Rev. David Holwick Y Exodus series, #7
First Baptist Church (outdoor baptism)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 9, 2009
Exodus 16:2-8
|
I. Crunch time.
A. The Jews were at a crisis.
1) It had been one month since they had left Egypt.
2) The food they had hurriedly gathered was nearly gone.
3) What do you do when the cupboard is bare?
B. A more recent example from our mission trip to Cranks Creek, KY.
The mission had received a request for food.
The woman had cancer, was taking care of two grandchildren,
and all her food had run out.
Bobby Simpson was in the hospital and couldn't help her,
so we found her house (it only took us two days).
After we gave her the food, she said her life was in God's
hands and she always knew he would take care of her.
Then she cried.
C. How do you react in situations like this?
1) This poor woman's trust in God was touching.
2) The Israelites' reaction is more typical: they complained.
a) They put a nice spiritual twist on it - "if only God
had killed us in Egypt we wouldn't be in this mess."
b) Then they moan about all the pots of meat and food
in Egypt, as if slaves wallowed in luxury.
1> Hindsight often gets colored like this.
D. Our sustenance must come from above.
1) God was gracious to the ingrates.
a) Fortunately, that includes us, too.
2) God can provide, but we must trust him.
3) It is not a one-time thing, but a life-long commitment.
II. Grumbling must come naturally.
A. It is a big factor in Exodus - at least a dozen episodes.
B. Grumbling is never put in a good light - it is sin.
1) Do we focus on what we have, or what we don't?
2) God is patient (Exod 34:6-7) but his patience has limits.
3) Grumbling can kill our relationship with God and people.
III. God saves the day.
A. In spite of their ingratitude, he is gracious.
1) He will supply them with meat and manna.
2) It would come that day, and last for 40 years.
B. What is it?
1) No one really knows.
a) The Jews didn't know - that's why they called it
"What is it?"
b) Like many events in Exodus, manna is an interplay
between the natural and supernatural.
2) Some want to limit it to the natural alone.
a) They say insects in the Sinai that live on the tamarisk
tree excrete a sugary substance that Arabs eat today.
b) It is sort of like insect vomit but tastes good.
c) Some propose that this is what the Jews ate.
3) The differences outweigh the similarities.
a) Insects wouldn't produce enough for hundreds of
thousands of people.
b) Manna had interesting timing.
1> It lasted for 40 years, then stopped.
2> It also stopped every Sabbath.
IV. The manna had an edge - it was a test as well as a blessing.
A. God wanted to train them to follow orders.
1) They could only collect enough for their family.
2) They couldn't collect it on the Sabbath.
3) They couldn't store it overnight, except on Friday.
B. The manna disciplined them to trust in God daily.
There is a Jewish story about a teacher named Ben Jochai.
He was giving a lesson about the miracle of the manna when
one of the students asked a question.
"Why didn't the Lord God furnish enough manna for Israel at
one time to last the entire year?"
The teacher said, "I will answer you with a parable.
Once there was a rich man who had a son to whom he promised
an annual allowance.
Every year on the same day, he would give his son the
entire amount.
After a while, it happened that the only time the father saw
his son was on the day of the year when he was to
receive his allowance.
So the father changed his plan and only gave the son enough
for the day.
Then the next day the son would return for the allowance
for the day.
From then on, the father saw his son every day."
This is the way God dealt with Israel.
It is also the way God deals with us. #21443
V. Manna speaks of Christ.
A. When Jesus multiplied the loaves for 5,000 the crowd rejoiced.
1) They expected the Messiah to bring back manna.
a) Jesus seemed to be doing this before their eyes.
b) They asked him to keep giving it, just like Moses.
2) Jesus had to remind them that Moses didn't give manna.
a) God gave it.
B. The bread they really needed was Jesus himself. John 5:30-35
1) Only by being nourished by him can we have eternal life.
2) So he said of himself, I am the bread that came down
from heaven.
C. We need him every day.
1) Jesus taught us to ask God for our daily bread.
a) He wasn't just thinking about physical food.
b) We need daily spiritual food.
c) As Moses said (and Jesus quoted him), man does not live
by bread alone.
2) So many people live for just material things.
a) Jesus calls us to live for the eternal.
b) We can only do this through a committed, personal
relationship with him.
VI. Do you have the real thing?
A. Plenty are willing to settle for a substitute.
Early in 1997, a coffee shop in Nashville, Tennessee, gained
national attention when one of its cinnamon buns reportedly
looked like Mother Teresa.
The popular press hailed it as a wonder.
The coffee shop owner put the bun on display in a glass case
and sold picture postcards of the "miracle bun."
Business improved as tourists came to see and pay homage to this
marvel.
It suggests that our hunger for a sense of God's presence is
greater than the hunger for food.
It also suggests that we lack the discernment to discriminate
between the real Bread of Life and cheap junk food.
#4744
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 4744 "Mother Teresa Buns," by James W. Cox, Rev. Brett Blair's
Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com,
August 25, 1999. Original illustration is from an article by
Carol M. Noren in The Minister's Manual, editor James W. Cox,
Jossey-Bass, 1998, p. 174.
#21443 "Seek God Daily," Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator Supplements,
Gerald Rodgers Collection.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Study Notes
Bernard L. Ramm, "His Way Out: Exodus"
I. Natural is blended with supernatural.
A. Manna - oozed from insects on tamarisk tree?
II. Key points.
A. God reveals his nature in history.
1) His love and providence supplied their food.
B. Manna had to be gathered according to rules.
1) Sabbath was strictly observed.
2) Eating may have moral involvement.
3) They would have to trust in God to keep the rules.
C. Manna was to be kept as a testimony in the ark.
1) We should remember God's great deeds.
D. God's provision is an interplay of the natural and supernatural.
1) The natural order is not equivalent to God's providence.
2) The interplay cannot be written out as a formula.
E. Jesus is our manna from heaven. John 6:58
1) Manna is a type of Christ.
2) Faith in the Bread brings eternal life.
R. Alan Cole, Exodus
I. The provision of food confirms God's purpose for Israel.
A. It shows it is not by chance.
II. Quails migrated through Sinai.
A. Numbers says the east wind brought them (in a later episode).
III. Manna.
A. Omer - a gallon (later usage) or a cup (Arabic usage).
B. No lack - Paul understood this as the pooling of resources.
(2 Cor 8:15)
1) It does not require a supernatural application.
C. Probably insect extrusions.
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Expositor's: Exodus
I. Manna is similar to substances in the Sinai today, but different
as well. It was miraculously created for a special purpose.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Full featured Documentation generator