THE BREAD OF THE MIGHTY

P. Martin

Psalm 78: 21–25; Revelation 2: 17

I want to say a word with the Spirit’s help as to the “bread of the mighty”. It is an expression that only comes in in this psalm, “Man did eat the bread of the mighty”. The young people will know that when Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of Egypt everything was from the divine side. He did not bring them out as slaves, although they had been slaves like each one of us, subject to the bondage of sin, but He did not bring them out as slaves. He brought them out of Egypt as His son. He said to Pharaoh, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”, Exodus 4: 23. God never had slaves in mind. He had sonship in mind. God has never had less than sonship in His mind for man. Israel will come into it later, they are not enjoying it now, and later they will live on account of Christ; every family that has proceeded, and that God will yet take up, will live on account of Christ. Not on account of the path that He trod, but on account of the life that He now lives in the presence of God. Every family will live on account of Christ. How wonderful! We can understand that throughout eternity that blessed Man will give character to all that God has secured, because all will be sustained in His life.

God brought Israel out of Egypt as His son, “Let my son go”. It says later in this very psalm, “And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; And he led them safely, so that they were without fear”, Psalm 78: 52. What a God, moving in relation to a wayward people and yet they were His people. Wonderful thing to lay hold of—that they were His people, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”. What did they do? They came out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea, you can read it all in the book of Exodus. It is an interesting book to read. They crossed the Red Sea, and they began to thirst and they found water and they drank of it and it was bitter (Exodus 15: 23), and they murmured against Moses and said to him, “for ye have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole congregation”, Exodus 16: 3. How slow we are to come to appreciate the greatness and goodness of God in His purpose for His people. Moses “cried to Jehovah; and Jehovah shewed him wood, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters became sweet”, Exodus 15: 25. That was in the wilderness of Shur and then they move on and they come into the wilderness of Sin, and the people “murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness” (Exodus 16: 2); they said, ‘we have no food’ and what does God do to a murmuring and complaining people? He gives them the bread of the mighty.

You say, ‘What is the bread of the mighty?’. It is the bread of angels, bread which the angels eat. You say, ‘Do angels eat?’ Yes, every created being needs to be sustained and the angels feed on the bread of the mighty. It says in Psalm 103, “Bless Jehovah, ye his angels, mighty in strength, that execute his word, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless Jehovah, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his will” (Psalm 103: 21). You think of angels, hearkening to His word and doing His will. And they feed on the bread that

Jehovah was giving to the Israelite, and by extension, I might say dear young people, the bread that He is giving to us, the manna which has come down out of heaven. What bread it is, it is given in relation to persons that are moving here in the scene of the absence of Christ and it is given, that even as the angels do God’s will, so that in the very scene of the wilderness there might be men that are doing His will. What food! It speaks of the Lord Jesus, here in lowly humiliation, not according to the pride of man; something that each of us no doubt find in our own hearts, but it was never in His. He who was the Creator of the universe, to whom it all belonged and who will come into it all yet, when He comes to take up His rights. He will come in to take up His rights in relation even to creation and creation will benefit from the One to whom it belongs.

Yet think of the glory of such a Person, the Creator, being found in lowly manhood, and in Him there was not one element of pride. What a different kind of Man! How different from what I find in myself! That was what God was feeding the Israelite on. God would feed a multitude going through the wilderness, being led, not wandering, a multitude that were going to be brought into another order of life altogether. The manna does not bring us into another order of life; it sustains us in the circumstances of life in which we find ourselves.

We come to the bread of life in John, that brings us to another order of life, and the bread of God which has come down out of heaven, brings us to another order of life; but I want to speak of the life of the bread that sustains us as we are moving through this scene. It bears on the testimony. You say, ‘it is a very simple aspect of the food which God gives’; indeed it is, but a very essential one. It delivers men from the features of man that are extant in the scene through which we pass. It speaks of Christ humbled. The hymn-writer says,

‘All that shone in Christ, once humbled’. (Hymn 83)

O, what shone in that blessed Man! Something that God found such infinite pleasure in, every feature that was delightful to God was found in the life of Jesus. Not one feature that He did not love or did not find His delight in was there. Mr Darby says in his Synopsis on Leviticus, ‘the hand that struck the chord found all in tune’ (Vol. 1, p.118), in the path and life of Jesus. What a life! Not deriving anything from this scene, but bringing with Him from another world, as He came into this scene, all that was proper to manhood, He brought it in in Himself. Features of it had been seen before, typically and morally in men like Moses. Moses could say, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you out of your brethren like me”, Acts 3: 22. There were moral features of the humanity of Jesus seen in men like Moses but not every feature. Every feature awaited the One who Himself would come in, who as we have been reminded already, “humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death”, Philippians 2: 8. Mr Lyon said that men came to humble Him when they came to seize Him in the garden, but they found a Man who had humbled Himself. What a Man! What perfection—a dependent Man, a Man who did nothing save that He received it from the Father. Whatever things the Father does, He says, “these things also the Son does in like manner”, John 5: 19. Think of the perfection that shone out in that humanity, what lowly movements of divine grace that could draw near to persons in need, who could do nothing for themselves. The wisdom, the skill in which He met every person, think of the skill in which He met them. To one He could lay His hands upon him and he was healed; to another He made spittle and put it on his eyes; to another He could say, “go thy way, the demon is gone out of thy daughter”, Mark 7: 29. Think of the wondrous grace that was present in the person of the Lord Jesus. It says at one point, “the Lord’s power was there to heal them”, Luke 5: 17. O, there is no case too difficult, dear friend!

You may think Christianity is a dying religion. It may be, young people, that you are told that at school. I tell you, it cannot be a dying religion because there is a living Man in

the presence of God and that Man was found here in humble, lowly manhood. O, what a Man for the Father’s pleasure! Those hidden years of which we know little, but of which everything is treasured in the Father’s affections—He could open the heavens upon Him, valuing those secret years. Think of what came into expression for the Father’s pleasure in a Man; we know so little, but at the age of twelve it says, “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them”, Luke 2: 51. Think of those years in which the Father, if I might say reverently, could not take His eye off Jesus because of the attractiveness of One growing up, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender sapling”, Isaiah 53: 2. I find how much I move as before men, conscious of what men may think, even conscious of what the brethren may think, and that of course is not wrong in itself because we have to earn the confidence of one another, but lying behind it all is that we are answerable to a heavenly Master. The Lord Jesus grew up, it says, “before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground”. What a Man! He never once defended Himself. When they questioned Him as to Himself, he never sought to defend the glory of His person. He who made everything out of nothing became nothing in the face of everything. What a Person, what lowly food, but it is the food of the mighty, the bread of the mighty.

You say, ‘we need to rise up and do something’, yes rise up and collect the manna. Jehovah had told them through Moses that Jehovah would provide them with food, and there in the morning it covered the face of the wilderness. There it was, not a limited amount. Christ once humbled is available in all His fulness; not a limited amount, it came upon the dew, it says it was, “fine, granular”, Exodus 16: 14. What features! Did they have a place in Herod’s palace? No; fine, granular, it came from heaven, as it says. He “rained down manna upon them to eat”. He rained it down. Think of the fulness of the heart of God in His appreciation of Christ, seeing His people moving through

the wilderness as we are today. The manna is intended, beloved, to give us strength, as we realise that the world is a wilderness. Without the manna they would have perished, and without Christ as food for the soul, each one of us would perish in the very scene through which we are passing. He rained it down. Ah, the heart of God, in all its beneficence, in all its fulness to His people. It says they had to collect it morning by morning. Do you collect the manna every morning?

It was the head of the house that had to do this, and he had to collect according to the measure of the number of the household. What a responsibility rests upon heads of houses, but what a privilege, to bring it into the house in the morning, as early as possible, before it melted away, because it melted in the sun. What a privilege to bring into the house a fresh impression of that lowly manhood, that would build up a constitution to help us as we go out into the world in which our Lord Jesus has been rejected. I say what a privilege to bring it in, but what a responsibility. It came upon the dew, the Holy Spirit in His operations, working as He is, in order that He might secure a people that will not be of this earth, but will be characterised by what has come out of heaven. Beloved, I find in myself the danger of sinking to men’s thoughts, even in relation to assembly matters, maybe assembly administration, the danger of sinking to man’s thoughts and reasonings. I say go out and gather the manna and find that there is another kind of Man, a Man who humbled Himself, a Man who is characterised by these features.

It was fine, it was even, like the oblation. The oblation was for God, it was even. Men have features that cause them to excel, maybe a business mind, maybe strength physically in sport.

Yet you think of this Man, there was not one feature that marked Him out in the eyes of men, but everything was even in the life of Jesus. What a Person! It was fine, granular, nothing sharp, nothing abrasive. I find in myself how abrasive I am naturally, how easy to say the thing that upsets someone. That was never so in Him. They “wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”, Luke 4: 22. They marvelled at what He did, “He does all things well”, Mark 7: 37.

What a testimony, a heavenly testimony moving here through this scene in a heavenly Man. It is to be continued in heavenly men and women in the present day, and it is brought about in those that feed upon Him, and are formed by the Spirit, according to that character of manhood.

So it says, “Man did eat the bread of the mighty”, that is what it made them. It says, in Psalm 105, “And he brought them forth with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble among their tribes” (Psalm 105: 37). Think of God bringing a people out of a scene of bondage and feeding them with Christ. They came out of Egypt with wealth, they moved through the wilderness a wealthy people from the divine view, a people that had brought the provision for the tabernacle, what riches there were for the heart of God, “And he brought them forth with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble among their tribes”. Why should we be feeble, dear brethren? Why should we not be moving here in the scene of the rejection of Christ, in the dignity and power that is available to us from the divine provision, and find that there is the resource in the presence here of the Holy Spirit.

Well, I come to the passage we have read in Revelation, because it is the Lord’s own word; it is spoken to the overcomer. That comes down to each one of us. The Lord is looking for overcomers today. You may say, ‘Well, Mr So-and-So is the overcomer in our local company’. Well, that will not do. The Lord is looking today for each of us to be overcomers.

It says, “To him that overcomes”. He would address His word to each of us. What makes an overcomer? What makes an overcomer, I would judge, is affection for Christ. There will be no overcomer in the scene in which He has been rejected without affection for the One

who Himself has overcome, “as I also have overcome, and have sat down with my Father in his throne”, Revelation 3: 21. What a wonderful expression that is, “sat down with my Father in his throne”. Not on it, He will be soon seen to be sitting on His own throne, but He is sitting in the Father’s throne, it is a place of affection and intimacy, into which He has entered, and He has entered into it not only because He is the Son, glorious as He is, but because the Son has been here in conditions in which He has overcome, “as I also have overcome”. These seven assemblies each have an overcomer, and one might well ask why an overcomer is needed in a place like Philadelphia for example. Why should they need an overcomer? What was there to overcome? I believe it links with the Lord’s word to the disciples, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation”, Matthew 26: 41; Mark 14: 38.

The overcomer in Philadelphia was to be watchful lest there might be something allowed that might cause them to lose the joy of the place that they had in the affections of Christ. What could be greater than to be conscious of a place in the affections of Christ?

I speak of this passage here. It says, “let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna”, everything is hidden here in Pergamos, “and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows”, we may come to that, but he is given of the hidden manna. It is not seen publicly in the world today; that character of man has been cast out and rejected; but it is hidden in the affections of those that love Him, “to him will I give of the hidden manna”. It is treasured in the affections of the Father. Wonderful thing! Going through the scene in which we are, maybe tempted (I speak I trust feelingly in relation to our young people, because young people face things today at school that those of us who are older have no idea what it is about), they have things offered to them, and activities offered to them, and I have no idea what they are like. I would say to you, young people, if you desire to be pleasing to the Master this word would come to you, ‘To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna”. Think of the Lord Jesus valuing someone who desires to do what is right. He knows what it costs; He knew what it cost for Himself. He knew what it cost when men sought to turn Him aside on every hand; He knew what it cost to do what was right. What sustained Him in it was the enjoyment of His relation with the Father. Of course, He could not turn aside, He was perfect and there was nothing that man could appeal to in Him to make Him turn aside like there is in you or me; but what sustained Him was His enjoyment of His relation with the Father.

What will sustain you and me as we move through the wilderness, when things are presented to us to tempt us away from the path of God’s will, is feeding on the perfection on the humanity of Jesus. Feed on that Man. I venture to say, dear brethren, that there will be no testimony maintained to the end if there is not the feeding on the manna. What will maintain the testimony here is feeding on the very features that God loves so fully in the person of Jesus, and that have been so fully expressed. So, He says, “to him will I give of the hidden manna”. You can take it with you as you go out to school, or out to work, take it with you.

You come up against a difficult situation at school, or maybe in the office as we all do, well, have a look at the perfection of Christ, see what kind of Man was here that delighted God.

Just have a look at that kind of Man, and you will find how different He is to all that is in the world that would seek to entice you away.

Then He says, “and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it”. A stone suggests what is solid, what cannot be changed. You see that in Peter. You might say, Peter was so changeable and yet there was in Peter what was stone-like in character and it comes into expression so fully in his epistles.

You think of the character of the work of God, not speaking of his failings, not speaking of his denial of the Saviour, not speaking of his departure, but there was something stone-like that came into expression and Peter is speaking of it. He speaks to us all, “Likewise ye younger, be subject to the elder, and all of you bind on humility”, 1 Peter 5: 5. How different to the man that could quickly take a sword in defence of the Master, and seek to defend the One who will soon take up the whole universe in His hand. He sought to defend Him. He was adjusted in his own experience with the Lord Jesus. That is where we come to things in our histories.

We come to things in the presence of the Lord Jesus. We may get an impression in the local reading, but it begins to grow as you take it into the presence of the Lord Jesus, that is where it grows. You see it in its true light. It no longer becomes that remark that Mr So-and-So made, it becomes something that forms the work of God in your soul and it begins to grow.

Now the Lord Jesus says, “and I will give to him a white stone”, what is unchangeable. It is pure—everything that comes from Him must be pure. What comes from man is corrupt, but what comes from Him must be pure. He says, “I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it”. Have you got this stone? Young people, have you got your stone? There is a name written on it. We have spoken about taking impressions of the Lord Jesus with us as we go out, but do not forget to keep the stone in your pocket, keep it with you as you go. There is a name on it. The name, I think, refers to divine appreciation of the work of God in your soul. That is what the Lord Jesus says to Peter, “thou shalt be called Cephas (which interpreted is stone)”, John 1: 42.

You take out the white stone as you are going through this scene, maybe in the office when the language is not suited to the believer. Take out the stone. Maybe when men laugh at you because you desire to walk a separate path as is becoming to the saints in this dispensation, in a broken day. Men may laugh at you, but just take the white stone out; it has a name on it that no one else knows about, but it is your

secret with Him and His secret with you. It speaks of His appreciation of the work of God in your soul that answers to the expression of the manna that has come down from heaven. You take this stone out and see the name. Look at this stone; this is greater than what men are offering me. Then you say, ‘I cannot go with that, I want to keep the white stone’. No one knows, you put it back in your pocket. No one knows the name on it, but the Lord knows and so do you. I would say to you, dear young people, and maybe to those of us who are older, that as we go out into the world, maintain the secret that He has with yourself in the appreciation of the work of God in your soul. That work must correspond with that which has come down out of heaven in the manna. It must do, because everything that God has will speak to Him of the Lord Jesus in all His perfection.

‘All that shone in Christ, once humbled,

There expands in glory’s light’. (Hymn 83)

What an answer it will be. The white stone will give you the assurance of the quickly coming day, and the name on it will give you the certainty of it. The day is coming and the work of God in all its glory will be displayed, and you and I, dear believer, will have a part in it, in that wonderful vessel, but it is solid and stable in its character, and the Lord would help us and sustain us here, to be kept in the appreciation of what our heavenly portion is as we take out the white stone and just have a look at the name. He has given it to the overcomer Himself. He has given it to the overcomer that he might be sustained as an overcomer in the scene of the absence of the Lord Jesus. Well, these words have been simple and yet I believe there will be no heavenly testimony if we are not feeding on the manna, but as we feed on the manna there will be the correspondence in the solidity of the work of God, that is able to stand in the absence of Christ. May it be so, for His name’s sake.

Address at Buckie
22 September 2007