The Jar of Manna
Exodus 16:31 – The house of Israel called its name “manna.” It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey. 32 – Moses said, “this is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept for generations to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.'” 33 – Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the LORD to be kept for generations to come.”
I found it interesting that any other Israelite who tried to store manna overnight (except for Friday as instructed) found the manna stinky and full of worms the next morning. But this jar of manna never spoiled or bred worms. It was preserved as evidence that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
Just for fun, do an internet search for your favorite fast food restaurant and look at the promotional photographs of their food. Notice how the real thing never looks like the photograph. It almost always looks inferior. The jar of manna was not like a promotional photograph or touched up by an artist to look better than the real thing. The jar of manna was the real thing. God’s deliverance was real. Other attempts at saving manna and taking personal credit would end up with a stinky, maggot-filled mess.
Isaiah 64:6 says – We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.
There is one other picture that came to my mind as I was reading these verses. The picture is found in Zechariah 13:6 – And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. A similar picture is found in John 20:27 – Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.”
This verse describes how Jesus will keep the wounds in His hands, feet, and side – the wounds He was given when He hung on the cross for all humanity. One day we will get to see those wounds with our own eyes and feel them with our own hands. Jesus chose to keep the evidence in His body of what it cost Him to save us. He chose to keep it just like the jar of manna was kept so that we could, for generations to come, see that Jesus is the bread from heaven who brought us out of this sin-filled world and into everlasting life.
Therefore, ‘Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.’ – John 20:27.
Where two are gathered 