Bread From Heaven

The Bread from Heaven

So, the year was 2008, I know, seems like a long time ago, right? That is when I packed up my bags and went to seminary. So, I finished college in December of 2007, I was a weird December grad student, and I wanted to get a jump start on school. School wasn’t going to start until August, but I wanted to be prepared.

So, I saved up money for a few months, had a good two months worth of good supply ready and moved to North Carolina. That’s when I could get into my apartment in Raleigh. So, I moved up there, two months, plenty of time to get that job because, you know, you got to pay for bills.

So, I was like, I saved up enough money, two months, good, I got a job waiting for me part time when school starts in August, school will start, that’ll be great, I just need that extra 20, 30 hour a week job, easy, part time, simple. Two months of provision, planned out perfectly, until we come to June, which quickly approaches, two months goes away real fast.

So, lots of applying online, going into places, again, you could kind of actually still talk to people back then, not that they cared that you said hello to them, but even then they began the, you can go fill out a thing online, cool. So, two months, filling things out online, couple random in-person meetings, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

So, you start to have a little panic set in, like, I’ve got like two weeks before I run out of cash on hand, okay, there were still credit cards floating me a little bit here, but you can’t pay the rent with a credit card back then. So, it’s like, I’m going to run out of money and I’m going to have problems. So, again, praying, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

I just started going to a little church at that point outside of Raleigh, and one of the pastors, associate, there’s a church plant, there was only like 30 of us, but he was one of the pastors, was getting a full-time job running the missions department at the seminary. So, he’s like, hey, I work this night job, they hire mostly seminary students, I’m quitting, I can tell them, hey, there’s a guy that goes to my church that needs a job, they’ll hire you just because I asked them to. Nice gig.

So, I was like, well, sure, I just need a job, so that’d be great. So, he talked to them Monday, I got a call, hey, can you interview Tuesday, they’d probably want you to start on Wednesday morning. It’s like, yes, let’s do that.

So, very quickly turn around from going from a month or a week from running out of money, week to two weeks of running out of money, to having a job, which then I stayed at for four years, working nights, every night, including my day job, 70 hours a week of work, paid those bills, paid off all those credit cards and student loans, very useful. So, God’s provision abundance through it all, a lot of hard work.

But there was just that work of, that reality though, of where is my next paycheck coming from? I had a plan. Two months seemed like plenty of time. All the more if you want to, for those who have a history lesson here, if you want to go back to, the year was 2008, I got a job in June.

By the time September rolled around, jobs didn’t exist anymore anywhere. So, there was a blessing of the financial crisis that then half the people coming to seminary at September couldn’t find jobs because there weren’t existing, especially in the triangle, which is Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill. There were no jobs. So, the Lord was very gracious to me through that, the provision that he gave.

And as we turn to our text today, we’re going to find Israel in a similar situation. So, we have the history of where we’ve gone, so we’ll back up a little bit, walk through our context as we dive into our text this morning. So, up to this point, God has saved Israel out of Egypt, big miracles. We got the destruction, the plagues, through the Red Sea, we’ve seen these huge miraculous works of God saving his people.

As he took them out of Egypt, he told them to take with them unleavened bread. You’re moving quickly, make quick bread so that you have provisions, so you have food for the journey. This is the picture before us. So, they made what they could, left in haste, and the Lord provided for them along the way.

And here we are, roughly a month to two months later, depending on how you break down the language of our text, and they’re about to run out of food. The provisions are gone. They left the oasis, their provisions are slowly running. They’re running out.

And so, what do we do? That is the situation before us as we come to our text today. It’s the context. The question is, will God still sustain his people?

Yes, he saved them, awesome, but will he also sustain them? Not only is he a God that will save, but as we see, he is the God who sustains them along the way. And this is very important for us to learn as we look at this text, that we serve and worship a God who not only saved us through Christ Jesus, but sustains us through him as well.

 

And so, as we open our text, the first part that we are going to see…is the reality and the nature of the Israelites. We are gonna see them as a needy people.

I. Given to a “Needy” people. (v1-3)

So in verses one, two, three, we see their predicament. They set out from Elam.

Now again, this is what we talked about last week. Pastor Adam ended with the oasis. Everything is great. They’ve got palm trees and springs of water.

What else do you need? It might as well as a mini Florida for those who like that sort of thing. That’s what they were experiencing. And so to pick up and move is a moment, but they weren’t home yet.

They had not reached the promised land. And so it’s time to move. And so they set out from Elam. And all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin.

Again, that’s just a generic, that is the name for the wilderness. It has nothing to do with actual sin. It’s just the name of a region, which is between Elam and Sinai. So halfway to Sinai.

On the 15th day of the second month, after they had departed from the land of Egypt, and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And so this begins our first picture.

So we have the speech of the people, the grumble of the people. Their need is laid bare. They are a people who are now hungry. And so again, like I said, they left with provisions.

They had provisions to begin the journey, and now they are running low. Again, they’re not turning to the animals. Again, Numbers 11 will make a point on why, for them to slaughter the animals. They have no sacrifices, and that will go away in a moment.

Then they have nothing else. So they do not slaughter the animals. So they need bread. They need something to sustain them day by day.

This is a real need. You need food to eat, yes. Now, yes, it’s not as readily needed as water. You need water every day, but food also, it doesn’t take that long before you start to get weak.

And if you’re walking through the wilderness, you need some sustenance. You need to stay well eaten. You need that gluten for all those allergy people. I’m sorry, you need the carbs.

You need the heaviness to keep you motivated, keep the fuel going. That is this picture. They need food to survive. And so they are facing a real crisis.

This isn’t an imaginary one. They do have a real situation before them. What are we going to eat? It’s also not a small group of people.

Again, this is a group of people larger than Pasco County. Take every person in Pasco County, and then say they are without food. Fix it. So it’s a tall order before them.

Okay, they’re running out of food. Where will their daily bread come from? And this is very much what the people then are confronted with, this trial, this tribulation. Where will they turn to find the answer?

And as our text unfolds, we see clearly they turn in the wrong direction. Okay, the obvious one for those we would say is obvious is they should turn to the Lord. But as we see in our text, they do not turn to the Lord, but they also do not blame God either. This is an interesting point when you read the text.

They say they wish God would have just killed them in Egypt, but really this is all Aaron and Moses’ fault. Why did you take us out of Egypt? Why did you lead us here? You guys are such bad planners.

You should have had a better plan. Now we’re here, there’s no food, this is your fault. Fix it. It’s ultimately what they’re telling Aaron, you fix it, feed us all, give us food.

This is your problem. You mismanaged the situation. Now we’re stuck. What are you gonna do about it?

And so they quickly turn on this whole journey into the wilderness. They now look to Aaron and Moses and go fix our problems. This isn’t God’s fault, clearly, they are still a little bit. God has saved us, that’s cool, but now you need to fix our problems.

God clearly can’t do this, this is a you issue. And so this becomes the situation. They understand they have a need. Okay, they know their needs, we are hungry, but their problem is they go to the wrong source to solve it.

So they go to Mary and blame them for their problem. This is you need to fix our problem. So they grumble. And this is the second of the three grumbles in the book of Exodus.

So last week we had their first grumbling when they led them to the drink, or led them to the water they couldn’t drink of because it was bitter. Okay, this week we have this daily bread. Next week, Pastor Adam will unpack their grumbling over the lack of water. So they will need a daily substance of water.

So each of these continue to show their need for God’s provision. The grumbling will not continue. Then into the book of Numbers we’ll see. see greater grumblings that will lead to greater, and in that point, judgment.

These grumblings lead to God’s provision, later will lead to God’s judgment. But before us we have this characterization that Aaron and Moses have messed up, seems to be their point. So they are blindly blaming Moses and Aaron for their situation, but also as you read the text, they are blindly remembering their past. So a need has arisen, they’re in this trial, this tribulation that they need to be solved, and what they look to is a time when this was not a problem.

They fondly look back to the past. Remember those good old days in Egypt where we had food every day, we would just eat it lovingly behind our meat pots, just as if it was a romantic occasion of happy times, forgetting all of the suffering. We’re chucking babies into rivers, like this is the picture, okay, we have of their experience. They suffered extreme slavery and abuse and beating, but it’s like, oh, but at least I had food.

Like that is literally, they have freedom, they have a God who loves and cares for them, but man, do you remember those old days? They were so great. And we do this all the time. In the midst of one problem, we look back to a time when it’s like that wasn’t a problem and that was a great time.

Regardless of anything else going on around it, like it doesn’t matter any of the suffering, doesn’t matter anything else, that was such a good time. Don’t you remember? So again, this is why there are so many children still in the world. This is what happens.

You guys laughed better than the first service, thank you. So that picture, the suffering is forgotten for the good. So in this case, this is what we have. They are blindly look back to the past and go like, at least we had food.

Even though my life was the worst it could ever be, nothing was good, everything was bad, this one thing was okay, and that’s all that mattered. In spite of in the middle of this moment where everything else is good and I have one problem, this is the worst experience of my life because we fixate on the one problem, especially when we’re not taking that one problem to the one who can fix that one problem, thinking we can. Because clearly, they cannot feed all the people.

We don’t have an answer, so this is bad. And that’s where they are. So they misremember their past, they have a disconnection from reality, and they just look to hope to have this moment fixed. They want a quick fix to their momentary problem.

There’s the thing that we do this even with our own situation. If we’re walking with the Lord, we’re growing in him, we can stumble or face trials and somehow we look back like, oh, I remember those fondly days where I didn’t have this problem. Where has God gone? He somehow left me in this moment.

But those other moments when this wasn’t a problem, oh, that’s when things were good. It’s when you were struggling with something else or dealing with something else. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for a while and somehow, okay, you start to experience those trials and tribulations, which the Lord says will come. And you’re like, I was promised a perfect and great life where nothing was ever gonna be bad.

I remember before I knew Christ and it was all happy. Because you misremember your life in sin, that in the midst of trials and tribulations, you see wrongly what was. And so this is where the Israelites are. They’re misremembering the past.

But what’s amazing here is it highlights all the more how gracious God is. Because again, you read this about the people. Okay, they aren’t like a great people. Like, this is all Aaron and Moses’ fault, this is all bad, everything we’ve experienced is wrong.

Would’ve just been better if God would’ve just killed us or left us, whether that’s kill them while in Egypt or just leave us in Egypt to die on our own. They have this misremembrance and yet, what we see is God doesn’t go, well, too bad, enjoy starving. That is not God’s reaction to their complaint. Rather, in recognition of their needy

 people, he then will be the one to provide for their needs.

He will show them that he is the one who daily provides for his people. He will give them their needs, but he will also do it as a test. It is an opportunity for them to grow in their love and obedience to the Lord in very simple ways. So as the text unfolds in verses four through 20, we see this reality that the manna, the provision that is coming, will be a test of the Lord for them.

 II. Given as a Test. (V4-20)

Begin in verse four. Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I’m about to rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.

So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, at evening, you shall know that the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord For what are we that you grumble against us? Moses said when the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat in the morning bread to the full Because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him. What are we?

Your grumbling is not against us But against the Lord then Moses said to Aaron and say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel Come near before the Lord for he has heard your grumbling And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel They looked towards the wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud and the Lord said to Moses I’ve heard the grumbling of the people of Israel say to them at twilight You shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God In the evening quail came up and covered the camp and in the morning do lay around the camp And when the dew had gone up there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake like thing Finest frost on the ground when the people of Israel saw it.

They said to one another. What is it?

For they did not know what it is It was and Moses said to them it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat This is what the Lord has commanded gather it each one of you as much as he can eat You shall each take an omer According to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent and the people of Israel did so They gathered some more some less But when they measured it with an omer whether gathered much had nothing left over and whether gathered little had no lack Each of them and gathered as much as he could eat and Moses said to them let no one leave any of it over till the morning But they did not listen to Moses some left part of it till the morning And it bred worms and stank and Moses was angry with them And so as our text has moved forward we now see this giving of a test this test in the Provision so the bread of life is coming to them this bread that will sustain them.

God has heard their grumblings He’s heard their cries even highlighting that it wasn’t against Moses and Aaron that you’re grumbling It was against the Lord for he is the one as we see brought the day It seems straightforward. But as we’ve seen throughout scripture and probably our own lives some of the simplest laws are Things requiring obedience sometimes can be the hardest Again, we go all the way back to Genesis 3 very simple.

The first law and command in Scripture was don’t eat that tree That’s it that’s just simply don’t eat this root just one thing you have all the rest of the garden you have all that you could ever imagine and have just don’t eat that tree and the Immediate reaction is but the tree looks so good It’s such a nice tree The natural heart of sin leads itself towards Disobedience and so even in this moment even in this Okay, a heart not transformed by the gospel has a natural proclivity towards things against God And so he gives them this simple just gather and eat the food That’s it.

It seems so simple But yet this simple one will highlight the fact of the people’s inability to keep the rest of the law Because this isn’t the beginning of the law. This is the first part. We have some sim some In our These are the first inclinations of the law that is to come so we’ll also get the Sabbath here Which we’ll cover here in a minute, but these are some of the the forerunners like can you just gather food and eat it? That’s it.

I’m about to give you like 300 and something other ones later, but can you do the basics? I think that’s even a good encourager Can we just do the basics like do the basic things that the Lord has called us to do? This is the very simple. Do you trust God to provide your needs?

That’s ultimately what the question is before them. Do they trust God to provide I Will give you food every single day. You don’t need to worry about tomorrow. You don’t need to save any They’ll be more tomorrow.

I got you covered Do we trust God with that? We want to put it in a modern Context most of us have food if I told you you would get a paycheck Every single day for the rest of your life. It would cover your food and housing every single day You never worry about until you die. Would you be content with that?

Or would you want a little bit more Maybe just set aside a little bit. I really want to go on a vacation next month. Just The natural inclination like God will give you everything you need Is it enough? Because again, we’ll see this same thing later because God will give them manna every single day for 40 years He only gives them quail here to begin with.

So this is a misunderstanding Some people think they ate quail every single night for 40 years. They did not God gives them a gift here to show his glory. He gives them meat and bread and Then we will see they will get to Sinai for those who want to read ahead into the book of Numbers You’ll get to numbers 11 where they will get sick of all the manna. It’s boring.

We want meat again! Where’s the quail? He will give them quail as judgment, where they will eat to the point that it comes out of their orifices, is the picture. Like it’s very much the picture of the historic dad who makes their kid smoke like seven packs of cigarettes to teach them not to smoke cigarettes.

That’s the picture of God. Like you want meat? I’ll just give it to you. There.

You happy now? No, you’re not. Trust me with your provision. That’s not actually God.

That’s an Andrew version which is sinful. Not real God. So, but this becomes this like picture here is God is providing. I’ve given you everything you will ever need.

Is it enough? Is it enough? Do we trust him enough? Again, we go in simple like, oh they clearly, they got food.

What else do they? But in our real life, is that enough for us? God gives you everything you need for life and godliness and contentment. Is it enough?

This becomes their challenge. This is the first law given. Do you trust God to provide? Do you trust God with your provisions?

Is he the one you will turn to? Do you trust him? Thus why he gets so angry at the end of that section where Moses angry that some kept some over. Like why?

I told you it’s not that hard. But we know the human heart and the human heart struggles with basic things like trusting the Lord. And so the first test is that test. Will they trust him?

Will they walk in his ways? The second part in that section, we see that part of this test is also so that they will see and remember the Lord. They will see and behold the glory of the Lord through this. Again, he has saved them from Egypt, but will he sustain them into the promised land?

The question before them. This act of giving the bread every day shows the sustaining work of God. He didn’t just leave them on their own. He was going to give them everything they needed to make it to the end.

He would be their God. He will give them food. Next week he will give them water. The week after he will give them victory against those who may rise up against them.

We’ll get to the Amalekites. He will sustain them all the way to the end. They must simply walk in faith to the end. It’s the whole picture that this whole section of Exodus is unpacking for us.

As they continue to grumble as they aren’t learning this yet, they’re struggling to understand that God will save them to the end. That this is not human effort that will see them to the promised land. This is a work of God alone. He is the one who will provide and they must remember this.

His glory is shown to them in the evening. Picture the glory of the Lord is revealed. It’s the first time that phrase comes up in scripture. The glory of the Lord is revealed in his provision for their daily needs.

This is the first time the glory of the Lord phrase is used in scripture. And it’s here in this gracious merciful act of God providing for their daily needs. This is the first act we see and they’re to remember it. They’re not to forget these things because in this we see the trustworthy nature of God.

So he gives them this law. He gives them this task to take. And then he says he will give this every single morning. And then he does give it to them every single morning.

Every day he provides. And in seeing it every single day, it builds faith in the God whom has saved them. That they will know that he is the Lord, their God. It’s what the text says.

By giving this daily provision, they will grow in their knowledge of the Lord. The last time I preached highlighted the same understanding as he brought them through the Red Sea. It said that they would know that he is the Lord, their God. They would know him through their salvation.

Here they will know him through his provisions. He is the God who saves you. He is the God who will provide for you. This is the picture of God.

This is Yahweh. This is the Lord that will see them to the end. This is the God whom we worship. He didn’t just save us through Christ at the cross but sustains us through Christ to the end.

He is trustworthy. Do we trust his promises? Do we trust his word? Do we believe he will do what he said he will do?

For he gives them meat in the evening and then bread in the morning. The manna. The what is it? It’s a great phrase.

That’s literally what manna is. It’s just the phrase what is it. It’s a fun thing to echo throughout time. What is it?

No one knows. It kind of looks like coriander which I learned is cilantro. Thing I learned. That was a small group thing, just a friend.

Small group, you learn all sorts of weird facts. But coriander seed, just a coriander seed, that picture of it, but white and tastes like honey. Just a very weird experience. But this becomes a picture.

God not only gives them, but he also gives them a good thing. Because he could have just provided for them very much bland, I was gonna say saltines, but saltines do at least have some flavor. Just hardtack, ugh. So just a picture of just think the most bland thing.

He could have just given them just bland bread. No flavor, no nothing, but it would sustain them. Picture is, it is a good thing to eat. This is good bread.

This is hearty bread. This is Outback bread, if those who like Outback bread. I enjoy Outback bread, just in case you do. Some of you may have your own restaurant of choice, but some places give you some good bread.

Cheesecake Factory, that nice chocolatey bread, good stuff. But that picture, like he doesn’t just give them bread. He gives them good bread. This thing’s got a good flavor to it.

He’s providing for them in abundance. This is not just, well, I give you the base minimum. He’s giving them good things, great things. He’s providing for them in ways that they would not have imagined.

And all he calls them to do is go, collect, make it. Go make bread, enjoy. You ain’t got nothing else going on. This is what you can do.

Enjoy, I will see you to the end. And so day by day, this is their reality. And so in this text, we see the fact that they were a needy people who God has chosen to provide. He will provide for them, and in so doing, giving them this test.

Will they obey? Will they follow? Will they listen? But ultimately, through this all, it is also that he can show them that he is their provision and rest.

III. Given as a means of Provision & Rest (v21-36)

He will provide, and he will give them rest through his provisions. He will give them rest. So this is where our text concludes in the last section here, beginning in verse 21 to 36. Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat.

But when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over, lay aside to be kept till morning. So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them. And it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord.

Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.

So the people rested on the seventh day. Now the house of Israel called the name manna. It was like coriander seed white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded.

Let an omer be kept throughout your generation so that they may see the bread with which I feed you in the wilderness. When I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and Moses said to Aaron, take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations. The Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.

The people of Israel ate the manna 40 years till they came to the habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Nomer is a 10th part of an Ephes. It’s roughly a quart is our English version, but a quart is how much they would gather each morning.

And so what we see again is this reality that God gives them this provision. They have enough to eat. It highlights they gathered, and what they gathered was enough to eat. They never lacked for food.

They never had too much. They never had too little. If you gathered this much, that was enough for you to be sustained. If you gathered a little bit, that was enough for your belly to be filled.

They were never lacking. No one went to bed hungry. No one went to bed engorged. It’s the picture.

They ate exactly what they needed. The Lord gave them exactly what they needed. Day by day, 40 years providing. Never a lack for food.

He was the one sustaining them. Never too much, never too little. Day by day, the Lord was faithful. He was their provision.

Until we get to the sixth day, which became the question. They gathered the same. They didn’t go out and accidentally gather more food, they gathered as they did every day and there was extra. Thus a conundrum.

We have eaten our fill, but there’s still more left. We didn’t do this. Now again, they left it over and it was bad, so the leaders clearly have a conundrum, like we didn’t do anything wrong, what are we doing? Thus the Lord instructs, this is so, you have food tomorrow.

You don’t have to work tomorrow, you got the day off. Enjoy it. After 400 years of slavery, after wandering in the desert, you know what you get tomorrow? Take a holiday.

Kick your feet up. Food’s already there. It’s already, you just make it, just bake it, just sit in there, just enjoy. This is the Lord’s gift to you, rest.

I’ve given you all the provisions you need, rest. Of course you see the immediate reaction of the people is to do what? Go gather some more, where is the food? What is this rest you speak of?

Rest isn’t something we do. We don’t rest, we work, we got things to do, we got places to go, we got life to live. Rest is just a waste of time, but that is not what the Lord is showing. The Lord is showing here that rest is a good gift from God.

Six days you will work, and on the seventh, rest. It’s a sign of trust in God’s provision. He’s provided all that you need. Do you believe that?

Can you rest? Or do you got to do more? I can always get a little bit ahead. I can always do a little bit more.

There’s always more to be done. Or do you take the time and rest in God’s provision? Trusting that God is good, that God will do what he said he will do. Do you take the time to step back and remember God?

It’s one of the great things about the gift of the Sabbath. It’s an opportunity to stop and think about how God has provided. Because in a busy world, it’s very easy to forget all the things God does for you. Especially in our modern society, we don’t believe in rest.

We say we do, but we don’t. We really believe in a lazy rest that’s busy scrolling stupid things. It’s not real rest, it’s stupid. This is not restful, I don’t understand that.

That picture, we’re not actually resting. We’re busy doing other things, but not resting in the Lord. Taking a chance to actually think about what the Lord has done. It’s the beauty of what the Sabbath is meant to give you.

A, it gives you an opportunity to gather with the saints and worship God. We do it twice, so come back tonight to worship some more with the saints. It’s night six. But it gives you the opportunity to spend time with the Lord, with the saints, but also just thinking about what the Lord has done.

I’m reading a biography on young Teddy Roosevelt, and part of it talks about the way he grew up was his dad always set apart Sunday for one purpose. It was for worship in the morning and for writing letters. That was their day. So, it was to worship God in the morning, they went to their little Presbyterian church, they would worship for roughly three hours.

They would come home, eat lunch, sing a hymn together, and then write. That was the rest of your evening. Teddy was not a fan, just in case you’re wondering. Some say he has asthma, just because he had asthma.

It always happened on a Sunday, historically, funnily enough. But that’s a different issue. But that picture of like, that’s how his dad, like this is as a family, they wrote together, write to family members, write to friends, write in a journal about what God has done this week, how God is using us. It was all about spending time with family and writing about what God is doing and encouraging the family outside of the four walls.

Very cool. Very much the 1800s. Some people wonder how they got so much written. They spend a lot of time writing.

We don’t do so much. But that picture of using the rest to remember what God has done. God gives us an opportunity once a week to rest in him. And then work.

Enjoy the good gift of God’s toil for you. It’s good. Work is not bad. Work is a good gift as well, but also to rest.

That gives us rest as a beautiful, beautiful gift, and we will unpack an entire sermon on that later in the year when we get back and do the Ten Commandments. We’ll spend a whole time on the Sabbath. But in this text, this is the first command of the Sabbath, and it’s all around, do we trust his provision? Do you trust that God has provided everything you need?

You don’t need to work tomorrow. And how much of a good gift is that to a people who have been in slavery for 400 years? A day off was not a thing. In case you’re wondering, slaves don’t tend to get vacation time.

They don’t have PTO. It’s just not a thing. And so in that, this is what God has given them. He’s given them rest from your labors.

Just rest in me. Enjoy. It’s one of the many good gifts of God. All the more why you can then see the slight anger at the end there, when even then, they do not obey.

Even then, there are still some who go out to gather. It’s like, will you not obey the simple things? Do we obey the simple things? It’s the question before us.

Do we trust God to provide for our needs and rest in him? And so in doing so, he gives them enough to remember. So they set aside a portion, a manna, God calls them to set aside a portion and keep it throughout all generations to be reminded. Again, we’ve seen time and time again, this reminder, to set reminders before you of what God has done.

So even before the 10 commandments are given, before the Ark of the Covenant is created in the later in Exodus, they set aside the jar to remember. Remember God is the one who provides for us. God is the one who is sustaining us. It is not our works.

So even before the full giving of the law, that God’s grace and mercy to his people is before them to be remembered. God is the one who sustains. God is the one whom in the midst of our troubles, we turn to. He is the one who provides for our every need.

And as we see scripture unfolds throughout history, we see ultimately this is the very event that Christ himself comes to in the book of John chapter six. So in John chapter six, it begins with the feeding of the 5,000, okay? Those who have been in church a long time may be very familiar with this. So there’s a large group of people.

They are hungry. They are needy. The disciples are like, let’s get rid of them. And Jesus is like, well, we’ll give them food.

From where? From me? Kind of becomes a bring me whatever we got and then distribute. And they have plenty left over.

Everyone ate to their fill. It’s all echoes of this giving of the bread from heaven. And they ate to the fill. They ate until they were done.

They didn’t eat too much, didn’t eat too little. They ate exactly what they needed. And the disciples are amazed because we didn’t have bread and yet somehow everyone ate and we had leftovers and they collected it all so that none would go to waste, the text highlights. And so they eat their fill.

Then the disciples go on their way and the next morning, Jesus gives them an instruction after walking on water, gives them instruction that he is the bread of life. This is him. After giving them a lengthy discussion, he said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of God who sent me, that I should lose nothing, all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about him. Interesting text. But it highlights the fact that Christ is the one who says he is the provision from heaven for life, for all who believe, for those who believe and place their trust in him have come through the waters, have come through the Red Sea, have experienced salvation.

He will now also be their sustainer. I will not lose them. I will sustain them is the picture here. He is the one who sees us to the end.

He is the one who feeds us day by day. Again, the Lord’s prayer, give us this day our daily bread. Is he your sustainer? Has he saved you?

Is he sustaining you? Have you repented and believed in him, trusting in his work alone? For we can do nothing. We can do nothing on our own to earn our salvation.

All that we can do will turn into stinking worms, day-old bread. But what God gives will last, will sustain. Christ will feed our hungry souls to the full. So if you have repented, if you have believed, do you trust in this for your provision?

Do you trust God to sustain you day by day, physically, spiritually, in all of life? Or do you keep looking to yourself? How can I solve this problem? How can I accomplish this?

Or do you turn to the Lord and trust him through it? Is he your daily provision? For he is the only thing that lasts. We will come and go, Christ’s word will remain forever.

And in that, he sees his own to the end. So are you resting in his provisions? Are you trusting in his grace to see you through?