God's Door Dash

They were rescued out of Egypt from slavery.


Their people—thought to be be around 2 million—were allowed to leave a hostile country, accompanied by an extraordinary cloud by day and raging pillar of fire at night.


They witnessed God’s power repeatedly.


They reached a vast sea which parted for their passage; when their leader’s hand was lowered, their pursuers were engulfed by rushing waters.


Six weeks after their exit from Egypt, they stopped in the desert and the complaints began.


They didn’t like the food.

When they were slaves, they had abundant meat and bread, just about anything they wanted..


So God set up a takeout service-minus the driver.


I hear you, Yahweh said through Moses and Aaron.


That was when Yahweh decided to give His people the “bread of angels” (Psalm 78:24), a sweet bread called manna. 


Tradition has it that the wind blew, then a cleansing rain, dew, then manna and another dew of protection.


Everyone could collect this bread, reminiscent of coriander and tasting of honey, and it appeared every morning
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You can’t store this bread, Moses warned, because it will rot.


You must trust God to provide this bread of angels every day—except the sixth day when enough will appear for two days to honor the Sabbath.


As Aaron said these words, the people turned to see a luminescent cloud through which the glory of Yahweh glowed-truly another in a series of supernaturally exquisite salvation experiences.


Through Moses, Yahweh reassured these people (who had miraculously escaped slavery only weeks before), in the morning you will have bread and in the evening you will have the meat of quail. 


You will not want for food, their Father assured them through His ministers Moses & Aaron.


As with all humans, some survivalists took too much to store, as if Yahweh could not foresee emergencies, and so their excess rotted immediately and crawled with vermin, a reminder of His commands.


Manna—this gift from Heaven—was sweet and plentiful if His people followed the Father’s commands.


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The Old Testament is filled with TYPES—typology. Types are images and stories that complete their message in the New Testament in an ANTITYPE.
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(An easy type to understand is the story of Jonah and the whale. 


Jonah spent three days in the dark cavity of a whale, dead or alive we are not told, after he is sacrificed to the sea by his shipmates who worshiped a storm “god.”


Jonah’s three days foreshadow the three days Jesus Christ spent in the tomb.


But that is a story for another day.)


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A type does not necessarily reflect every aspect of its New Testament counterpart.


But we can easily see that manna is a type of the miraculous and sweet sustenance that is offered to us hourly, daily.


Manna sustained God’s people for 40 years in the wilderness, just as He preserved their clothing and shoes which never wore out.


This imagery of a heavenly sustenance is so significant that a bit of it was preserved in the Ark of the Covenant.

In the book of John, Christ identifies this bread of life by saying, ““I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (6:35)


In the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to His servant John, we are told that “to the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” (2:17)


Here’s to hidden manna.


May we remember to gather it every hour of every day. ********************* Purple Vegetables

Hoot the Owl and the Vegetable Rainbow   watercolor on paper