trusting in Christ. If you will,
let's open our Bibles again tonight to Exodus chapter 16. Exodus
chapter 16. We considered the manna. that
is spoken of in this chapter last week as a type or as a picture,
a shadow of the written word of God. Now tonight, we're going
to look at the manna as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
living word of God. And I have several ways in which
the manna may picture or be a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe
I have six. There's many others, but this
will be sufficient. Now we know, we know from our
Lord's words in John chapter six, that this manna did picture
Christ because he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth
you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. And of course,
that is Christ. He is the true bread, the true
against that which pictured it. This was a picture of the true
bread, but Christ is the true bread. The first type that I
want to mention is the giving of the manna shows God's goodness. As we read through this chapter
and think about God giving this manna to Israel, it shows, it
speaks to us of the goodness of God, God's goodness. If you look in verses three and
four of this, or verses two and three rather, we read again,
and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured,
murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, And the children
of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand
of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots
and when we did eat bread to the full. For you have brought
us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger." Don't we see their rebellion, their rebellion? by the words
that they spoke, their unbelief, and obviously their ingratitude. What a picture of mankind, all
of us by nature. Unbelieving, ungrateful for the
goodness of God, for his blessings upon our life, and rebelling
against God, and God's way, and God's word, and God's truth.
Just rebellion. We're born, the scripture says,
like a wild ass's colt. And you just imagine out there
in the West, in one of those Western states, the high mountains,
and those Those asses, those donkeys or whatever, nobody owns
them, they're just wild. And that's the way God describes
you and me when we come into this world. Just like a wild
asses cult. Never been bridled, never been
ridden, no, just wild and kicking and against everything. The rebellion. that is born in our hearts. You
know, that's called depravity, isn't it? It's called depravity.
It's called inheriting a sinful nature. And all of us do when
we are born into this world of our fathers. You know, in Romans
chapter three, the apostle Paul, in showing the fallen nature,
the fallen condition of all men, he quotes a number of Old Testament
scriptures. And just an example, he said,
there is none that understandeth. Now the word none, you say, what
does that mean? It means there ain't any. There's
none that understandeth by nature. We don't understand the things
of God, why? Because we're dead in trespasses
and sins. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. No man seeks God until and
unless God seeks him. We love him because he first
loved us, the scriptures tell us. And when God seeks us, then
we begin to seek him. And you know, the scripture says,
seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while
he is near. Seek the Lord. Yes, we're commanded
to. We have a responsibility to seek
the Lord, to believe on Christ. But no man ever does until God
first seeks him. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which is lost. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh God, seeketh after God. They're all,
A-L-L, they are all gone out of the way. Did anyone, does
anyone escape original sin? Of course not. No, we all come
into this world. And I've made this statement
many times. No one becomes a sinner by sinning. We're born sinners. We come into
this world having received a nature from our father Adam, which is
a sinful nature. God created Adam in his image,
but when Adam disobeyed God, he lost that holy image in which
he had been created. And then we read, and Adam had
a son in his image, and his image was now a fallen image. They're
together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. So the first thing I'm showing
us or emphasizing is the goodness of God. The goodness of God. Look back to a few pages in Genesis
chapter six. Here we have a description of
mankind. Genesis chapter six before the
flood. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, or as
Margin says, every day. Every day. But look at God's
goodness, turn back now to Exodus 16. We see their unbelief, we
see their rebellion, we see their ingratitude in their words when
they said, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt. But now look at what the Lord
says in verse four, and we see his goodness. Then said the Lord
unto Moses, behold, look, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven
for you. Who are the you here? When God
told Moses, I will rain bread from heaven for you. Who are
the you here? They're the ones that were filled
with rebellion, ones that were filled with unbelief, the ones
who said, what do God? We had died in Egypt. What a picture of God's goodness
in sending his son into the world. When God here says, I will reign
bread from heaven for you. God's goodness in sending the
Lord Jesus Christ into this world. And he came here not to condemn
the world. The world's already condemned
when the Lord Jesus came into this world. He came not to condemn
the world, the scripture says, but to save the world. not to
destroy, but to save. I think of the words in Psalm
107. We won't turn there, but four
times in that Psalm, we see these same words. Oh, oh, that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works
unto the children of men. Have you praised God today for
his goodness? That's what we do when we come
here, isn't it? To worship. We praise God. These
hymns that we sing and our worship, bowing before the Lord. We're
praising him for his goodness. Oh, the psalmist said that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful
works unto the children of men. Think about his works unto the
children of men and sending his son into this world to be our
Savior. So that's my first point. The
giving of the manna shows God's goodness, just like sending his
son into this world to be our Savior shows God's goodness to
men. The second thing, notice the
manna came down from heaven. Verse four. Behold, I will reign
bread from heaven. The manna came down from heaven.
You know, Our Lord told Nicodemus, this is recorded in John chapter
three, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down
from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven. That's an amazing statement the
Lord made to Nicodemus, isn't it? No man hath ascended up to
heaven, no one hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the Son of Man, he's speaking of himself,
of course, as the Son of Man, the Son of Man which is in heaven. As God, he has always been one
with the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And yet he was in heaven
as God He took into union with his deity that body that was
prepared him. And so as the God-man, he was
here upon the earth speaking to Nicodemus when he made that
statement. The bread came down from heaven,
the true bread, the Lord Jesus Christ. Where did he come from?
He came down from heaven, didn't he? He came down from heaven. Another verse in John 8, 32 tells
us Our Lord was speaking to some people that hated him there in
this passage of scripture, some religious leaders. And he said,
you are from beneath. I am from above. Above, heaven. I am from above. You are of this
world. I'm not of this world. He came down from heaven, just
like this bread. Our Lord said, I will reign bread. from heaven for you. And it came down from heaven
at night. You say, how do you know that?
Well, there's two things that we're told in this chapter that
reminds us that the bread came down at night. And I think of
this in the darkness of this world, when I don't see how this
world could have been any darker. than when the Lord Jesus Christ,
the true bread, came into this world. We know that one nation,
the nation of Israel, they had the oracles of God. But all the
other nations, you read about this in Romans chapter one, how
that they worshiped other gods as gods. They worshiped man,
they worshiped beasts. Yes, some even worshiped reptiles. and the nation of Israel who
had the word of God, you remember the Lord Jesus Christ said that
their leaders, their religious leaders, were blind leaders. Now, the world couldn't have
been any darker than when The Lord, the true
bread came down into this world. I know it came down at night
because if you look here in verse 14, here in Exodus chapter 16, Verse 14, it says, and when the
dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness
there lay a small round thing, as small as a hoarfrost on the
ground. When does the dew fall? The dew
comes at night, doesn't it? In the morning, when it's dark. And its bread came down when
it was dark. And Lord Jesus Christ, when he
came down, this world was a dark place. It still is. When a person is without Christ,
it's still a dark world. And then another reason I know
it came down at night, if you look in verse 21, when were they
to gather this bread? In the morning, verse 21. And
they gathered it every morning. Now, it had to be gathered in
the morning. Came down when the duke fell,
so it came down at night. Here's a third type. The manna
was white. This manna was a small, round
thing. We talked about it being round
last time as a picture of God's eternal love. But it was white. quoted a verse or read a verse
to us from the book of Revelation, which speaks to the bride, the
Lamb's wife, and she's arrayed in white, and white is a picture
of purity, of purity. And this, look in verse 31. This
manna was white, and the house of Israel called the name thereof
manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, white, the purity
that it pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, in the
New Testament, speaking of Christ, think of these three verses.
In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, we read, He knew no sin. He that knew no sin. It doesn't
mean that he didn't know mentally what sin is, that it is a violation
of God's law. But it means, of course, that
he knew no sin by experience. He knew no sin. He was guilty
of no sin. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? And no man could answer. And
Pilate, who was his judge, remember, he said, I find no fault in this
man. I find no fault in this man.
He who knew no sin. And then in Hebrews four and
verse 15, we read, he was without sin, knew no sin. He was without sin. And then
in first Peter two and verse 22, he did no sin. Now in the law and the law that
God gave to Moses, This was pictured by those animal sacrifices. Remember, they brought different
animals. They brought goats, they brought
sheep, they brought beefs. There was different animals they
could bring to the priest and their blood would be shed and
the body would be, carcass would be burned. If it was a sin offering,
it was all burned outside the camp. If it was a peace offering,
it was burned, of course, on the altar. But here's the thing,
those animals, they could not have any blemish. Let me read
you one verse in Leviticus 22 and verse 21. And whosoever offereth
a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish his
vow, or a freewill offering in beaves, That's beef or cattle
or sheep. It shall be perfect to be accepted. That'd be perfect. Couldn't be
blind or a limping or anything like that. Not only perfect in
that sense, but also there shall be no, yeah, no, no blemish therein. That was a picture of Christ,
isn't it? He was a sinless one. Born without sin, the Apostle
Peter declares that we're not redeemed with corruptible things
as silver and gold. Had his blood, by which he purchased
the church, if his blood had been corruptible, it could not
have purchased us. It could not have saved us. When
Peter said, we're not redeemed with corruptible things such
as silver and gold. Where does silver come from?
Where does the gold come from? It comes from the earth. And
God cursed this earth. When Adam sinned, God cursed
this earth. And yes, even gold, which men,
Some men, they spend their whole life seeking after, doing everything
they can to accumulate as much gold or silver as possible and
never enough. Have you noticed that about all
of us? When men set their hearts on
money, on silver, on gold, there's never, ever enough. We live in
a country that is so full of greed. Greed. God help us. Scripture says the
love of money is the root of all evil. But gold, a man might
have a house full of it. He couldn't pay for his redemption.
He couldn't put away one sin. No, Peter said, we're not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with
the precious blood. of Christ. As of a lamb, we sang
that hymn just a little while ago, didn't we? Look to the Lamb
of God. Why look to Him? Why believe
in Him? Because His blood, His death
in the place of a sinner, that's what saves a man, saves a boy
or girl. Look to the Lamb of God. Here's a fourth thing, with a
manna, the glory of God was connected. Look in verse 10 here in Exodus
16. This is the first mention in
the Bible where we have these words, the glory of God, the
glory of God. Verse 10. And it came to pass
as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children
of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness and behold, the
glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. When the apostle John was inspired
as he was to write the gospel according to John, That's a narrative,
isn't it, of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only
one gospel. You know, there's four gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but those are gospel narratives
of the life of Christ. There's only one gospel, and
that one gospel is revealed in those four narratives of the
life of Christ. Yes, Christ, he is the gospel. He is the good news. There is
no good news apart from the Lord Jesus Christ for any sinner. But anyway, when John wrote his,
you know, Luke, he begins his gospel narrative with the announcement
to Zacharias, who would be the father of John the Baptist, and
then to Mary, who would be the mother of Jesus. Matthew also
records the birth of of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark doesn't, but
John, he goes back even farther, doesn't he? He goes back into
eternity. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But then he
says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And what
did we behold? John, remember in his first letter,
he said, we touched him. We talked with him. Well, who's
he talking about? He's talking about life, the
eternal son of God. And when he became flesh, when
the word was made flesh, he said, we beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the father. And that's in parentheses. But have you ever noticed what
follows that? This is John 1, 14. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." The Lord Jesus Christ. Now think
about that. He's full of grace and truth. Grace, isn't that what we all
need? Isn't it? Unmerited favor? Yes. He's full of it. He's full of grace. You know,
sometimes people get the idea that we've got to do this and
do that and get everything straightened up and then come to Christ and
look to Christ. No, no, look to Christ. He's full of grace and grace
is what we need. Grace to repent, grace to believe,
grace to trust in Him. He's full of grace. And not only
grace, but he's full of truth. The truth about God. You know,
in one of the Psalms, God charges man with saying, he said, thou
thoughtest that I was altogether such in one as thou art. And
that's something we're all guilty of. We get this idea that God
is like us. No, no, no, no. If we start off
with that thought, we're going to come to a very wrong knowledge
or thought about God. He's not like us. He's not. He's full of truth. The Lord
Jesus is. He came down to show us the Father. Remember, His disciples said,
show us the Father. and it sufficeth us. That'll
be enough. Just show us the Father. Philip,
have I been so long time with you, and thou hast not known
me, not seen me? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Yes, he's full of truth, truth
about God, a truth about salvation, how it is only in the person
and work of Jesus Christ, he said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And
he's full of the truth about us too, isn't he, about man.
Yes, if you being evil, that's what he said. He was talking
to men, wasn't he? If you being evil, and we are
all by nature, yes. This manna, the glory of God.
You know, in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6, the scripture says,
for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, God
created the heavens and the earth. Then he created what? The light.
He commanded the light. Light be, and light was. Well, the same God who created
the light, commanded the light to shine out of darkness in the
creation, he's the God who must shine in our hearts to give us
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
in the person of Jesus Christ. You know, the food, here's the
fifth thing about this manna. It came to a needy people. The
manna came to a needy people. They'd been gone from Egypt for
one month at this point. One month. Now, they didn't have
a suburban. They didn't have a U-Haul. The
only thing they brought with them was what they could carry
on their back or in their arms or whatever. And I'm sure whatever
food they had taken with them when they left Egypt that night,
a month before, it's pretty much all gone now. It's all wasted. And this manner comes down to
a hungry people. They would starve. They would
starve apart from this manner. People, most of us and all of
us by nature, we try to fill our bellies our minds, our hearts,
with the husk. We're just like the prodigal
son. You remember he demanded of his
father his inheritance and he took it and went into a far country
and wasted his inheritance and then he joined himself to one
man. He was hungry and the man put
him out there in a hog pen feeding swine. And he tried to fill his
belly, the scripture says, with the husk. from the food that
he was feeding the swine. And it's like that water the
Lord Jesus told that woman at the well, whosoever drinketh
of this well shall thirst again. And men try, we all do by now,
we try to find satisfaction by the things of this world. Some
people seek after wealth, some people seek after recognition,
fame, whatever. It's not satisfying. These people would have starved
had not God in mercy sent this bread down from heaven. And man
will die in his sins and perish eternally without the bread of
life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the last thing, number
six. The man, notice in verse 16,
here in 1616, Every man had to gather his own
manna. Look at that. This is the thing
which the Lord hath commanded, gather of it every man. This speaks to us of this truth
that each person, I can't believe for you and you can't believe
for me. Fathers cannot believe for their
children. Children cannot believe for their
parents. Wives cannot believe for their
husbands and husbands cannot believe for their wives. No,
every man had to gather for himself. And every person must trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. No one can believe for another
or receive Christ for another. How many parents have I known
who would have supposed given their lives if they could have
given their children faith to trust in Christ. Doesn't work
that way, does it? Every person must gather for
himself. Look to the Lamb of God. I was thinking in closing this
message of that servant of Abraham who went to seek a wife, a bride
for Isaac. And Abraham told him, don't you
take a wife or my son from these people here in the land of Canaan.
You go to my parents, my family relations, and you get a bride
for my son Isaac. And everything was going to Isaac. Abraham, he had servants, he
had wealth untold. And all of it's going to Isaac.
And the servant takes off, he's got 12, I believe it's 12 camels
loaded down with wealth and everything else to get a bride. And here's
this man, think about this. This man shows up where the people
came to, there was a well to get water, and he prayed. And he asked the Lord in his
providence to send the woman that would be the one to be a
wife for his servant, his master's son. And here comes Rebecca. And she finds out that this servant
is a servant of a kinsman. And she invites him home. And
this servant tells her brother and her mother, her dad was already
passed away. My master has one son and everything's
going to be his. And he sent me here to find a
wife for his son. And here's this lady that I've
prayed and in God's providence, she's the one. And his family,
her family, they were fart. I mean, he put out the jewels,
the gold, the bracelets and all the jewels, you know, and they
were fart. But let her stay here for two
weeks, I believe it was, 10 days. Let her stay here for 10 days
and then she can go. He said, no. No. Before we do anything else, I
want this settled. I want her to go with me now."
There's Rebecca. She's never seen this man before. And her brother and her mother,
they couldn't make the decision for her. They asked her, will thou go
with this man? I'll go. I'll go. That's amazing, isn't it? But
you know what? Every person who's saved, it's
amazing grace that men will turn from their sins and turn from
everything else that we're prone to trust in and look to Jesus
Christ alone. Yes. Yes, I'll go with that man. Not tomorrow. Right now, yes,
I will go with him. Scripture says, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Okay, let's sing a hymn
and we'll be dismissed. Amen. Let's all stand and let's
sing, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, number 204. O soul, are you weary
and troubled? Turn your eyes upon Jesus.