Reading: “The hidden manna.”—Revelation 2:17
Jesus identified himself as the manna of the gospel, for he called himself, “the living bread,” and “the bread of God which came from heaven,” But when Jesus imparts this blessed food to his people, it is hidden. And, indeed, many of the properties of it are made more blessed, from the very nature of its secrecy. Though Jesus was preached to the world, both by the law and the prophets and when appearing in substance of our flesh manifested forth his glory, yet he was known only to his disciples: the great mass of men neither knew him, nor regarded him.
If he was preached in types and sacrifices under the Old Testament dispensation, or in open gospel under the New, few believed the report. Do you discover him in his Holy Word? Still the word hidden for though it is read openly by all, yet the mystery of it is known to few. Does the Holy Ghost testify to you of Jesus in your desires after him, in communions with him, in the actings of faith on him, and in your enjoyment from him? Nevertheless in all these, however certain and refreshing to you, your pleasures are hidden from the world.
This is mercy—personal and peculiar. Strangers do not, cannot, intermeddle with this joy—it is hidden from them! Oh, for grace to live more and more upon those hidden privileges, and more and more to prize them.
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