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Redeemer Bible Church

Unreserved Accountability to Christ. Undeserved Acceptance from Christ.

The Bread of Heaven

Exodus 15:22-17:7

Introduction
If you’ve ever permitted yourself to be close enough to one of your elders
immediately before, during, or after the weekly prayer meeting (present company included,
of course), then you no doubt have smelled the vestiges of the food from our dinner
meeting. For nearly every week, we discuss the issues of shepherding the brethren of
Redeemer over a meal.

I mention this because it is remarkable to me how central to our meeting is the

question of which elder is brining dinner. And then from my end (and perhaps this is only
peculiar to me), I begin thinking of what we may be eating. Will Pastor Don be supplying
pizza and sandwiches from Davanni’s or Chinese from Leeann Chin? Or will Pastor Doug
conjure an assortment of salads from Byerly’s? Our elder candidate, Rob Cooper has been
known to deliver the homestyle flavors of Boston Market. And my staple tends to be the
gourmet tastes of Wendy’s. It is amazing, but I can really become occupied in my mind
with the age old question, “What’s for dinner?”

And this is true not only with respect to the meal for our elder meeting, but also with
the Glenn family fare. When I visit with my wife on the phone throughout the work day, at
least one of those conversations includes something about what’s for dinner, even if I just
ate breakfast!

Now the reason I tell you this is because I think that it is something that is common
among the members of the human family. We are eaters! If we don’t eat we’ll die. In
addition, food gives us comfort, satisfaction, and pleasure. In fact, it was designed that way.
Psalm 104:14-15 says, “[The Lord] causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation
for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine which
makes man's heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which
sustains man's heart.”

Now since the Lord has ordained food not simply as a source of life to us, but also as
a source of pleasure and satisfaction, it is quite natural for us to plan our lives around its
consumption, and even to look forward with anticipation to its heart-gladdening and heart-
sustaining qualities.

Having said that, it’s important that I offer you a warning. Since food is something
that the Lord has created for our life, satisfaction, and pleasure, if it is not sanctified by
means of the word of God and prayer (if I may borrow from the Apostle Paul), it can very

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easily become an idol of our hearts. Not the food itself, of course, but the life and comfort
and joy it affords those who consume it. We can easily begin to place our hope and joy and
satisfaction in our next meal rather than in the Lord who gives it.

In case you think me strange to be saying such things, let me ask you this: do you
ever eat to alleviate feelings of depression, loneliness, or despair? Do you ever sin against
your spouse or your fellow students or colleagues or children and attribute your impatience
or bitterness or anger to missing breakfast or lunch or dinner? Under stress, do you ever find
yourself fantasizing about your next meal, looking to it to calm and comfort you during a
time of increased pressure?

Oh, food is a wonderful gift of the Lord. It is a soul-satisfying and heart-gladdening

present from the hand of God. But in the hands of sinners like us, our meals can be
transformed into filth, into our ultimate source of life, satisfaction, and joy, which is
precisely the opposite of God’s intention. The Lord’s provision of food is intended to direct
us to the One who is the ultimate source of life, satisfaction, and joy.

This is, in part, what God’s provision of the manna in the wilderness is meant to
convey to his people. Turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus 16.

Grumblings over Food: A Window on the Heart

As we begin, you should be reminded that this text is part of a larger section of
Exodus spanning 15:22-17:7 in which God not only provides food for his people following
their departure from four hundred years of Egyptian captivity, but also provides them with
water. This morning we shall only address the former. Let’s start with vv 1-3:

Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons 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 from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole
congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. 3 The sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the
LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate
bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole
assembly with hunger."

Focus your attention especially on v 2: The whole congregation of the sons of

Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. There are several remarkable
features of Israel’s grumbling depicted here that are worth mentioning. First, the people are
grumbling and complaining on the heels of God’s provision of sustenance at the waters of
Marah set forth for us at the end in 15:22-27. In light of this miracle, that Israel would at all
question Moses and Aaron’s intentions is baffling to say the least.

Second, Israel is grumbling and complaining following an even more stupendous

display of the power of God for their good than the one at Marah—the miraculous
deliverance from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea! The events of the sea should have
taught them that having the Lord as their God means that they are in more than capable
hands. But as the psalmist says,

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Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not
remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8
Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His
power known. 9 Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them
through the deeps, as through the wilderness. 10 So He saved them from the hand of
the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 The
waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left. 12 Then they believed His
words; They sang His praise. 13 They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for
His counsel, 14 But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert
(Ps 106:7-14).

Third, Israel’s grumbling and complaining is depicted in v 2 in such a way as to

indicate the pervasiveness of their grumbling. I say this because of the little phrase the
whole congregation that initiates v 2. This language, not used previously, is picked up in
vv 3, 9 & 10 to indicate a widespread and concerted act of rebellion on the part of God’s
people. Look again at v 3 and then jump down with me to vv 9-10:

The sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the LORD'S
hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the
full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger."
Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel,
'Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumblings.'" 10 It came about
as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked
toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

Notice that Moses tells Aaron to speak to all the congregation regarding Israel’s
grumblings and that the narrator says in v 10 that Aaron does it; that is, that he speaks to
the whole congregation of the sons of Israel. Clearly, this grumbling, this murmuring
against God and his leadership is something that should be understood to have its source in
Israel as a whole. Their guilt is widespread.

So then, here’s what we have in vv 1-3: a clear depiction of Israel offering an en

masse complaint against Moses and Aaron (and ultimately the Lord) even though they had
experienced a miraculous deliverance out from under Egyptian oppression and a marvelous
provision of water when their resources had run dry. But more than what we have seen so
far, there is something very telling in Israel’s complaint itself recorded in v 3. Read it again
with me and see if you can’t tell what is going on in Israel’s heart: “The sons of Israel said
to them, ‘Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat
by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this
wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”

Their lack of food became for them a source of a lack of faith. It is saying essentially,
“We had it better under Pharaoh than we do under the Lord.” And the reason is that back
then we sat by pots of meat and ate bread to the full. The satisfaction of their bellies was
connected in their hearts to their satisfaction with God. If God does not satisfy my stomach

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with bread as soon as I desire it, then my loyalty will shift to the next best thing, to the next
best god, to the god who can gratify my appetites.

This is what lies at the heart of Israel’s complaint. It is not simply that God’s people
so quickly forgot what the Lord had done for them at the Red Sea and at Marah. It is that
deep in their hearts, they sought solace, satisfaction, comfort and joy outside of the Lord. It
is that deep in their hearts they transferred their faith from him to the god of their bellies,
leading them right back to Egypt.

The Grace of God

And yet, in spite of such a rebellious heart-disposition, a heart so easily enamored of
the gifts rather than the giver, the Lord continues to give and give and give. Read vv 4-8
with me.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will 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 instruction. 5 "On the sixth day, when they
prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily." 6 So Moses
and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, "At evening you will know that the LORD
has brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning you will see the glory
of the LORD, for He hears your grumblings against the LORD; and what are we,
that you grumble against us?" 8 Moses said, "This will happen when the LORD gives
you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the LORD
hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your
grumblings are not against us but against the LORD."

Beginning from the end, notice that v 8 is essentially a reiteration of vv 6-7. The
Lord will give his people meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning;
that is, at evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt;
and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord. In other words, v 8 is describing the
concrete and visible manifestation of Yahweh’s power to save—the meat and the manna
will reveal something of the saving glory of Israel’s God.

Verse 8 also repeats v 7’s reason for the Lord’s glorious provision. The phrase for
the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against him is nearly identical to one
found in v 7: for he hears your grumblings against the Lord. Make no mistake; the
narrator wants us to see that the Lord’s miraculous endowment of food in the wilderness is
given in response to Israel’s complaint against him. But rather than a response of deserved
judgment, we see a response of undeserved kindness—God raining bread from heaven for his
people (v 4). The repetition of the reason for God’s response highlights the graciousness of
the act.

And yet there is another repetition of v 7 found in v 8; namely, Moses and Aaron’s
identification of the true object of Israel’s grumblings. In v 8, Moses asks the people, “And
what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.” This is a clear
reiteration (and expansion) of Moses and Aaron’s question at the end of v 7: And what are
we, that you grumble against us? It is not Moses or Aaron that the people really have a

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problem with—their issue is not with them; instead, deep down they have misplaced
loyalty: Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.

I hasten to add that this point reinforces the notion we have been suggesting so far;
namely, that Israel’s complaint reflects at its heart a lack of faith in the Lord. Looking to
the sating of their physical appetites, they quickly abandon the Lord in their hearts for a
time when, though under cruel bondage, their bellies were full. “No food; no faith” is the
bumper-sticker demand displayed on every car in the Israeli caravan.

But in defiance of the waywardness of Israel’s hearts, despite their seeking for
satisfaction in bread alone, God kindly provides for their need. The miracle is recorded in
vv 9-18. Let’s read them together:

Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel,
'Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumblings.'" 10 It came about
as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked
toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 "I have heard the grumblings of the sons of
Israel; speak to them, saying, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you
shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'" 13 So
it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the
morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew
evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing,
fine as the frost on the ground. 15 When the sons 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 the LORD has given you to eat. 16 "This is what the LORD has
commanded, 'Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an
omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.'" 17 The
sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. 18 When they
measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who
had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.

You can see immediately that what we read in vv 6-8 is voiced again even as God is
about to provide for his people. First in v 9, Moses tells Aaron to say to all the
congregation of the sons of Israel that the Lord has heard their grumblings. And then in v
12, the Lord tells Moses the same thing: I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel.
And having heard their grumblings, God promises to provide them with bread and meat,
morning and evening.

This provision, as we learn in v 4, God intends for Israel’s testing. Look back up to v
4 with me: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will 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 instruction.” It is a test to see whether or not
Israel would carefully obey his commands. Or as Deut 8:2 puts it: “You shall remember all
the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He
might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep
His commandments or not.”

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But more than that, the provision of food, of manna in the wilderness was meant to
show Israel what was in their hearts; for in order for obedience to the Lord’s commands to
be genuine, it must be the expression of an undivided, loyal heart. God’s provision and
related commands were meant as a vivid illustration to show that the Lord is God and that
he is all they really need. Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “He humbled you and let you be hungry,
and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might
make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything
that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

And this is why Exod 16:12 says what it does—look at it again: I have heard the
grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, “At twilight you shall eat meat,
and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the
LORD your God.” God desert provision will show his people that their God is so vastly
superior to any other God that he doesn’t even need the earth to provide his people with
bread. He can rain it down on them from heaven, providing enough for every day and for
every one (vv 4, 16-18, 21).

How to Breed Maggots

And yet, notwithstanding this great and miraculous provision, Israel’s hope was still
in their bellies; they did not learn the lesson of the wilderness. Look at vv 19-20: Moses said
to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.” But they did not listen to Moses,
and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses
was angry with them.

Well then, here is one of those commands associated with the manna with which the
Lord would test his people: Let no man leave any of it until morning. But they did not
listen to Moses; instead, they placed their hope in the gift rather than the giver and left part
of it until morning. And as always, when the gift of God becomes the object of our faith
rather than a signpost to faith, it turns to filth in our hands. Or in the case of the assembly in
the wilderness, their manna bred worms and became foul. It became a maggot-ridden pile
of filth.

And just in case you thought that the worm-ridden and foul day-old manna was a
kind of by-product of its natural physical properties, you need only look to vv 22-24:

Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each
one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 then he said to
them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy
sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all
that is left over put aside to be kept until morning." 24 So they put it aside until
morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm
in it.

When the people put the manna aside until the morning of the Sabbath as Moses
had commanded, it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. Maggot-ridden
manna was an object lesson for the people of God, not a reflection of its shelf life! It is

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meant to show that one’s hope, satisfaction, comfort, joy, and trust can only find solace, can
only find rest in the Lord alone—even when the gifts are from his hand, they can never
replace the giver as the object of our faith. If they had received the gifts with faith, they
would have obeyed Moses’ command.

Even the name of God’s heavenly bread makes it clear that the Lord’s intention in
giving the manna to the people was an object lesson suited to faith in him. Notice v 31: The
house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was
like wafers with honey. The word manna reflects the question recorded back in v 15.1
Look back there with me: When the sons of Israel saw it (that is, the bread from heaven),
they said to one another, “What is it?”2 For they did not know what it was. And Moses
said to them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”
The fact that they can’t name it, that it is wholly unfamiliar to them “heightens their
consciousness of [their] absolute reliance upon God’s beneficence.”3 They cannot trust in
what God gives them per se because they don’t even know what it is. They can only believe
God that it will nourish and sustain them in their journey.

And I should mention that more than that, as they consume the Lord’s bread, they
can see that the Lord is no Stoic, if you will. It doesn’t taste like the mush of “The Matrix.”
It is not bland porridge—it tasted like wafers with honey!

So there are at least two things happening here with God’s provision of manna: first,
its mysteriousness points you to reliance upon God. You must move from what you don’t
know to what you know. And second, its tastiness also points you to reliance upon God;
for what God intends for us is not simply the nourishment of the caloric intake necessary to
sustain one’s bodily function on a trek in the desert. He is the God who has given us all
things to enjoy. And a God of pleasure is a God worth trusting. If you set your hope on
him alone, he will not disappoint.

And yet, we must be reminded that the moment this enjoyment fails to redound to
the glory of God; we fail to learn the lesson of the manna. And in light of the human
condition, it is an easy lesson to forget.

This explains the mandate of vv 32-36:

Then Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded, 'Let an omerful
of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you
in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'" 33 Moses said to
Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the LORD
to be kept throughout your generations." 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so
Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 The sons of Israel ate the manna

1
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2
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3
Nahum M Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society,
1991), 86.

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forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came
to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)

Remembering the Manna for the Future

Succeeding generations must be reminded that the Lord fed his people in the
wilderness when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. So the lesson of the manna is
more than a lesson for the people described in this passage of Scripture. No, the lesson of
the manna is a lesson for all time; it is a lesson for the ages. And why? For precisely the
reason I have been suggesting this morning: because the most important lesson we can learn
is that our only hope, our only joy, our only comfort, our only lasting satisfaction is found
in the Lord our God.

And yet to end here would be to fail to do justice to the ultimate reason for the
perpetual reminder of the manna. Oh, the ultimate reason is not unrelated to the truth that
our hope, joy, comfort, and lasting satisfaction are found in the Lord our God. Not at all!
It’s just that God intended this perpetual reminder of the manna to prepare his people for a
future provision that would be the ultimate indicator that true and lasting satisfaction is
found in him alone and that therefore he is the only legitimate object of our hope and trust.

Turn with me in your Bibles to John 6.

After having fed the five thousand, Jesus enters into a dialogue with those who
received the gift of food from his miraculous hand. Jesus’ response begins in v 26: Jesus
answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw
signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”

In other words, “they were moved not by full hearts, but by full bellies.”4 Rather
than comprehending the significance of Jesus’ feeding miracle—what it was pointing to—
their interest in Jesus is superficial; it is because they ate of the loaves and were filled.

And yet, this stunning rebuke is followed by a wonderful word of encouragement.

Look at v 27: Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to
eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set
His seal.

To work for the food that perishes is to miss the significance of the food itself;
God’s miraculous provision of food—whether in the wilderness for forty years, or on the
green oasis of Tiberias as here in John 6—the Lord’s provision of physical food is meant to
point its recipients to food that endures to eternal life, to food which remains forever and
culminates in eternal life. So rather than working for the food that perishes, our aim should
be to pour our energy into pursuing the right sort of food, which the Son of Man will give to
those who seek him.

4
Leon Morris, The Gospel according to John, revised edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 317.

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A natural, but misplaced question follows. Notice v 28: Therefore they said to Him,
“What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus’ audience mistakenly
concludes that the work to which Jesus is referring is something other than trusting in him.
He quickly clarifies in v 29: Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” To work for the food which endures to
eternal life is to believe in the one whom the Lord has sent; namely, Jesus himself.
“Very well, then,” say the crowds in vv 30-31, “if we must believe in you to do the
work of God, to obtain the food that endures to eternal life, and since, as you point out,
we seek you not because we saw signs, what then do you do for a sign so that we may see,
and believe you. What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”

Here we go! Here’s where we see God’s ultimate intention in preserving the manna
as a perpetual memorial for his people—he wanted to prepare them for what comes in vv
32-35. Begin with vv 32-33: Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not
Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the
true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven,
and gives life to the world.”
“First,” says the Lord Jesus, “the focus should be moved from Moses to my father.”
My father gives you the true bread out of heaven; it is not Moses who gives this bread,
but someone greater. And clearly, this someone greater is not simply the father, but as Jesus
says, “My father.” I’m sure you can begin to see where he’s going with this.

“Second,” Jesus continues, “the focus should be moved from something that
happened in the past to something that is happening in the present.” Verse 32: It is not
Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the
true bread out of heaven. There is something happening now, a gift of bread that Jesus’
father is presently giving that is the true bread from heaven.

Now this is not to say that the manna was not from heaven. In fact, there are many
ways in which it was like the bread that Jesus describes. The manna in the wilderness came
down from heaven to undeserving sinners who were preserved and nourished by it. But in
comparison to where Jesus is going, such bread can only be crudely considered bread out of
heaven; for…look again at v 33: For the bread of God is that which comes down out of
heaven, and gives life to the world.

The bread of Israel’s wilderness wanderings did not give eternal life and it did not
give that life to the world. That Jesus is referring to eternal life here is clear from the
context, as he has just called on the people to work for the food that endures to eternal life in
v 27. The true bread is able to impart eternal life, while the manna was not. In addition,
the manna was limited in scope to the sons of Israel alone. Only they could benefit from
God’s provision. This true bread, given at the present time, however, benefits not only
Israel, but the whole world.

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And though they still do not comprehend what Jesus is getting at, the people want
this life-giving, all-encompassing bread. And so they say in v 34: Lord, always give us this
bread. Perhaps, like the woman at the well, they still understand Jesus to be referring to
physical sustenance.5 Jesus makes it even clearer in v 35: Jesus said to them, “I am the
bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never
thirst.”

There you have it! Jesus says, I am the bread of life! I am the bread of life. I am
the bread that comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. I am the true bread
that the Lord is presently giving for those who will trust in him. So if you come to Jesus,
you will not hunger, if you believe in Jesus you will never thirst.

The language couldn’t be more emphatic. Both the phrases will not hunger and will
never thirst are double negatives in Greek, which is the most decisive way of negativing
something in the language. In addition, the sentence ends with the word pw,pote, which
means “ever,” or “at any time.”6 So we could translate like this: “He who comes to me will
never, never hunger and he who believes in me will never, never thirst—ever.”

Physical food doesn’t work like this! Not even manna works like this. It never
brings true satisfaction, which is exactly the point. It is the point of food generally and of
manna specifically. In reality, both are meant to point us away from the comfort and joy
and satisfaction of food—which are real—they are meant to point us to a greater, deeper,
more profound comfort and joy and satisfaction—comfort and joy and satisfaction in the
present manna that the Lord has released from heaven.

So there was something inherently incomplete about the manna, something partial.
Oh, it needed to be remembered, but it needed to be remembered precisely because it was
designed to anticipate the future manna that the Lord would give. Jump down to vv 48-51:
"I am the bread of life. 49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50
"This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not
die. 51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My
flesh."

“Just look,” says Jesus, “at the net result for those who ate the manna in the
wilderness. They died! But what you need to know is that there is bread that comes down
out of heaven, bread that is presently available, which if you eat of it, you will not die.

“And that bread is me! I am the bread that came down out of heaven (in
anticipatory fashion in the wilderness) and I am the bread that comes down out of heaven
right now, the bread that if anyone eats of it, he will live forever in joy and comfort and
bliss.”

5
See John 4:15.
6
The end of the sentence represents emphatic placement in Greek.

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As v 58 says, “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers
ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus is saying, “I am the greater
manna from heaven. In fact, I am the reason God gave the manna in the first place.”

So stop seeking bread which perishes—bread from the feeding or bread from the sky.
Seek the bread which is the life of Jesus given for sinners who believe in him. It is here that
true and lasting satisfaction is found.

Conclusion: The Gospel for Christians

Now if you have come to know Christ, you know what I am talking about. You
know what it is like to own eternal life and to bask in the fullness of the manna which is
Jesus himself.

So perhaps you are thinking, “Boy, this would be a great message for my non-
Christian father or mother or brother or sister.” Or “I wish my co-worker were here right
now. I was just talking to him or her about this very thing.” Or maybe even, “I wish I
knew when Pastor Bob was giving evangelistic messages then I could at least invite my
unbelieving friends and family ahead of time!”

If you’re thinking along these lines, stop right there. This is the gospel of John. So
you need to remember that even though the immediate audience of Jesus’ dialogue is the
unbelieving Jew, the audience of this gospel unquestionably includes those who are already
Christians. I’m sure you’ve noticed that you have continued reading it to great profit even
after you became a Christian. And I’m sure that you haven’t thought that you could stop
reading it since as a believer it is no longer relevant to your situation.

The gospels, all four of them—though certainly not uninterested in introducing

unbelievers to the message of Jesus Christ—all four are meant for various Christian
audiences. That’s why they are in your Bibles in the first place! Do not reduce the gospel of
John to a kind of evangelistic tract; it is much more than that. It is also (and probably more
directly) a book written to strengthen and encourage those who are already believers.

John 20:31 says that the gospel has been written “so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” That
word—believing—is a present active participle, which means that in view is not simply
coming to faith in Christ, but a life of faith in that Christ. The same tense is used right here in
6:29: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent—not that you
come to believe in him whom he has sent, but that you believe, that you come and continue to
believe in the one he has sent.

In fact, a survey of the New Testament will show that the present tense for the words
for faith is the tense of choice for its authors. Most of the New Testament is very simply not
about coming to believe in Jesus Christ, but about continuing to believe in him, about trusting
him more and more and more.

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And this is what we need to see in this teaching from Exodus 16 fulfilled in John 6.
We need to see that our tendency, like our brothers and sisters in the wilderness is to
transfer our faith from the true and living God, to the idols of our heart. Many of those
idols can be seen in our appetites, in what we desire—food being one of the greatest of our
desires. We need continuously and habitually to transfer our faith from the bread which
perishes to the bread which endures to eternal life, from the idols of our heart to the living
and risen Christ.

Do not say, “I don’t worship food—I could care less what I eat!” That misses the
point entirely. Do you remember the questions we asked when we began?

Do you ever eat to alleviate feelings of depression, loneliness, or despair? Do you

ever sin against your spouse or your fellow students or colleagues or children and attribute
your impatience or bitterness or anger to missing breakfast or lunch or dinner? Under stress,
do you ever find yourself fantasizing about your next meal, looking to it to calm and
comfort you during a time of increased pressure?

And if none of these are true of you, consider these:

Is there something else to which you turn to alleviate feelings of depression,

loneliness, or despair? Television, video games, movies, books (Christian or otherwise),
visits with family or friends, vacations, your job, your lawn care or gardening, quilting,
child-rearing, a walk in the woods. What is it?

Do you ever sin against your spouse or your fellow students or colleagues or children
and attribute your impatience or bitterness or anger to not having some desire met, even a
godly one? Under stress, do you ever find yourself fantasizing about something or someone
or some activity that brings you pleasure, looking to it to calm and comfort you during a
time of increased pressure?

The answers to these questions point you in a straight line to the object of your hope
in any given moment.

My call to you this morning—and really my call to myself—is that we remember that
the abundant peace and joy and comfort and hope and satisfaction we foolishly seek in that
which perishes can only be justly satisfied in a vital faith-relationship with Jesus Christ. My
call to you this morning is to turn from the idolatrous objects of your hope and believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Pour your energy into the pursuit and consumption of the true manna
that comes down out of heaven every day, for every one who believes, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Redeemer Bible Church

16205 Highway 7
Minnetonka, MN 55345
Office: 952.935.2425

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Fax: 952.938.8299
info@redeemerbiblechurch.com
www.redeemerbiblechurch.com
www.solidfood.net

Exod 15:22-17:7: The Bread of Heaven © 2005 by R W Glenn