The brilliant professor of
philosophy at London University, Professor Joad, was not a Christian. He
was asked on a radio programme, ‘If you could meet any person from the past and
ask just one question, whom would you meet and what question would you ask?’
Professor Joad answered without
hesitation: ‘I would meet Jesus Christ and ask him the most important
question in the world – “Did you or did you not rise from the dead?” ’
There came a day in Professor
Joad’s life when he assessed the evidence for himself and became a Christian.
He had been right in saying it was the most important question in all the
world. If Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, then he is who he said
he was.
This changes everything.
When the New Testament writers speak of God’s love they point to the cross.
When they speak of God’s power they point to the resurrection. God’s ‘incomparably
great power’ was ‘exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead’
(Ephesians 1:19–20). As we see in today’s New Testament passage the risen
Jesus says to his disciples, ‘All authority (all power to rule) in
heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (Matthew 28:18, AMP).
The resurrection means that the
risen Jesus is present with us now. Jesus continues, ‘I am with you
always’ (28:20).
The result of the resurrection
is not only his power and his presence but also his provision (as we will see
in our Old Testament passage for today).
1. Jesus and the power of God
2. Jesus and the presence of God
3. Jesus and the provision of God
Are
you worrying about the future – your health, your job, your family or your
finances? Make a decision today not to worry. ‘When we worry about
tomorrow,’ writes Joyce Meyer, ‘we waste today. Trust God and learn to
live one day at a time.’
We
see in this passage that God promises to provide, but only one day at a time.
Jesus taught us to pray ‘Give us this day our daily bread’
(Matthew 6:11). We are to trust God that what we need in terms of
provision will be there when we need it.
God
promises his provision for physical and material needs. He promises to
rain down ‘bread from heaven’ (16:4a) called ‘manna’ (v.31). Each
day he provides them with all they need in terms of their ‘daily bread’.
Each one gathered as much as they needed (vv.18c,21a). But they were told
not to store it up for the future: ‘No one is to keep any of it until morning’
(v.19).
It
is always a temptation to want to store up everything we receive as security
for the future – rather than trusting God to provide what we need when we need
it. This applies not just to our physical and material needs, but also to
our spiritual food. We cannot just rely on past blessings.
It
is also sad to see in this passage how quickly the people of God seem to forget
about God’s goodness and provision in the past, and begin to grumble about
problems in the present. It always strikes me how soon they begin to
grumble – and yet so often we can find ourselves doing exactly the same
thing, forgetting God’s blessings and grumbling. This passage is a
reminder of the need to trust in God’s provision in the good times and the bad.
It is the resurrection of Jesus which gives an eternal quality to
this provision. Because Jesus has been raised to life, those who eat
this bread will live forever.
To read the full post, please got to: http://acs.alpha.org/bioy/commentary/419
Blessings!
Ronell x
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