Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3 NKJV)

Why is the Old Testament experience so significant to the New Testament believers? The chosen people of Israel had a chance to enter into the promised land of Canaan without having been wondering in the wilderness forty years, which is recorded in Numbers Chapter 13. But they refused to enter into the land, saying that they would be killed by the giant tribal residents of Canaan based on the provocatively negative report of ten tribal leaders who spied out the land forty days. Despite of the plea made by Caleb and Joshua, the whole camp of Israel wailed the whole night and chose not to obey the Lord God. So, God let them wonder in the wilderness four decades.

Did God know not it? Of course, God knew it. There is nothing hidden and unknown to God who is the Creator. There is no second thought to our God. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Why did God allow them to wonder around in the barrenness and dryness of wilderness those long years? It’s because God wanted to humble and test the people, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep His commandments or not.

So, God humbled them, allowed them to hunger, and fed them with manna which they did not know nor did their fathers know, that He might make them know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. This phrase is quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness after the forty days of fasting. The devil tempted the hungry and exhausted Jesus to change the stones into bread. Jesus could use His power to do it, but He didn’t.

The scripture did not say that we don’t need bread but we don’t live by bread alone. We need bread for our bodies. But that’s not all we need. Humans are three-fold, body, soul, and spirit. Body needs to be fed continually to sustain life. Just as the body needs bread, so also the soul and spirit do. Of course not the physical bread to quench the demand of soul and spirit. The spiritual bread is the word of God. It is not too difficult to know that the physical satisfaction is not proportional to the spiritual fulfillment.

Although the Israelites in the wilderness were being fed by manna, they were not filled. They sustained their lives just enough. One thing they never forgot to do all those forty years was complain over complain. They complained everything on circumstances, blessings, and authority. They complained no food, no water, no meat, manna, and even the authority of Moses. They were humbled and tested to rely on the food down from heaven every day. They were humbled and tested to rely on the water gushed out of the rocks. They were humbled and tested to look up the bronze serpent in order to be saved from the vipers.

“The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” (Numbers 14:18 NKJV)

This is the pattern God works out to His children. In the midst of hunger and thirst, God provides the very thing we need not only the physical need but also spiritual fulfillment. God is in us and we are in Him. That’s what God is after. He is the bread of life, says Jesus. “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” (John 6:41)

Jesus says a remarkable statement regarding the bread to His children. Christ is eternal life which is the real bread for all humans. That’s the test whether we obey Jesus Christ or not. Do you rely on Him to gain strength and power or something else?

“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.” (John 6:53-59 NKJV)