Revelation 2:16-17 - "Hidden Manna to Eat..."

“Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it." '. The church of Ephesus was the careless church. The church of Smyrna was the crowned church and the church of Pergamos was the compromising church. Not only do these seven church represent the seven ages of church history, they represent the present condition of many churches today.  But they can also represent the condition of our own hearts individually. It is so easy for us to begin to fear the world and the persecution from it if we don’t go along that we will begin to compromise our faith. This is what happened to the church at Pergamos. They begin to feel the sword of Rome and were threatened to compromise and participate in the worship of Caesar or else they would be killed. That’s why Jesus was revealed to this church as the “one who had a sharp two-edged sword.” (Rev. 2:12) We know from Hebrews 4:12-13, that this is the Word of God. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” We should fear the Lord’s sword more than we fear Caesar’s sword! As with the previous churches, the closing appeal is to the individual: "He that hath an ear.... To him that overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat…" (Rev. 2:17).  Remember it was manna that God fed the people of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16).  Jesus would later proclaim that He was that manna that was come down out of heaven (John 6:31-58). Today is a very special day to me! On this day, February 21, 1971, 51 years ago, as a 19 year old teenager, on about 4pm in the afternoon, at Dr. Harold Rawlings house on the Landmark Baptist Temple church property in Cincinnati Ohio, I received and ate of the “hidden Manna” and my life was forever changed! I was raised in a home with great Christian parents and as a 6 years old child, I had accepted Jesus into my head and got baptized. But I didn’t have Him in my heart! The Holy Spirit, with the Word of God, begin to convict me of my sinful and lost condition. I was trying to “gain the whole world, but I was about to lose my soul” (Mark 8:38). At the moment of my salvation that day, the Lord opened my eyes to the “Hidden Manna”, the Living Word of God! Remember in Exodus we are told that Moses took some of the manna and put it into a “golden pot and placed it in the Ark of the Covenant”. (Hebrews 9:4)  It was hidden under the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was God’s throne in the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle that was in the midst of the people of God. (2 Sam. 6:2; Ps. 80:1; Isa. 37:16) Instead of eating "things sacrificed to idols" (Rev. 2:14), the believers in Pergamos needed to feast on God's holy food, the bread of life found in Jesus Christ through the Word (Matt. 4:4; John 6:32-58). When I came to the Mercy Seat of the Cross on February 21st, 51 years ago, I immediately became an overcomer in Jesus. I overcame my sin, my guilt, my burden, my past, my pain, and my blindness and God opened my eyes to see and eat of the “Hidden Manna”! Praise the Lord! And now for 51 years the Lord has been feeding me with the “Hidden Manna” that satisfies my soul every day! Please join me!!!!! God bless!