The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 14th September by Georges Kisombola
Manna Cakes! - The King's Church, Ilford - 14th September 2008
EXODUS 16:1-7
Exodus is a very significant book, both in terms of the Old Testament and also the New Testament. Not only is it the book in which we discover many famous stories but also we discover that many key biblical themes emerge in the course of it; such as the redemption of God's people, the forming of the nation, the nature of God, the worship of God, the place of the law and so on.
Any decent Bible dictionary will give you a whole list of such themes. It's a long book, complex in some ways, with much that needs to be digested carefully. There is a much larger picture to see and to live within. Exodus is one part of a larger story and so are our lives.
We must therefore, learn to both think and pray in terms of that larger reality. It would be too easy to simply see our Christian experience as something that makes us happy, helps us to get through life and guarantees us a home in heaven come the end. The opening of the Bible condemns that kind of approach to life as a Christian. Our thinking, living and praying must not be in a box. We need to see the larger picture by which I don't just mean, to see what God is doing now in here or other places but rather to see the whole sweep of Bible history as it unfolds God's purposes.
This is the point Jesus makes when he tells us to make God's kingdom our first concern and not to worry excessively about life's necessities, to let him give us what we need as we need it.
So remember your connection to the larger picture and begin to understand your life and the life of the church in that light. I would love to remind you that:
You are Connected to the God of creation
Exodus continues the story that begun in Genesis. But the connection with Genesis is more explicitly a connection with the God of Genesis who is the great creator. And that point is made here too, again with great clarity.Oh Yes! Manna Cakes ! God exposes his creativity power by providing Manna to Israelites in the desert. Exodus 16 tells us that the Children of Israel ate manna for 40 years. -It rained down 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. This is about 312 times per year. But on 6th day they had double portion. Which make it 363 times that the manna rained down. -If you take 364 times X 40 you get 14560 times. -Suppose one portion was 2kgs per person per day. This means one person gathered 14560 times X 2kgs and you get 29120kgs or 29.120 Tons of Manna per person -Remember they were over 2.000.000 people. Multiply that by 24.960 Tons -Which means that the children of Israel ate A LOT of manna. The number of Israelites must have increased in 40 years. -The Bible tells us they beat it, ground it, and baked it. -I'm sure there was even a cooking guide published…"The Essential Manna Cookbook" -Maybe there were "Cook Off Competitions" - Maybe there were Prizes for the best "Manna Pie" or "Manna Soufflé"
On a more serious note…
We are told that it tasted like fresh oil… another verse says that it was like the taste of a wafer with honey on it. But, the Israelites grew tired of the manna. The got too comfortable with it…Then they got bored with it. Soon, it was no longer an amazing act of God's provision: it was "just Manna". Good old, ho hum manna, laying on the ground every morning.
They got to be so familiar with the manna that they begin to be displeased by it. It no longer satisfied their desire. They got so bored with it that they wished they were back in bondage, just so they could eat fish, onions, leeks and garlic.
Church, be careful not to complain about the provisions of God Almighty…
I think some time we are much too comfortable with the Presence of God. The newness of His presence or the newness of manna in the morning has worn off. Sometimes We are so familiar with the Presence of God that we can come into Church and leave the same way and never realize that "God was here!" -Oh! Hello Lord, we're so glad to see you again today.
Think if you will, about the person who feels the Presence of God for the very first time. They could be weeping, or trembling and come under such a great conviction, while the rest of us sit around and wonder when we can get out have a cup of tea and go home! Israelites were to gather the manna every morning. We are hereby taught three principles: We are taught
To be prudent and diligent in providing food for ourselves and our households; We are taught to work, and eat our own bread, not the bread of idleness or deceit. God's provision leaves room for man's duty; though the manna rained down, Israelites had to go out and gather it before they could it. Yes! Yes God has promised us His provision, but we are to go out and gather it; because it is there.
To be content with enough. Israelites gathered Manna daily. Some gathered much, others gathered little. But those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no lack. There is not such a disproportion between one and another in the enjoyment of God's provision. We need to be content with what God gives us.
To depend upon Providence:
Though Israelites had no bread in their tents, they trusted that God with the following day would bring them their daily bread. It was surer and safer in God's storehouse than it would have been in theirs. It was coming sweeter and fresher.
See here the folly of hoarding. The manna laid up by some who thought to be wiser and better managers than their neighbours, that manna bred worms, and became good for nothing. This Manna distrustfully spared was to be wasted. Such riches are corrupted. In James 5:2-3 we read this: "Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!
The same wisdom, power, and goodness that brought food daily from above for the Israelites in the desert are available to us today. When Israelites kept manna against God's command, it stank; when they kept it by God's command, it was sweet and good. Every thing is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. On the seventh day God did not send the manna, therefore they Israelites had not to expect it. They did not have to go out to gather it because God had not sent it down. This showed that it was produced by miracle.
God having provided manna to be his people's food in the desert, the remembrance of it was to be preserved. Eaten bread must not be forgotten. God's miracles and mercies are to be had in remembrance. The word of God is the manna by which our souls are nourished.
Matthew 4:4 reads:"But Jesus answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"
The comforts of the Spirit are hidden manna, as john says in revelation 2:17. These come from heaven, as the manna did, and are the support and comfort of the Divine life in the soul when we are in the wilderness of this world.
We must every one of us gather for ourselves, and gather in the morning of our days, the morning of our opportunities; which if we let slip, it may be too late to gather. The manna must not be hoarded up, but eaten; those who have received Christ, must by faith live upon him, and not receive his grace in vain. There was manna enough for all, enough for each, and none had too much; so in Christ there is enough, but not more than we need. But those who ate manna, hungered again, died at last, and with many of them God was not well pleased; Praise God that those who feed on Christ by faith, shall never hunger, and shall die no more, and with them God will be for ever well pleased. Let us seek earnestly for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to turn all our knowledge of Christ crucified, into the spiritual nourishment of our souls by faith and love.
I've come to ask you today, -Do You Still Love The Manna? -Do You Still Hunger For More Of His Presence? -Or Is Church Just Another Weekly Event In Your Life! -Has The Monotony of Everyday Life Buried The Importance of Your Personal Relationship with Jesus?
My Prayer is for a Baptism of Fresh Oil! A Fresh Oil Anointing from the Throne of Heaven!
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1