Healing: Manna and the True Bread from Heaven

One of my passions has been to research the times and seasons of the Jewish year, particularly the feasts. So, this journey about Healing: Manna and the True Bread from Heaven began with my studying the Feast of Passover, or “Pesach” in Hebrew. Passover is the journey from slavery to freedom.

In looking at the times and seasons of the Jewish people, one of the things you would check is the month the feast occurs on the Hebrew calendar. Their calendar is based on the lunar cycle. Passover occurs in the month of Nisan, or Nissan as some spell it. This festival is also known by the following names:
*Festival of Unleavened Bread (The bread the Jews ate during Passover), **Festival of Freedom or Redemption (They were set free from slavery) and ***Festival of Spring or the Season of Our Liberation (Passover occurred during the Spring & they were liberated).
The month of Nisan is referred to as the Month of Miracles because God delivered the Jews with signs and wonders, transcending the natural. Tremendous miracles occurred in the exile from Egypt, which occurred on the 15th of Nisan. Through these miracles, He set His people free from the physical bondage of slavery.

There are some significant aspects about the month of Iyar: *It is the second month on the Hebrew calendar. **One of the names is Month of Healing. The rabbis believe that the gates of healing are open to us during Iyar – whatever needs healing gets healed. (“I am God your Healer”). ***The entire month of Iyar is involved daily with the Counting of the 49 Days of Omer, which is all about teshuvah/repentance. ****It is the month of the Second Passover – representing second chances. This occurs 30 days after the first Passover.

In the month of Iyar, God began to rain down manna from heaven for the children of Israel to eat. And, for the next 40 years they ate manna – the bread from heaven or “heavenly bread”.
If this month—Iyar—is the month of healing, the month that God told the children of Israel that He was their Healer, and the month He began to send manna from heaven, did healing come to them by eating the manna?

The manna that God provided for the children of Israel was perfect – it provided all the human body needed to stay alive and healthy day by day. This included healing for their bodies. In fact, several Jewish commentaries stated that the manna healed all who ate it. Some commentaries even said that God performed miraculous healing’s at this time restoring limbs, eyes, ears and broken bones. The reasoning is because of the children of Israel having to journey 40 years in the wilderness. They would have had to be in
good health – young and old alike. So, for 40 years, the manna brought healing to the people and sustained their lives in the wilderness. But this ultimately ended when they reached the borders of Canaan. If we look at the fact that God used a “bread from heaven” to heal His people and sustain their lives, then we see the connection with Jesus – Yeshua – the One who is the True Bread from Heaven, our Healer, and the One who came that we might have not only life, but eternal life.

JESUS, the TRUE BREAD from HEAVEN

When Jesus opened the book in the synagogue and read out of Isaiah 61:1 in Luke 4, He was revealing Who He was. One of His attributes was “Healer”:
17 “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

In the Bible, we know there are numerous instances where Jesus healed the sick. The people would bring all that were sick and He would heal them. In some instances, the Bible says He healed them all.

Matthew 12:15—”But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;”

Luke 6:19—”And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”

Jesus also brought sight to the blind, as in the story of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52. He healed all manner of sickness and disease.

Matthew 4:23—”And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

But it was in John 6 when Jesus revealed that He was the “Bread of Life” and the “True Bread from Heaven” which took place “near the Jewish Passover festival”.

We see a connection here with the Old Testament–the Jewish Passover “festival” – the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Freedom and Redemption. (There are so many more connections with Jesus and Passover which I won’t go into in this post.)

It began with the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with five loaves of barley bread and two fish, which was a miracle—miraculous provision. Then, the next day, the people began to search for Him because of He had fed them the loaves. In talking to Him, they referred back to the manna,
31 “ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus’ response was,
32 “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  33  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

He went on to declare, “I am the bread of life.” 
Jesus told the people that day that although their fathers did eat the manna, they are “dead”:
49”  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.”

But, He went on to say that if they believed on Him – the “living bread” – they would not die but would live forever.
50 “ This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Another connection with the Old Testament, of course, is in Isaiah 53:5 –
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Then it was confirmed in I Peter 2:24 –
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

In this comparison, we see that both the manna and Jesus, the True Bread from Heaven, brought healing and life to the people – the manna for the appointed time. Jesus heals yesterday, today and forever. He came that we would have life and life more abundantly, and ultimately, eternal life. When He said, “It is finished”, in John 19:30, it was finished forever.

“I am God your Healer”

In the New Testament, it was “near the feast of Passover” – in the month of Nisan – that Jesus, revealed to the people He was the “True Bread from Heaven” – not just for then, but for all time. He still heals, He still delivers, He still restores sight to the blind and He still sets the captives free forever and ever.

One point of interest to me in the parallels of the Jewish month of Iyar and what we have been studying is that, not only is healing paramount, but also the great emphasis on teshuvah/ repentance. We have been praying for healing for people and nations in this season we are in. For the Jews, it’s the Counting of the Omer—the 49 days leading up to Shavuot/Pentecost. The rabbis believe healing cannot occur until teshuvah is done. Hence their Counting of the Omer. For us, it’s the place of growing closer to God, to know Him, which involves repentance.