Bread From Heaven: Discover the Power and Purpose of God’s Miracle Manna

We were in a small tent on a fishing trip in the Quebec wilderness in 1984 when the symptoms first struck. My father’s legs cramped painfully during the night. After the trip, he experienced shortness of breath.

When he went to his doctor, he discovered he was severely anemic. The doctor prescribed medication to treat his condition.

God prescribes manna to treat both physical and spiritual ills. How so?

It all began during Israel’s wilderness wanderings more than 3,000 years ago. God provided manna every morning except on the Sabbath to feed millions of Israelites.

They collected a gallon of it for each family member six mornings a week during the forty years they wandered in the desert. On Fridays, they gathered two gallons per person for two days. They ground it, made it into cakes, and baked them (Exodus 16:1-36, Numbers 11:1-9).

Manna tasted like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31). God created more than a million gallons of it daily, with all the nutrients they needed to remain physically healthy.

God could have provided any food He wanted, but He supplied the manna to test them and teach them “that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV).

Jesus identified Himself with Israel in the wilderness and quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 (Matthew 4:4) when the devil tempted Him to turn stones into bread. Israel failed God’s faith test in the wilderness.

First, they grumbled that God was trying to starve them in the wilderness (Exodus 16:3). Then, they complained about and belittled the manna He provided (Numbers 11:6). By contrast, in the wilderness, Jesus trusted that God would faithfully provide all He needed.

God called manna “bread from heaven” (Exodus 16:4). Although it physically sustained the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness, they still died (John 6:49).

Jesus claimed to be the second edition of “Bread from Heaven,” far superior to the first.

Whoever feeds on it will live forever. Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:48) and living bread (John 6:51). 

As grape branches feed on their vines to be physically healthy, those connected to Jesus by God’s grace through faith have all they need for a godly life (2 Peter 1:2-3). Feeding on Jesus means believing in Him (John 6:40). He fully satisfies (John 6:35).

In Him, all the fullness of the Deity lives in a human body (Colossians 2:9). God’s life is in Him (John 1:4). He is our life (Colossians 3:4).

As the Israelites grumbled about God’s first edition of bread from heaven, many Jews in Jesus’ day complained about the second edition of bread from heaven (John 6:43).

Their ancestors had failed God’s test in the wilderness when they rejected God’s bread from heaven and the physical life it provided. It fell short of their standards.

Now they were rejecting the eternal life that Jesus, the bread of heaven, offered. He did not meet their expectations. Let us not repeat their folly! What is your takeaway?

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God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 6,090 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 15,150 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting.  

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