Purpose in the Manna and Its Fulfillment

In the wilderness wanderings, God gives bread from heaven for the people. In the book of Deuteronomy Moses is recounting the Lord's commands and requirements (which bespeak of much grace!) and he outlines the purpose of God's feeding Israel by manna.

"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 man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deut. 8:3)

It was yet another pointer to our need for God. It was supposed to show that we need more than our physical needs met. We know we need food. Every few hours we're reminded of that. But we need more. We need every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Then comes the Logos, the Word: Jesus.

Jesus picks this up as shown in John's Gospel. He feeds 5000+ people in Galilee by miraculously multiplying five loaves and two fish. Then, he leaves and the people come seeking after him. But their motives need to be addressed, so Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." (John 6:26-27)

So the crowd asks him, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?"

Jesus replies: "This is the work of God , that you believe in him whom he has sent."

The crowd pushes it one step further by asking what sign Jesus will perform to prove this to them. Did they forget what he just did with the five loaves and two fish? Then they bring up Moses and the manna. Interesting.

Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever belivess in me shall never thirst." (John 6:32-35)

We shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. And Jesus is the bread that we must feast on.

Moses Accuses You

While Jesus is talking to some who are disbelieving in him as recorded in the 5th chapter of John, he says, "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:45-47, NIV)

Jesus doesn't have to accuse them. The one they set their hopes on does it already. Moses won't be listening to their plea on the last day and saying, "Well, I know. If it were up to me I'd let you into heaven. But, you know, I'm not really in charge here. But I understand. I guess all I can say is, sorry."

Instead it will be something like, "Foolish and slow of heart to believe! This was the one I wrote about! Your blood be on your own heads!"

To this very issue ("Moses wrote about me") I want to devote much of my lifelong study; i.e. how does the Old and New Testament work together? Right now I've set myself to read through the Torah 5 times this year continuously along with some other specific study in Exodus.

I'm also reading through Sailhamer's The Meaning of the Pentateuch, which I've mentioned on here before. I wholeheartedly encourage it! Whether you already know that Jesus is the Messiah or whether you want to see it argued that the Torah points to Christ, get a copy of this book.

"Vengence is Mine"

"'Vengence is mine, I will repay' says the LORD." Rom. 12:19 quoting Deut. 32:35.

Two examples from David's life of this playing out:

1) 1 Sam. 24; specifically verses 10-15, David is speaking to Saul after sparing his life.

"Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD's anointed.' See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you." (1 Sam. 24:10-12)

Eventually David ascends to the throne. Saul could not stop it and David did not sin by taking vengence into his own hands.

2) 1 Sam. 25; This time David intends to exact justice but is stopped. Nabal offends David and David is on his way to kill every male of his family. Abigail, Nabal's wife, who recognizes what a fool Nabal is, comes out pleading with David. David responds:

"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! For as surely as the LORD the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male." (1 Sam. 25:32-34)

Abigail then goes back home and in the morning after Nabal is no longer drunk from the night before, tells him all that happened and what was about to happen. Then, "his heart died within him, and he became as stone. And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.""

David is kept from the bloodguilt and the LORD avenges his son David.

We who are the Lord's can rest assured that he will exact justice either in the end or now and we must trust him for that, rather than taking vengence into our own hands.

According to Your Love

I don't understand the psalms nearly as well as I would like. But alas, understanding is a process and there is so much text to seek understanding in. But as I read through Psalm 25, I find it striking the parallel to how I understand justification in Christ today:

"Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness O LORD!" (Psalm 25:6-7)

David cries to God to remember him according to God's steadfast love, as it is today with those who know Jesus. Don't remember us according to our sins but remember us, O LORD, according to your steadfast love shown to us in the cross of Christ!

No Human Chance, God's Glory

What chance did a ruddy and handsome youth have against a giant of a man, a war trained beast, named Goliath? None.

And this is exactly how God gets the glory.

"David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand." (1 Sam. 17:45-47)

Hungry for the Word

Again, in his Memories of an Ordinary Pastor, D.A. Carson relays the following quotation from a Quebec pastor in 1975 to Don about sermon length following the revival in la belle province:

"These people are hungry for the Word. I never take less than an hour; as a visitor, you should take more of course." (p. 114)

O Lord, bring this sort of hunger to the churches across Canada.

Journaling

An excerpt from Tom Carson's journals as published by his son, D.A. Carson, in Memories of an Ordinary Pastor (p. 77), as he relates his reasoning as to detailing what he has done throughout the day:

"I propose to write carefully, regularly, and fully so that my life may be weighed in the balances of my own consciousness and conscience, and by God's grace I may eliminate the many pockets of weakness that are sapping my spiritual strength, undermining my ministry, and-let me say it-DESTROYING SOULS. God help me." Monday Nov. 9, 1959.

For Your Sake

Daniel 9:18b-19 (NIV), "We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."

And even today, may we who call upon the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ and bear the fruit of the gospel's transformation pray this way: Not because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy; for your Name's sake. Amen.

The Job Description of a Faithful Pastor

The Job Description of a Faithful Pastor:

"If you're a pastor, you have one job...you have one job. It's this, Shepherd the flock of God among you....that's your job. You are not a cultural evangelist, you are not a society penetrator, you're not an entrepreneur, you're not a revolutionary, you are a feeder of the flock of God."

"Simply said, men, here is our responsibility. It is to feed the flock of God so that they can grow into Christ's likeness."

Greek Binder Picture

In an effort to use some more pictures on my blog from time to time, here's one of my new Greek binder mentioned a couple posts ago amongst one of my bookshelves. It's the black binder on the right of the binders, beside my exegetical/syntactical notes on Mark and John.