The Self-Giving Grace of God
Father, as Joshua has just prayed, I just want to ask again, with the Bible opened before us, please bless the ministry of your Word, in Jesus’s name, Amen.
So I remember this one night, several years ago when our oldest three children were still babies, it close to dinnertime and one of the babies was absolutely loosing their minds — some of you parents know what I’m talking about — it’s called baby rage.
The child, who will remain nameless, was in his high chair, screaming his lungs out, and his face was completely red, and he tried to rip his shirt off but he only managed to get the front bottom part over his head so he was kind of stuck, and that just made things worse. This kid was hangry. We could not get him his food fast enough — but that’s not why I remember this night.
Parents see this sort of thing all the time.
But the reason I remember this night is because of what Melissa said to this child in the middle of this tantrum.
He was upset and loud and convulsing, and she just knelt down and made eye contact with him — this was back when we still had patience — and this is what she said to him, she said: “Buddy, have I ever not fed you?”
It was such a perfect question. Because it put it all in perspective — how many times had my wife fed her children? You could do the math — how many days had our children been alive multiplied by how many meals they eat each day. That was already a high number seven years ago, and the number has only gotten higher. There have been a lot of hungry children in our home — we’ve seen a lot of hanger — and mom says: “Have I never not fed you?”
It’s the perfect question, and it gets right at the heart of our passage today, because in Exodus 16 Israel is hangry.
The Key Theme of the Passage
Israel is what you could call an infant nation. This is exactly one month after they’ve been rescued from Egypt, and it’s a great time for a lesson. There’s a broad theme going on in this passage, and I want to go ahead and tell you what it is. We’ve seen this before, and we’re going to see this again — it’s a key theme in the Old Testament overall — but it’s really front and center here in Exodus 16. It’s the theme of 1) human sinfulness and 2) God’s provision.
On one hand, we see how people are — they sin; and then on the other hand, we see how God is — he gives.
That’s the main message. And what I want to do for the sermon is just give more details for how Exodus 16 shows us this. So there are three ways we see human sinfulness, and then three ways we see God’s provision. There’s the bad news, and then the good news.
And we’re going to start right here [holding up right hand] — how do we see human sinfulness?
How Do We See Human Sinfulness?
Let’s get there. Look at verse 2:
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:2)
Now this is not the first time we’ve seen this sort of thing. We’ve actually seen this three times before:
First, all the way back in Chapter 5 when the people of Israel had to make bricks without straw, they blamed Moses and they were upset with him (see 5:21).
Second, at the edge of the Red Sea when Pharaoh and his army was coming after Israel, Israel was terrified and they blamed Moses, and said, Moses, what have you done! (14:11–12)
Then third, most recently, at the end of Chapter 15, after Israel has walked through the Red Sea safely, we’re told they couldn’t find water for three days, and when they finally did find water it was too bitter to drink, and that’s when we read, Chapter 15, verse 24: “And the people grumbled against Moses.”
Well, what did Moses do? Moses cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh turned the bitter water into sweet water. (Kind of like La Croix into Sprite.) It goes from undrinkable to drinkable. God works a miracle to provide for his people, and then we read in verse 25 that this was a test.
Okay, so right before our passage in Chapter 16 we see this scene:
The people grumble.
God responds.
It’s called a test.
The people had a need that was met by God’s provision, and it was meant to be a statute for Israel. This is something they should remember and follow: Hey, if we listen to Yahweh, if we trust him, he is going to take care of us — Chapter 15 ends with the people of Israel encamped around 12 springs of water and seventy palm trees! — See, just trust Yahweh! It’s that simple, right? Well…
Chapter 16 starts with this exact same pattern. The people again grumble just like they did in Chapter 15, and again God responds with provision, and once again it’s called a test. Look at verse 4,
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.” (Exodus 16:4)
People grumble; God responds; it’s a test.
Now what kind of test is this? This is the second time we’ve seen this word “test” — so what does that mean?
Think of this test as an experiment. The purpose in verse 4 is to find out whether Israel will walk in God’s law or not. That’s the same idea in Chapter 15, verse 26. The question there is whether Israel will give ear to God’s commandments.
And what’s fascinating is that up to this point in the Bible there have been no laws or commandments! Chapter 16 is before Mount Sinai. This is before God gives the law. So this test is a kind of testing Israel out:
How are they going to handle commandments and such?
Are they going to be able to follow Yahweh?
Are they inclined to listen?
That’s the test. And here’s the thing: the results of this test are not really for God. He knows how this thing is going to go down. He’s not surprised by anything. And the results are also not for Israel. There is no evidence here that Israel as a people have any self-awareness.
The results of this test are for us.
This testing is for the readers of this story. It’s so that we see Israel’s sin. This is all meant to show us the reality of human sinfulness.
How do we see it? The first way is the grumbling.
#1. The people of Israel grumble against God.
Do y’all know what grumbling is? It’s one of those words in English that sort of sounds like what it means. [Want to try that? Everybody “Grumble” — you cannot say the word with a smile on your face.]
It’s a great translation for the Hebrew verb. The original word means to complain about someone in an accusatory sense. It means to decry a situation, but not just decry it, it’s to decry it and blame somebody for it. That is what it means to grumble.
Grumbling is not the same thing as groaning. Remember back in Chapter 2 that the reason God even called Moses to begin with was because he heard Israel’s groaning. God knew their suffering, but grumbling is different. Grumbling is always depicted as a symptom of unbelief. Every time this word for grumbling is used in the Bible it’s negative.
So see, we might groan because we’re hurt; but we grumble because we’re angry.
We groan because we need God’s help in our hardship; we grumble because we think God is harsh in our hardship
We groan because we know God can change things; we grumble because even if we know God can change things, we don’t believe he will.
Groaning is the sound of the faithful in suffering; grumbling is the sound of the cynic spewing their pessimism.
So how are you doing with that? In your situation — in whatever affliction you’re dealing with — are you groaning or are your grumbling?
The people of Israel grumbled — and it wasn’t just because they were hangry. It’s because they did not trust Yahweh — even after what he has already done.
He had rescued Israel from Egypt by great signs and wonders. He defied nature by dividing the Red Sea in two. He provided water by a miracle when they were thirsty. But still, they did not trust him. They grumbled — and Moses is clear in verse 8 that their grumbling was not against him, but against Yahweh. Within a month of walking through the Red Sea, and seeing the bodies of their enemies scattered along the shoreline, Israel is shaking their fist at God. Which is never okay. Their grumbling shows their sinfulness.
Here’s the second way we see their sinfulness.
#2. The people of Israel embellished their memory of Egypt.
Notice this in verse 3 again. In their grumbling they said, “Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full…”
You see what they’re doing? They’re making a valuation. They are comparing their current situation as a rescued people to their past situation as an enslaved people, and they are saying that the slavery was better. Because back when they were slaves, like just a couple months before this, back then they “sat by meat pots and ate bread to the full.” Which I think is completely bogus.
We’ve already read what it was like in Egypt. At the end of Chapter 2, again, remember we’re told that the people were so oppressed that they cried out for help (see 2:23). Their taskmasters were vicious and placed impossible labor demands on the men (see 1:13–14). Their sons were being ripped from the arms of mothers and thrown into the Nile River (see 1:22). The people of Israel were slaves subjected to genocide — the Egyptians were hunting to kill their children — and but here in Chapter 16, when they remember Egypt, they sat by meat pots and ate bread to the full. What? According to Chapter 16, Israel used to live it up in Egypt. This is completely delusional.
But we can understand why they’re thinking this way, right? They are really hungry. They are thinking this way because their situation is difficult. This new life of freedom is so much harder than they thought it would be, and so they just want to go back.
You ever wanna go back?
Because you’ve been set free, but life is still hard, and maybe you think you were better off before. Maybe you think: “Things were better before Jesus rescued me.”
Do you ever want to go back?
I’m going to level with you here. Nostalgia in the midst of hardship is a fool’s errand. When you’re following Jesus in the middle of difficulty, your memory of the past is unreliable. Things were not as good as you think they were. Those pots of meat that you remember … it’s a mirage. Don’t fall for it.
Israel is lying to themselves here, and it’s another way we see human sinfulness. Third way:
#3. The people of Israel underestimated God’s provision.
And this part comes through in how Israel responded to God’s instructions. This is where we see the test. Can they walk in God’s law or not?
Well, this is what God said: He’s going to provide meat and bread. He will send evening quail and morning manna. And the people are supposed to gather it this way:
Six days of the week they are supposed to gather just what they need for that day; they can gather as much as they want to eat for that day, but they must not save any of it for the next day
And then on the sixth day, they are supposed to gather twice as much on that day because the seventh day is Sabbath and they’re not to do any work on the Sabbath
That’s what God said, straightforward here — now how did Israel do with that?
And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. (Exodus 16:19)
Okay, so that didn’t go well — what about on the seventh day, the Sabbath?
Verse 25: Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. [Verse 27:] On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. [And God is angry in verse 28]
The people don’t listen. They cannot obey God’s word. So before we even get the law, before we even really know what the Sabbath is about — we see that the people cannot do it. The people will not obey. Now why?
I want us to get under their disobedience. Where is the disobedience coming from?
It’s coming from their lack of faith, and specifically, it’s coming from their lack of faith in God’s provision. That’s what is happening here.
God said that he would give them enough for each day. You can eat as much as you want for that day.
But what did the people do?
They tried to save a little extra for the next day, just in case on the next day God didn’t do what he said. There’s a fear element here. The people are guarding themselves against God being a liar:
I know God said he’d give us what we need, but he might not come through, so let’s shove some biscuits in our pockets.
And then on the seventh day, when God said there would be no manna, some went and looked for manna anyway, also, I think, out of fear. This is FOMO.
I know God said this time that there wouldn’t be any bread, but you know, I saw the Jones’s out early this morning, and I’m going to check and make sure we’re not missing something …
The bottom line is that they don’t trust God. They have underestimated his provision — and really, they have dishonored him by their lack of faith. Again: Have they not seen what he can do?
Think about this: has Israel not seen the power of Yahweh?
Of course they have. But Israel’s response just certifies the depths of human sinfulness.
So what does God do?
How Do We See God’s Provision?
Remember, over here [right hand] we see human sinfulness; over here [left hand] we see God’s provision.
#1. God provides when there seems no way.
We see this in the manna. Yahweh tells Moses in verse 8 that he’s going to send manna, and then we actually see it happen in verse 13.
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. [Verse 31 tells us it was “like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey”.]
Imagine pie crust. Some of y’all this week are going to eat pie — well, when you get to the crust, imagine it’s manna, and imagine that stuff appearing every morning on the ground as a sheer miracle. That’s what happened here. Except that the people didn’t what it was. They didn’t know what to call it, and so when they saw it, they said “What is it?” And that became the name for it. “Manna” means literally “what is it?”
Kind of like that candy bar called Whatchamacallit [Y’all know your candy bars?] It’s a Hershey candy bar. For a little while Hershey also made a candy bar called Thingamajig. You had the Whatchamacallit and Thingamajig. Manna has the same name concept. Whatisit.
And this name is meant to convey the miraculous nature of God’s provision.
These people are in the desert. You don’t have bread in the desert. Nobody gets to make bread in the desert. But this is bread from heaven. Every morning they wake up and Whatisit is all over the ground because God just gives it to them. It’s bread. It’s right there. Free for the taking! That’s manna!
There’s a lesson here. It doesn’t really matter where you are — it doesn’t matter how dry the ground might be, or how impossible the situation feels — Yahweh provides when there seems no way.
And this provision has the exact same purpose as every other miracle Yahweh has done. Verse 7: it is so Israel will see the glory of Yahweh. Verse 12: when they eat this bread, “Then you shall know the I am Yahweh your God.”
This God who makes something out of nothing, who calls into existence things that do not exist. Do you know that the God who feeds you created the universe with his words?
And what he gives is going to be enough. That’s the second thing we see about God’s provision.
#2. God provides enough for his people.
Look at this in verse 17. This is after the manna appears. Yahweh commanded, “Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent. [This means it’s not an individual thing, but get some for your entire household. Look at verse 18 …]
“But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.”
So everybody got exactly what they wanted. Nobody was left hungry, and nobody ate too much. Yahweh provided enough for his people with glorious precision.
And this wasn’t measured by amounts and numbers, but it was measured by the contentment of his people. Some people had small appetites. Others had large appetites. It didn’t matter. God provided when there was no way, and he provided enough! Everybody was fulfilled by what God gave.
There is a message here for us about the grace of God.
And we see this in the third example of God’s provision.
#3. God’s provision of manna points us to the greater provision yet to come.
Look at verses 31–36. This is basically an endnote note about the manna. God gives instructions to Moses about a way for Israel to remember the manna for generations to come. Manna has an instant legacy component to it. Future generations of God’s people are supposed to learn something from this manna. Which means, this manna isn’t only about food for Israel in the desert — God didn’t just send the manna for a particular need in history. Instead, God sent the manna to Israel way back then to tell us something about himself today.
We can already see this in the Old Testament. Just a four decades later for Israel, when Moses is still leading the people, this is what he says, in Deuteronomy — four decades after Exodus 16.
And you shall remember the whole way that Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Yahweh. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)
It’s About More Than Bread
See, it’s not really about the bread. It’s about the self-giving grace of God. God gives his word and that’s what makes you live. And Jesus understood this. In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4, when Jesus, like Israel, was in the desert and tempted by Satan, listen to what Jesus says. Matthew 4:3: And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
See Jesus knew it’s not about the bread itself. So what does he say to the devil? He quotes Moses. Jesus answered:
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
The bread is about the self-giving grace of God. It’s about his word, and Jesus understands this word because he is this word. Jesus is the self-giving grace of God. Jesus is the true bread.
We know this because he tells us this. In the Gospel of John Chapter 6, Jesus has fed the five thousand, and he is teaching a crowd of Jewish people, and they wanted to see him work a miracle. They said,
What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [See, they wanted Jesus to give them more bread like Moses did.]
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32)
And then later in John 6:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
And he keeps explaining to them. In verse 47 Jesus says,
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers at the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. (John 6:47–51)
The manna in the book of Exodus is about the self-giving grace of God. Exodus Chapter 16 is about Jesus.
Jesus is God’s way when there is no way. And Jesus is always enough.
Jesus Is Enough for His Church
In fact, I think the apostle Paul tells us this in 2 Corinthians Chapter 8, and he gets it from Exodus 16.
For context in 2 Corinthians, Paul has been raising financial support for the church in Jerusalem. They were impoverished and burdened, and so Paul has been taking a collection for them from other churches, including the church in Corinth. Paul wants the Corinthians to be generous like the Macedonians were, and he grounds that generosity in the grace of Jesus. He says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
And then Paul draws out the application. It has to do with abundance and need. Paul didn’t want anyone to be burdened, but because Jerusalem had a need and Corinth had an abundance, Corinth could help supply Jerusalem’s need.
The idea is that we don’t hoard our abundance but we help one another, and to make this case Paul quotes Exodus 16, verse 15. He says, “As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left other, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”
Remember, that verse is about manna in Exodus 16, and manna is about how the self-giving grace of God is enough for his people.
And here in 2 Corinthians 8 Paul is saying the same thing is true for us. Paul is saying that Jesus is enough bread for his church.
Paul takes the message of Exodus 16, understands it’s about Jesus, and this is his application: It’s that there is enough of Jesus for all of his people, and at different times we each get more of Jesus by receiving him from one another.
There are some souls in this room that are starving. There are other souls in this room that are overflowing with joy. And every week we share in this Table together. Which means, sometimes we speak the question, other times we just need to hear the question: Has he ever not fed you?
Church, has he ever not fed you?
Come, and let us eat the bread that never perishes.
This meal is for everyone who trusts in Jesus. If you believe, you may eat. For Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, they will live forever.
