We are living, but to be numbered among the living, we must eat life. This life is the Word of God. Throughout Biblical history, God reminds His people that we need to read His Word, keep His commandments, and have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). In fact, the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt to Canaan tells an interesting story about what we ought to eat. And when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, that theme of eating the Word of God becomes a motif.
In Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminds the people that by keeping God’s commandments they will, “live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto [their] fathers” (Dueteronomy 8:1). That message can be applied to us as well; when God’s people keep the law of God and have the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17) they are guaranteed a mansion in heaven. So, as Moses counsels the Israelites before they enter Canaan, he reveals to them why God gave them manna to eat for forty years:
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (Dueteronomy 8:3)
This means that manna is directly related to the keeping of the Ten Commandments. To be exact, God tells Moses that He will, “rain bread from heaven…that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no” (Exodus 16:4).
No wonder, when Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted that the devil sought to challenge God’s law. He tempts Jesus saying, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (Matthew 4:3). Notice, that the stones are symbolic of the Two Tables of Stone, the Decalogue. In other words, the devil wanted Jesus to make an apostate law. This tempter purposed to change God’s commandments by taking what is holy and life and making it carnal. In doing so, the devil downgrades and secularizes the Commandments and challenges Jesus’ sovereignty. If Jesus then were to yield to this temptation, the bread would be made with the leaven of the Pharisees: hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). For how can God, Jesus the Christ, obey the prince of darkness?
Thank God, that Jesus, however, responds with the said words Moses counsels the people with: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Friends, let us remember that in these perilous times, God’s law will be under attack. The children of Israel faced this for forty years in the wilderness, and even Jesus after fasting forty days and forty nights faced the said test of loyalty. The only way we can be victorious in this warfare is to feast on the Word of God. So, let’s get our full servings of the Word for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And let us not be greedy about it, but share the wonderful messages of light to all the world.
God bless, and have a Word-filled day!
Amen.
The Word Inpsired 