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or the “ tru e b read ,” starv ation must have resulted. III. Given Freely. The manna fell round about the camp of Israel, ju st as freely as the dew fell. There was no price to be paid for it. There were no conditions to be m et to insure its being provided. It was a free g ift of th e grace of God. Compare th is w ith th e “ tru e b read .” “The free g ift of God is etern al life th rough Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:^3 R.Y. Is. 55:1, 2.) The “ t^ue b read ” cannot be purchased any more th a n th e manna could have been pu r chased. The sinner can do nothing to purchase etern al life. He must tak e it as a gift, or go w ithout it altogether. IV. Given P lentifully. There was an abund an t supply of manna for every man, woman and child in the camp of Israel. No one went hungry through God’s failu re to pro vide enough. Nobody lay down hungry in th e camp, who could say, tru th fully, th a t- th e re was no t enough manna, th a t day, to go around. Compare th is w ith the “ tru e b read .” The feeding of the 5000 was th e inci d en t which gave rise to our Lord’s discourse concerning th e “ tru e b read .” He had ju st fed 5000 men besides women and children w ith th e five loaves and th e two sm all fishes; and they gathered th e fragm en ts together and filled twelve baskets w ith the fragm ents . of th e . five barley loaves, which rem ained over and above what they had eaten. Comparing th is w ith th e “ bread of life,” we remember th a t Christ died not for th e sins of believers, only, bu t also th e sins of th e whole world. (1 Jno. 2 :2 ; Rom. 5 :18 ; Jno. 6:33, 51.) No sinner need be lost for lack of pro vision on God’s part. V. W ith in th e reach of All. Manna came where everyone could avail themselves of it, the low liest as
into th e w ilderness th a t they m ight die of hunger, for w ant of bread. Their need was very real and very urgent. We were all delighted when our Na tional Pood A dm inistration found itself in a position to relax th e regulations concerning th e use of wheat flour, but th in k of w h at our condition would have been had we been denied flour of any kind, and we had been w ithout bread of any sort. Apply th is to the “ tru e b read .” Spir itu a l life can only he nourished on the bread of life, th e tru e bread sent down from Heaven. W ithou t it men must perish w ith hunger. M aterial bread is no t one h it more essential to physical life th a n tru e bread is essential to sp iritu al life. W ithou t th e tru e bread men can have no sp iritu a l life, for according to the Word of God they are “ dead in trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2 :1 .) Our Lord JeSus says th a t He, Himself, is th e bread of life, and th a t He giveth life unto th e world. (Jno. 6:32, 33, 35, 48-51.) A part from th e Lord Jesu s Christ th ere is no sp iritu al life and no salvation. II. Given by God. Some unbelieving critics of th e Word of God have tried to explain away the sup er-n atu ral in the giving of the manna, telling us th a t the manna is a kind of gum exuded from certain shrubs th a t grow in th e wilderness. There is positively nothing to th is when you get down to th e realm of reality and actual fact. The manna was some th ing en tirely out of th e ordinary and did not come to the people in th e w il derness through any n a tu ra l channels. It was specially provided by God in an ou t of ordinary way, to meet the press ing need of H is people. The “tru e b read ” is also the g ift of God. (Jno. 3:16 .) Man had nothing to do w ith the providing of th e “ tru e b read ,” any more th a n he had to do w ith providing th e manna. Had God chosen not to provide eith er th e manna
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