Angelic Conflict part 133: Human history – Exo 16; 17; Joh 6:26-42; Isa 42:1-4; Exo 20:8-11; 31:12-17; Neh 9:13-15

Title: Angelic Conflict part 132: Human history - Exo 16; 17; JOH 6:26-42; ISA 42:1-4; EXO 20:8-11; 31:12-17; NEH 9:13-15.

 

Conflict amongst a group of people: Moses and the Exodus. Moses will be used by God to make a people (Hebrew) into a nation (Israel).

 

Grumbling occurs at the Marah waters and two and a half months later when food was scarce and said that they wished they had never left Egypt where they sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. (forgetting slavery) God heard it and sent manna.

 

They are more concerned with their appetite than they are with the Lord’s glory:

 

Matt 6:33

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

 

In prosperity some draw nearer to God and others away. In adversity, or in times of going without, some draw nearer to God and others away. God brings both the sunshine and the rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous.

 

God gave them quail and manna and gave simple instructions.

 

So it’s not just manna on the menu every night. They have meat as well. And the manna was ground into flour and baked into cakes that had a buttery honey taste.

 

Logistical grace support is for all believers. All of God’s people will have enough.

 

1TI 6:8

 And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

 

Manna, like doctrine, must be gathered every day if we are to be sustained every day.

 

This also represents living one day at a time. Tomorrow’s manna would be there so don’t fear and store up today what is needed for tomorrow. “Give us today, tomorrow’s bread,” i.e. reinforce to us that tomorrow’s needs have already been accomplished by You.

 

MAT 6:34

Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

Enjoy what God has given you today and do not worry about whatever needs you may have tomorrow.  

 

If we obey God’s simple instructions we will have capacity for blessing, but if we disobey, we only hurt ourselves and obtain discipline.

 

You had to get up early to gather. God has a lot to say about the sluggard who turns like a hinge in his bed. If they slept in they would go without.

 

Jesus, the day after He fed the 5000 on the Sea of Galilee:

 

Seven times in this discourse Jesus refers to Himself as coming down from heaven.

 

JOH 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.

 

They crowd looked for Him in the morning, but He wasn’t there but across the sea in Capernaum, which He walked across the night before. They came over in boats to find Him because He could feed them and they desired to make Him King of Israel.

 

JOH 6:27 "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal." 

 

They clearly hear the word “work” and completely miss the word “give” because they are hardened by legalism.

 

ISA 55:1

"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;

And you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost.

 

JOH 6:28 They said therefore to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"

 

And they are right to doing, “what shall we do.” This is where cosmic one and two overlap. Yes it is legalism and religion, but it is also self-serving if one thinks he can do something to merit God’s favor unto salvation.

 

This isn’t the paganism of Pharaoh, but the twisting of the truth. These are Jews, brought up in the Mosaic Law, which is holy and righteous, but cannot make man righteous. They, who possess the truth in their scrolls, do not have the truth in their hearts because their teachers and they themselves have twisted the truth in order to serve self, promote self, and make self righteous.

 

JOH 5:44 "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another [earthly kingdom], and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

 

JOH 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God [not of man], that you believe in Him whom He has sent." 

 

JOH 6:30 They said therefore to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

 

JOH 6:31 "Our fathers [identifies with them as a people] ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'"

 

This is quoted from:

PSA 78:24-25

And He rained down manna upon them to eat,

And gave them food from heaven.

Man did eat the bread of angels;

He sent them food in abundance.

 

JOH 6:32 Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

 

JOH 6:33 "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." 

 

JOH 6:34 They said therefore to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread."

 

They are still thinking of food for the body just as the Samaritan woman desired water for the body. The food and water spoken of is for the soul.

 

JOH 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again;

 

JOH 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. " 

 

JOH 4:15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw."

 

We can probably all admit that at one time, or maybe presently, that we were involved in Christianity for what we perceived were earthly benefits and had no idea of the magnitude of the spiritual benefits like humility, grace, SSE, love, kindness, compassion, trust and faith in God, hope, etc. All of these are necessary for capacity for earthly blessings.

 

In His reply to their question Jesus uses two key words: come [yield to Him] and believe. If not the same they are simultaneous.

 

You can’t yield to Him as Lord and Savior [in that moment of faith] if you do not believe He is so and if you do not believe He is so then you cannot yield to Him as Lord and Savior [in that moment of faith]. Both words together completely eliminate lip service as the answer.

 

The believer can then choose to continue to yield to Him as Lord by yielding to His word or not, but that doesn’t change the fact that He is Lord. Here He is talking about salvation.

 

JOH 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

 

This is the first of seven “I am” statements in this sermon or discourse.

 

As stated to Moses when he asked of God’s name:

EXO 3:14

"Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

 

This is the self-existent One, the only one who can establish a kingdom that will have no end. It cannot be on “this” earth or in “this” universe since it is contaminated by sin and evil and cannot consist of unregenerate souls or unregenerate bodies.

 

REV 1:8

 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

 

JOH 6:36 "But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

 

JOH 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out [not predetermined without voltion].

 

JOH 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

 

JOH 6:39 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

 

JOH 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

 

JOH 6:41 The Jews therefore were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven." 

 

JOH 6:42 And they were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?"

 

What a drastic change from begging for the bread that He spoke of and then completely rejecting it because that bread was Him and not what they expected. They grumbled like the exodus when their water and food supply got low.

 

Be careful of preconceived notions concerning God and the plan of God. They could not see past the humble looking man in order to see their promised Savior and King.

 

[quote from Ben Hur when he first witnessed the baptist]

In truth, he [Ben Hur] was himself more than disappointed… Ben Hur’s dream of the King who was to be so great and do so much had colored all his thought of him, so that he never doubted to find in the forerunner some sign or token of the goodliness and royalty he was announcing. Gazing at the savage figure before him,.. Shocked, shamed, bewildered, he could only answer: “It is the Nazarite.”

 

With Balthasar it was very different. The ways of God, he knew, were not as men would have them. He had seen the Savior a child in a manger, and was prepared by his faith for the rude and simple in connection with the divine reappearance…. He was not expecting a king. [end quote]

 

Christ was, is, and always will be a king, but the first Advent was about Him being a meek servant and Savior. The cross must come before the crown.

 

ISA 42:1 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

ISA 42:2 "He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

 

ISA 42:3 "A bruised reed He will not break,

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

 

ISA 42:4 "He will not be disheartened or crushed,

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

 

Back to Exo 16.

 

The manna is new and the instructions are new, but they are simple and explained clearly as are all of God’s instructions.

 

Instructions differ from one dispensation to another, so in the CA we do not gather manna, but we have our own instructions and they are simple and clearly explained.

 

1CO 14:33

for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

 

EXO 16:22 Now it came about on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses [cabinet meeting],

 

EXO 16:23 then he said to them, "This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."

 

EXO 16:24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it.

 

EXO 16:25 And Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.

 

EXO 16:26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none."

 

Here (starting in verse 23) is the first mention of the Sabbath, therefore the Jews were unacquainted with this practice until now and at Sinai it will become a legal institution.

 

 “Sabbath” = to cease working or to rest. God desired them to rest on the seventh day (as He did) and reflect on His finished work.

 

EXO 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

 

EXO 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

 

EXO 20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

 

EXO 20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

 

Mankind is so good at screwing up and complicating easy instructions.

 

The penalty for profaning the Sabbath by working was death.

 

EXO 31:12 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

 

EXO 31:13 "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

 

EXO 31:14 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

 

EXO 31:15 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

 

EXO 31:16 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath [supposed to be a time of rejoicing and fun] throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'

 

Leave it to a legalist to take all the fun out of anything.

 

EXO 31:17 "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed [took a breather]."

 

This was to be a day of enjoyment and peace, and they either didn’t keep it or they eventually put so many extra rules upon it that it became a source of fear, bondage, and bullying. The bullying by the self-righteous prigs became so bad that they bullied the only perfect man to ever live.

 

When are we going to accept what God provides and stop lusting for more and simply be content in the situation we are in and perform His will so that He gets glorified?

 

When? When we love Him more than we love anything else.

 

Do not be condemned!

 

2TI 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

 

ROM 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

The Levites spoke to Israel after the rebuilding of Jerusalem:

 

NEH 9:13 "Then Thou didst come down on Mount Sinai,

And didst speak with them from heaven;

Thou didst give to them just ordinances and true laws,

Good statutes and commandments.

 

NEH 9:14 "So Thou didst make known to them Thy holy sabbath,

And didst lay down for them commandments, statutes, and law,

Through Thy servant Moses.

 

NEH 9:15 "Thou didst provide bread from heaven for them for their hunger, Thou didst bring forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And Thou didst tell them to enter in order to possess

The land which Thou didst swear to give them.

 

Grace gifts piled upon grace gifts. The CA believer has been lavishly heaped upon with even more, much more.

 

EXO 16:24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it.

 

EXO 16:25 And Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.

 

EXO 16:26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none."

 

EXO 16:27 And it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

 

EXO 16:28 Then the Lord said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?