The Hidden Manna- the Key to Overcoming

UV 2744/10000 The Hidden Manna- the Key to Overcoming
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I 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 v 17
Man is created to be the crowning glory of creation. But the crown of glory awaits us only at the end of our lives on earth. Science is gradually coming to the conclusion that the earth itself is unique in all of the universe out of zillions of planets that do not have the fifty odd conditions to support life in any form. The name “Earth” itself echoes the means by which we can realize our destiny to be the “crowning glory”- Ear plus th, meaning hear with our ear(s) and then to think, to think, to be and not to be certain things, to do and not to do what is written but hidden in the revealed Word of God and to so overcome. Manna was God-provided food for the Israelites in the desert of affliction and temptation to turn back. It spoilt overnight. The hidden manna is God –provided food for our souls in the desert that this world represents. The world is seen as a desert as though there is plenty of physical food, spiritual food is scarce. The hidden truths in the Word will keep us from chasing mirages or illusions in this desert world. It will never spoil and lasts forever. It will never be in short supply. We need to consider the word as the hidden manna that tastes like the finest of honey and makes us privy to the very imperishable wisdom of God and not that of man which is like folly that perishes. We need to eat regularly and as frequently as we can of this “hidden manna”. We derive strength, wisdom, knowledge of God and His anointed Saviour and Son, energy, power, grace, mercy and hope from the insights hidden in the word. The Word keeps us from blunders and opens our inner eyes to the wonders of the Lord.
Once we are strengthened, equipped, armed, enabled, empowered by the Word to overcome the world and its varied distractions, disturbances, opposition, discouragement, obstacles, challenges, temptations, trials, we are given the white stone, symbolising a trophy of victory given by the Lord. We are endowed with both purity as signified by ‘white’ and strength to endure signified by ‘stone’. We are given a new identity signified by the new name the Lord writes on the white stone.
Suffice it to say that we need to perk up our ears to hear the Lord, to be able to distinguish His voice from our own and that of the world and of others. We need to mine the wisdom of His Word. We need to ingest it, digest it, delight in it and assimilate it like necessary food. The new name that the Lord gives us will be our new identity as a new born creature. It will be deep, personal and known only to us and the Lord. The words “We shall overcome” in the song that by that name means that you and I can overcome with the help of the Trinitarian God, through our intimacy with Him. Our personal relationship with the Lord is our crowning glory that declares us victors and overcomers in this world and prepares us to taste of the fruit of the tree of eternal life. The hidden manna, hidden from the world but revealed to us is a foretaste of eternal life. It is both the appetiser and the main course. The world knows us by our old identity but the Lord knows us by our new, personal and secret identity.

Prateep V Philip