Manna in the wilderness. Students of their bibles know the story. Most non-students of the bible have heard it also. After passing through the Red Sea the children of Israel spent the next forty years wandering in the wilderness before entering Canaan. Throughout this entire period of their history the LORD God fed them miraculously each day with "manna", bread rained from heaven [Exodus 16:4,15,35]. This is a picture, a type, for NT believers. For these called-out ones, this world is a wilderness, and they too have only one possible source of sustenance while passing through it [1John 2:16-17], namely the antitype of the manna, the true bread from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ [John 6:51]. On this topic, below is an excerpted portion of a C.H. Mackintosh (1820-1896) commentary on Exodus in which he brings out something very profound about this "manna" that all would do well to take to heart - that is that it fell not upon the earth but 'fell upon the dew':
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Numbers 11:9 'And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it'
The manna was so pure and delicate that it could not bear contact with earth. It fell upon the dew [Num. 11:9], and had to be gathered ere the sun was up. Each one, therefore, had to rise early and seek his daily portion. So it is with the people of God now. The heavenly manna must be gathered fresh every morning. Yesterdays manna will not do for today, nor today's for tomorrow. We must feed upon Christ every day, with fresh energy of the Spirit, else we shall cease to grow. Moreover, we must make Christ our primary object. We must seek Him "early," before "other things" have had time to take possession of our poor susceptible hearts. Many of us, alas! fail in this. We give Christ a secondary place, and the consequence is, we are left feeble and barren. The enemy, ever watchful, takes advantage of our excessive spiritual indolence to rob us of the blessedness and strength which flow from feeding upon Christ. The new life in the believer can only be nourished and sustained by Christ. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." [John 6:57]
It is truly deplorable to find Christians seeking after the things of this world. It proves, very distinctly, that they are "loathing" the heavenly manna, and esteeming it "light bread" [Numbers 21:5].