Picture yourself as the supreme ruler over a nation that dominates all the others. As you sit on your throne, you’re surrounded by lackeys and boot-lickers who say, “Yes,” to your every idea, and gush about how brilliant you are.
That would feel good. When you call for your pipe and call for your bowl, servants scramble to fetch you the finest delicacies the world has to offer, which you possess in abundance. “A little more to the left,” you say as Geeves massages your feet.
But suppose you also have a toothache. It would be difficult to enjoy the minstrels as jolts of pain shoot through your face causing you to shudder uncontrollably in agony.
That wouldn’t feel good. Meanwhile, there are healthy, happy peasants cuddled-up on sofas under comforters who are subject to your rule. If you were vindictive, you could fix that by being a brutal tyrant. Why should they be happier than their Supreme Potentate?
Once everyone’s miserable, everybody’s equal. But would that make you happy?
The Bible is comprised of 66 books. The 1st 39 – the Old Testament – depict a God of judgment and wrath. The 2nd 27 books – the New Testament – depict a God of mercy and grace Who comes to save us from the wrath to come in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Commentators have branded the book of the prophet Isaiah as the “mini-bible,” because it has 66 chapters: The 1st 39 predict judgment on the nations, while the 40th chapter opens with, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God” (Is 40:1).
King Solomon wrote, “So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter” (Ec 4:1).
Notice Solomon didn’t say, “They had no comfort.” Instead he suggested that what is needed is someone who can administer comfort to a tormented soul: a “Comforter.”
On the night of His arrest, Jesus told the boys, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter... which is the Holy Ghost... He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (Jn 14:16, 26).
Spiritual comfort is not a function of circumstances – whether you’re an overlord or underling. It’s the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control (Ep 6:22-23). You can enjoy these regardless of circumstance.
Fame, riches and power do not provide these things. Neither do anonymity, poverty or weakness deprive of them. The world does not offer these things (Jn 16:33). Nor did Jesus promise them to the world, but to those who follow Him (Jn 10:27, 17:9).
It’s completely up to you (Mt 4:17). Contentment is available Absolutely Free.
The Fairfield Christian Group (FCG) is a loose association of coworkers who subscribe to the teachings of the Bible. “The Routing” is a page they publish and circulate “Absolutely Free” in their work place, and is now available for free subscriptions on Substack.com, to promote the Bible and its Author.
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Manna Bar & Grill
After God delivered the children of Israel from the cruel bondage of slavery in Egypt, parting the Red Sea by the hand of Moses, He led them into a barren wilderness.
Exodus 16:
2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
It’s curious that they would complain that there was no meat: They left Egypt with all their flocks and herds of sheep, goats and cattle. Nevertheless, God provided them meat that evening by sending quail to fly into the camp.
Exodus 16:
13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.
17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.
18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
They gathered twice as much the day before the sabbath and it did not breed worms nor stink the next day. Neither was there manna found on the ground to collect on the sabbath when the dew dried.
Exodus 16:
31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
Even though God provided them supernatural food to eat, that didn’t satisfy them.
Numbers 11:
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
6 but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes.
7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium.
8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
Fast forward to John 6. Jesus fed 5000 men (+ women & children Mt 14:21) with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and the disciples gathered 12 baskets of leftovers. Then He and the apostles crossed over the Sea of Galilee. So the crowd followed Him. But rather than receive them warmly, He castigated them for their selfishness: “Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (Jn 6:26). They were following the “free stuff” trail.
In the discourse with them, they replied, “Moses gave us manna,” to which He replied, “Yeah, and they still all died” (Jn 6:31, 49).
John 6:
32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
The crowd had no problem eating and digesting the loaves and fishes, but they couldn’t digest the things He said later.
John 6:
48 I am that bread of life.
49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
That didn’t just disturb the crowd, the disciples were perplexed as well. So He elucidated to them: “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Jn 6:63).
The code key for deciphering this enigma is found in the opening verses of the Gospel of John:
John 1:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
That is enigmatic in itself, but let’s keep going:
John 1:
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16 And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
So Jesus is the Word of God made flesh – the same Word by which heaven and earth were created. His words are God’s words. As per John 6:63, those very words are Spirit and life. When a believer reads or listens to the Bible being read, the word becomes a part of them just as physical food does. When you partake of that cheesecake, it goes straight to your hips. Milk makes healthy bones.
John 6:
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Whenever anyone is going to present a biblical teaching, sermon or commentary, the process is likened unto the children of Israel in the wilderness. Whoever is preparing the message spends time reading and assembling the scriptures. That’s going out and gathering the manna in the morning.
Preparing the notes into a coherent presentation is likened to grinding the manna in mills, beating it in a mortar, baking it in pans or making cakes of it, per Numbers 11. Every teaching from the scripture is influenced by the group or individual doing the preparation, just as every meal is affected by the cook. Some people are better cooks than others, but all of it is nutritious (Philippians 1:18).
Proverbs 4:
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Bon Apetit.