The Bread of God - Exodus 16

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March 20, 2022 - Morning Service Faith Bible Church - Sacramento, California Message - The Bread of God - Exodus 16

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Glad you're here with us today. We look forward to a blessing from the Lord.
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Just a couple of announcements. We want to especially remember
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April the 2nd. We have our second men's fellowship breakfast.
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We try to have it the first Saturday of each month. It's what we're shooting for. So we look forward to a time of fellowship.
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Also remember the men have a Bible study each week, except the week where we have the breakfast.
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We won't have the Bible study in the afternoon at 3 .30 on Saturday. But every other week, we'll plan to have the men's
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Bible study at that time. Had a real time of blessing in the morning service in the adult
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Bible study. It's a privilege to go through the book of Psalms. I've enjoyed, as we just go through it word by word and see what the
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Lord is teaching us, it's always a blessing to do so. I think the ladies had a good
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Bible study yesterday. And we had the privilege of having our granddaughter and daughter -in -law visit from Fresno to be at Barb's Bible study.
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I think it's the first time our granddaughter has heard Barb teach. And so that was a privilege both for Barb and for us.
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We enjoyed that time. And they, for her birthday, which is today. Everybody gets mixed up.
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Her birthday is today. She's celebrating her anniversary of her 40th birthday.
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And we thank the Lord for the years that he has given us together. We enjoy, there's a lady that plays hymns on the
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YouTube that sometimes we turn on. And she does an hour.
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And she did it every Sunday night. And now she does it on Thursday night. And they did a song about a week ago.
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It says, and I can't remember the exact words of the song, but the Lord has brought us thus far.
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And that's what I say to Barb and I. The Lord has given us a good life together. And he has only because he has brought us thus far.
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And I can remember in our lifetime that I've witnessed to people, and especially
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I always think of one man that I worked with at one time. And I was talking to him about the
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Lord and how he could bring you along. And our lives at the time was just exciting with what the
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Lord was doing in our life. And I would bring him right up to the point of, would you like to accept the
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Lord as your salvation? He'd say, yeah, Victor, but you've got to live. And I went home to Barb and I says, are we living yet?
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And the Lord has been good. And that's what I'm saying. The Lord is good. And walking with the
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Lord's guidance, we certainly haven't been perfect. We've had a lot of failures. We've gone against the Lord many times, sad to say.
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I think of the hymn, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
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And yet he's still gracious and merciful to us. Thank the Lord for that. So I'm just thanking the
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Lord for the blessings that he has shown to us. And I pray that that's the same thing in your life, that you're looking forward to the blessings from the
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Lord. Let's open with a word of prayer. Our heavenly
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Father and our God, we come to you this morning thanking you for the blessings that you give to us each day.
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We thank you, heavenly Father, that you've given us your word to guide us through this life. We realize,
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Lord, that we have failed you, but you've never failed us. And we thank you for that, Lord. We pray that as we worship you this morning through song and listening to your word, we pray, heavenly
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Father, that you might speak to each one of our hearts through your word and through the things that you've laid on Pastor Ilgen's heart.
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Pray that we might go out today saying, it's been good to be in the house of the Lord today. And we would thank you for that.
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Be with those who would be singing and participating in the music, guide, hands and voice.
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And we would thank you, Lord, and pray this in Jesus' name, amen. O taste and see that the
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Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. And of course, good morning, and let's stand and sing.
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♪ Come all ye faithful of Son's love ♪
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Scripture reading this morning is from John chapter six, verses five through 13.
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John chapter six, five through 13. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him, he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat?
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But this he said to test him, for he knew himself what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them.
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That every one of them may have a little. One of his disciples,
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Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said to him, there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they amongst so many?
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Then Jesus said, make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place.
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So the men sat down in number, about 5 ,000. And Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples and the disciples to those sitting down and likewise of the fish as much as they wanted.
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So when they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost.
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Therefore, they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.
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May the Lord has blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word. Thank you. Please turn with me to the book of Exodus chapter 16.
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Exodus chapter 16. I will be reading the whole chapter from one through 36.
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And they journeyed from Elim and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
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Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
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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 into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
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Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.
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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.
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And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, at evening you shall know that the
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Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the
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Lord for he hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we that you complain against us?
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Also Moses said, 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
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Lord hears your complaints which you make against him. And what are we?
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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
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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
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Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, speak to them saying, at twilight you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the
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Lord your God. So 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.
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So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? For they did not know what it was.
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And Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the
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Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for each person according to the number of the persons.
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Let every man take for those who are in his tent. Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.
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So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack.
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Every man had gathered according to each one's need. And Moses said, let no one leave any of it till morning.
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Notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning and it bred worms and stank.
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And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need.
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And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one.
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And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, this is what the
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Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the
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Lord. Bake what you will bake today and boil what you will boil and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning.
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So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.
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Then Moses said, eat that today for today is a Sabbath to the Lord.
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Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the
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Sabbath, there will be none. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day together, but they found none.
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And the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
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See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days.
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Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
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So the people rested on the seventh day and the house of Israel called its name
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Manna. And it was like white coriander seed. And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
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Then Moses said, this is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Fill an omer with it to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread with which
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I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, take a pot and put an omer of manna in it and lay it up before the
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Lord to be kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept.
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And the children of Israel ate manna 40 years until they came to an inhabited land.
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They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is one 10th of an ephah.
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This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that you provide for us despite our undeservedness.
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We thank you that you have given us life and you are the source of life.
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And Father, as we study your text today, we pray that you would help us understand what the bread from heaven is teaching us.
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We pray that your spirit would open all of our hearts and that you would help our minds understand your truth.
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In Jesus' name, amen. This bread from heaven is one of the more popular story from the book of Exodus.
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And as David read for us this morning, that theme is picked up even in the
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New Testament, which we will get to. Today's text shows us, once again, how gracious God is to provide for his people despite their complaining, despite their grumbling.
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But it is so much more than that. It's more than to see
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God's provision, but how God will provide through the bread of heaven even after the wilderness generation, even after the gathering would have stopped after the 40 years in the wilderness.
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And that's what we're learning today because God's scripture has something to teach us about the bread this morning.
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So the main point of this text, the question that this text asks us is what does
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God accomplish through the bread from heaven? What does he accomplish? What does he do?
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Is it just so that we know that Israel was fed after they complained, or is it so much more?
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The first point is that when God's people grumble against him, the
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Lord graciously answers their complaints through his presence. Even when
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God's people grumble against him, the Lord graciously answers their complaints through his presence.
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Now, not long after the first trial in the wilderness, when Israel faced this pool of water that they were waiting for and it happened to be bitter and it went below their expectation and they started grumbling, we see another failing moment of Israel.
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Now, Israel is faced with a more dire situation. This time, as the situation's more dire, the grumbling is more intensified.
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Verse two, then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
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In the previous chapter, when they grumbled regarding the bitter water, it was just the people.
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Just the people complained who grumbled against just Moses. Now, the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against both
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Moses and Aaron. Here, the grumbling voices are more unified and against both of the leaders of Israel.
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It's only getting worse. As mentioned last week,
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Israel's response to the trials only degenerate more and more.
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And this does not bode well for God's people. And what is their complaint?
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Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, where 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 the whole assembly with hunger.
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Their words scream out their lack of faith in the
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Lord, who delivered them out of Egypt. The Lord performed 10 plagues by his hand that only affected the
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Egyptians, none of the Israelites died nor were hurt by any of the plagues.
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And they just saw the Egyptian army, the strongest army of that time, swept by the
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Red Sea. Yet, Israel in their faithlessness reminisces their days of slavery.
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In fact, they prefer to have died in Egypt by one of the 10 plagues, by the hand of the
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Lord, rather than to be on their way to the promised land where it would be flowing with milk and honey.
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They selectively remember their dire state in Egypt. Oh, they ate to the full, but forgotten is the grueling enslavement, which made them cry out.
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They sat around the pots of meat, but forgotten is the genocide against them.
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All the male infants had to be killed. The last line hits the hardest.
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For you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
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They're so focused on their difficulty, their trial, that they rewrite the history of God's redemption.
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They're attributing Aaron and Moses of genocide. You're trying to kill us all.
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The only reason Israel is starving in the wilderness is because Moses and Aaron, God's chosen leaders, intentionally tried to kill all of them.
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Do they hear themselves speak? Every miracle performed up to this point was so that Israel could live under the compassionate care of the
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Lord. This is a treacherous response.
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How does the Lord respond to their treacherous outcry? Does he strike them dead on the spot as Israel fabricated
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Moses and Aaron's intentions? No. Instead, the
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Lord graciously promises to provide for their need. Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
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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.
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In fact, the Lord does not even rebuke Israel at this point.
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Instead, he will provide for his people. He will give them what they are crying out for.
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The Lord promises to rain bread from heaven. Remember where they are.
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They're in the wilderness. The wilderness grows no fruit.
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Wilderness, you can't farm there. And normally, bread comes from the earth.
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And the earth they're walking on is barren. So even though Israelites were all too familiar with the grains harvested from the earth through the hard labor and toil, and they baked it into bread, they will experience something different under God's leadership.
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Under God's gracious leadership, even the source of bread, the source of life, will be different.
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Israel will feast on the bread that came from heaven, that came directly from God.
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Not only that, the bread will show whether the Israel actually trusts in the Lord for sustenance or not.
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Are you going to trust him when he does provide? Or are you gonna still trust yourself?
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And verse five shows us the first glimpse of the Sabbath, which will be unpacked later on.
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They will prepare for the seventh day of rest by gathering twice as much on the sixth day.
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Moses and Aaron now address the children of Israel to tell them what the Lord will do.
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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
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Lord, for he hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we that you complain against us?
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The Lord will appear to Israel, and Israel will know that the Lord is the one who brought them out of Egypt, not
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Aaron and Moses. It is the Lord who has rescued them.
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It is the Lord who redeemed them from their enslavement. This means it is not the conspiracy of Moses and Aaron to kill all of Israel in the wilderness.
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How will they know? Verse eight tells us, this shall be seen when the
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Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning, bread to the full, for the
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Lord hears your complaints, which you make against him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the
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Lord. God's people will know that the Lord is sovereignly guiding them through his grace.
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In fact, Moses does not pull back his punches as he clarifies that God's gracious response is to Israel's complaints against him.
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They did not earn this bread through their good, faithful works.
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God's gracious response to Israel is in response to their faithlessness, to their rebellion.
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That's how gracious God is. And verse nine confirms when
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Israel got angry and murmured against Moses and Aaron, they actually were going against the
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Lord, not them, and verse 10 tells us, the
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Lord appeared. 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
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Lord appeared in the cloud. This is the first time in the
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Old Testament we see the phrase, the glory of the Lord. And this is significant because in the special circumstances the glory of the
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Lord will appear. For example, the glory of the
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Lord will fill the tabernacle after it's built, the tabernacle, the tent in which the
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Ark of the Covenant would reside. Second, the glory of the
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Lord will fill the temple after Solomon builds it. It's a special presence of God for his people.
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And this also means the glory of the Lord would leave the temple when the nation of Judah apostatized.
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The scene is told in Ezekiel 10. And in the
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New Testament, the Apostle John tells us that the same glory of the tabernacle is seen in precisely
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God incarnate Jesus Christ. John 1 .14,
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the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only
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Son who came from the Father full of grace and truth. The same glory of the
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Lord dwelt among us. God's presence among his people does not depend on our good works.
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God graciously dwells with his people despite their sinfulness.
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God graciously provides life to sustain his people despite their undeservedness.
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And that's what grace is. We did nothing to earn God's presence and his life -giving source.
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And ultimately, for God to dwell with his people in the most intimate and personal way possible under the new covenant,
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God himself dealt with the sinfulness of man on the cross.
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For every believer here today, the Holy Spirit of God, God's very presence dwells in you despite your sinfulness by grace alone.
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And that's because your sin has been dealt with on the cross when
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Christ suffered the full wrath of God that we deserved for our sake.
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And when he rose on the third day, he made us his new creation.
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That allows for God's presence to dwell among us.
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And just like in the Old Testament, it's through his grace. We didn't earn our salvation.
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We weren't good that Christ died for us. We were exactly the opposite that Christ died for us.
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And through him, we experience his life -giving presence.
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Now, what does God do when he provides for his people? What does
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God accomplish when he provides for his people? God provides for his people to teach them to trust him daily.
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God provides for his people to teach them to trust him daily. In response to the complaints against the
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Lord, the Lord provides them food. Verse 11, and the
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Lord spoke to Moses saying, I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them saying, at twilight you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the
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Lord your God. This means it was not by accident that Israel found bread in the desert, but God's intentional, providential intervention.
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This was not a mere coincidence that, oh, wow, we were hungry, but now there's bread on the ground.
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It was God's divine action. Verses 13 through 15 show us how
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God provided for them. First, verse 13 tells us that Israel had access to meat in the evening, quails that covered the ground.
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Quails, in fact, I think we all might know what quails are because it's the state bird.
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And they're quite common around here, small birds that don't fly too much, easy to capture, and fatty.
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Very good meat, not that I've tasted it. But those juicy meat covered the ground of the wilderness.
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Because Moses does not talk too much about the meat here, it probably did not happen every night.
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However, God provides for them to the uttermost.
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When God provides, he does not hold back. It's meat that covers the ground.
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The focus of this passage then is introduced in the morning. In the morning, the dew lay all around the camp, and when the layer of the dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a small, round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
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This was precisely the bread from heaven that God promised. It was a new phenomenon.
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This was not a natural occurrence in the wilderness. That's what verse 15 tells us.
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So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? For they did not know what it was.
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And in fact, that is where we get the name manna from. Man from manna, man, right, means what in Hebrew?
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So manna is what is it? They did not know.
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It was so new to them. They've never seen it before, not even in Egypt, not even in the wilderness, because that came directly from God, from his gracious act of providence.
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The latter half of verse 15 to 16 show us the command that is associated with God's provision.
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When God provides, we must enjoy it according to his way.
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We do it his way. We follow his path. This is the bread which the
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Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to his will.
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To each one's need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons.
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Let every man take for those who are in his tent. Now, an omer is an ancient measurement that is equivalent to about two quarts or a half gallon.
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So a half gallon of this fine bread -like substance. And for non -Americans out there, that's about 2 .2
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liters. This instruction is to provide a sufficient amount of food for all of Israel.
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No one will lack food, yet no one will over -consume.
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They will get what they need according to God's way. Verses 17 to 18 show that every need of Israel was met through this miraculous bread from heaven.
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So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.
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Every man had gathered according to each one's need. God provided for each individual need sufficiently because he said he would, because he is faithful to his word.
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Every Israelite received what they needed. And verse 19 specifies that the daily bread must be eaten that day.
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Let no one leave any of it till morning. Now, why is this important to not have any leftover?
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It was to teach Israel to trust in the Lord. In the wilderness, natural food is scarce and precious.
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The temptation is there for Israel to keep some just in case, just in case.
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Maybe God will not provide the next day. Or maybe God will provide less the next day.
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I don't know, maybe he'll run out. Or maybe God will provide worse quality the next day.
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However, the lesson here is that Israel is not to even consider that option because God will faithfully provide for all their need, not monthly, but daily.
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Every day, every morning, his mercy and providence are new every day.
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The Lord will graciously provide for their daily need. And verse 20 shows that there were in fact some who did not trust the
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Lord. Notwithstanding, they did not eat Moses, but some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them.
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And this was a teaching lesson for all Israel. If they chose to rely on their own power,
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God's gracious gift would be worthless. Depending on their own resources rather than God's providence would become disgusting.
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In fact, verse 21 tells us that the heavenly bread even did not remain outside the camp, outside the tent, as it melted away when the sun grew hot.
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Through the daily miraculous providence of this bread, God was teaching
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Israel to trust him every day, that he will be the one who will provide for his people.
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His people will not be the providers. The daily manna was to teach
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God's people to trust in the Lord daily. Anytime the
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Israelites stored up extra manna for the next day, it would become unedible.
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And it would not take long for them to realize that not trusting in the
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Lord would be harmful, worthless.
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They will visually and physically experience that when they see the maggots crawling around their tent, eating their bread.
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It was a teaching lesson for the Israelites. You have to trust in the
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Lord daily, not weekly, not monthly, daily.
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He's the only source of providence. And this was instilled in them for 40 years.
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For 40 years, God provided for them. And they would teach their children likewise.
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Little Johnny, don't hide that bread in there for the next day, we're gonna have to clean out the tent.
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It gets stinky. God will provide the next day.
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Don't worry about it, finish your food. We don't need to save any leftovers because God will give it to us next day, just wait.
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It was a physical lesson. So that God's people would learn to trust him.
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And for Christians, this idea of daily bread is carried on into the New Testament. When Jesus teaches his people to pray, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
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Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
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Do we believe that God is capable of providing for all of our needs? Not wants, but needs for today.
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Not just this week, but today. Do we believe that?
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And this is really important because how we live day to day in trust in the
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Lord determines how we trust in Christ with the ultimate need.
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And that is salvation. We need to be saved from our own sin.
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And the temptation is there to do it our own way, just as the
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Israelites tried to provide for themselves their own way by saving up bread for the next day.
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The temptation is there, maybe I need to be a little better before I believe in Christ.
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Maybe I need to get some of my life stuff figured out before I go to God. Maybe when
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I get this specific sin figured out, I can go to Jesus. However, God makes it clear that his divine providence is a gift.
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It is purely by the grace of God that any one of us is saved. Christ died for us not because we earned it, nor does he require our effort and power, but he died for us because he's gracious.
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He lavished his grace upon us, even when we were his enemies.
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That's who he is. And Christ experienced the wrath of God that we deserved so that he could bestow us in his righteousness as a gift that we receive, not something we try to earn.
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The moment we try to earn it, it's no gift at all, nor will you receive it.
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One verse from the hymn Rock of Ages portrays this well.
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Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace.
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Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die.
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That is the mindset that the Israelites were being prepared for, to receive
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God's grace, not to rely on their own power. Third, God provides for his people to prepare them to trust him continually.
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God provides for his people to prepare them to trust him continually. While the last section showed how
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God taught Israel through the providence of bread from heaven, this section shows how
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God taught Israel through the institution of the Sabbath. Verse 22 shifts the focus from the bread of heaven to when the bread must be gathered.
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And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one.
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And what is the reason for the change in instruction and obedience? Moses tells us in verse 23 that this is what the
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Lord had said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today and boil what you will boil and lay up for yourselves all that remains and be kept until morning.
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The Sabbath comes from the verb to rest or to cease, to stop.
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It was a day devoted to resting, not working. And this is the first time the
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Sabbath is instituted for Israel, even before the 10 commandments are given in which they are commanded to rest.
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The Sabbath observance was a life -giving weekly practice to these former slaves because God knew that these former slaves were conditioned to only work all their lives in Egypt.
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Rest was as foreign to them as freedom was. Hence, God institutes the
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Sabbath for Israel so they would have rest and have life so that they may live, not just burn out and die.
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And although the practice of the Sabbath was new, the concept of the seventh day being holy and the rest was not new at all.
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After all, in Genesis 2, God rested on the seventh day after creating the whole world.
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Hence, the Sabbath was crucial in the old covenant because that was how
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God's people related to God. God's people did what
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God did after creation. That is what God tells
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Israel in Exodus 20, verse 11. For in six days, the
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Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day.
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Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it, made it holy.
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God's people rest on the seventh day because the Lord rested from creating on the seventh day.
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God's people are set apart by imitating their God. God's people reflect who
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God is by doing what God did. That was the important lesson of the
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Sabbath. In verse 24, tell us the result when they followed the command.
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So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.
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This is yet another miracle related to the bread. While any other day, the leftover bread would stink because the worms would get to them before.
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But the double portion gathered on the sixth day was left untouched by the maggots.
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It was left clean and edible. It was consumable for the
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Israelites, only on that morning, the holy seventh day.
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Verses 25 to 26 reemphasizes the uniqueness of the
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Sabbath. Then Moses said, eat that today for today is a Sabbath to the
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Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it.
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You shall work the six days, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.
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God's miraculous provision and sustenance on the sixth day to the seventh was a lesson for Israel and their future generations.
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They could tell them, okay, on the sixth day we can actually gather more and little Johnny, yeah, we can store that and it won't get stinky.
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It was a teaching lesson to show the importance of the
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Sabbath, the importance of relating to their God. Verse 27 unfortunately shows us that again, there were some who did not trust in the
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Lord. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.
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And the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for the
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Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days.
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Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
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So the people rested on the seventh day. Why was it important that Israel learn about the
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Sabbath in the wilderness? When Israel would live in the promised land,
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God's law would require the Israelites to take longer rest periods.
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For example, in Leviticus 25, Israel was supposed to let the land rest every seventh year.
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That means for the whole year they do not work the land. They do not harvest, they do not plant.
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Not only that, every 50th year, they would rest the whole year too.
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The year of Jubilee, they celebrate. Hence, during the
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Jubilee, they would have rested for two years straight because the 49th year, they would have rested too because it was the seventh year.
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So two years, no one planted, no one harvested, and the next harvest would be the year after that.
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So almost three years, no one would have harvested a thing. Now, how would they eat during that time?
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Or even the year after the Jubilee, how can they eat? They would have to recall their time in the wilderness.
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Hey, remember when God provided every seventh day when no one gathered a thing?
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Remember when it didn't actually go stinky because God miraculously sustained it fresh?
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Would not God do it again in the promised land that belongs to him? Would not this
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God provide for our need again when we follow his word? That was the teaching lesson.
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When you obey, God will provide. For Christians, the
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Sabbath day is ultimately fulfilled by Christ. Just as Israel rested as God provided for them on the seventh day in the wilderness,
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Christians enter the ultimate rest as God provides salvation in Christ.
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Hebrews 4, eight through 11 tell us, for if Joshua had given them rest,
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God would not have spoken later about another day, another day of rest.
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There remains the Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
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Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter the rest so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
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This is significant because even after Israel entered the promised land, which for them was their end goal, that was their rest, to have a land in which they worship
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God and rely on God for sustenance and providence. Yet, the
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Israelites were looking forward to a greater rest. That's why the author of Hebrews says,
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Joshua did not provide that rest. Joshua, the next leader after Moses, who actually got the
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Israel into the promised land, in the end, did not provide that rest for Israelites.
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Hence, David wrote about a greater rest in the Psalm. David, hundreds of years after Joshua, writing in the promised land.
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And that's because the Israelites were still looking forward to the greatest rest, the ultimate
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Sabbath. The ultimate rest comes from not having to work for our salvation, permanently laying down our fruitless effort to earn righteousness before God.
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And for Christians, we enter this ultimate rest by relying on Christ's finished work on the cross, where he bled and died for our sin.
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We do not take up the good works to earn our salvation. It's been done.
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And you will ultimately enter it when you are with Christ, when there's no work, fruitless effort against sin for you.
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Now, what is the appropriate response to God's life -giving providence? God's people must remember his life -giving providence.
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God's people must remember his life -giving providence. From the institution of the
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Sabbath, verses 31 through 36 returns back to the manna, the bread. Moses knew all too well that the provision of manna will not last forever.
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After all, the wilderness was temporary. However, how will the future generations remember the
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Lord's faithfulness and providence? First, Moses records it in writing what manna was like in verse 31 for the next generation.
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And the house of Israel called its name manna, and it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
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Notice the repeated phrase, repeated phrase like. Manna can only be described in comparison to what exists, because there was nothing like it on earth.
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It was similar to white coriander seed, and the taste was similar to wafers made with honey, because it came directly from God.
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There was nothing else to compare it to but what they had. But Moses wrote it so that the future generation would remember, okay, this isn't natural, it's supernatural.
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Second, the Lord commands manna to be collected for the next generation. In verses 32 to 34, this is the thing which the
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Lord has commanded. Fill an omer with it to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which
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I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
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God intended the physical manna to serve as a historical artifact. Seeing the manna in real life would continue to teach the future generations of Israel of God's providence in the wilderness, the importance of trusting in the
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Lord for everything. And hence, this is why we take our children to museums to look at the historical artifacts.
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It is one thing to read about the US Constitution, or even to read a copy of the
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US Constitution, but it is totally another to wait in line and stand before to read from the real
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US Constitution with its fading letters. Storing up that manna had that effect on Israel, and in fact, they kept it inside the
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Ark of the Covenant. And verse 35 summarizes how long the
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Lord provided manna to Israel. And the children of Israel ate manna 40 years until they came to an inhabited land.
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They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. This was not just for a few weeks, but for 40 years.
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God provided the life -giving manna for 40 years to teach Israel to trust
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Him, to teach Israel where life comes from. And what was the significance of the bread from heaven that it must be stored up for the next generation?
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The lesson did not end with bread as if God wanted to teach
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His people that He provided good bread. It wasn't just to teach them about bread provision.
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In the end, we find the purpose of the bread from heaven in Deuteronomy 8 .3,
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about 40 years later from Exodus 16. And He humbled you, the
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Lord humbled you, and let you go hungry and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the
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Lord. The bread from heaven ultimately pointed to the
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Word of God. Ultimately, the lesson was not that the physical bread was what gave them life, but God's very
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Word. It was by following His commandments that Israel could live.
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It was by following God's Word that Israel had life.
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After all, 40 years later in the wilderness, all those who grumbled against Him died in rebellion.
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What did they eat? Bread from heaven. But ultimately, they did not eat what the bread of heaven pointed to, and that's the
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Word of God. They did not follow that yet. Those who actually followed
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God's Word, Caleb and Joshua, lived to enter the promised land.
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The bread was to point to the true source of life, which was God's Word. The heavenly bread was to teach
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God's people that man does not rely on physical bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of the
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Lord. Then we come to the New Testament, where Paul says, no one can follow
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God's Word. No one's good enough. But John says, yes, but you must still consume the
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Word of God to live. How does
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God give life to His people when no one's good enough to live on God's Word alone?
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In John 6, after Jesus fed the 5 ,000 with real bread, the crowd finds
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Him to have more. However, Jesus teaches them to strive to get heavenly bread, which they mistakenly think it's manna.
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Oh, manna again, I know, our fathers ate that. But Jesus corrects them, and He says the ultimate heavenly bread, it's not manna, they gave their ancestors life.
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But the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. According to Jesus, the bread that truly gives life to all is not manna, although that really came from heaven.
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But the true heavenly bread, the ultimate heavenly bread is a person who came from heaven.
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And in John's gospel, where the first character introduced is the Word of God, John ties the incarnate
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Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, to the ultimate life -giving bread that the manna ultimately pointed to.
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Hence, when the crowd asks for this bread, we want that bread that gives everlasting life.
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Jesus says in verse 35, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
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The life -giving bread introduced in the wilderness ultimately pointed to the life -giving
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Word that will become flesh and to die for the world.
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And how does Jesus say we ingest the true bread of life? Come to him and believe.
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We believe in Jesus who gave up his life to provide life for his people.
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How we attain life from this bread is through faith in the crucified
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Messiah who died for our sins. That is what it means to ingest the bread of life.
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It is not about eating some special physical bread that we can't find anymore in the wilderness, but it is to ingest, to believe the true bread of life who gave up his life so that you may live.
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Have you encountered this bread of life? Or are you more focused on what will satisfy your stomach today?
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Have you recognized how precious and how worthy this true bread of life is?
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The one who gives life to all freely, to all who come to him by giving away his.
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Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that we can study scripture.
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We're thankful that your scripture, although written thousands of years ago, even over 1 ,000 years before Jesus was born, that it pointed to him.
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Father, we pray that as all of us leave today that we would rely and trust the true bread of life, that no one may die but live.