Here we have now brought together two things which give us the beginning and the end of the blessings of redemption: the Passover and the “old corn of the land.”

In the first, we are looking back to the work that sheltered us “in Egypt,” feeding on the Lamb of atonement, remembering to keep the feast with the unleavened bread also of sincerity and truth. But along with this there is a new experience: the manna ceased the day after the Passover (Josh. 5:12), and they ate of the old corn of the land to which they had come: unleavened cakes and parched corn. It is still, of course, typically Christ, for He is all the food of the soul; but it is no more the bread from heaven—Christ humbled as come down into the world. This land being typically heaven, it is the produce of the land itself, a heavenly Christ in heaven.

It is ours not merely to know Him as come down into the world, but to know Him also as gone up where He was before. He is the same blessed Person, whom circumstances cannot change, and this is our joy to know. Were He in glory different from the One we have seen on earth, then we could not know Him now at all, for our knowledge of Him was gained in His humiliation here; and this is what the manna carried into Canaan, the “hidden manna,” emphasizes for us (cf. Rev. 2:17). Yes, He is the same, unchanged, the same yesterday, today, and forever; but for that very reason, what joy and satisfaction to the heart to follow Him in faith beyond the clouds that hid Him from the disciples gazing after Him as He went up, and to know Him in His present glory, with the divine glory in His face!