According to the Bible, the church era is confined in time and space, bounded by two dispensational signs: the Lord’s first coming and the Lord’s second coming. We find ourselves in this very scenario — sojourning in the wilderness, awaiting His return, surviving through gathering and eating manna. Just as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt and given an open, heavenly supply to take in, we too, have access to this daily supply in His word. But just as the Israelites questioned the first sight of manna, saying “What is it?” many people in the church life today don’t know what manna truly is — or how to enjoy the hidden manna. We might read the Bible every day, but not know what the word of the Lord is or receive any nourishment from it. We may even do work for the Lord, but not know what this work is for or whether it is indeed what the Lord truly wants from us. The danger here is that we can be in the church life in form and activity, but not know the true meaning of churching. Chapter 16 of Exodus, however, tells us that there is a specific goal given to us in our wilderness life: to preserve the one omerful of hidden manna unto the building up of the tabernacle (Exo. 16:33, footnote 1).
And Moses said, This is what Jehovah has commanded, Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out from the land of Egypt. (Exo. 16:32)
An omer is a specific Hebrew measurement. This measurement, or the process of measuring an omerful of manna, is a subjective experience. In verse 18, we see that whoever gathered this portion of manna was found to be in neither excess nor lack; it was according to each one’s eating. When we measure this manna for our eating — when we bring that omerful into us — it becomes to us the “hidden manna” mentioned in 16:33, Hebrews 9:4, and Revelation 2:17. Through experiencing this subjective Christ daily, we move from an objective Christ to enter into the reality of the omerful of manna in the Holy of Holies. Why is this specific omer so significant in the midst of the daily gathering of manna? Because through the provision of manna, God has a long-term view toward His dwelling with His people as His testimony and expression. The experience of the golden pot with an omerful of manna is not the open manna, but a special, hidden one — a portion preserved specifically for the people who serve God in the Holy of Holies. To enter into the Holy of Holies today, we need the hidden manna. We need the open manna that we eat as food to become the personal and tangible salvation of the Lord to us. Only the seeking ones will see that this is actually the Lord Himself coming to them in their lives to break them, enter in, and abide in their deepest part. Only this portion of the Lord hidden deep within can bring us into the rest of God.
The omer is not only a unit of physical measurement; it also refers to an understanding of time. It is alternatively translated from the original language as “cup,” which represents our life, or the Father’s ordained boundary for each believer. Our life is apportioned, measured — we have an omerful to live by. Omer also refers to sheaves as a measure or a portion. In Psalm 129, David describes this portion: “With which the reaper does not fill his hand, / Or he who binds sheaves, his bosom. Nor may those who pass by say, / The blessing of Jehovah be upon you! / We bless you in the name of Jehovah.” The filling of the hand and the bosom relates to the measure of a cup coming from the word omer. This measurement or portion is also reflected in the Lord’s human living: when the Lord prayed to the Father God, He said, “Father, this cup that You gave to me,” (Matt. 26:39) that is the same cup — one omerful of manna — that today we need to keep “throughout [our] generations.” In this life in the wilderness, in time and space between two dispensational signs, He has apportioned each one of us a life. We each have our omer, our “cup,” to be measured by.
Many people fill their cups with vain things. Yet there is a secret, mysterious manna that fills our being to sustain us into the next dispensation. Just as the Lord Himself went through this journey, now we are eating Him and drinking Him daily as the true manna! If today we are found without that measurement of manna, or if we don’t have the reality of the church life, we don’t have a testimony that God is with us guiding us into the good land. Yes, the daily manna keeps us alive in this wilderness. But are we experiencing the hidden manna in reality? Today, we are not just talking about those lost in the world. We are talking about us as believers in the church life. Are we murmuring, still struggling with the quails? We came here in search of the true satisfaction of human life. But after all these years, or at the end of this era, we can’t afford to find ourselves with our cups empty — with nothing that will be preserved unto the era to come. In this era, manna is the Lord’s economical way for us to enter into what the Lord promised to His church.
And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before Jehovah, to be kept throughout your generations. / As Jehovah commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony to be kept. (Exo. 16:33-34)
The omerful of manna was preserved throughout the generations to be brought into the goodland as a testimony from the Israelites’ time in the wilderness. At the time of this chapter, the tabernacle had not yet been built. The vision of the tabernacle wasn’t given until chapter 25, but in chapter 16, Jehovah had already commanded an omerful of manna to be preserved and to be put into a pot, which we know would later be put in the Ark of the Testimony. What is the Testimony here? In the original language, the Testimony is the tablets, God’s law — or at its essence, His words. Although the Ark of the Testimony had not yet been physically built, there is the picture of an omer — a set-apart portion, a life of Christ — to be placed and kept before God for the sake of a corporate expression. In this command is a foretaste of a specific portion allotted in the omerful of the hidden manna for the serving of His tabernacle. In other words, we live our lives before the Lord’s expression in order to be kept, as revealed through His commandment, for a corporate testimony of God through His life relationship with His people.
Verses 32 through 34 not only point toward the tabernacle to be built, but also prophesy of what it looks like when the true tabernacle — the true ark — comes. Here, Moses instructs Aaron in view of the tabernacle to follow. In the same principle, David later instructs Solomon in view of the temple to be built. In Solomon, we see Christ from two perspectives: first, Solomon built the temple, and second, Solomon spoke the wisdom, which is the word of God (1 Chron. 22:8-12; 2 Chron. 1:10-12; Proverbs, footnote 1:1), the testimony on the earth before the nations. As the church on the earth today, we are building His ark by revealing and speaking His word. That is how we use our cups, our omerful of life: for the Lord to remember us — and to have something to remember us by. This manna and preservation process is the strength and power of our living today. Like Solomon, we should serve two perspectives: we should serve the building of the temple and the word of the Lord. Aaron placed the omerful of manna within the Ark of the Testimony for us to keep and preserve it. What does this mean? It means that via this preserved portion, which is the portion that is taken into us subjectively and experientially, we are transformed to participate in the building of His temple, His building, for His economy. It means that our life and walk on the earth, our private and corporate church life, are defined by this preserved portion.
The filling of our vessels and the preservation of an omer of manna connect us to God’s desire today to have us — His corporate body and bride — express Him and represent Him. The omerful of the hidden manna — of Christ — is the core of our church life. It is the foundation for building and fellowship with one another. Without such a grand scope, we limit the significance of both the open and hidden manna, as revealed to us in the Old Testament, to only a private and personal experience. We all are sojourners in the wilderness today, but we are here corporately as the church in this foreign land to speak the word and to build. Today, those in the church should know “what is it” — this manna — and enter into a renewed relationship with our Lord and with one another in a “one omerful” season. Christ is ours to gather, process, and eat, all for the sake of building. If we are awakened today — if we see that the Lord has preserved all our lives for Him — now is a good time to enter into God’s eternal, corporate view of manna. Lord, open our eyes to see beyond our own, personal “Christian walk.” Make us useful, ready for the building work, starting with our one omerful of manna today.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 2/11/2022, not reviewed by the speaker.)