard as he possibly can on remembering and memorizing takes his mind away from the constant.

Pain he has. Amen. Jim. I did a devotional, um, and some, some of the folks may remember, on Psalm 13, the first two verses David says, how long will thou forget, O Lord? How long will thou hide thy face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Four times in two verses he asked that question. In verses five and six, which is the two verses of praise, he says, but I have trusted in thy mercy.

My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully.

With me. Can't wait to tell Giles that one. Amen. That's good. Linda. Um, I have a note about.

Sin. It was the vast and hostile environment of sand and stone. It's barren surroundings provided the perfect place for God to test and shape the character of his people. And the parallel is Christians.

We're in a hostile environment. Yeah. And how we respond, he shapes us and whatever. Some of us are worse hostile. I mean, you know, Jim is always telling us about different countries, which are hostile here, but yeah, yeah, that's true.

You got to look at,.

Um, I don't know about everything, but you've got to look at things as a test. God's testing his people. Okay. Are things all around us a mess? Are there things to complain about? Of course there are, but are we, are we grateful?

Are we thankful for what God has done is doing? Or is it just, I'm just upset and negative at all the time. And again, anyone can fall into this. All right. So we don't have time to finish the whole chapter this week.

The Spiritual Meaning of the Manna and the Bread From Heaven

So we're going to end on, on this point, the spiritual significance of the manna. So they're, they're grumbling. Why? Because they have no food. Uh, they have a physical need in the Lord is going to send them bread.

But what this represents is their spiritual need where the Lord is eventually going to send them the bread from heaven. So both, if you think about it, both sustain life, the physical, the bread sustains physical life.

Uh, but Christ, the true bread from heaven will sustain a spiritual life or everlasting life. So are you already in Exodus 16? Okay. So the Israelites are hungry. Look at verse four says, then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.

And then skip down to verse 14 says, and when the layer of dew lifted there on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another manna for, they did not know what it was.

So the Hebrew term translated manna, that's what manna means. What is it? And there's probably some men here who is, I've had some meals where it's, you know, I've been fed manna, put the plate down and I said, what is it?

I don't know what it is. Lord, forgive me for that. So they call it manna meaning what is it? And we read a little, we know something about it, right? It's round. It says fine as frost. So it's very thin and delicate, verse 31 says it was like a white or it was white, like coriander seed.

And it tasted like wafers made with honey. So it doesn't sound too bad. You know, at least it tastes good. Now turn to John chapter six, and this is where we are going to end in, in chapter six. But as you're turning there, when you think about this, think about the description, small round substance, it's round.

It's like a wafer. It's very fine. It probably makes you think of communion wafers, right? I'm assuming that's what most people tend to think when they hear this description. However, the communion wafers that I've tasted tastes more like styrofoam than honey.

And I'm sure companies that produce these wafers, I'm sure they based it off of this description. I'm sure it's no coincidence that it's similar. The Bible isn't describing communion wafers. Communion wafers were designed based on what's said in scripture.

All right. So you might think the manna or the bread from heaven is tied in with communion or the Lord's supper and John chapter six, Jesus says, you know, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. It's my surprise you.

It's not tied in with that. Okay. I'm not going to say that the Lord's supper communion has nothing to do with John chapter six, but more or less, it doesn't really have much to do with John chapter six.

And you might need some convincing and I'll, I'll do that in a moment.

Marcus, I make a motion that we change over to Ezekiel four, nine bread. Okay. You want to just, it's Ezekiel four, nine. You can buy it in the freezer. Is it? Okay. Are we going to make it the way you made in the Bible?

No, we're going to put peanut butter jelly in it. Yeah. Well, we used to have wonder bread cut up into squares helps build strong bodies. 12 wonder bread is not unleavened though, you know, so whatever.

So, um, what was tied in with the Lord's supper? We've already covered something in Exodus that was directly tied into the Lord's supper. What was it? The Passover, right? Uh, we covered that a few weeks ago.

So as we come to John chapter six, uh, again, I'm not saying there is no connection at all, but I don't, I want you to know this, this really isn't about the Lord's supper, even though I think on the table, what does it say?

The bread of life. It does. Yeah. Cause Jesus is going to talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. You remember when he says this, it offends those that were following him. So yes, that is what the bread in the cup represents.

Uh, what they represent the body and blood of the Lord. We all get that, but let's first begin with the connection between the manna and the bread from heaven, which is what, or just who Christ. Okay.

The Bread of Life in John 6

So John chapter six begins with the feeding of the 5 ,000. Uh, the next day, the multitude comes back after eating this food, John six 26, Jesus answered them and said, most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

So basically they're coming back to Jesus for the wrong reasons. Uh, they were not interested in spiritual things. Uh, they were interested in what physical things they wanted more food. They wanted another, another meal food stamps.

Yeah. And we, and we don't want to make the same mistake. All right. Jesus says in verse 27, he says, do not labor for the food, which perishes, but for the food, which endures to everlasting life, which the son of man will give you because God, the father has set his seal on him.

So, um, they said to him, what shall we do that? We may work the works of God. And Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him, whom he sent. That is what matters.

That is the point in John chapter six, believing in Christ is the issue. But what does it mean to believe in Christ? Is it this mental ascent that yes, this man named Jesus lived 2000 years ago. Well, it's more than that.

Therefore verse 30, they said to him, what sign will you perform then that we may see it and believe you, what work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Jesus is speaking spiritually here. He's not talking about physical things. He's speaking in a metaphorical way, uh, speaking spiritually. And they said to him, Lord, give us, they're hearing about this bread and they say, give us this bread always.

And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. So is Jesus talking about literal bread? No, no. Is he talking about literal drink?

No, it's spiritual. And he is going to say in a moment, and this is kind of what offended them and what confuses people today. He's going to say, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

I'll tell you what that got their attention. And in a sense, Jesus, I guess I want to stop short of saying that he was trying to offend them, but he knew they were coming to him for the wrong reasons.

And he just doesn't want them to just show up to get, to get stuff right.

Marcus, when you think of hunger and thirst, you think of blessed. Is he that hungers and thirst after righteousness. Yeah. Right. So the kind of spiritual things that you're talking about.

Amen. And what some churches have done is they have misunderstood the meaning of this and they focus on exactly that. The physical things, the, the bread and the drink. And as I think most of us know, this teaching is found, uh, mainly within, uh, this is from what Rome teaches that the bread when communion is observed, which they call the Eucharist, that it becomes the literal flesh of Christ.

And that miraculously the cup turns into the literal blood of Christ. Um, but is that really what Jesus is saying here? So if you want to be saved, if you want to go to heaven, you want to be forgiven of your sin.

Do you have to partake of the, the physical bread? Is that, is that really the issue? Eating physical bread? No, it's a total misunderstanding of what's being said. The Jews misunderstood and many professing Christians today misunderstand in John six, Jesus is speaking again, spiritually.

He says, I am the true bread that comes down from heaven. So Jesus gives life. How does Jesus give life by eating bread? No, Jesus already answered the question. How does one work the works of God? How does one receive this life?

What by believing it's by faith. All right, Marcus, all things physical or tangible.

Are temporary and will pass away. So it is the, the eternal, the spiritual, the.

Tangible, right? Okay. They didn't get it. And okay. So you must believe believing is the issue again, believe in what versus 49 and 51. Look at it. Um, well actually verse 51, just look at 51. He says, I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. How did Jesus give his flesh? He gave his flesh by dying on the cross as a sacrifice for sin.

So our sins are forgiven when we partake in communion. You know, there's people that think that, but that's not what Jesus is teaching. So we are forgiven when we believe we're forgiven it's by grace through faith.

And then we have this spiritual life or eternal life, which, um, you know, sin is the reason why death exists in the first place. So the point I want to leave you with is this. Jesus is the bread of life and the giving or the eating of his flesh is a reference not to partaking of the Lord's supper.

It's about believing and having faith in him. So, uh, we, in a sense, a spiritual sense, we eat his flesh and drink his blood. When we believe we're partakers of what he has done for us. Hebrews six, four talks about what tasting the heavenly gift.

The author to the Hebrews is not actually talking about tasting anything physical.

So it's just a figure of speech. Marcus, the word believe, uh, it too often has to do with mental assent of some sort to believe it really, what it really means is you are placing your trust. You are, you are saying, when I stand before God, I'm going to, I'm going to claim the fact that Christ died for me personally.

You're going to have a conversation with, uh, with the Lord about it. You're going to say, Lord, I recognize I'm, I need to be forgiven. I need to, I need to be saved. I please save me. I'm going to trust in you that you are going to save me.

So it's, it's not a mental thing because the demons believe and they tremble and they say to him, Oh, we know who you are. You're the, you're the Christ. You're the Messiah. We know.

Who you are. They certainly believed who he was, right? So yes, the elements in communion, um, they're symbolic of Christ's death on the cross. Uh, but in John chapter six, it's about believing. It's not about bread.

It's about the cross. It's not about communion. Eternal life is through faith in Christ, not the things that we do. It's not about rituals. And please don't hear me saying that. Well, communion is just symbolic anyway.

So it doesn't really matter. I'm not saying that. I'm absolutely not saying that. I'm just saying that that is not what Jesus is referring to here in John chapter six, he's referring to his death on the cross.

And we will end, uh, with John six 66 through 69, because we are saved not by works of righteousness, which we have done. We're saved only by God's grace through faith and the divine mercy says from that time, many of his disciples, after hearing this, they went back and walked with him no more than Jesus said to the 12.

Do you also want to go away? But Simon, Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God.