T H E   E N D - T I M E S   T I M E S             April 20th, 2000
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Dear friends,

Welcome to this issue of The End-Times Times.
This newsletter is being sent to you at your request,
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from this list at any time by simply writing to me.

  Please feel free to write to me at

      davidmwilliams@oocities.com

and visit my Web site at

      http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Forum/5951

Good quality theological books can be purchased from
the Web site, through Amazon.Com.  Previous issues of
this newsletter are also available.

In this issue some projects are outlined that I hope
you will prayerfully consider supporting.

Please have a safe and happy Easter !

Regards,

David M. Williams

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T H E   B R E A D   O F   H E A V E N

Exodus 16:4-12 

Unbelief, Alexander Maclaren reminds us, gives us a short memory.
The Red Sea is forgotten in a month.  The Israelites could strike
their timbrels and sing their lyric of praise, but they could not
believe that God would supply today's needs.  

Discontent gives us a slippery memory.  They murmured among 
themselves and wished to get back to the flesh-pots of Egypt.  When 
they were in Egypt, they shrieked about their oppression, and were 
ready to give up anything for liberty; when they got their liberty, 
they were ready to put their necks in the yoke again, if only they 
could have their stomachs filled.  How human they were.  Never 
satisfied with today.  Always looking forward or backward to a 
happier time.  Let those who have never complained cast the first 
stone at these grumbling Israelites.  But there are some lessons from 
their story by which we may profit. 

IN THE FIRST PLACE, OBSERVE GOD'S PURPOSE IN THE GIFT OF MANNA. 

"That I may prove them whether they will walk in My law or not," 
God says.  So how did the manna become a test of obedience? By means 
of the law prescribed for gathering it.  There was to be a given 
quantity daily, and twice as much on the sixth day.  If they trusted 
God for tomorrow, they would be content to stop collecting when they 
had filled their basket, even as tempting as the easily gathered 
abundance would be.  There was no need to economize. There was no 
need to gather their food into barns. "Give us this day our daily 
bread," as Jesus taught us to pray. Only the ones who absolutely 
trusted God to provide for them would eat their portion and lie down 
at night with a quiet heart, knowing that the God who had fed them 
would feed them the next day as well. 

But consider the manna which fell on the sixth day.  "What is 
the use of gathering twice as much on the sixth day?" they asked.  
Don't we know that it will not keep?  Yet that which fell on the 
sixth day was sufficient for the Sabbath as well.  So the whole of 
the gift was a continual training of, and therefore a continual test, 
of faith.  Even though God could easily have provided enough food at 
once to last them their entire wilderness life, He wanted to let His 
gifts come in this hand-to-mouth fashion so that they might cultivate 
the habit of clinging to Him, and that their daily bread might 
nourish them in two ways: by feeding their bodies and by 
strengthening their faith.  In the same way, God lets our blessings 
trickle to us drop by drop, instead of pouring them in a flood all at 
once upon us.  He does this so that we may taste the peace and 
strength of continual dependence, and the joy of continual 
receiving.  He could give us the principal down; but He prefers to 
pay us the interest, as we need it. 

Christ sent his disciples to lilies and birds to learn the secret of
simple trust.  All God's gifts are tests, which -- thanks be to God
-- is the same as to say that they are means of increasing faith, and
thus adding to joy.  As someone has  written: "Not from humor but
from love come the most beautiful smiles: from thanksgiving for daily
bread; from the joy of sharing; from the knowledge of sins forgiven;
from the blessings of God." 

BUT NOT JUST A TEST, THE MANNA WAS ALSO A DISCLOSURE OF THE 
DEPTH OF GOD'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN.  

The "murmurings" of the children of Israel are very apparent, as they 
are mentioned four times in this context.  And on each of these 
occasions we are told why God gave them the gift of the manna: it was 
His answer to the peevish complaints of their greedy appetites.  When 
they were summoned to come near to the Lord, with the ominous warning 
that "He hath heard your murmurings," no doubt many a heart began to 
quake.  And when the Glory flashed from the Shechinah cloud, it would 
burn lurid to their trembling consciences.  But the message which 
comes from it is sweet in its gentleness, as it promises the manna 
because they have murmured, and in order that they may know the Lord. 

A mother soothes her whimpering infant by feeding it from her 
own breast.  In the same way, God does not take the rod to His 
whimpering children, but tries to win them by patience.  And He 
shames their unbelief through His swift and over-abundant answers to 
their complaints.  He punishes when He must; but when He can, He 
complies.  Faith is the condition of our receiving God's highest 
gifts; but even unbelief touches His heart with pity, and He gives 
what he can to it, to melt it into trust.  The farther we stray from 
Him, the more tender and penetrating is His recalling voice. 

While we multiply transgressions, He multiplies mercies.  The 
earth has riches in abundance, but they are not always easily 
accessible.  For example, scientists tell us that there is enough 
copper on the bottom of the sea to last the world 60 centuries; and 
enough nickel to last for 150,000 years.  Yet God's greatest riches 
are His most accessible--love, faith, hope, peace, and an awareness 
that we are His own. 

ANOTHER PURPOSE OF THE MANNA WAS TO REVEAL THE MIRACULOUS AND 
TRANSIENT FORM OF AN ETERNAL TRUTH. 

The God who sent the manna sends daily bread.  The words which 
Christ spoke in His hunger in the wilderness explains the meaning of 
the manna as a witness to this truth: "Man doth not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." To 
a Christian, the divine power is present and operative in all natural 
processes as much as in those which we call miraculous. God is 
separable from the universe, but the universe is not separable from 
God.  If it were separated, it would cease.  So far as the reality of 
the divine operation is concerned, it doesn't matter whether He works 
in the established fashion through material things, or whether His 
will acts directly. 

Bread made out of flour grown on the farm, and fashioned by the 
baker, and bought by the fruits of our labor, is as great a gift from 
God as was the manna.  For once, He showed these people His hand at 
work, so that we all might know that it was at work, even when 
hidden.  The lesson of the manna in the wilderness is that people are 
fed by the power of God's expressed and active will, no matter how 
they get their food -- for that is the  meaning of "the word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  The gift of food is from Him; 
its power to nourish is from Him.  And that is as true today as it 
ever was: "Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of 
every living thing." 

The manna ceased when the people came near cultivated fields and 
settled homes, because miracles end when means are possible. But the 
God of the miracle is the same God of the means. 

Alexander Raleigh once wrote: 

          "When I know that I have a Father in heaven--
          Who watches over me, 
          Who forgives my sin, 
          Who strengthens every holy purpose in me, 
          Who provides for all my needs, 
          Who cares for me in all my cares, 
          Who supports and guides me and draws me 
               toward His heart and home. 
          Why should I not be cheerful?" 

AND FINALLY, THE MANNA SPEAKS TO US OF CHRIST.  

It gives us a foreshadowing of what Christ is. 

The Jews, not satisfied with the miracle of the multiplication 
of the loaves, demanded a greater sign from him, as a condition of 
what they are pleased to call "belief" -- which is really nothing but 
accepting the testimony of sense.  The Jews recalled the story of 
Moses producing the manna, and implied that the Messiah would be 
expected to repeat the miracle.  And Christ accepts the challenge.  
He tells them that he not only gives, but that he himself is, all 
that the manna was for those ancient desert wanderers and more, and 
that he is for all person's souls.  He came to us from heaven like 
the manna--but in a much more profound sense!  He is food, like the 
manna, but unlike it, he can forever end the craving of the famished 
soul; unlike it, he not only nourishes a bodily life, but communicates
a spiritual life which never dies; and, unlike it, he was meant to be
given to the whole world.  His teaching passed beyond the symbolism of
the manna, when he declared himself to be the "true bread from heaven
which gives life to the world." 

One more thing needs to be said here: Any one of those Israelites would
have starved, despite the fact that the manna lay all round the camp,
if they did not go forth to secure their portion; or if they had
refused to eat what Heaven had sent them. The personal act of faith is
essential to our having Christ as the food of our souls.  The bread that
we eat is assimilated into our bodies, and so becomes sustenance.  This
bread of God, entering into our souls by faith, transforms them into its
substance, and so gives and feeds an immortal life.  The manna was for
one generation; this bread is "the same: yesterday, and today, and
forever."  The manna was for a handful of people; this bread is for
the world. 

Dr. Clarence E. McCartney once asked, "Where is happiness?" It's 
not in Unbelief -- Voltaire was an unbeliever of the most pronounced 
type, and he wrote: "I wish I had never been born." 

Nor is happiness in money -- Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had
plenty of that. But when he was dying, he said, "I suppose I am the
most miserable man on earth." 

Happiness is not in Position and Fame -- Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more
than his share of both.  He wrote, "Youth is a mistake; manhood a
struggle; old age a regret." 

Happiness is not in Military Glory either -- Alexander the Great 
conquered the known world in his day.  Having done so, he wept in his 
tent because, he said, "There are no more worlds to conquer." 

Where, then, is Happiness found?  The answer is simple: "In Christ
alone."  "At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." 

Let me make a suggestion to you :  As you break bread at lunch, 
think of it as the manna that the children of Israel received from 
God. Thank God for giving you enough to eat this day. Don't worry 
about what you will or will not have tomorrow. Just thank God for 
today. Let the bread speak to you of the depth of God's love for each 
of us in providing both the bread and the gift of life to enjoy it. 
Finally, let it speak to you of Christ. Then as you break bread 
around the table as you have many times before, suddenly it will 
become a sacrament. And let it give you comfort.

Let it speak to you of the presence of the living God. 

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P R O J E C T S

Dear friends, you will recall previous issues of the End-Times
Times, where I wrote about my missions trip to Belarus in
Eastern Europe.  God is at work in this country and I hope to
return soon.

The Lord has very much laid some areas for support upon my
heart, and these are the projects I am working towards.

In particular, I would like to take funds with me for the
purposes of buying food and clothing, for buying village
Churches (just $US 3000 can buy land, and provide for a Church
to be built!), and to support several Bible College students
(the fees at the Minsk Theological Institute, where I taught
on the Kingdom of God, are 400,000 rubles per month -- which
equates to about $US 4.00).

Won't you ask the Lord about being involved in His work in
this country?  Please do contract me should you be interested
in contributing.  Perhaps you would like to donate money
towards a Church, or to sponsor a student, or even towards
the purchase of food, clothing or books.

I am now able to accept credit card payments through a completely
secure internet site.  Please e-mail me for more details on this.

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T H E   E N D - T I M E S   T I M E S             April 20th, 2000

davidmwilliams@oocities.com