When God called His people Israel into the wilderness, He knew there would be no food. It was there—despite their unbelief and their grumbling—that He blessed His people with a miraculous gift as well as a gospel promise. Bread rained from heaven in the form of fine white flakes:
“Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.”
Such is the gracious provision of God that these flakes were not only nourishing, but delicious as well:
“The taste of it was like wafers made with honey.”
But the purpose of the manna was not just to sustain and delight the people, but also to test them, “whether they will walk in my law or not.” And sadly, they failed the test. They were found grumbling:
“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
They tried to circumvent God’s command to gather it day by day, yet without success:
“Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank.”
But Jesus is a better provision in every respect! Like the manna, He too came down from on high:
“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
But unlike manna, Jesus is living bread, the Bread of Life.
“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”
This is no empty metaphor, but part of the ordination of a holy sacrament:
“And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
And by this sacrament (and the faith that attends it) our hungry souls are satisfied:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Jesus, give me this bread always that I may be forever satisfied in You!
“Whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.”