What is this? 8/25/2019

Have you ever been served a meal. It was good, delicious even. But you weren’t sure what it was.

You had to ask what is this?

You may have regretted asking.

Exodus 16:35 NKJV

35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Manna - If you thought that the word meant something simple like bread from heaven. You would be mistaken. The word manna means “What is it?”.

This bread from heaven that sustained the children of God for forty years in the wilderness. No one could tell exactly what it was. So the name Manna stuck. What is it?

Manna were these small, round, and white pieces of something similar to bread. Obviously it was not bread. But bread is the closest description of what we have. It was sweet to the taste like a honey wafer.

Every day a person were to go outside when the morning dew had settled and collect the Manna.

I can imagine the first time… Go out and see it on the ground. Some one picks it up, holds it up. What is this?

They were to collect only what was needed for that day.

Collect more, what was left would spoil.

Collect too little and the person ran the risk of being hungry. Being too weak to make the days journey in the wilderness.

For forty years God supplied. For forty years the people called it Manna. What is it?

God always supplies, sometimes we are left asking… What was that? or What is it?

God never explained Manna to the people. He just told them what they were to do.

God supplied, but it was personal responsibility to pick it up. To collect what was needed.

They had to pick it up and collect what they needed.

God will supply. He may not tell you how or what. But He will supply.

God supplied. They could ignore it. They could choose not to pick it up. They would be walking on what God was supplying.

All they had to do was to stoop over and pick it up, and they would have what they needed.

God’s promises are for you!

God’s supply are for you. But he leaves it to us to stoop over and pick them up. The act of bending over before someone is to humble yourself. God leaves it to us to humble ourselves and receive what He has supplied.

God nor his gifts and promises are very far from us. Sometimes they are right under our feet… because we have ignored them or fail to humble ourself and pick them up.

Three Categories of People

There are three categories of people in life spiritually speaking.

Not interested, no desire, not seeking.

Interested, but only looking for immediate physical satisfaction.

They seek God only for relief from life, struggles, suffering, etc.

Those interested for the eternal.

Jesus said as much in John 6 following the public miracle of feeding the five thousand and the private miracle of walking on the water.

The people found Him on the other side.

John 6:24–27 NKJV

24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

You were looking for me for another meal. There were some people who did not follow. These followed to get another meal. Others followed for the sake of following Jesus.

In this one discourse Jesus points them beyond their vision for physical satisfaction. To the true purpose of His coming.

The spiritual state. The eternal things. The everlasting life that He came to offer to the world.

Don’t labor for the things that perish. But the food that endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you...

They could not understand… They believed they had to work for the things of God.

John 6:28 NKJV

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

What do we do to earn this?

John 6:29 NKJV

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The only work is to believe in the one who sent me.

They ask what work are you going to do for proof that we should believe you?

They point to Moses and the Manna.

John 6:31–33 NKJV

31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Our fathers ate Manna in the wilderness. They ate the “What is it?” that was supplied by Moses.

Jesus points out that Moses was not giving you a sign. God was supplying the Manna, the “What is it?”.

Now He is giving another Manna, “What is it?”

John 6:47–51 NKJV

47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

The Bread of Life has come so that we can have eternal life. Not just a morning routine of picking up “What is it?” but the eternal supply of “What is it?”.

The people in the wilderness ate the “what is it?” but died in the wilderness.

But eat some of the bread of life and you will live forever.

Jesus continues to offer Manna. It is the “what is it?” of the Spirit.

This was difficult for those who heard Jesus to understand. The Jews argued about it. Some of the people counted among the disciples left him over it.

The disciples complained about it.

John 6:61–63 NKJV

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Flesh paid the price on the cross, so that the Spirit could give life.

Jesus is pointing them toward what will be done.

Today: Jesus is the Bread of Life, and He is giving out the Spirit that gives life.

In Acts 2 when the Spirit was given to His followers and they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability. The onlookers asked what could this mean?

Acts 2:12 NKJV

12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

They were asking, what is this?

Peter begins to tell them, this is the promise being fulfilled.

Acts 2:32–33 NKJV

32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

This is the Spirit that gives life.

Acts 2:37–38 NKJV

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What is this?

What do we need to do?

Peter’s response is you need to pick it up.

Repent, Baptized in the name of Jesus, and you shall receive the gift.

Imagine that - the first time God begins to pour out his promise. Someone sees and does a double take.

What is this?

Like the Manna from heaven. What is this?

This is God’s supply. This is the promised gift for His people.

Stop asking what is it. Start picking it up. Start eating and enjoying it.