We all know the "shadow" of the Exodus where the angel of death passed over the blood of the lamb foreshowed the cross; and the passing over of our sins by G-d because of the Blood of the Lamb) and some are also aware that Joshua's (Joshua's) crossing into the Promise Land represents Jesus' taking us into the Promise Land on His return. Well, if the Exodus represents the beginning of the faith and then the going into the Promise Land is the end of this age, then shouldn't the material in between have a meaning as well? We believe they do and Saint Paul seems to confirm this:
"I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them G-d was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness." 1Cor.10.1-5
Why did Paul bring up this Exodus and manna? We believe it was because the disciples he led were defiling the Body and Blood by committing idolatrous acts, 1Cor.10.14-17. Therefore, even Paul saw shadows in this past. The question is how many are there, just the ones Jesus and Paul spoke about or are there more? So without further ado, here is what we believe found when we dug beneath the Sod of the Bread of Life Discourse by traveling into the wilderness of our past:
The first mention of manna is in Exodus chapter 16. After we were freed from slavery, after Moses had lifted His rod and G-d had parted the sea, and after Moses and the people of Israel had finished their song, they all traveled on into the wilderness of Sin. Not soon after the people started to murmur against Moses and Aaron, much in the same way the crowd murmured against Jesus ( Jn.6.41) that they wanted the bread: "Would that we had died by the hand of the L-rd in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full . . ." (Ex.16.3). According to Jesus, it was bread that the crowd hungered for as well, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." (Jn.6.26). In the case of the crowd before it was because they were stuck on the tangible and this is why their faith lacked depth. In the same way, so were these Israelites. G-d had freed them from oppressive slavery, gave them all the wealth of Egypt from those same slave masters, and even destroyed a greatest army in the ancient world right before their eyes and they cried about bread? Couldn't the One who sent the plagues, changed hearts, and parted the sea have provided them with bread for the asking (Jesus did and they didn't even ask)? But instead of asking they whimpered and whined. Talk about "shallow in faith". This is why G-d told them:
"Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My Law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily." (Ex.16.4-5)
The people were to gather a portion every day, except on preparation day and the Sabbath. On preparation day they were to gather twice as much as they did daily, so they would not need to gather any on Sabbath and could rest that day. The manna only lasted one day, except on preparation day, for this lasted two days. We'll leave this "hidden meaning" for the Church to figure out.
Also G-d says that this manna would "prove them, whether they will walk in My Law or not". What law was G-d proving them in (Sinai hadn't happened yet)? Moses told them of the Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and -they remembered all that He had done for them and teach their children as well. Also that they must redeem their first born. See Ex.12-13.1-10 for all the other Mitzvoth, and for Sabbath, G-d Himself gave this when He gave them the manna. As for us, we believe that we are called to keep the L-rd's supper to remember that He Pass(ed) over our sins, removed the Hamatz (leavening) of our human spirit to make room for His Holy Spirit, and that Our Father redeemed the first born of all creation- Jesus The Messiah, so that we might be saved.
Later the people rejected the manna and hungered again for the food of Egypt. We are not sure of this meaning, but interesting enough, Aaron and Miriam challenged Moses' sole authority in the very next chapter, Num.12 and the Korite rebellion was not far after this, Num.16-17 (our fathers rejected the Promise Land is sandwiched between these two events). Could this have any bearing on our history?
The next place G-d mentions the manna is in Deut.8.3: "And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the L-rd."
We do not live by bread alone, not even the Holiest Bread- the Body and Blood. It is the Word of G-d both written and embodied in true faith in the Son that brings forth eternal life. Again this is not to devalue the Body and Blood, but only places it into the same perspective G-d did here (on this topic Protestant have a hand up on many Catholics who never see the insides of their Bibles or even their local churches after confirmation). This passage doesn't imply that the Bread is unimportant (it says "by bread alone"), only that it is not sufficient unto itself. This is why the consecration follows the reading of the Word and the sermon (teaching).
Next place is in Josh.5.12:
"And the manna ceased on the morrow, when they ate of the produce of the land; and the people of Israel had manna no more, but ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." Might the Body and Blood celebration stop when Jesus returns in glory just as the manna stopped when Joshua led our fathers into the Promise Land? This is our suspicion based on this portion of the text.
The last reference is found in Nehemiah 9.20-21:
"Thou gavest thy Spirit to instruct them, and didst not withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell."
Note that G-d gave them the Holy Spirit to instruct them. Jesus did this too for those living in the Messianic age:
"When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come."- Jn.16.13.
G-d then gave them the heavenly bread and water for their thirst. Jesus gave us the Body and Blood and the Living water, Himself in the Blessed Blood. This passage also connects to the New Testament, (New Covenant).
So to sum up on the Heavenly Manna:
Manna is a heavenly food as is we believe the Body and Blood. Manna was to be eaten daily, this our Church (as do several others) also affirms. Manna was to prove their faith and to remember the great things He had done for them, and so the Body and Blood is to remind us what He did for us; and from reading John 6, we also know that if we don't partake in the Body and Blood we can not have eternal life (for we are saved by faith, and this is an act of our faith however those who are "babies" in the faith are not under this ruling as explain elsewhere). When the heavenly bread was no longer enough for the people, they hungered for things of their slavery (sinful past), this brought judgment and death and led to greater rebellion against the true authority and the rejection of the Promise Land by many of those that rebelled (not unlike today).
Our people are divided, could this be part of the cause? And could the total rejection of our Jewish roots also have been flagged by are desire to supplement the Body and Blood with the ways of our former unrighteousness, therefore lead us, as a people, into greater sin and spiritual death? If so, then a return to the true meaning of the mass and greater devotion to both the Word (we live not only by the manna but also by also by every Word from G-d) and the Body and Blood should bring us back together and remove all false worship from our midst. And lastly, might the Body and Blood only exist until The Messiah's return? Then when He is with us on earth in His resurrected form (this we feel is the interpretation to Joshua circumcising the flock after they entered), we will no longer need to go to Him in the Body and Blood.
To go onto the Still on Consuming the Blood follow this link or you can return to the Contents.
