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Hidden Manna And White Stone
The hidden manna and the white stone refers to Exodus. The promise is, "I will
give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the
stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it"
(Revelation 2:17).
It is in this third Epistle, which refers to the wilderness period and Balaam's
counsel, that we have a special reference to the manna, the wilderness
sustenance, of which Exodus contains the record. "Bread from Heaven" and
"Angels' food" (Psalms 78:24,25) are set over against the lusts of the flesh and
spiritual idolatry. The manna was to be "hidden" in the Ark of the Covenant,
"that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I
brought you forth from the land of Egypt... so Aaron laid it up before the
Testimony to be kept" (Exodus 16:32-34). This "hidden" food is for remembrance;
to remind them that God can supply the remnant of His People in the coming day,
when none shall be allowed to buy or sell (Revelation 13:16,17), and therefore
to buy food to eat, unless they consent to bear the "mark of the Beast."
God supported His People in the wilderness, where they could obtain no food: Why
not here? The false prophets will eat to the full at the table of another
Jezebel: Why should not God "furnish a table" (Psalms 78:19) for His own in that
coming day, in that wilderness whither they will flee (Revelation 12:14)? The
one was literal: why not the other? Why go out of our way to seek for a strange
interpretation alien to the subject, when we have one ready to hand in the Old
Testament Scriptures which are being referred to? That manna was to be "hidden,"
and "kept," to remind them that God can still, and will again "furnish a table
in the wilderness," that they may again be "nourished for a time, and
times, and half a time" (Revelation 12:14).
There is a further promise as to the "white stone" and the "new name." Again we
ask, Why go to our own imaginations, or to Pagan customs, for interpretations,
when we have in this same book of Exodus the account of the stones on which the
names of the Tribes were engraven: Two on the High Priest's shoulder, with six
names on each (collective); and twelve on the breastplate, with one name on each
(individual). The individual names being placed "upon his heart" (the place of
love), and the collective names "upon his shoulders" (the place of strength)
(Exodus 28:8-30).
Besides these stones there were the stones of the "Urim and Thummin," of which
little or nothing is known. These may have "white" for aught we know; but we do
know that they were associated with a hearing and answering God dwelling in the
midst of His People.
Here, amid their scenes of trial and tribulation, when God's people will find
themselves in another wilderness, they are reminded, by this Exodus-promise, of
God's presence with them; and of the blessed fact that He has their names in
remembrance; that His love is everlasting; that His strength is almighty,
and able to nourish them when their enemies might prevail and human resources
fail.
• Exactly 2520 years from the exile
of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.
•
The first tribe to be
conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh,
in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.
(Leviticus. 26: 28-46) God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually
breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them.
He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would
be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them
among the heathens (like lost sheep)
• Study the book:
Abrahamic Covenant,
(A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt
- page 25
Jeremiah 17:5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
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