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SPIRITUAL FOOD
Sustenance for the Body

A Commentary by Constance Vanides

There we were, sitting in the very busy and very fast In-N-Out Burger® restaurant, waiting for our order to be ready. A most unlikely place for the Holy Spirit to teach me a new lesson! I looked around. Here were people young and old alike, from all walks of life. I suddenly realized we all had one thing in common. Whether a single hamburger, double, with or without cheese and fried potatoes, all were eating the great American favorite. Everyone was eating the same food!

The Holy Spirit reminded me, “…all ate the same spiritual food,” (1 Corinthians 10:3)

The Hebrew families followed Moses through the wilderness for forty years, all the while murmuring and grumbling as they dragged along to reach the land God had chosen for His people. God’s love and mercy, however, did not leave them. He provided food in the barren land, where there was none.

“And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.’” (Exodus 16:11-15)

“And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” (Exodus 16: 31)

Manna appeared in the morning after the dew lifted. God’s instructions were for man to gather only enough for one day according to the number of persons in one’s tent. God was testing to see if they would follow His directions. They gathered and all ate the same food!

“…all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:3, 4)

And when His time came, Jesus had this to say to the people who sought Him,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:32, 35)

And again,

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

Today, believers gather together at the Lord’s table to eat in unity of the Spirit. In remembrance of the spiritual body and blood of Jesus, we commune in sweet fellowship (koinonia) one with another and with Jesus, all eating of the same bread.

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16, 17)

We can all eat together, relish and get filled for a time with the same favorite foods, like hamburgers, but the spiritual food we share in common with others causes us to be filled with all the fullness of God and lasts forever!

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