THE CORN OF THE LAND AND THE MANNA

^[p. 351] THE CORN OF THE LAND AND THE MANNA

The corn of the land is Christ in glory; the manna, the life of Jesus on the earth up to glory. If you feed on Him in glory where God has set Him, you are empowered by Him to act for Him in superiority to everything. Here He humbled Himself. He is not humbled now; He is glorified. He is not limited to the compass of man, and to maintain for God therein; that was manna. Now He is far above all principality, etc., Head over all things to the church; this is the corn of the land. It was contended that we feed on the corn of the land in order to be here as He was here; that is, that we feed on the corn of the land to reach to manna. I do not think this is the full truth; though it is quite true that if I feed on Christ in glory I shall by Him be in His grace, or manna here. Paul began above, and hence had His grace all the way down. I believe he had more than the manna, that he had the corn of the land, and that the corn of the land is more than Christ was down here. For instance, He is Head of the church now; He was not so down here. If I know Him as Head, I feed on the corn of the land; not on what He was down here, but what He is now; but I do not lose what He was down here, by knowing Him in glory where He is now. Of course I cannot walk down here beyond what He was down here, but as I am in the power of my union with Him in glory, I am empowered by Him to be superior to all human considerations, in order to act here for Him, as Stephen did. There is not a practical thing in Ephesians which could be derived from manna simply; and yet manna was par excellence in the eye of God. It was the Son glorifying God in the form of the man who had dishonoured Him, vindicating God in that form. But now He is exalted, and we are united to the glorified Man. And I am empowered by Him to do greater things now, and things which could not have been done ^[p. 352] before. We are seated in heavenly places now, which could not be while He was down here. How could we keep the unity of the Spirit while He was down here? This can only be done through His present power, or the corn of the land. How could I grow up unto Him in all things, etc., while He was down here? That is not what He was - the manna, but what He is. How could I put on the new man until I was of the new man? and no one could be that until after He rose from the dead. Where are the gifts but from ascension? How could I love as He did, until after He had offered Himself to God? I cannot do anything right here without the manna; it is His sympathy and present support; I cannot do without Him as manna; but as I know Him above, He leads me to rise above all my own circumstances here for Him in His own power. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6: 10). The subject is a very interesting one. Compare the practice enjoined in Romans with that enjoined in Ephesians, and you will see that the practice in the latter is derived from Christ above in everything, while the practice in Romans is more what a thoroughly gracious man could render.