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"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from
heaven to eat."
"Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die."
"I am that bread of life."
"This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna,
and are dead; he that eateth of this bread shall live for the age" (John 6: 31, 48-50, 58).
Step by step we shall find Israel's history unfolding the all-sufficiency of the Son of
God for all things. His one Sacrifice as the great Passover was all sufficient for our
deliverance. Identification with Him breaks the threefold dominion of sin, death and law.
His cross makes every Marah sweet, and He, the great Gift of God, supplies all our needs
unto the very border of the promised land. The experiences of the Exodus are to be
repeated in the near future. The sore judgments of the Revelation echo the plagues of
Egypt. In an earlier article we saw that the crossing of the Red Sea was in its turn a type
of the future, and now we shall find that the miraculous supply of bread from heaven will
be repeated:
"And to the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished" (Rev. 12: 14).
We draw attention to a clause in the prayer taught in the Sermon on the Mount, viz.,
"Give us this day our daily bread". `Daily' in Greek is epiousios, from epi = upon, and
ousios = coming. The true rendering of the prayer therefore is, "Give us this day the
bread which cometh down upon us", i.e. the manna. We read of `the hidden manna' in
Rev. 2: 17. Some of the manna which fell in the wilderness was placed in the ark:
"That they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I
brought you forth from the land of Egypt" (Exod. 16: 32).
The overcomer in Pergamos was strengthened by the fact that the God Who could
sustain His children for forty years in the wilderness could once again give all needed
supplies both spiritual and physical, and even though the edict should go forth that none
should be allowed to buy or sell who had not the mark of the beast, even then the Lord
would provide while witness was necessary.
Stored up in the Ark of the Covenant were three precious witnesses of the fullness of
Christ: (1) the unbroken tables of the law, speaking of His perfect obedience, (2) the
rod that budded, speaking of His undying priesthood, and (3) the golden pot that had
the manna, speaking of His faithful provision throughout the whole of life's pilgrimage:
"Jesus said, `I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he
that believeth on Me shall never thirst'."
"Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6: 34, 35).