Knowing The Kind of “Manna” that Paul
Taught Us
May 4, 2014
“Manna” literally means a whatness (so to speak), that is, manna (so called from the question about it).
Exodus 16:14-15 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 the hoar frost on the ground. (15) And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
Exodus 16:14-15 CEV After the dew had gone, the desert was covered with thin flakes that looked like frost. (15) The people had never seen anything like this, and they started asking each other, "What is it?" Moses answered, "This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Romans 6:1-3 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
In our messages we noticed that this MANNA that Jesus commented upon in John 6 was a shadow of Himself resurrected from the dead with resurrection LIFE.
- Israel was told that God used Manna in a lesson that they MIGHT LIVE in the land by learning to keep God’s Words.
- He is resurrection LIFE.
- His resurrection Life is OUR SUPERNATURAL PROVISION for us to truly LIVE for God!
- And Paul said THAT IS EXACTLY WHY we were baptized into the death of Jesus.
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
- Relying upon our baptism into HIS DEATH for faith to live a resurrected life of victory over sin is living by supernatural provision.
And what is such a blessing is how Manna was described as something which the people of Israel and their fathers KNEW NOT.
- Paul repeatedly asked a anticipatory question that his readers DID NOT KNOW about.
Romans 6:3-16 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
(5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (7) For he that is dead is freed from sin. (8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: (9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. (11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (13) Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (14) For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (15) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid. (16) Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Paul spoke in this teaching much about LIFE and DEATH.
- Keep in mind that MANNA and the wilderness journey was intended to teach Israel to keep Law THAT THEY MIGHT LIVE.
Deuteronomy 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Paul spoke about the resurrection LIFE OF JESUS in his teaching about OUR NEED TO WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE, and questioned if his reader KNEW those truths as much as LIFE and KNOWING were emphasized when speaking about MANNA.
What does Paul mean by LIFE and DEATH?
Romans 7:9-11 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (10) And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. (11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
It wonderfully relates to how MANNA is a type of the resurrection LIFE of Jesus to sustain us supernaturally.
Paul DIED spiritually by failing to live righteously through keeping law.
- Sin ruled over him and caused him to DIE.
- But getting into Christ’s death, which is a supernatural provision for us from God, allows us to LIVE!
Romans 6: 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of
his resurrection: (6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (7) For he that is dead is freed from sin. (8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: (9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. (11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That resurrection LIFE is towards us.
Ephesians 1:19-20 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (20) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
And this issue of this kind of power towards us was the very thing Paul recognized was so little KNOWN by the Church that he distinctly said he prayed that their eyes of understanding may be opened to KNOW.
Ephesians 1:16-18 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; (17) That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (18) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Here is LIVING:
Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
And the resurrection life is here as well:
Romans 8:10-12 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that
dwelleth in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
It’s all about letting sin rule our lives or not.
That is what Paul meant by DEATH OR LIFE.
Instead of sin reigning in our mortal bodies, the Spirit quickens our mortal bodies so we do not LIVE AS DEBTORS TO THE FLESH, LIVING AFTER THE FLESH.
So, this resurrection Life of Jesus really is MANNA!
- “WHAT IS THIS”.
- Something people KNOW NOT, and need to learn.
Of all the topics I have preached upon, this topic grabs me the most, and sadly is the truth that rarely anybody really gets.