Text: “And the angel answered and said
unto her (Mary), ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’”
Luke 1:35.
Good morning, Bible-studying
Christian! Not for you a mere cursory, superficial, glancing through Holy
Scriptures. You are an in-depth Bible student; a serious seeker after Eternal
truth - as the Word of God encourages all believers and seekers to be.
You do well, beloved in Christ, you
do very well. You do well, saved and seeking soul, you do very well. Praise God for the truth of His Word which
brings life through faith! (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“Study to show thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of
Truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
When you and I arrive at a phrase in
Scriptures such as ‘...that Holy thing...’, featured in this morning’s
selected text from Luke’s Gospel, we desire to search out the deep meaning of
such a term, and thus find Spiritual meat to encourage faith in both regenerate
and unregenerate souls. Let us linger
for a while, therefore, and look at this particular Scriptural phrase: ’…that
Holy thing…’ (Luke 1:35)
For any credible interpretation of
Scripture one must use what we Bible teachers refer to as ‘the whole thread of
Scriptural truth’ - Old Testament and New - as our final Authority. God the Spirit is the Divine Author of all 66
Books of Scripture. Thus, He speaks to
our souls through His Word.
“Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the
will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)
For instance, when Christ said, “I
am the Bread of Life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger...For I came down
from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” -
all those who heard Him were left in no doubt that He was making reference to
the manna given of God to Moses and the children of Israel to sustain vital
physical life as they walked through the wilderness wastes. (John 6:32-40)
Again, Christ said to them: “I am
the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are
dead. This (Christ Himself) is the bread
which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” (John 6:48-51)
The Lord could not have been more
clear in His terms of reference.
So, let us examine the manna given
to Moses and the people to see if it may yield up more insights on the Person
of Christ Jesus, the Son of the Living Lord God Who has openly promised:
“...Ye shall seek Me, and find Me,
when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14)
The Manna: (Exodus
16:14-15) “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.
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
that the Lord hath given you to eat.”
In Exodus 16:14 the manna is
portrayed as:
Small: Christ Jesus came to us as a tiny babe; small
of stature and humble of station; born in a manger among the lowly
animals. He left the portals of ultimate
glory and, by His incarnation (that is, God becoming man), humbled himself to
walk in the human flesh of a mere man.
The Almighty Creator took on the puny form of His creatures that,
through His suffering for our sins on the Cross, we might take on the form of
the Supernatural and live forever with Him in Glory. The God-given manna was ’small’. (Philippians 2:5-11) (1 John 3:1-3)
Round: Exodus 16:14 reveals to us that the manna
given in the wilderness was indeed small, and it was also round in shape.
The true Manna, Christ Jesus, is the
Eternal Son of the Living Lord God Jehovah.
Like a true round circle, Christ has no beginning and no end; the Alpha
and Omega; He is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever...” (Hebrews 13:8)
“In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God…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…For the law was given by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:1;14-17)
Thing: (Exodus 16:14) As our text from Luke’s Gospel above teaches
us, Mary was told by the angel Gabriel, “...That Holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
What better description would inform
the finite human mind that a Person would be born into the world Who would
possess two distinct natures in the one Body?
He would be at all times Almighty Lord God and yet, paradoxically, at
all times truly human - able to suffer and experience all that you and I suffer
in life day by day.
Praise God for sending ‘...that Holy
thing...’, Christ Jesus, as Saviour, Substitute, and Redeemer King. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
White: (Exodus
16:31) (Numbers 11:7) “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.”
There is none whiter in true and
perfect Holiness than Jesus Christ, the well-beloved Son of God, who, ‘...knew
no sin...’, yet Who was ‘...made to be sin for us...that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him.’ (Hebrews
4:15) (2 Corinthians 5:21)
“For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that, whosoever believeth in Him, should not
perish, but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16)
Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God
Almighty! None whiter in Holiness than Christ
Jesus, the true Bread of Life. Glory to
His Holy Name! Amen.
Sweet: The manna was sweet ‘...the taste of it was
like wafers made with honey.’ Can we not
hear King David and the children of Israel
cry:
“O taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” (Psalm 34:8) That is trusts, and keeps right
on trusting in Him!
The Eternal Word of God, Jesus
Christ, is ‘...sweeter than honey...’ indeed, much sweeter than any physical
manna could ever be! (John 1:1)
“How sweet are Thy Words unto my
taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Through Thy precepts (moral
instructions and teachings) I get understanding; therefore I hate every false
way.” (Psalm 119:103-104))
Now, reflect for a moment, both
Bible studying Christians and sincere seekers after the Truth: After reading this lesson, supported at every
point by the inspired Word of God, is your regenerate soul not throbbing with
the satisfying love of, and for, the risen Lord Jesus?
Unsaved soul who may read this Bible
Lesson, is your precious soul not left longing to know this Christ as your
Bread of life; as your personal Lord and Saviour?
Does each of our souls not thrill
and ‘...our hearts burn within us...’ at this written revelation of God’s Son,
the risen Lord Jesus Christ?
From the Old Testament description
of the physical, God-given, manna, to the New Testament revelation of Christ as
the Bread of Life, we are left in no doubt at all of the Holy Ghost’s
inspiration of our Bibles and God’s fulfilment of Bible prophecy reference the
first coming of Messiah Jesus.
We are amazed by the truth that,
‘...that Holy thing...’ which was born of the virgin Mary, was, is, and forever shall be ‘...called the Son of
God...’, for that’s precisely Whom He Eternally is. Hallelujah!
What a Saviour! Jesus lives and
is ever present both to edify in faith and to save.
I commend unto you this day, the
Lord Jesus Christ - the true and only Bread of Life Eternal. Come, eat, and be forever satisfied in Him.
Thought: “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.” (John 6:35)
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