"And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live." (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)
This reference shows that there was a special purpose in giving the manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness.
It was, of course, for the purpose of supplying their physical necessities, but that was not all. God could have supplied them with food in some other way. He could have led them through a land where they would have found sustenance; but He purposely led them through the wilderness, in places where they could find neither food nor water, in order that it might appear in the clearest manner that their food came directly from heaven. It was for the purpose of making them realize continually that God was their sole support.
Jesus referred to this after He had performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand with the five loaves and two fishes. The Jews blindly asked for a sign as proof of His ministry, and thought to set Moses up against Christ, as superior to Him, by saying, "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." (John 6:31)
But Jesus answered them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is He which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world." (John 6:32-33)
Christ, and not Moses, was the real leader of the children of Israel in the wilderness. He was bringing them out of the bondage of Egypt, not physical namely, but spiritual. He was leading them not to a merely temporal inheritance, but to an eternal inheritance of righteousness.
The keeping of the commandments of God was the sole condition of their everlasting inheritance. But they had no power to do that. Nevertheless, they were not to despair, and say, "Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it [that is, the commandment] unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?" (Deuteronomy 30:12)
Neither were they to say, "Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it [the commandments] unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?" (Deuteronomy 30:13)
And why? The answer was thus given: "But the word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it." (Deuteronomy 30:14)
In our comparison of this text with the 10th chapter of Romans, in the last article, (See the article, "The Life of the Word") we found that the commandment here refers to none other than Christ. That is, they could find the commandment only by finding Christ, and He was near at hand. Outside of Christ there is no righteousness, no keeping of the commandments.
Some may think that this fact was not known in the time of Moses, but a careful reading of the 30th chapter of Deuteronomy shows that it was exactly what Moses was teaching the people. "See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil; In that I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that you may live and multiply." (Deuteronomy 30:15-16)
This shows that life is found only in the keeping of the commandments of God. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; Therefore choose life; that you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him; for He is your life, and the length of your days." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
In this the people were plainly given to understand that their finding and keeping the commandments consisted solely in their finding and keeping Christ. With the heart man believes unto righteousness, because Christ dwells in the heart by faith. The life of the word is the life of Christ. We cannot understand how Christ's life is conveyed by the word when it is received in faith. It is the mystery of the incarnation. It is the mystery of God manifest in the flesh: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." (1 Timothy 3:16)
But God does not leave His people to try to grasp abstract truth. He cannot explain it to our comprehension, but He illustrates it so that we may be sure of the fact. So for forty years he gave to the Jews a daily object lesson of the truth that He is their life. As they ate the manna which He gave them directly from heaven, so they were to eat of Him.
There was no human agency employed in supplying them with the manna for their physical necessities. So they were to recognize the fact that no human power could give the righteousness which the law demands. That same lesson serves for us, for it was written for our learning.
We cannot understand how it is that the bread that we eat gives us life and strength. We know the fact, and that is sufficient. Physiologists trace for us the changes that the food undergoes in the process of digestion, but not one of them can tell how it is that bread is changed into bone and muscle. That is the mystery of life, which is within the power and comprehension of God alone. So, although we may not know how it is that God's word can give us life, we may know the fact.
In the raising of Lazarus and the ruler's daughter Christ gave to us instances of the life-giving power of His word. His word, "Lazarus, come forth," (John 11:43) brought Lazarus from the grave in the full vigor of health. So at the last day His word will bring all the dead from their graves. The raising of the dead is accomplished by the same life-giving power that God bestows upon men in this world to save them from sin. Sin is death: "For to be carnally minded is death." (Romans 8:6) "And you has He quickened [made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Ephesians 2:1)
To disbelieve that God does actually give us His life in Christ, as we accept His word in faith, is equivalent to disbelieving that Christ ever raised the dead, or that He ever will.
But whosoever believes that there was power in the word of Christ to raise Lazarus from the dead, because the word had the very life of Christ himself in it, may have the same life in himself, by which to keep the commandments of God.--Present Truth, October 6, 1892.