About the Author
What is the title, “The Hidden Manna” all about?
Remember the 1981 movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark”? The story was fiction but the existence of that box called The Ark is not. Around 3500 years ago God prescribed the design of this special item to Moses. It was wood chest covered in gold with two sculpted gold figures representing angels hovering over the top. Moses was instructed to place three very unusual objects in it, then put the Ark in a special room of the new Jewish tabernacle where it would be hidden from common view. One of the objects in that Ark was a food substance like no other.
During the famed Exodus of the Jews out of Egypt, you know the one where Moses actually played himself instead of Charlton Heston doing the part, a few million people lived over 40 years in the desert on a white foodstuff that appeared on the ground 6 days a week – just for them. You can read about it’s very unusual properties in the section of the Bible called Exodus. The stuff was so mysterious that it became known by what everyone said when they saw it: “what is that?”, which in their language sounded like “man-hu”. Now, some have tried to explain many of the events of the Exodus, including the manna, in a way that reduces or eliminates the supernatural. Of course you can’t do that and at the same time logically take the Biblical account as accurate history. But we will leave that issue for another day. The main point was that this invisible being, called God, wanted these people to learn to consciously depend upon Him for their every-day life-sustaining needs.
Fast forward about 1500 years to Jesus’ day.
Jesus connected His purpose in becoming human with that ancient manna:
“Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” … [He added] “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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.”
When his key disciples were confused by this, He explained “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”(John Chapter 6) To make a long story short, the metaphor of the hidden manna refers to Jesus, who Himself was given by God to provide for, and sustain a new kind of life in us called eternal life.
Around 60 years after His resurrection, Jesus reaffirmed all this when He appeared to the Apostle John to dictate these words: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna…” (Revelation 2:17a)
We can glean few things from all this. First following Jesus involves depending upon the person and work of Jesus Christ for living eternally just as we depend upon bread to sustain our physical bodies. This “Eternal Life” does not start at some time in the future. Jesus’ metaphor of the manna, a food that was provided one day at a time because it would rot in 24 hours (except on the 6th day), was meant to convey the concept that the quality of our life depends on our moment by moment relationship with Him because He is life. He has it in Himself. Our relationship with Him has an impact on our future to be sure, but that is secondary. Each of us can live in the Kingdom of God, under His rule, love and protection – right now – each moment of each day. It may sound odd to say it, but if we think of eternal life as not only extending into the future forever, but also having a timeless quality then we can talk about living eternally now!
The second thing we can glean is that following Jesus involves overcoming something. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossian church gives us some insight into what Jesus meant: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ…”The philosophy and deception of this world struggles against us to keep us from fully enjoying this eternal life Jesus provides.
This web site is about connecting people to the source of eternal life and helping them process the philosophy and deception of a world that is anti-Christ (against Christ). We hope to encourage and challenge you to shed the “traditions of men” so you can press on to the maturity that God desires for you. Hopefully you will find this a place to come often for Biblical insights resources for growing in Christ.
Scripture Quotes are from the New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.