The Hidden Manna is the Christ we Enjoy in God’s Presence with No Distance Between us

The ark of the testimony in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle is full of meaning and significance in our spiritual experience, showing us that we should enjoy Christ as the embodiment of God and the presence of the Triune God so that we may carry out His economy to establish His kingdom on the earth.

The ark is a type of Christ as the embodiment of God: in Christ we see the divine nature (typified by the gold) and the human nature (typified by the acacia wood). Christ came as the definition, explanation, and testimony of God, and He is the embodiment of God, the mingling of divinity with humanity, and the building of God with man; as such a One He now is the Spirit in our spirit so that we may become His duplication and reproduction as the testimony of Jesus.

The ark was in the Holy of Holies, in the presence of God, and it contained the golden pot with the hidden manna, the tablets of the law, and the budding rod. The ark is like a divine and mystical safe holding safe the items in it in God’s presence.

Today we will focus on the hidden manna, which was an omer of manna taken from the open manna and put in the golden pot before the Lord in the ark as a memorial (see Exo. 16:31-36).

The hidden manna is the Christ we have eaten, digested, and assimilated. Once we have eaten Christ, digested Christ, and assimilated Christ as our spiritual food, He who was the open manna now becomes part of us, and we live because of Christ. The hidden manna is the center of the universe: the center of the universe is the Christ we eat, digest, and assimilate.

How can we say that the hidden manna is the center of the universe? The earth is the center of the universe, the tabernacle is the center of the earth, the Holy of Holies is the center of the tabernacle, the ark is the center of the Holy of Holies, the golden pot is the center of the ark, and the hidden manna is the center of the golden pot. The center of the universe is for us to enjoy Christ as our spiritual food, for us to eat, enjoy, digest, and assimilate Christ in into our being!

The more we eat Christ and digest Him to be assimilated into us, the more we are being incorporated into the tabernacle. The way to be incorporated into the tabernacle is to eat the hidden manna; when we eat the hidden manna, we are in God the Father (typified by the golden pot), and the Father is in Christ the Son (typified by the ark) who is in our mingled spirit (typified by the Holy of Holies).

The Son is in the Father, the Father is in the Son, and both of them are in the Spirit with our spirit. When we eat Christ, digest Christ, and assimilate Christ, we are incorporated into God’s building and become an organic part of God’s dwelling place!

Lord Jesus, we want to eat You, digest You, and assimilate You so that we may live because of You and build up Your dwelling place. Lord, cause us to realize that the center of the universe is for us to enjoy Christ as our spiritual food so that Christ may become the very constituent of our being and we may become an organic part of the building of God, the church! Lord, keep us eating You, digesting You, and assimilating You as the hidden manna so that we may live because of You and be incorporated into God’s dwelling place!

The Hidden Manna is the Christ we Enjoy in God’s Presence with No Distance Between us

The hidden manna was in the golden pot, which was in the ark, which was in the Holy of Holies, the place where God was with His presence. In this place only the high priest could enter, and here he didn’t do any work: he just came to be in God’s presence and receive His speaking and His supply, bearing the children of Israel on him before God.

The Levites were serving in the outer court, the priests were serving in the outer court and the Holy Place (to dress the lamps of the lampstand, arrange the bread on the showbread table, and burn the incense on the incense altar), but only the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies, where there was no distance between him and God.

In order for us to enjoy the hidden manna we need to make sure there’s no distance between us and the Lord; all the distance between us and the Lord must be eliminated so that we may enjoy Christ in a hidden and intimate way in God’s presence.

However, most Christians today minister to something else than God; they do things for God, go to the mission field, preach the gospel, teach the Bible, raise up churches, etc – all these are good works, done “for God”, but those who do these works don’t minister to God. They can enjoy Christ as the open manna, the Christ who is openly available for all His people to enjoy and live by, but in order to enjoy Christ as the top portion kept before God in the golden pot, there has to be no distance between us and God.

The Lord promised the overcomers in Pergamos to eat of the hidden manna if they overcome the fallen condition of the church (see Rev. 2:17); we need to separate ourselves from the general practice of today’s Christianity and remain in the presence of God, ministering directly to Him, and we will enjoy the hidden manna.

In God’s presence, with no distance between us and Him, we can enjoy a hidden portion of Christ, something that all those who are far off from His presence cannot taste. May we be those who have no distance between us and the Lord but are in an intimate and living contact with Him so that we may enjoy Christ as a special portion before God!

It is possible that the Lord would be with us yet His smile, His presence, would not be with us; He is in us all the time, going to all the places we are going, but His presence may not go with us (Exo. 33:14). Is the Lord happy with us? Do we have His smile? Are we governed by the Lord’s firsthand direct presence, or does the present need direct our move and actions?

Moses was a man near God’s heart and according to God’s heart, so he had God’s presence to a full extent; the people of Israel, however, had a limited access to God’s presence. We need to be those with no distance between us and the Lord so that we may enjoy Christ as a special portion before God as the hidden manna.

Lord Jesus, eliminate any distance between us and You. We want to enjoy You in the most intimate and hidden way as the hidden manna today. Lord, make us persons so near and dear to Your heart that we would have Your presence, Your smile, for Your building! We want to enjoy You as a special portion before God in His presence day by day. Lord, may Your presence go with us and cover us all the time. We treasure Your smiling face, and we want to be in the sweetest and closest intimate fellowship with You all the time!

Ministering to the Lord in a Direct Fellowship with Him

Many times we can testify that we are not so close to the Lord; there are many things, situations, sins, and problems that hinder us from being close and intimate with Him. Still, even though there’s some distance between us, we can still enjoy something of Him.

As we deal with all the things between us and Him, we enter into a closer and sweeter fellowship with Him until we do not have any distance between us, and we enjoy the Lord in the most intimate and hidden way. When we are ministering to the Lord and enjoying Him as the hidden manna, we have a direct fellowship with the Lord and we know His heart and His intention.

In this sweet most intimate fellowship with the Lord, with no distance between us, the Lord can charge us with His intention and with all that He wants us to do. We simply need to stay before the Lord, wait for His command, and not be presumptuous to know what He wants us to do but listen earnestly to Him to be impressed with His intentions.

We are prone to commit one of two sins: we either rebel against the Lord’s command, or we do something that He didn’t command. We need to spend much time with the Lord and even linger in His presence until we get a direct command from Him, and then we can do what He wants us to do.

It is in the presence of the Lord that we can be charged with Him, with His intention, and with all that He wants us to do, and it is in His presence that we can minister to Him in a direct fellowship with Him.

May the Lord save us from doing things “for Him” yet not in oneness with Him! May the Lord save us from going along with the fallen worldly Christianity to do a work for God yet without the presence of Christ.

May we pay the price to spend time with the Lord, eliminate any distance between us and Him, and enjoy the Lord in the most intimate and sweet way in God’s presence, so that we may know God’s heart, be impressed with His purpose and intention, and carry out His purpose in oneness with Him.

Lord Jesus, we want to have a direct fellowship with You in Your presence so that we may know Your heart and Your intention. Lord, it is in Your presence that we can be charged with You, with Your intention, and with all that You want us to do. We want to deal with anything that would hinder us from being in Your presence: we apply the precious blood of Christ to satisfy God’s holiness and righteousness, and we offer Christ as the fat for the satisfaction of God’s glory. Lord, we come to You to minister to You in Your presence, in a direct fellowship with You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Hebrews, msgs. 59-60, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 1 (week 25), The Ark of the Testimony.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Will you be an overcomer? / Testimony bear! / Keep away from false religion, / ”Hidden manna” share. (Hymns #894)
  # As I love You I set my being— / My spirit, my soul and body. / With my heart, my mind, and my strength, / Absolutely on Thee. / Lord, I let my entire being / Be occupied by Thee / As I enter in Your heart / I sense a fellowship sweet. / Occupied and lost in You; / My Lord, You’re my everything. / Fellowship so intimate; / In spirit Lord I enjoy Thee. (Song on having intimate fellowship with God)
  # Lord, we want to live You / In the most intimate / And the closest contact, / Closest contact with You. / Acting according / To the index of Your eyes; / A person one with Christ, / Full of Christ. (Song on contacting God)