Manna: Symbol of Jesus Christ

God called the manna “bread” (Ex. 16:12, cf. v. 15).

Jesus called Himself the “bread of life” and the “living bread” (John 6:48, 51).

Manna provided the Israelites with temporal life.

Jesus the living bread provides all with eternal life: “I am the living bread . . . if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever” (John 6:51).

Manna came from heaven: The lord told Moses, “I will rain bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4).

Jesus is “the bread which cometh down from heaven” (John 6:50).

The lord God gave manna to the children of Israel.

God “gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) to the children of men.

There was enough manna for every person (Ex. 16:16–18).

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite, sufficient to cover all of God’s children.

Every person received his fill of manna: “They gathered every man according to his eating” (Ex. 16:18; see also vv. 16–17).

Jesus fills those who are spiritually hungry: “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger” (John 6:35).

Manna was undeserved. The lord said, “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, . . . at even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread” (Ex. 16:12).

Jesus died for undeserving sinners: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. . . . While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6, 8).

The children of Israel ate manna for forty years (Ex. 16:35), a period of testing.

Jesus was tempted of Satan after fasting forty days and forty nights (Matt. 4:1–2).

Concerning those who overcome the world, they will be given “to eat of the hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17).

Jesus, the “living bread,” is “hidden,” or unknown, to the wicked but revealed to the righteous.