In the wilderness, there was a tent. In that tent, there was a table. On that table, there was bread. Not just any bread, either. In that special tent called the Tabernacle that represented God’s presence with Israel, He instructed twelve special loaves to be placed on a special gold table every week as a food offering (cf. Lev. 24:5-9). Yet, why would God command that? He doesn’t eat bread. As the Apostle Paul once explained, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25). The “bread of the Presence” wasn’t to feed God: it was a truly astonishing weekly invitation from God to His priests to come to His table and eat (cf. Ex. 25:30, Lev. 24:9). Isn’t that amazing? God instituted this ritual to give His people a tangible sense of dining – something we need to do to live – in His presence. And what is more personal, more intimate than sitting down with someone to eat? That is the relationship God wants with His people.
We know now that rituals like this were “but a shadow of good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (Heb. 10:1). God taught Israel a lesson with the bread of the Presence that was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. When John’s gospel account opens with the incredible statement that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”, “dwelt” is best understood as “pitched His tent” (Jn. 1:14). Jesus “tabernacled” among us, the living embodiment of God’s presence with His people. So, it is not a coincidence that He also declared, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn. 6:35). It deepens the significance of Him teaching His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mt. 6:11). That special bread on that special table in that special tent pointed toward the incredible reality of God with us in the person of Jesus Christ.
God with us – and all of us. Because while only the priests were to enter the Tabernacle’s “Holy Place” and eat the bread of the Presence, we have something greater in Jesus (cf. Mt. 12:1-8). When we put our faith in Him, repenting of our sins and being baptized in His name, we become part of “a holy priesthood, to offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). We receive “confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us” (Heb. 10:19). Through Jesus, God invites us to come to the table, joyfully living in His presence as He provides for our needs. With “a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22) – let us all draw near.
More than a ritual, the Lord’s Supper is an opportunity to be transformed by the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. Join us as we learn how to truly come to the table at https://www.georgetownchurchofchrist.com/come-to-the-table.