Why old corn?

It says they ate old corn when they crossed into the promised land.

Why old corn? Why not new corn for a celebration? After all, this was the culmination of forty years wandering in the desert. They had finally entered the land! But ...

... they ate old corn. It sounds like having leftovers. What a let down!

There are two ways we can apply the Old Testament account of the Israelites crossing the river Jordan into the promised land. One way pictures a future condition: Having received salvation (the exodus from Egypt and crossing the Sea of Reeds), God's people wander through a fallen world today (the desert) ... towards a future entrance into God's kingdom. And so the New Testament says we are like those of old, who "did not receive what was promised;" and that, like them, we should persevere, looking towards Jesus, the "author and finisher of our faith."

The other way is this: crossing the Jordan is a picture of being in Christ now. For the New Testament also says: "If anyone is in Christ ... he is a new creation!" In other words, those in Christ have already entered into the promised land; it is a present condition.

But the problem of the old corn holds for both interpretations.

Why old corn? Why old corn when it will be a new heavens and a new earth? (Picture 1) Why old corn when, in Christ, there is a new creation now? (Picture 2).

The old corn signals that, while the mercies of Christ are new everyday, those mercies are never of our innovation, as if we can (newly) cook them up. They were planned for us from of old. Life in Christ is never our plan, our cleverness, our resources, our education, our upbringing, our good looks, our high perch in society, our professional title.

Sure we talk a good game: God is sovereign over everything in our lives. But when the rubber meets the road, we are really quite anxious about picking up those new boy scout badges.

But what we feast on in Christ is never these new things we've picked up along the way. It is of the salvation that included us before the foundation of the world.

It is that old.

This, by the way, might explain a curious observation Jesus made:

Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.

And then there was that incident when Jesus met Peter and some others struggling to catch fish all night long without success. He told them to place their nets at another location -- and they hauled in great numbers of fish (153, to be exact). But ...

... when they came ashore, He had a breakfast of fish waiting for them. In other words, the fish they ate was not the fish they caught.

That fish is the old corn.

It is always the meal that was provided for from long ago; it is never the meal we work for and cook up for ourselves -- even when that work is also blessed.

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Joshua 5.11-12 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched [corn] in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (KJV)

Hebrews 12.1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

2 Corinthians 5.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Peter 1.18-21 ... knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Matthew 12.52 "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

John 21.8-13 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.