THE MANNA CEASED
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he
said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:5 (NIV)
15
When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not
know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to
eat. ... 21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the
sun grew hot, it melted away.
Exodus 16:15,21 (NIV)
10
On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the
plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the
Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread
and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the
land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the
produce of Canaan.
Joshua 5:10-12 (NIV)
I. Seasons are changing
A. God is sovereign in dividing between the seasons of our lives. (Job 8:7)
Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.
B. He is God of the Former and Later Rain. (Joel 2:23-32)
(see separate page for text)
C. He is God of the glory of the Former and Later Temple. (Haggai 2:9)
‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former
house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares
the LORD Almighty.
D. He is the God of Times and Seasons. (Acts 1:6,7)
6
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to
know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
E. He is the God of Egypt and the Land of hills and valleys.
(Deuteronomy 11:10,11)
10
The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from
which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in
a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take
possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.
F. He is the God of Manna in the wilderness and the New Corn of the land.
G. He is Lord of all tearful overlapping seasons. (Ezra3:12)
But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the
former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being
laid, while many others shouted for joy.
II. An End to Manna. / No more survival food.
A. It’s hard to shut down a big enterprise. Change is a dirty word.
B. God sent Manna for 40 years.14,600 days. 2080 weeks. 43,200 straight
meals. 2M people at 6 pints of manna a day equals 12M pints a day. 9M
pounds of manna a day. That’s equal to 240 box cars a day and 480 boxcars
on Fridays. The camp of Israel was 81 square miles covered every morning.
In addition to 1080 tankers of water a day. If their number was 3M, 1,300
boxcars would have been needed each morning 9 1/2 miles long.
C. God must break the mentality of lack before we enter the next season before
us.
D. Manna was survival food. Good but not best. It was temporary, not
permanent. It was a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.
E. Manna was an inadequate diet. Manna couldn’t pull down a city. Manna
couldn’t defeat Giants. Manna couldn’t build cities. Manna couldn’t conquer
any of the promised land
F. As long as they ate manna, they knew they were in the wilderness, locked in
circularity. (Deuteronomy 2:3)
You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.
G. As long as they ate manna, they were no threat to their enemies.
H. As long as they ate manna they were on the wrong side of Jordan.
J. Manna is maintenance food only.
K. In Egypt, they focused on “straw” vs. the “Exodus”.
In the wilderness they became addicted to “manna” over the “Corn” of the
promised land.
L. Every bite of Manna was to be a surety of future hope in their Promised
Land.
M. Although Manna was in abundance, there was just enough for you and no
one else. (Exodus 16:16-18)
16
This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as
they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’ ” 17 The
Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when
they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much,
and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered
just as much as they needed.
III. God is the God of Entrance into the Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 6:23)
But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on
oath to our ancestors.
A. Entering the Land brought them immediate results. Be where you’re
supposed to be!
B. Their enemies were terrified of them. (Joshua 5:1)
Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings
along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the
Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no
longer had the courage to face the Israelites.
C. One bite of the Corn of the Land would end the Manna phenomena within 24
hours. (Joshua 5:10-11)
10
On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on
the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the
Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened
bread and roasted grain.
D. Circularity immediately gave way to a straight line of conquest!
E. The Remnant people of God finally arrived at their destiny. The younger
generation and Joshua and Caleb.
F. Cities fell, Giants fell, and they began their new life.
G. Everything they planted now bore fruit!
H. God would patiently allow them to adapt to a paradigm of “Hills and
Valleys” they could never have had a point of reference for.
23
Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you
the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both
autumn and spring rains, as before. 24 The threshing floors will be filled with
grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. 25 “I will repay you for the
years the locusts have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other
locusts and the locust swarm-- my great army that I sent among you. 26 You will
have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD
your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be
shamed. 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your
God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. 28 “And
afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will
prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those
days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and
billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone
who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the
survivors whom the LORD calls.
Joel 2:23-32