Exodus 16:34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony, to be kept.
Aaron carried out the command of the Lord to lay up a pot of manna before the Lord to be kept as a reminder and remembrance of God’s gracious provision. Future generations were to see the bread (v. 32) and remember how the Lord provided daily bread for forty years. The memorial pot was placed there as a remembrance of God’s goodness and mercy. Although the future generations wouldn’t experience personally the miraculous salvation of God, the remembering would make it personal and real in their lives. Seeing the bread, or remembering, is faith. Moses and Aaron obeyed the Lord’s command to set up the pot of manna.
The pot was an institution in the Ark of the Covenant, instituted by God to create faith, worship, and thanks in the hearts of all who see the bread. Years later Jesus would proclaim: ”I am the bread of life…This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die [John 6:48, 50].” Seeing the bread is the same as eating the bread is the same as believing in Jesus, and believing in Jesus is eternal life. Then Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper for all believers to eat and drink, saying ”This (bread) is My body,” and ”Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Today, we do as the Lord commanded when we partake of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion. We obey the command, as Aaron did, when we do everything we can to support and provide for (“lay up”) the regular observation of the Sacrament in our churches, so that our generation and the next may see the bread, believe, and have life.