“God Gives Food From the Land”

Monday, February 11, 2019

The following is by one of our members, Matt Robison. He delivered this meditation before we took communion yesterday morning, Feb. 10th. We are sharing it here because it is an excellent reminder of God's goodness to us throughout time and at the communion table.

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The promise of land to Israel was always a promise of food, always described as a land flowing with milk and honey. God has always provided food for his people, from the very beginning when, on the third day of creation, the dry land immediately began producing fruit and grain.

In the wilderness, Israel was literally provided with bread from heaven. And the first thing Joshua and the people do, after they pass through the waters of the Jordan, into the promised land, is to celebrate a feast. They celebrated Passover. And then they acted as if the land were already theirs.

"While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." (Joshua 5:10-12)

This was was a pretty bold move. The feasting would leave the people open to attack. They had not fought any battles, nor had they planted a single garden, nor had they won rest from their enemies. But the land was already a place for feasting. When they formally began the conquest, they had already been acting as if the conquest was over. The land was theirs.

The Lord had provided a table in the midst of their enemies. And just because the Manna stopped, that didn’t mean something fundamental about the source of the food had changed. 

Look at Deut. 11:10-12. "For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year."

Their food still came from the Lord. It was still His blessing upon them. The food was still very much heavenly food, drinking the water from the heavens, as opposed to the irrigated water of the Nile. The milk and honey of the land was food from heaven, just as dependent upon the Lord’s generosity, and just as miraculous as the Manna. Remember, it is God who gives the increase.

This meal we partake of now is just as bold as that first meal in the promised land. The Lord has prepared this table in the midst of our enemies. And just like the Israelites, we have a promised inheritance, though ours is a better one, one that encompasses all things. And just like the Israelites, we feast in the midst of that promised inheritance.

We feast on the true bread from heaven: Jesus. We sit at a table of a greater Joshua, one who has drawn us through the waters of Jordan in baptism. We are His, and He is ours, and so everything is ours, as Paul tells us at the end of 1 Cor. 3 We do not yet see everything put under the feet of Jesus, but we see enough. Because we eat and drink in faith.

And like the Israelites we will rise up from this feast, confident of our victory. Confident of the consummation of our inheritance. Confidant that we will be more than conquerors. Confident that, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.

So take and eat the bread and drink the cup. And welcome to Jesus Christ.

- Matt Robison

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