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Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone - Matt. 4
Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone - Matt. 4
During the wilderness wanderings of Israel, God provided food for them. Sustaining such a large group of people would be impossible for men (even men like Moses), but NOT for God. How many there were we do not know for certain, but it states there were 605, 550 men of fighting age. Add to that their wives, their children, their parents, some grandparents, and the mixed multitude, and you come up with a very large number of people! As the disciples responded to Jesus: “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?" (Mark 8:4).
Everything about this food indicates the miraculous activity of God. It hadn’t appeared before, hence they called it ‘what is it’ (the meaning of the word manna). It could not be kept overnight EXCEPT for the Sabbath day. It ended when they entered the promised land and no longer needed it.
Interestingly enough, it kept those that ate it alive -- FOR AWHILE – until they died of other things than hunger! BUT they died! Moses makes the correct observation about such food:
Deuteronomy 8:3 3 "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Hence, to this 2nd generation that was about to enter into the promised land, where there would be food, they must learn to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. They put their eternal interests above all other interests, even life itself.
Then, this ‘second Moses’ appears, Jesus. Being the Son of God, He was ABLE to turn rocks into bread to satisfy His own hunger, but did not do so. He understood the very point that Moses had made! He chose to live according to God’s instructions and not Satan’s ! (Read again the temptations of Jesus in Matt. 4 and Luke 4).
He was also able to provide miracle food for the people. Although in context it was a very temporary provision and nothing indicates it would continue for 40 years like before, yet the people wanted it to be more permanent. Hence, they sought after Him not because of His TEACHING, but because their bellies were filled. (John 6: 26).
The real bread is NOT that which fills the stomach, but that which fills the soul with desire for God. It is the food that provides for the ability to fulfill the greatest commandment: Love the LORD your God with all your heart. It is the food that provides for ETERNAL life.
This brings us to Jesus. Jesus IS the BREAD OF LIFE. It is only as we ‘partake’ of HIM that we live! We are made ALIVE in Christ by eating his body and drinking his blood. SUCH ‘eating his body and drinking his blood’ is to absorb HIS ways, HIS thoughts, HIS way of thinking. It is to have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:1f). It is accomplished by having HIS words/teachings ABIDING IN US, to have His words dwelling in us (John 15:7; Col. 3:16). The life we live is to be lived by faith in Him (Gal. 2:20).
With this, we come to look at ourselves! Are we really different than the crowd of Jesus’ day? What is it that we seek? Which is more important to you, the feeding of your body that will die anyway or your spirit?
Hugh DeLong
Deuteronomy 8:3, 16. The manna was a miraculous food. It was something that no one had known or seen before, not some kind of known plant or insect. The miraculous way it appeared and disappeared each day should have taught them that “man lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus quoted this verse at His temptation (Matt. 4:4). (Fields, OT History)
