Spiritual Food and Drink

Today and tomorrow we will consider briefly the other two experiences which God ordained for all His people under the Old Testament – eating the same spiritual food and drinking the same spiritual drink. Unlike the double baptism, which was never repeated, the food and drink represented God’s ongoing provision, of which His people had to partake regularly every day until they had completed their pilgrimage.

The spiritual food which God ordained for Israel was the manna which came down to them every morning. Israel lived on this supernatural food throughout the forty years of their pilgrimage through the wilderness.

Speaking of this in the New Testament, Paul describes it as spiritual food. In other words, Paul indicates that for us as Christians this manna corresponds not to the natural food with which we must feed our bodies, but to the spiritual, supernatural food with which we must feed our souls.

What, then, is this spiritual, supernatural food of the Christian? Christ gives us the answer: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). The spiritual food appointed by God for all believers in this dispensation is God’s Word.

As we feed by faith upon the written Word of God, we receive within ourselves the divine life of the personal Word, that is, Jesus Christ Himself. For Jesus said of Himself:

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” (John 6:51)

Thus, it is through the written Word that the personal Word, the living bread from heaven, comes down to nourish the soul of the believer.

The ordinances for the gathering of manna by Israel are stated in Exodus 16. There are three main points:

1. It was gathered regularly.
2. It was gathered individually.
3. It was gathered early in the day.

The same three principles apply to the believer in this dispensation. Each Christian needs to feed upon God’s Word regularly, individually and early in the day.