Bread from Heaven
Notes
Transcript
Bread from Heaven
Exodus 16
Last week we saw how Israel went from singing to sinning. Their journey through the wilderness has begun. We discussed how God takes them through the wilderness for the purpose of testing them so they will mature in the Lord.
They got thirsty.
They saw a water source.
Their expectations were not met because the water was not drinkable.
They complained.
But Israel is young, and the Lord shows them grace. He makes the water drinkable. Then He leads them to a place of refreshment: Elim.
12 Springs
70 Palm trees.
This morning we are going to see that Israel did not learn its lesson. In chapters 14, 15, 16, 17 we see Israel repeating the same sin. They grumble against Moses and the Lord. This time the Lord will respond by giving them bread from heaven.
1. God in His goodness feeds Israel (1-12).
A month has passed since Israel left Egypt (16:1; 12:6, 31).
Things are going well. They are free. They are safe. They are healthy.
They “set out” again. When God starts moving them closer to the Promised Land is when the problems start.
A. Israel began to grumble.
“The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled”
Everyone was mad at Moses and Aaron!
Illustration- The Shot Heard Round the World. When I was a kid, I heard about this in history class. It was the shot that started the Revolutionary War. I remember thinking “that ole boy messed up. I bet everyone was mad at him. He started a whole war!”
I wonder who started grumbling first. Someone had to. That grumble was the grumble heard round the world.
Grumbling is contagious. Before you knew it everyone was complaining. I want you to notice how often the word “grumbling” is used in this chapter: verse 2, two times in verse 7, three times in verse 8, one time in verse 9, one time in verse 12.
Because of things like politics and social media complaining has become normalized.
By the time they decide to talk to Moses and Aaron about it they are upset. Notice their sarcasm:
“We wish we would have died in Egypt!”
Notice how they exaggerate:
We had pots of meat in Egypt!
We ate bread to the full in Egypt!
God brought us out here to kill us all!
“By the hand of the Lord” They are saying God is going to kill them. He saved them!
The complaint- We are hungry. We are going to starve to death.
I believe they were hungry. I don’t think they were about to starve to death. Sin will make us exaggerate.
Just because your stomach is growling doesn’t mean that you must.
There are times when we have emotions on the inside of us that need to be crucified. We must learn to put sin to death before it becomes an action.
B. God responded to Israel with grace.
He’s going to send them food!
Good food!
Plenty of food!
I wonder what Moses thought God would do.
“I am about to…”
Send them back.
Take them out.
Send a plague among them.
I am about to rain bread down from heaven (4).
God will at times use His goodness to get our attention and draw us to repentance.
When Israel saw what God did, their hearts should have broken for the way they treated Moses and the Lord.
Don’t assume that because your life is good you are good.
Even the devil has good days.
There are atheists who live with earthly blessings we don’t experience.
God shouldn’t have to bring trials into our lives to get our attention. His blessings should lead us back.
C. Israel was angry with the Lord.
Notice how clear the text makes this.
Look at verse 7:
“because He has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we that you grumble against us?”
Look at verse 8:
“because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against HIM- what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”
They problem didn’t see it that way.
Moses and Aaron didn’t split the Red Sea. The Lord was leading Israel through these men.
Matthew Henry said:
When we murmur against those who are instruments of any uneasiness to us, whether justly or unjustly, we should do well to consider how much we reflect upon God by it;
Whatever happens to me happens by the providence of God.
Grumbling against our circumstances is ultimately grumbling against God.
Do we believe Romans 8:28? All things are working together…
Do you remember what Jospeh said to his brothers who sold him into slavery? They were amazed he wasn’t angry at them. He said:
You meant it for evil but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20).
That doesn’t justify what Joseph’s brothers did to him. It does show that God is in control of every aspect of our lives. Even when we are wronged, we should wonder what the Lord will teach us through it.
Even our enemies are instruments of righteousness for us.
You may think “I’m not mad at God. I’m mad at them.”
But God could stop it. God could change it.
It’s true that Israel was mad at Moses. But ultimately, they were mad at God because God had orchestrated these events in their lives so they would grow in grace.
2. God tests Israel (13-30).
A. God fed them with quail.
That’s a good meal!
Miraculously the camp was filled with quail.
Alive. Easy to catch.
“Came up” They flew in and presented themselves as easy prey.
God told Moses to tell them they would have meat to eat in the evening (12). They probably doubted that. Meat was not easy to come by. Especially enough meat to feed them all.
God proved Himself faithful by providing the quail.
B. God fed them manna.
“Manna” means What is it?
A fine flake like thing (14)
Like coriander seed, white, tasted like wafers with honey (31)
Psalm 78:25 calls it the bread of the angels.
The Bible says they would eat it in different ways (23):
Boil it
Bake it
Every person would get an omer each day. This was about 2 quarts (16).
It was a food that was provided supernaturally by God. Six days a week the Lord provided this food in the morning time.
C. God uses the manna to test Israel.
He gives them specific commands:
Go out each morning and gather the manna.
You should gather an omer for each person in your house (16).
Don’t leave any overnight.
On the sixth day gather an extra day’s worth. On this day what you set aside would not spoil.
On the seventh day don’t gather any.
Will they obey? Some do, some don’t.
Some of them kept it overnight. When they woke up the next morning it had worms in it and stank (20).
Some of them tried to gather it on the seventh day (27). There was none. This shows it was a miracle. If it were a natural occurrence, how would it be missing every Sabbath day?
Why would people store up the manna? Because they didn’t trust God to provide the next day.
Why would people try and get it on the Sabbath? Greed. They wanted more than everyone else was getting.
God is good to Israel.
Some in Israel disobey God.
Interesting that the Sabbath is mentioned here. The laws of the Sabbath haven’t been established yet. We already see that the Lord has set a day aside for the people to rest.
What are they to do on this day?
They are to worship the Lord.
It would take faith- trust God to provide.
It would take obedience- rest, stop gathering.
As Christians we have a day of worship.
Get everything you need to do done by Sunday!
Trust that God will provide for you.
Obey the command to gather with the Saints.
God gave Israel manna and tested them. Would they trust Him? Would they obey Him? Would they rest?
Look at all God has given us.
Will we stop for a day and trust God to provide?
Will we obey the command to gather with the saints?
3. The manna was a picture of Christ (31-36).
An omer was to be kept by the Jews as a reminder of what God had done. Eventually it was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:4). When we come to the New Testament Jesus has something to say about manna.
He has just fed the 5,000.
The people want more signs. They tell Jesus
Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.
Jesus said Moses didn’t feed them that bread, but the Father did.
Jesus said: For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Jesus said He is the true manna from heaven. How is Jesus like that manna?
A. Jesus was given to undeserving sinners.
Israel didn’t deserve to be fed manna. We do not deserve Jesus. By God’s grace we get him.
B. Jesus came from heaven. The mystery of godliness. “What is it?” We don’t fully understand our great God.
C. Jesus was given to us freely.
Israel did not purchase the manna. There is nothing we do to deserve Christ.
D. Jesus was given to Israel.
There is no record of manna being given to any other nation. Jesus came through the Jewish people.
E. Jesus came to us.
When the manna fell it did not fall miles away. When they woke up it was right there. Jesus comes to us. Where we are.
F. Jesus is available to all who will seek Him.
Every family could get up in the morning and go get manna.
G. Jesus was without sin.
The color of the manna.
It was white (31). This speaks of the purity of Jesus. He was without sin.
H. Jesus is sweet.
The taste of the manna was like Jesus (31). Sweet like honey.
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
I. Jesus is sufficient.
Everyone who took the manna was satisfied (18)
J. Jesus is the One who satisfies the angels.
In Psalm 78:25 manna is called the bread of angels.
Jesus created the angels
The angels worship Jesus
The angels fight for Jesus
K. Jesus is still with us.
The manna was to be kept by the people. From generation to generation, they could speak of the manna (33).
Christ is still with us. He didn’t die with our grandparents. The gospel is till going forth!
L. Jesus is gathered by those who stoop.
They had to bend over to pick up the manna. If you come to Christ, you will have to bend the knee. You will have to humble yourself.
M. Jesus can be feasted on daily.
Day by day they ate the manna. Every day we can feast on Christ.
Learn of Him
Worship Him
Imitate Him
N. Jesus can be feasted on until we reach the Promised Land.
For forty years Israel ate manna (35).
Will you feast on Christ every day until you reach the Promised Land?