Bread

Introduction

Fancy restaurants serve bread.

Not always an appetizer. להם = food.

Necessary for life. Ukraine as breadbasket. Food insecurity to Starvation.

Israel understood physical hunger.

Left Egypt and traveling through the wilderness.

One month to the day.

They begin grumbling against Moses and Aaron (v. 2).

Israel will experience how...

God provides.

v. 4

Quick to complain. The exaggeration on behalf of the people.

We always think things were better in the past and worse in the present.

The unsaid accusation isn’t just against Moses and Aaron, but against God.

They are ultimately blaming God for their current condition, forgetting what they were delivered from.

Despite their rebellion and animosity towards God...

God’s love is faithful and unconditional.

God “rains” on them “bread from heaven” (v. 4).

Rain = given in abundance. Not just a little bit!

Together with God’s provision is His own presence.

There was always the pillar of fire at night or pillar of cloud during the day.

But, here, in this moment, God reveals Himself in a more powerful way.

v. 10 - His glory was now revealed in the cloud.

What would that have looked like? Glory = weight or splendor or distinction.

An awareness that God was in their presence as He made that promise.

God’s provision is also something that was unexpected.

מָן הוּא

God’s provision is often unexpected.

Sometimes we look at what God is doing and we are not going to be able to understand it!

Ever had one of those moments? Life is happening and you’re wondering, “What is this?”

It is God’s provision.

You don’t have to understand it to receive it!

God satisfies.

v. 18

The manna came with the morning dew. Evaporation, leaving this film.

“A fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground (v. 14).

“Like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (v. 31).

So, it was tasty!

And they had as much as they could eat (v. 18b).

When God provides, He gives all that people need.

Even when they didn’t know how much they would need...

God provides perfectly.

God fulfills.

v. 35

God gave them manna six days a week for 40 years.

Until they entered the Promised Land.

Until they were home.

Every day, except for Saturday, they would walk outside and gather.

God was trustworthy. Even in their absolute worst days.

God provides consistently.

God’s love is not based upon what you’ve done or how faithful you’ve been.

His love is based upon His own character.

Doesn’t matter how much, how far, how long you’ve gone without Him.

He will meet you where you are.

And then He will walk with you every step of the way for the rest of your life.

God never fails.

God provides.

Another time when people were hungry.

People were coming out to the rural areas along the Sea of Galilee to have Jesus heal their loved ones.

Jesus saw them, He understood their need, and He had compassion upon them (v. 11).

But, notice that it wasn’t just the five barley loaves and two fish that Jesus used to provide for them.

Physical hunger was important their spiritual hunger was a greater need.

Jesus came to meet our greatest need of salvation.

Jesus reveals Himself as the bread of life (v. 33).

This is the glorious appearance of Jesus that John had earlier mentioned:

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And this provision through the life of Jesus would be something that was completely unique!

Never before had God come flesh, combining His deity with humanity. Fully God and fully man.

God satisfies.

Sin drains us. It brings condemnation and guilt and despair.

Jesus comes to give meaning and purpose and love and hope!

This means we can break the cycle of looking.

From relationships to jobs to experiences and back again.

We hunger for something, but we are not sure how to satisfy the hunger.

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that we were made for another world.”

-C.S. Lewis

You were created to know God.

God fulfills.

For the Israelites in the wilderness back in Exodus 16, six days a week they would spend their mornings, only to return again the next morning.

And despite their work, they still experienced death.

This is where Jesus fulfills beyond the manna.

For the remainder of your life.

Life is found in Jesus!

You were created to have life.

Quality and Quantity.

Quality - people who are alive but not living.

Quality - life eternal. Presence of God for all eternity.

Conclusion

We get hungry.

This time of the day, stomach rumbles.

Maybe thinking about that Easter ham or scalloped potatoes or that carrot cake.

We all experience physical hunger.

But, we also all experience spiritual hunger.

It manifests itself in a variety of ways: guilt, despair, lack of purpose.

Jesus came to save you.

The Roman soldiers nailed Him to the cross, but it was His love for you that kept Him there.

And today, you can find spiritual fulfillment.

Forgiveness of your sins, the promise of eternal life, purpose in your life today.