Scripture Reading: Exo. 16:1-15 16:1And they journeyed from Elim, and all the assembly of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure out of the land of Egypt. 2And the whole assembly of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness. 3And the children of Israel said to them, If only we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole congregation with hunger. 4Then Jehovah said to Moses, I will now rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My law. 5And on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. 6So Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, In the evening you will know that Jehovah has brought you out from the land of Egypt; 7And in the morning you will see the glory of Jehovah, for He hears your murmurings against Jehovah. And what are we, that you murmur against us? 8And Moses said, This you will see when Jehovah gives you flesh to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for Jehovah hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us but against Jehovah. 9And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the assembly of the children of Israel, Come near before Jehovah, for He has heard your murmurings. 10And as Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and there the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud. 11And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 12I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At twilight you will eat flesh, and in the morning you will be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am Jehovah your God. 13And at evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14And when the layer of dew lifted, there upon the surface of the wilderness were fine round flakes, fine as the frost on the earth. 15And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.
Ⅰ
God's eternal economy is to make man the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead and to make Himself one with man and man one with Him, thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression, that all His divine attributes may be expressed in human virtues—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 3:9.
Ⅱ
God's central work is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people—Eph. 3:16-17a:
A
The principle in God's work is to gain persons and by gaining them to have a way to go on.
B
All our problems today are due to one thing—our shortage of having God in Christ wrought into our being—Gal. 4:19.
C
We need to let God work Christ as the Spirit into every part of our being—Eph. 3:17a.
Ⅲ
God's intention in His salvation is to work Himself into us and to change our constitution by feeding us with Christ as heavenly food—Exo. 16:14-15; John 6:27, 32, 35:
A
Food is anything we take into us for our satisfaction—Job 23:12b; Jer. 15:16:
１
The food we eat enters into us organically and becomes our constitution.
２
Whatever we desire, hunger, and thirst after is the diet according to which our being has been constituted.
B
God will change our diet in order to change our constitution—Deut. 8:3.
C
By giving His people manna to eat, God indicated that His intention was to change their constitution by changing their diet—Exo. 16:14-15:
１
In name the children of Israel were not Egyptian, but in nature and in constitution they did not differ from the Egyptians in the least—Exo. 16:3.
２
The Egyptian diet denotes all the things we desire to feed on in order to find satisfaction—Num. 11:4-9:
ａ
The Egyptian diet corresponded to the people's flesh and nourished it.
ｂ
The Egyptian diet constitutes people with the Egyptian element and makes them Egyptian in constitution.
３
God wanted His redeemed people to forget the Egyptian diet and to partake of heavenly food—Deut. 8:3:
ａ
Manna came from heaven and caused those who ate it to become heavenly.
ｂ
The more manna we eat, the more we correspond to God and are identified with Him.
ｃ
By eating manna we become those who live, act, behave, and walk according to what God is.
D
John 6 unveils Christ as the One who came from God to be our diet:
１
As the bread that came down from heaven, Christ is the heavenly bread—vv. 41, 50, 51, 58.
２
As the bread of God, Christ is of God and with God—v. 33.
３
As the bread of life, Christ is the bread with eternal life—35, 48.
４
As the living bread, Christ is living—v. 51.
５
As the true bread, Christ is the bread of truth or reality—v. 32.
E
What helps us most in our daily living with the Lord is eating Christ as heavenly food—John 6:56-58:
１
By eating Christ we become Christ; that is, Christ becomes our constituent.
２
May the Lord take away our hunger for anything other than Christ!
Ⅳ
God's desire is to work Himself into us and to be everything to us so that we can be built up as His dwelling place on earth—Exo. 25:8-9; 40:2, 34; Eph. 3:16-17a; 2:21-22:
A
God intends to use His people as the material for the building of His dwelling place.
B
Only those who have been reconstituted with Christ are qualified to build up the church as God's dwelling place today.
C
For the building of the church, we all need to be reconstituted with Christ—Eph. 3:16-21.