THE SIGN OF THE MANGER

MF Blume
December 20, 2015

Luke 2:4-7  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.   And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:12  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

The Hebrew town name BETHLEHEM literally means HOUSE OF BREAD.
•    Beth BREAD
•    Lehem HOUSE

This little town housed the true bread of life for all mankind.
 
Jesus was laid in a manger when He was born.
•     A Manger is a crib or stall (Luke 13:15).
•     It’ from a Greek word that means TO EAT.

Animals ate from mangers in their stalls.

The angel said that it would be a sign to the shepherds (Luke 2:12)
•     In other words, the baby laying in an actual manger would be sign.
•     Signs teach a lesson.
•     The term SIGN used by the angel literally means a token.
•    A symbol of something spiritually understood.

What was the sign? What was the lesson?
•     What is indicated by Jesus being laid in a place where food was laid to be eaten?

It is a picture of Jesus as the food meant to be eaten.
•    A manger is where food is put for feeding.
•    He is the bread of life.
•    He is the manna from heaven.
•    LAID IN A FEEDING TROUGH!

And Bethlehem means HOUSE OF BREAD.

So in a HOUSE OF BREAD, the BREAD OF LIFE for the world is laid in a FEEDING TROUGH.

But what does that mean?

Christ came into this world to be food for humanity.
•    In what way?
•    Let us look to the Bible.

John 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Here we read that the bread of Heaven is HE.
•    Jesus is the bread.
•    Food.
•    And this bread is to give life to the entire world.

Let’s go back earlier in the same chapter and catch the context of John 6.

Jesus spoke of how people followed Him in order to obtain more of the bread He just miraculously multiplied.

John 6:2  And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

He fed 5000 with loaves of fishes.

They searched and found him across the sea in Capernaum.

John 6:26-29  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

He said that they should go after some food, but there is a better food than what they were particularly after.
•     There is a work and a labour that they should rather exert, instead of labouring for bread that perishes.
•     He told me them, when asked, that this labour is believing.
•     If they would believe, then they would obtain food and meat that brings one to experience eternal life.

John 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
John 6:30-31  They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Faith does not require seeing!

Then they continued to discuss eating and food and spoke of manna when they asked Him to show them a sign in order for them to believe his words.
•    They said an example of a sign was their fathers ate manna in the wilderness that was actually bread from heaven.

John 6:32-33  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Jesus said that the bread they did eat was not given by Moses.
•     He seemed to say this because they always compared him to Moses.
•     God did the giving of the manna.
•     And the same God also gives the true bread.
•    Jesus is not to be compared to Moses, but to the manna that God gave.
•     Jesus reference to “TRUE BREAD” implies that the bread of manna that their fathers ate was simply a representation of something original.
•     The true.

“Your fathers only got a shadow of the real thing.  I am the real thing.”

Verse 33 says what the real bread is.
•     It’s he that came down from heaven.
•     He gives life to the world.

John 6:34  Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

Then they asked him to always give them this bread.

Sounds like the cry from the woman at the well:

John 4:15  The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Jesus told the people that the bread is right there before them.
•     They asked for it but it was right there in front of them.
•     In other words, go ahead and eat.
•     I am that bread.
•     But he told them, they did not believe.
•     There is no way for them to eat if they do not believe in Him.
•     The only way is through faith.
•     It was right there in front of them but they were not eating.

The manna was to sustain Israel on their way from Egypt towards the Canaan.
•     Jesus is the true manna.
•    And the goal that God has for us is to eat this truth and get it into us until we come to a place where God wants us to be.

Jesus said that he is the manna.
•     He said that he is the true manna.
•    You eat by BELIEVING.
•     And then he became more specific in His words to the people...

John 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

 He said that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
•    And the primary reference in which blood and flesh is FOOD is the last supper references made to the breaking of His body as bread, and the shedding of his blood as wine.

Matthew 26:26-28  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

 It refers to the death of Jesus on the cross.

We find that Jesus was provided to the world as bread and wine.
•    He would die on the cross and provide the bread and wine.
•    That feeding on the body of Christ is what brings us eternal life

However, Bethlehem means HOUSE OF BREAD.
•    And He is the Bread of Heaven that was laid in a feeding trough.
•    And the only reference to feeding on Him is given regarding the cross.
•    So everything points to the cross.
•    Even His birth!

In 1 Corinthians 10 we read:

1Corinthians 10:1-5  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.


Most people who ATE (body) and DRANK (blood) in the wilderness during Exodus, but still never made it to the promised land.

And then in the very next chapter we read:

1 Corinthians 11:20-21  When you gather in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper.  (21)  For as you eat, each of you rushes to eat his own supper, and one person goes hungry while another gets drunk.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

He speaks of the food and drink of the Exodus, and then speaks of the bread and wine of His body and blood in communion.

People fail after they eat both the Exodus food and drink as well as the Lord’s food and drink.
•     We require this bread and wine in order to get to the place where God wants us to be.
•    But it’s not the physical eating and drinking.
•    It’s the MEANING BEHIND THAT.
•     Many amongst Israel did not get to the place where God wanted them.
•     He wanted them to be a nation where God is glorified.
•     A nation of people whose very lives and lifestyles bring glory to God
•    The Corinthians never fed on the message of being ONE BODY as they each at the same bread and drank same cup.
•     They had the food and drink, but they did not get to where the food and drink was provided for them to live and reach.

John 6:66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

When Jesus told them about this in John 6, it says that many walked no more with Him.
•    So many do want to get into the real focal points to which God is pointing.
•    They want miracles or blessings.
•    Like these people wanted the physical food alone.
•    They do not want the true bread of what God is stressing in the Word.
•    They want to play around and not feast on true meat and drink.
•    And they will never get to the place God wants them.

But God is concerned that we come to a place in the Spirit where we are in the Canaan land.
•    They were dividing from one another.
•    They were losing love for one another.

When Jesus died on the cross He cried MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?

Psalm 22:1  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

And when we read down this Psalm, we find these words circling around His crucifixion:

We see reference to the Exodus.

Psalm 22:4-5  Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them (FROM EGYPT). They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

Paul compared EXODUS FOOD AND DRINK in 1 Cor. 10 to spiritual FOOD AND DRINK in 1 Cor. 11.

Psalm 22:7-8  All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

Mark 15:30-32  Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

Psalm 22:16  For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Psalm 22:18  They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. (see Matthew 27:35)
Psalm 22:26-27  The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

Notice that the meek would EAT and be satisfied in all this prophecy about the CROSS.
•    Why would it speak of eating after speaking of the cross of Christ?
•    It refers to the same thing Jesus referred to the night before His crucifixion, when He took bread and broke it, indicating His broken body for them, and the wine representing His shed blood for them.

Nothing different is going to happen that men might be saved than what already happened.
•    Nothing other than what happened long ago will take people to glory.
•    So everyone must look back to the cross.
•    REMEMBER.
•    It will satisfy you.
•    You will hunger no more neither thirst anymore

And the very next Psalm reads the same way, as follows:

Psalm 23:1-3  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. {Never hunger nor thirst... how?--- Because....}  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

The shepherd leads me beside still waters.
•    I shall not want.
•    I shall not lack.
•     I receive the food and the drink.
•     Still waters and green pastures.
•     Food and drink.
•     He is the shepherd who leads me to the food and drink, and He is the Lamb who provides the food and drink.. Both the Flesh and blood.

The way God restores our souls is to take us back to the cross and help us comprehend one more time what happened to us when Christ died.
•    Restores us to the KINGDOM Adam lost in the Garden.
•    Takes us back before man fell from God!
•    Our old lives died and we were raised with Him.
•    We are one with Him.
•    Do you need restoration and some strength?
•    Go to the food of life and the drink of life.

All of this is written immediately AFTER PSALM 22!
•     It’s the next Psalm.
•     After the cross of Psalm 22:1, we read of the leading by the Shepherd,  we sheep, to the feeding grounds and the waters.
•     After reading of the world remembering and eating and being satisfied,  we read this Psalm 23!

We are sheep being led to eat and drink.
•     When Jesus referred to eating and drinking, He referred to His blood  and flesh.
•     And that was His death with which we identify.
•     The aspect of eating and drinking refers to our identification with Christ’s death, where His broken body and shed blood provide a  picture of spiritual bread and wine.
•     Eating and drinking his flesh and blood represents living from the truths which we have believed that concern His death as us.
•     Realizing that we received resurrection eternal life when we believed His death was our deaths that freed us from this backslidden race of  Adam’s..

Oh, it is so important to understand that we died with Him!
•     That is the entire basis of salvation from sin.
•    It’s where we BECAME ONE WITH HIM.

Eating the bread drinking the win stands for us being ONE WITH HIM.

This will take us through the journey!

When you realize you’re one with the KING OF KINGS, and  His righteousness was given to you, you gain incredible confidence to deal with anything life throws at you!

Why is it that we see Jesus as food in an animal feeding trough?

Our shepherd leads us to food and drink as though we were sheep.

Psalm 22 speaks of Israel trusting in God and being delivered TO TAKE THEM TO THE KINGDOM LAND OF ISRAEL

This truth of the cross feeds you to lead you to the KINGDOM POWER OF GOD IN THIS WORLD.

Right before Psalm 23 where we are SHEEP and the LORD IS OUR SHEPHERD.

The blood of the lamb around the doors.

The meat of the lamb eaten inside the same homes.

AND THEY LEFT EGYPT!
•     And the flesh of the lamb was eaten in those houses, with nothing left over.
•     They had to eat it all.

Back in Psalm 22:26, we read of hearts living forever.

Psalm 22:26  The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
 
This is the eternal life that Jesus said would be provided in the bread and wine of the flesh and blood.

John 6:50  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

We’re talking about the bread of Heaven provided in the great house of Bread, laid in the feeding trough, or manger, that we may feed and have eternal life.

Then we hear of the WORLD REMEMBERING in Psalm 22:27.

Psalm 22:27  All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

Jesus said this do in REMEMBRANCE OF ME.

1 Corinthians 11:24-25  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

From His birth, having been laid in a feeding trough, to the last day before His death, when He gave them bread and wine and told them it was His body and blood, He indicated that He was the Bread of life for the world.

REMEMBER!  THE SIGN OF THE MANGER.



SERMONS