Matthew 4:3-4. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'”
Exodus 16:13-14. So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
John 6:31-33. “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Psalms 23:5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
John 12:24. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

From ancient times bread has been identified as the basic food to preserve life. It is certainly considered as such in the Scriptures. When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger….”, surely He was stating that He was and He is the complete spiritual source of nourishment. Jesus had informed Satan early in His earthly ministry, “It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4. It is God’s command that man depend not only on the physical bread but on the heavenly spiritual bread of God’s ‘every word’.

‘The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey’. Exodus 16:31. The first mention of divinely supplied food in the Scriptures is provided in Exodus. The Israelites had been led by God miraculously out of Egypt where they had been enslaved, into the great wilderness. Each household gathered manna every morning except on the Sabbath. On the morning before the Sabbath they gathered enough for two days. This was God’s provision for His people for forty years until they were able to eat the produce of Canaan.

‘Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven’.  John 6:32. For their complete bodily well-being God had provided the manna, yet these words of Jesus proclaim that He is the true bread out of heaven. Later in verse 57 Jesus states “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.” One may well ask, how can we eat Jesus that He may become life to us?

The table of showbread in the Holy Place of the tabernacle was a type of Jesus as the Son of Man. Hence the table was constructed of acacia wood, depicting human nature and overlaid with gold, depicting the divine nature. Its materials of wood overlaid with gold and its height of 1 ½ cubits were exactly the same as the ark-of-the-covenant. This identifies the table with the ark as the Person of Jesus. The first thing to note perhaps is that the light from the lampstand shone directly upon the table of showbread, since its lamps were above and quite close to the table. It is important to note that the seven lamps are a type of the sevenfold Spirit of God or, we might say, of the life-giving-Spirit.

‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies’. Psalms 23:5. The table is a type of Jesus’ as Son of God made Son of Man who, through His human life and the sacrifice of Himself became the very substance and source of the living bread. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24. He was the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died, where it remained alone, yet in coming forth in resurrection He, as a single grain of wheat, bore an immeasurable abundance of fruit, among which are all we who believe.

The most prominent items placed on the table-of-showbread were twelve loaves of unleavened bread. They were baked each Sabbath and were placed hot on two dishes. When these were replaced on the next Sabbath with fresh ones, Aaron and his sons ate the ones removed in the Holy Place. The fine flour from which the loaves were made was ground to the utmost fineness. This grinding is a type of the immense suffering that Jesus willingly endured in order to become the essence and content of the living bread. That the showbread was unleavened portrayed the purity of character of the One who suffered for us that we, as sons of man, by partaking of Jesus might be transformed into His image to become sons of God.

As we regularly take in the word of God in the Scriptures, directly or from memory, under the light of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, we shall grow in grace and in obedience to be well-pleasing to the Lord Jesus. We eat Him by taking Him in as ‘the bread of life’. He is our complete spiritual food. We need no other. May we devote ourselves to regular assimilation and meditation on the word of God that we  ‘not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

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