Manna From Heaven

Okay, let's pray and then let's get to it. This is actually one of my favorite sections of Scripture.

It is, if it were a dessert, it would be like a tiramisu. It's really rich, it's really thick, it's just packed with all kinds of oodly goodness.

So, let's pray. Lord Jesus, again, we thank You for Your Word and we ask, Lord, as we open up Your Word, You would show us how to find

You in it. And in finding You, we see the story of our redemption, our salvation by Your mighty hand.

We ask this all in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, last week we looked at the crossing of the

Red Sea and noted how Scripture says that's a baptism that took place.

And of course, we read in our sermon today, in Hebrews 10, Old Testament is type in shadow.

The reality is found in Christ. And believe me when I tell you, by the time we're done with this, you're going to be waking up in the middle of the night and hearing those words,

Old Testament is type in shadow. Reality is Christ. It'll be like a refrain. You'll be like my mind -controlled robots,

Pastor Rose Rose says. No, that's not exactly true, but you get the point. Captain Lee! Yes!

That's right. Now, I wanted to show you, I think I've showed it before, but it's worth mentioning, we know the spot where this took place, the crossing of the

Red Sea. And on my website, fightingforthefaith .com,

I have an episode that I did called Don't Go Full Burger King. Okay, because my son actually comes up with some of the names of some of my episodes, and so that was his idea.

But this is where I take the Sunday school lessons from here and then

I play them as radio segments on my radio station, on my radio program. And so I've been working, this is a portion of scripture where we're talking about Exodus 8 through 12, the different plagues leading up to, also including the

Passover. But what I did here, last week I referenced two different documentaries.

And one of them is for free on YouTube. And the name of it is Exodus Revealed, The Search for the

Red Sea Crossing. And absolutely worth watching.

You need to see it. And you'll sit there and go, this is why he says that. Right, because the evidence points to it.

But the other thing, if you have a Netflix account, and I know that some of you are guilty of going on Netflix binges.

Apparently this is like the thing to do nowadays. It's like, Friday night hits, and then you go on like a

Netflix bender. And by the time you come out of the fog, it's already like Sunday evening and you haven't showered or anything.

It's the weirdest thing. It's called blue bloods. Blue bloods, right. But on Netflix, there's a documentary titled

Patterns of Evidence, Exodus. Let me click on the link and see if I can go into Netflix really quick here.

Is there a scene that the wheels? No, no, the one with the wheels is here on the

Exodus Revealed, the documentary that's on YouTube. And I have the actual, I've embedded the video. I found that on TV.

Okay. Oh, right. We are, right. You know, that YouTube stuff.

It's so many of you. Yes. But I did see that on TV. I have no idea what it was. Okay. All right.

So Patterns of Evidence is the name of it. Patterns of Evidence, Exodus.

And this documentary, at the risk of sounding like I'm trying too hard, is just the shiznizzle.

The people who are younger know exactly. Yeah, yeah. Am I on fleek there, by the way? Nevermind. You don't have

Netflix? Netflix, you can't watch this? You can, but you're gonna have to find a different outlet and like maybe purchase the

DVD off of Amazon or something. No, actually, I checked on YouTube for this one.

No, it ain't on YouTube. Nobody pirated it. Yeah. And then apparently, they have a website for like the extended director's cut

DVD, which is extra money, but they go through other stuff. And again, like I pointed out, this guy shows us what really good archeology is showing.

They know the spot where Joseph was originally buried. And when you see the artifacts themselves, it's stunning.

And we know where Goshen is. And it all fits. But he explains why certain archeologists just keep looking with their eyes closed.

So, and the links to both of them are up on the Fighting for the Faith website. Don't go full

Burger King. And that's where you can find them. So let's get to our biblical text today.

Last week, I wanted to get to this, but we didn't quite get to it. I wanted to explain how there's a motif in Exodus 15, this song of Moses that picks up on this major theme of scripture.

And it is the overthrowing of the self -exalted, the self -important, those who oppress others, hold them under their thumb or their boot, and how

God literally rescues them, turns the table where the oppressed become free.

And so we'll see it in the way the song unfolds. Let me read the song out, Exodus 15, verse one.

Moses and the people of Israel, they sang this song to Yahweh saying, I will sing to Yahweh for he has triumphed gloriously.

Notice who's running the verbs here. God is in control. He's the one who triumphed gloriously. And there was not a single

Egyptian that was lying dead on the seashore of the Red Sea that was killed by a sword from an

Israelite. And by the way, again, I'll show you this. Where this took place then, Goshen is up in this area in the

Nile Delta, and then the Red Sea crossing takes place. Here's the

Red Sea itself, and there's this arm of the Red Sea called the Gulf of Aqaba. That is where the

Red Sea crossing takes place. But more specifically, let me see if I can zoom in just a smidge here.

You'll see this little outcropping right here, this beach. This is where they come out to the beach to the

Red Sea, and the armies of Pharaoh come down this, this is called a wadi. A wadi is a dry riverbed, and it only has water on it during the season when there's rain.

And so this is the beachhead where they were. And then when you back up just a smidge, the crossing takes place in this portion of the

Red Sea. And the documentary, the one that's on YouTube, actually has a dive footage from this region.

And somebody actually, in Google Earth, put in some of the photos of where the crossing took place.

Let me see if I can pull this up. And you can see, this is a coral growth at this place.

And you can see there's the wheel and the, you know, the spoke and the axle for where the chariot wheel would be.

So the wood was on the bottom, the coral grows into the wood, and there's all the, there's all, it literally looks like just wreckage strewn all over the bottom of this, and you can see it in the dive footage.

Worth noting here. But coming back then to our text, the horse and the rider he is thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my

God, and I will praise him. My Father's God, I will exalt him. Yahweh is a man of war.

Yahweh is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the

Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, oh Yahweh, glorious in power. Your right hand, oh Lord, shatters the enemy.

And remember, Pharaoh's a stand -in for the devil. This is a picture of salvation itself, and what

Christ does for us against the devil. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries.

You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up.

The floods stood up in a heat. The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said,

I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide and spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them.

They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Now, a little bit of a quick question here.

Those of you who've read the back of the book, the book of Revelation, how does

Jesus destroy the Antichrist? Doo, doo, doo.

With the breath of his mouth. With the breath of his mouth. That's the answer, right, very good.

And you should have said, what is the breath of his mouth? Anyway. Sorry, Alex.

Yeah, maybe next time. We'll take Exodus for 600. Okay, so you'll notice here,

Jesus overthrows the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist in the book of Revelation with the breath of his mouth.

Same theme here. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

So even the wind that parts the sea and the crossing of the sea is a picture of baptism.

The wind that parts the sea here is now likened to the breath of God's mouth or his nostrils.

And through his breath and through his nostrils, he destroys his adversaries. That motif is picked up again in eschatology with the destruction of the

Antichrist through the breath of Christ's mouth. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic and holiness? Awesome and glorious deeds, doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand.

The earth swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed.

You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard.

They tremble. Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed.

Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

Terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are as still as stone.

Till your people, O Lord, pass by. Till your people pass by whom you have purchased.

You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain. The place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode.

The sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.

And you should be hearing in that. And he shall reign forever and ever.

Handel's Messiah. So now you start to kind of see these themes. Now, watch the cross -reference.

The cross -reference is one that most people wouldn't anticipate, but it's found in Luke chapter one, and it is that portion of scripture where we get the

Magnificat. And here's the story, Luke 139. So Gabriel the angel has already appeared to Mary to let her know that she is going to conceive and bear a son, even though she is a virgin, that the

Holy Spirit would overshadow her. And here's what it says in verse 39. In those days, Mary arose, went with haste to the hill country to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted

Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the

Lord. And Mary said, now here's, this is the section known as the Magnificat.

Watch the themes. The themes are the same as we heard in Moses' song.

My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God, my

Savior. For He has looked on the humble estate of His servant, and behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

For He who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is His name. His mercy is for those who fear

Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud and the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

He has filled the hungry with good things. The rich He has sent away empty. He has helped

His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.

So here's the idea. The hungry, the oppressed, they now are on top.

The self -exalted God scatters them with His mighty arm. Same motif.

And so you kind of have to think, when we start to think about what the story is of Scripture, and this is our story.

It's not their story. It's our story. We were created by God.

We were His image bearers, the icons of God in the earth. And God was going to manage

His creation through His special creation mankind made in His image. And the devil comes along and convinces us to engage in a coup d 'etat similar to his.

Where we exalt ourselves above God and want to be like God. Rather than wanting to be godly, the temptation was to be god -like.

And in so doing, we then are subjected because of this to a curse, to the dominion of darkness, and we are oppressed underneath the totalitarian, evil dictator of the devil, the serpent himself.

And God, through His mighty arms, outstretched arms, shatters the dominion of darkness on the cross.

We are baptized into the Red Sea. We are freed from slavery. The oppressor is overthrown.

Those who are hungry and afraid, they are the ones who experience salvation.

And it's a complete and total freedom from the oppression and dominion of darkness.

It's a great story. What's even better about it is it's true. And see, all of the stories that we go to the movies to watch, it's always the same thing.

Some evil thing, person, empire, whatever has arisen. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

And these freedom fighters are out there to overthrow it, and they fight against it, and blamo, whamo, and things out of nowhere.

They finally figure out how to win, and everyone's free, and the devil goes, yay. That was my worst way of telling a story even yet.

I'll work for even worse next time. But you get the idea. We tell the story over and over again, but all of those stories point to this story, the one we actually find ourselves in.

We have this longing, this deep longing and desire to be free of the suffering and just awfulness of this life.

You know, I always think it's so funny that television tries to make everybody look so young, and pretty, and skinny, and stuff like that.

And then you come to church, and it's like, why don't you guys look like people on television? Because television is this alternate universe that doesn't exist.

I always feel bad for the women who, you know, like their friends are on Pinterest and stuff like that, and their houses always look so beautiful in their pictures.

These are staged photos. OK? They never show you the photos of their kids screaming at them with snot running down their noses and their hair all like this.

Because everybody knows that, oh, your friends on social media, they have perfect homes, but you don't.

But that's actually a form of longing for this better. OK? We're trying to figure out how to undo the curse, to get out from the oppression of all of this.

And it's only in Christ that we find that freedom. But the thing is, is that it's a freedom that is now.

You truly are already set free. But here's how the story goes. Watch this. They're out of slavery.

They've been baptized in the Red Sea. They're now singing their praises, and they've started their wilderness wanderings.

Are they in the promised land yet? They're a people without a country.

Do you feel like that as a Christian? Spin the globe. Put your finger down.

You'll never put it on a country named the kingdom of God. And this is what we're longing for, the fulfillment of all of these promises.

We have the deposit guaranteeing the inheritance, but it's not yet the full payment.

The now, not yet piece of this. We live in the tension, having been set free, but not yet in the promised land. The promised land is not you getting a mansion in the here and now, or you even having well -behaved children.

Good luck on that. You're going to find out every one of your children is as rotten as you are.

So, just saying. Instead, the promised land is the new earth.

It's the new earth. So you can see the themes there. So the Magnificat picks up on these same themes, the great overthrowing of the oppressor,

God's mighty outstretched arms saving those who are hungry, being now finally filled with good things, while the rich, those who are oppressing others, they're being sent empty away.

And all of this is in remembrance of God's mercy. Good stuff. Have any of you ever been on a family road trip that took longer than two hours to drive?

Okay. I'm going to have you notice something here.

When the journey begins, dad's excited, mom's happy, the kids are really excited too.

Maybe you're going to take a car trip to California and go to Disneyland and everyone's so excited.

We're going to Disneyland, we're going to... And then you get to South Dakota.

And what happens in South Dakota? Mom, mom, he's touching me.

Would you please stop touching me? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I got to go potty.

And mom is like on her last nerve. And then she does something that it doesn't make any sense.

She goes like this. Would you stop yelling? You're sitting there going, but mom, you're never...

Right? Okay, and everyone is ready to kill. That's kind of the turn that we're going to see here in Exodus 15.

Oh, they're singing praises to God. His mighty arm has set them free.

And all the horse and the rider He has thrown into the sea. In fact, verse 21 says, actually verse 19.

The horses of Pharaoh with the chariots and his horsemen, they went into the sea. The Lord brought back the waters. The sea opened upon them.

The people of Israel walked on dry ground. Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand.

All the women went out after her with tambourines and they were dancing. They were clearly not

Norwegian. And Miriam sang to the Lord. He's triumphed gloriously.

The horse and the rider, he's thrown into the sea. And everyone shouted, amen, hallelujah, right on, yeah.

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea. They went into the wilderness of Shur.

They went three days into the wilderness and they found no water.

Notice they're not singing praise songs right now. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter.

Therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses saying, what are we gonna drink?

And this is just the beginning, okay. And he cried to Yahweh and the

Lord showed him a little water and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet. Now I'm gonna note this real quick.

The church fathers see this as a typology pointing to baptism. The wood, typologically pointing to the cross.

So the cross mixed with water turns it sweet and makes it efficacious for baptism. I think that's an interesting typology.

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule and there He tested them saying, if you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh, your

God. Now notice it begins with listen diligently. Listening diligently to the voice of Yahweh your

God calls for faith to trust Him, to trust

His words. From that faith comes a life of good works following His commandments, guarding your ways.

So if you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, do that which is right in His eyes and give ear to His commandments and keep all of the statutes,

I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians. You mean they're coming back? Yeah, they are.

Read the book of Revelation, they're coming back. For I, Yahweh, am your healer.

Then they came to Elim where there were 12 springs of water, 70 palm trees and they encamped there by the water.

We know exactly where Elim is, by the way. Let me pull it up real quick. Elim is just over here.

Love how that works. This is Elim and Elim, if you take a look at it, the oasis of Elim, it's in there in Saudi Arabia, it's been named that for like forever and you can see the palm trees right here in Elim and what's fascinating is the church fathers, they see the 12 springs of water and the 70 palm trees as kind of a little typological roadmap or sign that points to the 12 disciples who become the apostles and remember when

Jesus sent out the 70 two by two to go and proclaim the kingdom of God, they just see the spring of Elim as some kind of like a, just a little icon pointing to those guys.

I think that's a good reading. Chapter 16, I hope you're sitting down because here comes the please stop touching me moment.

So they set out from Elim, all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin. Now Sin here does not mean thin as we understand it, that's just the name of it in Hebrew.

The Hebrew word for sin is actually something different but this is just phonetically spelled out sin which is between Elim and Sinai.

On the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and the people of Israel said to them, oh, would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt when we sat by meat pots and ate bread to the full.

For you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

When they escaped from... Oh yeah, they did, okay.

And I don't seem to recall them lounging around by pots of meat.

I think I'm gonna eat today, here. Oh, meat pot, that's putting you... I mean, this is just nonsense, okay.

It's like, all of a sudden it's like, were you in the same slavery situation I was in? Because I didn't get no meat pots, you know.

Where were you serving? You know, because I was making bricks, you know. If we stopped for a potty break, we'd get lashes on our back.

You had meat pots? I mean, what is this talk going on right here? So they're totally grumbling against God and you're gonna notice what this presupposes.

This presupposes that God doesn't mean them good, but God means them harm.

That God is really... That somehow he's this sick and sadistic God and his goal, he wanted to get them out of Egypt so that he can, well, inflict these exquisite tortures upon them and they would die a slow, miserable, horrific death out in the middle of the wilderness because God really likes that.

It's like, this is just nonsense. So notice, no faith, total grumbling. They think

God has it out for them and they don't know anything about God. Is God that way? No, not at all.

So then Yahweh said to Moses, behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I might test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as the daily, as they gather daily.

So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, at evening, you shall know it was

Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning, you shall see the glory of Yahweh because he has heard your grumbling against Yahweh.

For what we are, what are we that you grumble against us? So Moses said, when the

Lord, Yahweh, gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because Yahweh has heard your grumbling and that you grumble against him, what are we?

Your grumbling is not against us, but against Yahweh. So then Moses said to Aaron, say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, come near before me, for he has heard your grumbling.

And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness and behold, the glory of the

Lord appeared in the cloud. And Yahweh said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel, say to them, at twilight, you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread.

Then you shall know that I am Yahweh your God. In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp.

And in the morning, dew lay all around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness, a fine flake -like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, and let me give you what the Hebrew is literally, manna, manna, what is it?

That's what it means, manna means, what is it? So they literally named it, they named it, what is it?

Okay, they ate, what is it in the wilderness? I mean, if you really want to do that, right? What is it?

For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

This is what Yahweh has commanded, gather of it each of you as much as he can. You shall take an omer according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.

And the people of Israel did so, they gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left, and whoever gathered little had no lack.

Each of them gathered as much as he could, as he could eat. And Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it over until the morning.

But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and it stank. And Moses was angry with them.

And morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted.

Old Testament, type, shadow. New Testament gives us the reality.

So here we are. We have been set free from the dominion of darkness by the death of our

Passover lamb, Jesus Christ. We have been baptized in the

Red Sea. We are now in the wilderness, eating miraculous bread from heaven as we journey to the promised land.

Do we not? Are you saying, oh yeah,

I am. I am. But let's let Jesus do the saying. Let's find where the resolution of this typology is.

What does the manna point to? Communion.

The answer is yes. A little bit more than that though. It points to Jesus, and then

Jesus explains how He feeds us Himself. Let me give you the text. Before I do that, let me ask another question.

Which of the miracles that Jesus performed, out of all of them, is the only one that appears, aside from the resurrection, in all four

Gospels? Nope, not water and wine. That's only in John 2. Say it, say it, say it.

Feeding of the 5 ,000, that's right. Why is that so important? Right.

Okay, now, let's go to John chapter six. We're gonna look at John's account of it, because Jesus gives us the theology behind it, and gives us the resolution of the typology.

And in John chapter six, you kind of have to get this, is that people by this time are kind of sitting there going, is

Jesus the Messiah, or not? They're not sure. They're kind of going one way or another.

You may have heard really bad sermons on this text, and let me explain how those kinds of sermons go, and why they totally miss the point.

So a bad sermon on this text would go something like this. There were all of these hungry people out in the wilderness, and Jesus said to His disciples, who's gonna feed them?

And the disciples totally freaked out, showed they didn't have any faith, and said, oh, it would take 200.

And there He is, even if we had that, we couldn't feed all of these people. What are you talking about, Jesus? And there was this little boy with his sack lunch.

And the little boy came up and said, Mr. Jesus, I have a sack lunch. Maybe you can share it with everybody.

And what ended up happening is that everybody who had actually hidden their coolers so that nobody else could have their food, they were shamed by this kid who so selflessly gave up his sack lunch, and so everybody pulled out their coolers, and then everybody had a feast, and then nobody was hungry anymore.

It's like, wah, wah, wah. No, this is like not what's going on at all. The reason why this miracle shows up in all four

Gospels is because this is like the one. If you are a Jew, you look at this miracle, and you go, oh man,

Jesus is the Messiah. Because where Jesus is at, we learn from this other accounts in the other

Gospels, they're out in the middle of nowhere. In other words, they're in the wilderness. This takes place in Nowheresville, out in the wilderness.

And there's all these Jews who are somehow miraculously fed bread and meat.

And immediately, the light bulb will go on. So let's watch what happens. John 6, 1. After this,

Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. A little bit of a note here.

You'll note that John's Gospel is clearly written to people who have never been to the Holy Land. They wouldn't know where the

Sea of Galilee is, so he has to call it by the name they'd know it by, the Sea of Tiberias. So these are Gentile readers.

A large crowd was following Jesus. They saw the signs that he was doing. Let me pull this over so I have my

Greek text next to it, because I need my Greek text on this one. So a large crowd following him because they saw the signs that Jesus was doing on the sick.

Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. Notice, Jesus goes up on a mountain.

Hmm, big important things happen on mountaintops. Think Mount Sinai, Mount Calvary, showdown between Elijah and Baal and Mount Carmel.

Big things happen on mountains. Jesus went up on the mountain. There he sat down with his disciples.

Now, the Passover, the Feast of the Jews, was at hand, lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him,

Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people might eat? Poor Philip.

Now, he said this to test him, for Jesus knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to even get a little.

One of his disciples, Andrew Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?

Jesus said, have the people sit down. Now, there was much grass in the place, and the men sat down about 5 ,000 in number.

Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish, as much as they wanted, and when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.

They gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the barley loaves left by those who had eaten, and when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who's coming to the world.

They know exactly who Jesus is. Now, let me give you the cross -reference on this so you know why they're calling him the prophet.

The cross -reference is in Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18, and here's what it says, starting at verse 15.

Yahweh your God will raise up for you, this is Moses speaking, a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers, it is to him you shall listen.

Just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my

God, or see the great fire any more lest I die, the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken.

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I commanded him.

And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Now, that's the reason why here in John 6, 14, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.

And they also know their Old Testament, that guy is also the son of David, which means he's the

Messiah, which means he's the rightful king. So here we got a bunch of Israelites, huge multitude, out in the middle of nowhere, and they're miraculously fed.

And they go, that's what happened to our ancestors in the wilderness. That guy's the

Messiah. So perceiving that they were about to come and take Jesus by force to make him king, because he is the king,

Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, so here's the interesting thing,

Jesus has an idea. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, started to cross the sea to Capernaum.

It was now dark. Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

But he said to them, and this is where the English translation is just woefully bad.

He said to them, Ego eimi, me fobeste. Ego eimi.

Ego eimi means I am. Jesus is invoking the divine name from Exodus 3.

Who shall I say sent me? Moses said, I am has sent you. So Jesus says, I am.

Do not be afraid. So they were glad to take him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone.

Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, they're wondering, where's Jesus? We've got to make him king. He's the prophet.

We know this because of this miracle. When they saw he was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking

Jesus. Kind of a impromptu armada, if you would. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him,

Rabbi, when did you come here? Now, watch the theology on this.

It's amazing because Jesus is going to tell us that the bread in the wilderness in the book of Exodus was always pointing to him.

And then he's going to give us theology pertaining to himself and his own flesh and blood that then informs our understanding of the

Lord's supper. Does that make sense? So here's what he said. Amen, amen.

Now, I know it says truly, truly, but the Greek here is amen, amen. Amen, amen.

I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the

Son of Man will give you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal.

And then they said to him, one of the most important questions of all of Scripture, what must we be doing to do the works of God?

Notice it's plural. What must we do to be doing the works, plural, of God?

Jesus said, seven Hail Marys make a pilgrimage to Rome light candles, pray to the saints, tithe to Pastor Roseborough, off the gross, not the net.

No, here's what he says. This is the work, taneragon, singular, the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

Believe. That's the work of God, to believe. Everything else flows from that.

So then they said to him, all right, then what sign do you do so that we may see and believe you?

What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Jesus then said to them, amen, amen. I say to you, it was not

Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it was my father. My father gives you the true bread from heaven.

The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

So the bread in the wilderness was the type in shadow. Where'd it come from?

Heaven. It points to the reality. The reality is who? Jesus, he's the true bread that comes down from heaven.

They said to him, sir, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

Now remember when he was crossing that sea, when he was walking across the Sea of Galilee, he said, ego eimi, me phobos te, do not fear.

Here he says, ego eimi, haartas tes zoes. I am the bread of life.

Again, invoking the divine name. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

All that the father gives me will come to me. Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out for I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose none of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.

Do you believe? Yeah, this is the work of God, to believe in the one whom the father has sent.

Then you already currently possess, you have it in the bag already, eternal life.

Christ will raise you up on the last day. Now watch what happens. So the

Jews grumbled about him because he said, I'm the bread of life, I came down from heaven. Now remember, we just read in Exodus 16.

What were the children of Israel doing in the wilderness? Grumbling. Huh, this group of Jews in the wilderness is doing what?

Grumbling. In Exodus, we have the miraculous bread come down from heaven.

Over here in the New Testament, we have the miraculous bread come down from heaven. Hmm. So the

Jews grumbled. Because he said, I'm the bread of life, I came down from heaven. They said, is this not

Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he say I've come down from heaven? Jesus answered, do not grumble among yourselves because who are they grumbling against?

Remember, Exodus told us. They're grumbling against God. Do not grumble among yourselves.

No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

Wow, is that an important verse. Have any of you ever heard a preacher say, God is a gentleman, and God being a gentleman would never ask you to do anything against your will?

Have you ever heard a preacher preach like that? If you haven't, you're lucky. There's a lot of people out there who talk in this way.

Now I'm gonna show you something from the Greek. There's the Greek word draws. Here it is. It's appearing in a aorist singular subjunctive.

Just hold on, just hold on. Let me finish my lesson, woman. Okay. See, they're grumbling here too.

All right. The Greek word itself, and let me show you it in the lexicon.

And I'll have to make it bigger because I can't even read that. The Greek word is helko, helko.

Let me read to you what it means. To move an object from one area to another in a pulling motion.

To draw with the implication that the object being moved is incapable of propelling itself, or in the case of persons, is unwilling to do so voluntarily.

Okay, right. Okay, you wanna know how you were brought into the kingdom of God? Think of it like a rodeo.

You're the cow they just let out, and that thing's going, get me out of here, get me out of here. Here comes Jesus the cowboy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, goddammit, I'm gonna drag you right in the kingdom here. I'm helko -ing you, right?

Not enough. Okay. You get the idea here?

So, no one can come to Jesus unless the Father who sent me whoops out the rope and drags you on in.

Okay, that's what he's saying, okay? Yeah, so much for free will.

Oh man, okay. Yep. So no one can come to me unless the

Father who sent me draws him. I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the

Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the

Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has, present tense, you got it now, eternal life.

Now watch, I am the bread of life. He says it again.

Your fathers ate the manna, what is it, in the wilderness, and they died.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven. You can see Jesus pointing to himself. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that you may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

And now things really heat up. So the Jews disputed among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Yuck! No way!

So Jesus said to them. Now watch what he says here. No, no, guys, listen, no, I wasn't talking literally.

It was all symbol, you know. My bad. Watch what he does. Amen, amen.

I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

Jesus doubles down. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

And I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food. My blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread that the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Do we have any communion bread in the freezer? Yes. On the night that our Lord was betrayed,

He was given bread and He gave thanks and He broke it saying, this is my body, which is given for you.

This do in remembrance of me. Manna, what is it?

Right. Right.

Jesus. You could say, Manna Yeshua. It's Jesus.

You see the little play on words now? And is this not the very thing that we all bicker about in Christ, in Christianity?

Manna. Oh, it symbolizes. No, no, no, no, no. Jesus said it is. Manna. What did

Jesus just tell us this is? Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died.

Whoever eats this bread lives forever. If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.

Manna. What is it? It's Jesus.

Bingo. How is that possible? Stop grumbling. Believe.

Trust. Would Jesus give you anything to harm you? Has he ever said something and not have it come to pass?

If he tells you this is his body, you say, amen.

Right on. And not only that, here's the thing. We bicker and bicker and bicker and bicker and bicker and bicker over a little cracker.

And if you've ever been to some of those churches where like they put that thing in your mouth and it melts immediately, it's easier to actually believe that that thing is the body of Christ than it is to believe it's actually bread.

That's the bigger miracle, okay? But Jesus tells us what this is.

And when you grumble like the children of Israel in the wilderness or the Israelites in John 6, what do you miss?

All of the promises. So when you come to the Lord's table, what do

I say to you? Take, eat. This is the true body of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ given into death for your sins. Jesus just said, if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have eternal life and you abide in me.

So every time we come to the Lord's table, and man, I wish we were doing it more often because I'm hungry.

But every time we do this, we leave with these promises. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

So when the devil comes knocking on your door after church going, you know, I saw what you did, you call yourself a

Christian, there's no way you're going to heaven, you can sit there and go, manna.

Manna. Come on, devil, manna, dude, what is this? Did you not hear what Jesus said?

You see, when you believe Jesus and take him at his words and don't overcook it with your brain.

I don't know how it works. And so the Lutherans, we have this funny way of kind of coming up with a solution to this.

How is it possible that we receive in our mouth Christ's body and blood? I don't know. And so where is it?

Well, if I pull out the microscope, I'm not gonna see like carpuscles and stuff like that. No, it's not like that at all.

So what do we do? We just pour on a whole bunch of prepositions. Jesus's body is in, with, under, next to, besides, through, just throw on any preposition you want because the idea here is that in some very real way, which is apprehended by faith and believing

Jesus's words, we receive Christ's body and blood. And now I've got these promises.

I have eternal life. I have the forgiveness of my sins. And it can't be taken from me because when you hear the absolution, the general absolution,

I as a called and ordained servant of the word forgive you all of your sins. You may be tempted in a very dark season to go, yeah, but that probably doesn't apply to me.

You come to the rail. You come to the rail. And now this is put in your mouth.

There's no way of denying it. You don't get to be excluded. You just have Christ and you have eternal life.

You have the forgiveness of sins. You quit your grumbling and you start your trusting. You start having assurance and confidence in Christ and his mercy and his love towards you.

So manna, answer? Jesus, it's

Jesus. This is consecrated by the way, so. All right, we will leave it off there.