#14 The Ark - The Hidden Manna

The hidden manna

A meal for the future

Revelation 2:17 holds a wonderful and mysterious promise. It says; "'To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.'"

Many have speculated about this hidden manna. What is it? I'll tell you up front that I don't know the answer. The book of Revelation in particular is filled with prophecies, symbols and types and I believe we are not privy to full understanding until the right time. The closer we arrive to end time events spoken of in Revelation; the clearer will be our understanding.

In the meanwhile God has some of it veiled for his own purposes. Yet, we can piece some things together and we can continue to seek and pray for discernment. We can start with an understanding of manna, which was the food God provided to the Israelites when they wandered for forty years in the desert. The Lord told Moses; "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day." (Exodus 16:4) What else do we know about it? "It was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey." (Exodus 16:31) We also know from Psalm 78:24 that it was the heavenly food of angels. "And given them the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food."

Additionally God wanted some of it saved and preserved for future generations to remind them of the Lord's covenant of faithfulness. Moses placed a portion of manna in the Ark of the Covenant. Now comes a real mystery in the Old Testament. Somewhere between the time Moses first placed it in the Ark and the dedication of Solomon's Temple, the manna disappeared along with Aaron's rod. At the dedication ceremony; "nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt." (1 Kings 8:9) Where did the manna go? No one knows for sure but in Revelations we see reference to it once again. 

Where is the hidden manna?

The New Testament connection

To piece this all together, it is important to understand what happened with the children of Israel in the wilderness. Everything that Moses pointed to as a type, the reality of that type is found in Jesus Christ and His body. If we are familiar with the Tabernacles, Temples, Holy Feasts, sacrifices, etc., we understand that they merely served to point to that which was to come in Christ. All the events in the life of Israel would find their true fulfillment in the life of Christ. For forty years God through Moses fed Israel a food that they called “Manna”.

Another type or shadow to follow is to understand what the Messiah said about himself. Jesus told the Jewish people; "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die." (John 6:48-50) He is letting them know that the manna in the old days was a foreshadowing of the new covenant. HE is the REAL manna. The new covenant is better than the old because; "'If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.'" (John 6:51)

When some disciples left and decided not to follow Jesus anymore because of this hard teaching (John 6:66), Jesus asked the twelve apostles, “Will you also go away,” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? For you have the words of eternal life.”  What words? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, “And you shall remember all the way which the LORD thy God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know that what was in your heart, and whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did you fathers know; that he may make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD…”

When the disciples asked Jesus, “teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples,” Jesus taught them, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread…” When Jesus says we are to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” he is talking about far more than just physical bread. He is talking of spiritual bread. Jesus said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” (John 6:41) We are to eat of “that bread” daily.

Since Jesus fulfilled and replaced the old covenant, we can assume that the hidden manna he is talking about in Revelation 2:17 is spiritual food - not simply going back and eating the same thing that dropped from heaven every morning in the desert. More than asking what the hidden manna is, we should be asking what it means to "overcome" because remember that the promise is "to him who overcomes…” Worldly Christians may wonder how little they can do and still keep their salvation. Some would like to walk as close to the line as possible without falling over it. That certainly will not win the prize. Rather, we should pursue overcoming with all our heart. Jesus has gone ahead of us and made it possible. He said; "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Perhaps as we seek to be overcomers, Jesus will give us to eat of the “hidden manna”.