Eat Christ as our Daily Manna to be Constituted with Him and Magnify Him Today

The unique food we take for our sustenance, strength, and satisfaction must be Christ, the spiritual food for God’s people; when we eat Christ as our unique food, our daily manna, His characteristics become ours for His magnification through our metabolic transformation. Amen!

We believers in Christ are given by God just one food: Christ.

The unique food that we should take for our sustenance, our strength, and our satisfaction must be Christ (Num. 11:5-6).

Furthermore, the one unique ministry in the New Testament conveys Christ as the unique food for God’s people (see Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Cor. 3:6).

In Christianity there seem to be many ministries, almost any ministry you can think of, but in the New Testament we see just one ministry, the ministry of the new covenant.

The unique ministry of the new covenant is the ministry of the Spirit which gives life, not the ministry of the letter, which gives death.

In the Old Testament, we see that God gave His people Israel as they passed through the wilderness just one unique food: manna.

Christ is our daily manna, our unique food. As we come to the New Testament, we are fed only with Christ, for He is the unique food given to us by God for our sustenance, our strengthening, and our going on with the Lord in the Christian life.

Thank the Lord that we can be under the life-giving ministry of the New Testament, the new covenant ministry, which is the ministry of life!

May we remain under this ministry and may we enjoy and eat Christ as our unique food, our daily manna, for us to be constituted with Christ and be filled with Him!

May we not be like the people of Israel who, at one point, got tired of manna, for that was the unique food they received from God.

They abhorred manna and remembered the food they used to have in Egypt, the leeks and garlic, and many other things. Oh Lord Jesus!

Sometimes in the church life and in our Christian life we may long for some “onions, cucumbers, leeks, and garlic,” the things that we used to enjoy when we were in the world. Oh Lord!

This is why the Lord wants to change our diet to a diet of Christ as our unique food.

He does it by our coming to Him in His word and by being in the ministry of the age, which ministers only Christ to us.

The day that we focus on something else but Christ is the day that degradation starts, for God gives us only Christ.

May we ask the Lord to change our diet, to change our taste, so that we may eat Christ day by day and be satisfied only with Christ, God’s unique food, our heavenly and daily manna.

May we eat of Christ as our food and be constituted with Christ, and may every day be a new opportunity to eat more Christ in His word as our daily manna!

As we Eat Christ as our Daily Manna, His Characteristics become ours for His Magnification

Just as the children of Israel were given by God the same spiritual food – the daily manna which God rained on them during their journey in the wilderness – so we today are given by God one unique food – Christ as our daily manna.

As we eat Christ as our unique food, our daily manna, the characteristics of Christ become our characteristics for His magnification (John 6:57; Phil. 1:20-21; cf. Gal. 6:17).

We eat and become what we eat; what we eat constitutes us to become part of our being and be expressed through us.

As we eat Christ as our daily manna, we are inwardly and metabolically transformed, for we enjoy Christ as our unique food, and we magnify Christ.

Looking at the type of manna in the Old Testament, in both Exodus 16 and Numbers 11, we see some features or characteristics of what manna was like; these can be applied to our Christian experience today.

We need to continually enjoy Christ as our daily manna so that His characteristics become ours for His magnification through the process of transformation.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – Manna is a Mystery

The first characteristic of manna is that manna is a mystery (Exo. 16:15; Col. 2:2; Isa. 9:6; Eph. 3:4; John 3:8).

The word manna means, What is it? There are at least sixteen characteristics of manna, but we don’t really know what it is exactly; we only know what it looks like and tastes like.

When we eat Christ as our daily manna, we don’t know what it is, for Christ is a mystery, yet He feeds us, He constitutes us, and He transforms us.

For example, we may read and pray over the portion where Christ in His resurrection came to His disciples, walking through the wall into the room.

We may think that, since He is the Spirit, He can do that; however, He told His disciples to touch Him, and they did. This is a mystery.

We can’t explain Christ. We can’t fully understand Christ with our human mind.

The more we enjoy Christ, the more wonderful He is, and at the same time, He is more mysterious.

We cannot scientifically explain Christ, but we can enjoy Him, and we ourselves become a mystery.

By eating Christ as the mystery of God, our daily manna, we become a mystery – we become the church as the mystery of Christ.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – a Long-term Miracle

Manna is a long-term miracle (Exo. 16:4; cf. Matt. 6:34).

Christians love miracles; most miracles are quite superficial, but Christians love to see or hear about miracles.

Manna is a long-term miracle; it is a miracle that lasted forty years. Wow!

Every single morning, manna rained down for the people of Israel to gather it and eat it.

As we eat Christ as our daily manna, we live in a long-term miracle, for He sustains us throughout our Christian life until the Lord comes back.

We need to do our best to wake up earlier in the morning to spend time with the Lord, but even the amount that we gather or gain of Christ as our daily manna is the same – one omer of manna.

Some young brothers may wake up early and are full of vigour, ready to enjoy a lot of Christ, and they spend a lot of time with the Lord; at the end of that time, if you were to put the Christ he gained in a scale, it is an omer of manna.

And a married sister with four or five children, who is awakened by the children who need her, who doesn’t have much personal time with the Lord but seeks Him and desperately asks Him to supply her, she also gains just one omer of manna.

This truly is a mystery and also a miracle.

This should give us both peace and make us live just one day at a time; we cannot get tomorrow’s portion of manna, only today’s.

We need to be calm, spend time with the Lord, and enjoy Him.

As we eat Christ as our daily manna, a long-term miracle, we live in a miracle, for the Lord does everything in us and through us.

Lord Jesus, we want to eat You as our daily manna, our unique food. Hallelujah, Christ is new and fresh for us every morning so that we may eat Him daily! We exercise our spirit, dear Lord Jesus, to contact You, be filled with You, and seek after You. May we eat You as the bread of life, the living bread, even the bread that came down out of heaven. Amen, Lord, we want to eat You and live because of You! What a miracle it is that Christ is daily available for us to enjoy and eat so that we may live because of Him! Amen, Lord, we want to eat You as our daily manna today. Give us the portion of grace we need for today so that we may grow in life and go on with You.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – the Food that Came from Heaven

Manna came down from heaven with the dew every day; we eat Christ as the heavenly food, the food that comes down from heaven for us to eat (Exo. 16:4; John 6:41).

We don’t know how this happens and how this works, but with the dew the manna also comes.

All we need to do is wake up a bit earlier, before the sun rises, and gather the manna, that is, enjoy Christ as our daily manna, our unique food.

As we eat Him, He is the food that comes down from heaven to sustain us and supply us.

The Lord Jesus said in John 6:41 that, though the Israelites ate the bread that came down from heaven, that bread sustained them temporarily; He is the true bread that comes down out of heaven for us to eat and live forever.

Amen, may we eat Christ as the food coming down from heaven for our supply!

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – Manna comes with the Dew

The dew is so refreshing in the morning; manna comes with the dew (Exo. 16:13-14; Num. 11:9; Psa. 133:3; Lam. 3:22-23; Heb. 4:16; Psa. 110:3).

As believers in Christ, we need to spend time with the Lord early in the morning to gather the manna.

The dew is refreshing.

In Psa. 133 the dew signifies grace; manna comes with grace. God’s mercies are new every morning.

His grace comes to us every day for us to enjoy Him. We just need to exercise our spirit in the morning to eat Christ as our daily manna, and grace is our portion day by day.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – Every Morning!

The manna doesn’t come at lunchtime but in the morning; we need to eat Christ as our daily manna in the morning (Exo. 16:21; cf. S. S. 1:6b; 7:12; John 5:39-40; Rom. 6:4; 7:6).

This means that every morning we need to have a new beginning with the Lord.

The fact that manna comes in the morning shows us that it gives us a new beginning.

The earth revolves on its axis daily, so every morning we have a new beginning, a new turn.

God doesn’t send the manna yearly or monthly; if He did this, we would not survive. God sends the manna daily.

Thank the Lord that, in His sovereignty, He gives us a new beginning every day.

No matter what happened yesterday, we can apply the Lord’s precious blood and be cleansed of anything of the past, and we can come to the Lord to enjoy Him early in the morning to have a new beginning with Him.

May we all have a new beginning every morning, even every morning of every day of every year.

We can even ask the Lord at night to wake us up in the morning to have a new beginning with Him.

How much we need a new beginning every day! How much we need a fresh supply of Christ every morning!

Lord Jesus, we want to have a new beginning with You every morning. We come to You in the morning to eat You as our daily manna. Oh Lord, we don’t want to be the same as yesterday. Thank You for offering us a new beginning with You every morning. May we exercise our spirit every morning every day to eat Christ as our daily manna so that we may have a new beginning with You! Hallelujah, God’s mercies are new every morning! Great is God’s faithfulness, for He provides His Christ to be our unique food every morning!

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – He is Small for us to Eat

Manna is small; when we eat Christ as our daily manna, we realize that He is small enough for us to eat (Exo. 16:14; Luke 2:12; John 6:35; cf. Judg. 9:9, 11, 13; Matt. 13:31-32).

God doesn’t give us a big chunk of manna for us to chew on for many days; He gives us Christ in small doses, small portions, enough for us to eat daily.

How amazing it is that the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the One through whom all things came into being, became a man, and He became small enough for us to eat daily!

Yes, God is great, and yes, He is almighty; at the same time, in His economy He went through a process to become like manna for us, small for us to partake of.

The great Creator became incarnated to be a man, a baby born in a manger.

He grew up in a carpenter’s home in a small town, even a town that was despised by others.

When others wanted later to enthrone Him as king, He fled; He wants to be the bread of life, not a king to rule over us outwardly.

He came to His people as bread, even as a small piece of bread for us to partake of.

We may tend to have or do great things, and we may expect the Lord to do great things in us and through us, but the Lord likes small things.

Many troubles come because of great things, seeking big and great things.

If the Lord saves someone in a spectacular and great way, it will be hard for this one to go on with the Lord because he started at the top of the mountain, in a dramatic way.

But our salvation is so simple and small, with nothing great outwardly. And our daily Christian life is a life of daily eating Christ as our manna for us to live because of Him.

May we go on in our Christian life day by day in a gradual, positive, and growing way, eating one omer of manna one day at a time.

Lord Jesus, we praise You for becoming small enough for us to eat. Though You are so great and immense, You were willing to be limited and processed to become our daily manna, even to become like a small piece of bread for us to eat. Hallelujah, we can eat the Lord day by day, for He is so available to us! Amen, Lord, save us from seeking great things or desiring to do big things; may we be satisfied with normal days under the divine dispensing. Keep us under Your divine dispensing today. Grow in us. May we go on with You by eating You as our unique food day by day!

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – become Fine and Balanced

Manna is roud (Exo. 16:14; John 6:12); we can eat Christ as our daily manna and we are being made fine. We are not fine but rather rough and coarse.

We are quite unbalanced. Even in our virtues, in our kindness and humility, we are quite rough and unbalanced.

But when we eat Christ as our daily manna, our unique food, we become fine and balanced.

The more we eat Christ, the more fine we are. The more we eat Christ, the more balanced we are.

We become balanced not merely by trying to perfect ourselves or improve this or that aspect of our character but by eating Christ as our unique food, our daily manna, so that He may make us fine and balanced.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – we eat Eternal Food!

The fact that manna is round (Exo. 16:14; John 8:58) means that we eat Christ as our daily manna, an eternal food. Hallelujah!

What is it? When we look at Christ, when we come to Him in His word, we ask, What is it?

We may not fully understand Him or apprehend Him, but we enjoy Him.

As we eat Christ as our daily manna, we sense that we eat not just spiritual food but something eternal.

He has no beginning and no end. He has no limitations and no defects.

When we come to Him, when we eat Christ as our unique food, we become eternal people.

Our limitations and defects are eliminated, and He makes us perfect as He is.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – we are Purified

Manna is white (Exo. 16:31; Psa. 12:6; 119:140; 2 Cor. 11:3b), indicating something pure and clean, something without any mixture.

We are full of impurities, mixed, and complicated. What can uncomplicate us? What can purify us?

It is only eating Christ as our daily manna, our unique food.

When we touch Christ, we realize how pure, unmixed, and clean He is. We realize how unclean and mixed we are.

As we feast on Christ and eat His word, we will be purified and saved from every kind of mixture.

The way to be purified is simply to eat Jesus in His word.

The more we eat the Lord day by day in His word through the exercise of our spirit, the more we are simplified. We become single and pure. Furthermore, any stains or impurities are eliminated from us.

On the one hand, it is the blood of Christ that can wash away our sins.

On the other hand, it is eating Christ as the white, pure manna daily that we can be cleansed, purified, and made clean.

None of our human virtues are white or pure; however, we can eat Him as the pure One and we can become simple, pure, and without any mixture.

Lord Jesus, we want to eat You in Your word as our unique spiritual food. Cleanse us inwardly. Wash us and purify us. Remove any spots and stains from our inner being. Oh Lord, we come to You as we are and we just want to eat You as our daily manna. Uncomplicate us. Make us simple and pure. Remove any limitations and defects from us. Keep us eating You in Your word until we become just like You, pure and clean!

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna to be Refreshed

Manna is like frost (Exo. 16:14; Prov. 17:27). Frost is not like snow, which is really cold, nor is it like dew, which is not cold but is wet.

Frost is between dew and the snow; it is cold, refreshing, but not snow.

When we eat Christ as our daily manna, we are refreshed.

Even more, any germs in us are killed, for frost kills the germs in the ground it covers.

When we eat Christ as the unique food God gives us in His word, He refreshes us and He also kills the negative things in us.

We don’t know how many germs are in us and we cannot deal with these germs by ourselves.

But when we come to the Lord in His word and experience Christ as our life supply, we are watered and refreshed.

At the same time, anything negative in us is put to death.

Our negative attitudes, our criticism, and our murmurings are exposed and put to death by our eating Christ as our daily manna.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – He’s Living and Active in us

Manna is like coriander seed (Exo. 16:31; Num. 11:7; Luke 8:11).

Manna is not big but small, like a coriander seed; it was even smaller than a grain of wheat. However, it is full of life. When we eat Christ in His word, we receive life.

Life grows in us, sprouts, buds, and bears fruit in us. He is small enough for us to eat, but when we eat Him, He is living and active in us, causing us to grow in life.

How much we need to eat Christ as our daily manna day by day!

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna to be Solid

Manna is solid (Num. 11:8; 2 Cor. 1:4; Eph. 6:18). Manna is solid, which implies that people had to gather it, pick it up outside, and then process it.

They had to grind it, beat it, and boil it to make it edible.

Christ is solid. But He was processed for us to eat.

When we eat Christ as our daily manna, we become solid like Him.

We cannot, however, just read the Bible and eat Christ; there has to be a process that takes place in order to digest and assimilate Christ as our daily manna.

There’s the grinding and the boiling.

We eat the Lord in the Word in the morning, and then we go through all kinds of circumstances and situations where we experience the grinding, the beating, and the boiling.

The raw manna we receive in the morning is processed in us through the situations and circumstances we go through the day to become part of our constitution. Praise the Lord!

May we eat the Lord and may we remain open to Him throughout the day for Him to be digested and assimilated into our inner being and become part of our very constitution!

Lord Jesus, we want to eat You as the unique food God gives us day by day. Thank You for going through a process in order for us to eat You and partake of all that You are. Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word. Speak to us. Nourish us. Fill us with Yourself. Keep us open to You throughout the day so that You may be digested and assimilated into our being. May we allow You to work in us and around us so that the Christ we enjoy in the word becomes constituted into the very fibres of our being! Amen, Lord Jesus, work Yourself into our being and make us the same as You are!

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna to receive Vision and Light

Manna’s appearance was like that of bdellium (Num. 11:7; Rev. 4:6, 8; Ezek. 1:18).

The Hebrew word for appearance means eye; the more we eat Christ, the more eyes we get.

We eat Him, we see Him, we have a vision of what His heart’s desire is, and we are full of sight.

We become like the four living creatures in Rev. 4, having eyes everywhere.

As we eat Christ, we receive vision and light. The more we eat Christ, the more light we receive and the more vision we have.

Eat Christ as our Daily Manna – Filled with the Spirit and Sweet in taste

Manna’s taste is like that of fresh oil (Num. 11:8; Psa. 92:10).

When we eat Christ as the manna given to us by God, we taste the Spirit and we are filled with the fresh Spirit.

The Spirit is always fresh. As we exercise our spirit of God’s word, we taste the Spirit and we are refreshed. Praise the Lord!

Manna’s taste is like that of wafers made with honey (Exo. 16:31; Psa. 119:103).

When eat the Lord’s word, we sense His sweetness. His words are sweet to our taste.

We are mingled with Him, even as the wafers are a mingling, and we are nourished with Him.

How sweet are His words to us! Finally, manna is good for making cakes (Num. 11:8; 1 Tim. 4:6).

After the people of Israel collect the manna, they grind it, eat it, and boil it, and they make cakes with it.

Bread is rough and salty, but cakes are fine and sweet.

When we eat the Lord in His word day by day, we taste His sweetness, and we ourselves become sweet to others, giving them something nourishing to eat for their life supply.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ted Williamson in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 35-39 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 16 (msg. 4), Our Spiritual Food, Our Spiritual Rock, and the Contents of the Lord’s Table.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Manna shows Him to be / The germ of life, the seed; / ’Tis God Himself sown into us, / The source of all we need. / Between the morning dew / And cold of winter snow, / This manna too is frost which kills / Things negative below. (Hymns #1147 stanzas 7-8)
  – O Jesus Christ, Thou camest not to mankind / To be a king, to rule us outwardly. / But Thou hast come as food to satisfy us, / And by Thy life to guide us inwardly. / So all our being sings in praise to Thee, / How small Thou art, how small Thou art! / And Thee we’ll eat through all eternity; / How small Thou art, how small Thou art! (Hymns #1110 stanza 3 and chorus)
  – In Thee I may with God have fellowship, / And thru the Scripture I on Thee may feed; / Thru study of the Word with prayer to God / Thy glorious riches fully meet my need. / Teach me to exercise my spirit, Lord, / Thy Word to study, so to contact Thee, / That Thou, the living Word, with Scripture, too, / As one my daily manna e’er may be. (Hymns #801 stanzas 5-6)