“To him that overcomes, I will give of the hidden manna…”

Ever wonder why it took the Jewish nation, freshly liberated from Egypt, 40 years to get to the Promised Land?  I mean, other than to wait for that unbelieving generation to die off for their lack of faith (Numbers 14)?  What in the world did they do all day out there in the lonely desert?  Well, the picture is getting clearer to me.  But we’ll get to that in a minute.  For now, we want to investigate something else: Jesus being “hidden manna” found in Revelation 2:17.

First, the context where this phrase is found is a word to the church of Pergamum, one of the seven in Revelation 2-3.  Pergamum means “citadel,” and in that sense it was where “Satan has his throne…where Satan lives (2:13), when the persecution struck.  Antipator was one martyr of that period.  His name means “against all.”  Named after one of Alexander the Great’s generals and regents, Antipator apparently stood up to the persecution, would not compromise and paid dearly for it.  He would not yield to the “teaching of Balaam” (v. 14).  Nor would he agree with the “the teaching of the Nicolaitans” (v. 15), a teaching that exalted a professional priesthood over the “lay” people in the church. God called those in the Pergamum church to “repent” or face the double-edged “sword of [Christ’s] mouth” (v. 16).

To those who had ears to hear and overcame, Christ said he would give some hidden manna and “a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”  There is an obvious parallel here.  Starting off with the latter, the white stone is a reward given to the victor with a personal, intimate name known only between Creator and creature.  It’s not open or revealed to anyone else, showing the delights of an exclusive and private relationship.  Manna that is “hidden” carries the same idea, that the relationship, identified by the name, is not common knowledge to the public or people in general.

Now we move on to the manna itself.  What is it?  That’s what the Jews asked when they first saw it (Exodus 16:15).  There are 1-2 million Jews on their way through the desert to Mt. Sinai to meet with God and establish a covenant with him.  But when they ran out of food they weren’t all too happy with Moses.  God said he would “rain down bread from heaven” (v. 4), which came down with the dew in the early morning, so that when the dew lifted, “thin flakes like frost appeared on the desert floor” (v. 14).  God gave instructions for the men to pick about 2 quarts for every member of their families.  If there were 1 million Jews and there were 6 individuals in his family, there would have been around 167,000 manna pickers out each morning picking upwards to 3 gallons of the flakes.  Think of how much desert floor this covered.  Wonder how long this daily harvest took?  Probably a couple of hours.  Then they might have had to prepare it for eating.  No wonder why they didn’t get too far or travel too fast!  And this was before they got God’s law and before they rebelled in willful unbelief at Kadesh-Barnea. God never intended them to eat manna for 40 years.  They were to enjoy the houses and vineyards and produce of their fields in Canaan as their spoils of victory over the natives there.  But no, this drudgery, this monotonous routine became a boring lifestyle until everyone over the age of 20 was six feet under 40 years later.  Manna every day for breakfast, lunch in dinner — a provision, yes, but symptomatic of life spent outside God’s Promised Land of blessing and victory!  God faithfully provided it until they crossed the Jordan River.

In John 6 Jesus had quite an interesting discussion with the Jews about bread.  After feeding the 5,000, the Jews wanted another sign (v. 30).  They assumed Moses was the one who fed them manna (v. 31).  Jesus corrected them and in the process said he was “the bread that came down from heaven.  Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this break will live forever” (v. 58).  That brings us to consider how manna illustrates Jesus. Strange stuff, this manna.  Somehow good enough to sustain you all day, but you couldn’t keep it overnight or it bred worms and stank.  It melted in the midday heat.  But pickings on Friday lasted 2 days with no problem.  And a pot of it placed in the Ark of the Covenant did very nicely for centuries.  How is this like Jesus?  In short, Jesus doesn’t act the way we expect him to, but the way we need him to.  He must be experienced every day anew.  Yesterday’s lesson is different than today’s.  We need him daily.  And he is definitely at home in the one symbol that pictures God’s holiness.

How’s your intake of the hidden manna?  Are you getting it/him fresh every day?