THE PREPARED TABLE
[p. 186] THE PREPARED TABLE
1 Corinthians 10: 21; Leviticus 24: 5 - 9; Exodus 25: 29, 30
From the scriptures I have read it will be expected that I have the thought of table in mind. It has an important place in Scripture. One who had experience with God, the psalmist, says in Psalm 23 that Jehovah prepared a table before him in the presence of his enemies — a very touching allusion to divine thoughtfulness, for not only was food provided, but a furnished table. The thought indeed stands in the very centre of the divine system. I use this word advisedly, for, as leading His people out of Egypt, God established a system, but it was really a family affair. God never loses sight of that — having in view His great thought according to His counsel, to surround Himself with a family, involving the very sweetest and most precious thoughts. And so, having led His people out of Egypt, He proposed to surround Himself with them, but always having in view not only the family but the order becoming to a household. We shall not understand the position in the wilderness, save as having in view that it was the family first, then the house.
God, referring to it, says that when Israel was a child He loved him, and called His son out of Egypt. But then they had everything to learn. That is important to remember. As coming out of the world, we are untaught and so must take the place of learners. Before we leave the world we may have thoughts of God, but they are not in a right setting. We have to see that He is in the centre of everything, and He surrounds Himself with an order of things in which He is dominant, but in which nevertheless His love pervades. It is said that Moses was a servant in that house, faithful in all God’s house,
[p. 187] Hebrews 3: 2. He took great care of everything and so of the table. In the last chapter of Exodus you will see that there is no deviation from the divine instructions, and so the table is set in its place. As I said, they had everything to learn, even how to walk. God says He taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms. He took him by the hand. It was a wonderful time in the wilderness under Sinai and Horeb. The covenant, denoting love, was made there, but, as I said, everything had to be learned. Israel encamped there for a long time. It was to be understood that everything proceeded from God. He had borne them on eagles’ wings and had brought them to Himself, and then would show His love to them. Love will not leave us uninstructed. It is no glory to be uninstructed. People talk about being “simple”, but there is no glory in being uninstructed; it is a disgrace. We are to be instructed, and especially in table manners.
I make these remarks so that you may see the setting of the table, but I proceed with the New Testament. Christ is seen not only as a Servant in the house, infinitely faithful in it, but He is Son over it, and that makes the house most delightful. If our wills are subdued we shall there come in for the unalloyed influence and grace of the Son; One who by right of His own Person abides in the house. He has more glory than Moses, in that He who builds the house is greater than the house. The builder of the house is Jesus, that is God. “He who built all things is God”. It was Jesus that built all things. We are told that not one thing received being, that did not receive being through Him. And so in regard to the house of God on earth today, He has built it; and as having built it He is greater than it. But He is over it as Son. That is what the epistle to the Hebrews teaches. As over it, He dominates it in love, and it will be so eternally. But in the meantime [p. 188] we have wills. Every one of us has a will and that has to be dealt with. It is inimical to the peace, prosperity and order of the house of God. Its presence unsubdued in any one of us, is a current danger, material for the direct use of the adversary. So it has to be dealt with; and so whilst Christ is Son over the house He is also Lord, He is vested with all authority. All power in heaven and upon earth is in His hand, and He will use that power if necessary to subdue every one, that all may be brought into His obedience. We are sanctified to that. It is not simply that we are subject to Him, but subject as He is to God: that kind of obedience, the obedience that is suitable to heaven. It was brought down to earth by Jesus and it is to remain on earth. He left it here. As in the house we are sanctified “unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”.
God never needs to compromise, and He never does. He has means of enforcing His will, and I connect this peculiarly with the Lord’s table. It is “Lord’s table”, literally, throwing emphasis on the authority. It is that kind of a table. “Ye cannot”, says the apostle, “partake of the Lord’s table, and of the table of demons”. We may as well accept that, for the Lord will not give up. The apostle says, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” Jealousy is fiercer than anger; it is cruel as the grave; here it is a question of idolatry. Are we stronger than He? the apostle asks. So that we might as well make up our minds in this regard; that He will not brook any will, or any idolatry which goes with it. If disobedience is persisted in, it lands us in some position in which the rights of Christ are denied. So that the first feature in the idea of the table here is authority. Every right-minded person will say “amen” to that! We cannot have the advantage of a table, save as it is ruled. Disorder and [p. 189] looseness destroy its effect, we have the Lord’s table, and also the Lord’s supper. But I speak of the table, and the feature of it under our consideration at the moment is the authority that marks it, and hence the exclusiveness of it. It is barely touched on here by the apostle, but from other scriptures we learn that it is full of holy meaning. It is the very centre outwardly of the system we are brought into. It involves fellowship and provision, but also divine order. So that the exclusiveness of it should be maintained, and thus the precious things of God which He ministers to us, shall come to us in holiness and dignity. We are partakers of it. The idea of the table is not simply something to eat, but of order and dignity. It is that in which a man shows what he is. He shines best there. The Lord is jealous to have a free hand at His table, so that there should be the dealing out, not of material things, but of what is suggested spiritually; that in the exclusiveness of it, all that is idolatrous is shut out.
That is the first feature I have in mind. I go on to Leviticus, because there you get the table with the food on it. In Exodus it is seen in the most spiritual surroundings. It was set on the north side of the tabernacle, the candlestick being on the south of the altar of incense, before the ark of the testimony. So that there is the idea of prayer in relation to it, in the golden altar; such prayer as ascends as incense to God; and then there is the candlestick on the south. Light is a matter of favour and is more objective. The candlestick had to be cared for by the priest from evening to morning, (verse 4). The light of God should come through unhindered, an important matter! There are those who talk about the Lord’s table apart from light, but the light must be present. The fellowship is in the light, and that coming through lamps which were trimmed every morning.
[p. 190] You will remember the scene at Troas, where they came together to break bread on the first day of the week; Acts 20. And what order! The suitable day is mentioned; the bread was there and the cup; but the light must shine first, and so Paul, we are told, discoursed until midnight. Why should he do that? What is it but that the table and our part in it must be in the full light of that lamp, the full light of Paul’s ministry? We cannot have it rightly otherwise. The way the Lord’s supper is celebrated in christendom is a mere travesty of the truth of it, and worse, for in some cases it is pure idolatry. But on the occasion at Troas Paul discoursed at length. It is to remind us that if we are to partake of the Supper we must be intelligent in what we are doing.
We are told that there were many lights in the upper chamber. It was spiritually a brilliant scene, very different from the hall of Belshazzar which also had light such as the world affords. This upper room at Troas was radiant with “heavenly light”, which “makes all things bright”. Paul’s ministry is that, and the Lord’s table is in the full light of it. But besides what he was saying, there were those there who understood, whose names are given, from different parts of the world, spiritual men. Their presence suggests the spiritual quality suitable for such an occasion. All was in the light; fellowship is in the light as God is in the light, but the Lord’s supper is in heavenly light; it stands in relation to the assembly. In Leviticus 24 the lamp is on the south side. It is divine favour. Think of the divine favour that shines upon us in these last days! The light of heaven is illuminating the position of the Supper and the Lord’s table, so that we understand. We know what we do. Those thus enlightened partake of the Lord’s table as freed from the darkness which the religious minds of men had attached to it.
[p. 191] Then the instructions go on to the two rows of loaves of fine wheaten flour. Attention is thus called to the order of God. The cakes are set in two rows of six each, and then the frankincense is upon them. It was a “pure table”, made of gold. But the point here is not the gold but the purity of the table. There is nothing at all to suggest moral defilement — it is pure. The frankincense is also pure. What marks the wisdom that is from above is that it is “first pure”. So that we have the exclusiveness of the table in 1 Corinthians, and here the purity of it, and the order of it. And then the fragrance of it went up to God.
It is not here as in Exodus where it is simply the shewbread, or bread of presence. That element enters into this particular scripture too, but besides the bread of presence, you have the bread of order, involving the number twelve which conveys the idea of love in administration; so that added to what I have said you have love, the means of expressing love, twelve being that which God could manipulate at His pleasure, for the setting out of His bounty. In Leviticus the bread is arranged on the table before Jehovah. It is also food for the priests, as God has His part in it.
The act of arranging is on the sabbath. The day is most auspicious, the day of rest, and the priests have their part in the loaves. There can be no question of staleness or oldness when you apply the thing spiritually. It is food to be eaten in a holy place; it is not common. “They shall eat it in a holy place”. The passage impresses upon us the necessity of purity and order, so that all is for the pleasure of God. It is the bread of memorial; it is before God as reminding Him of what Christ was, continued in us. God will have a continuance of that precious life here, but in a baked form. Baking refers to us, not to Him. The pure flour is Christ. The baking [p. 192] refers to us, the same material only in a baked form. It is not simply dough as elsewhere, but baked so as to be available for food. It is the grace of Christ continued here. It is the bread of memorial, it is that before God, as frankincense before Him, and it becomes the food of the priests. In the antitype we are all priests. Priests are not a special class of saints. Abroad in christendom it is assumed that they are so. It is not true. All saints are priests, as Peter says “an holy priesthood”. We are a holy priesthood and this precious food is for us, but to be eaten in a holy place, as I said.
To come back to Exodus, I want to show what there is on this table besides the bread, having in mind what I have been saying. In a sense it is the centre of the order of things which God has ordained and over which Christ is as Son. The description in Exodus is fuller than anything of which I have spoken. I have read these verses because I wish to speak of the vessels on the table. The description is full, denoting dignity. We have its dimensions, everything measured. We get a sense of the mind of God in it. All is clothed in dignity; pure gold, a crown, and rings and staves by which to carry it. But on it there are, as you will observe, vessels. “Thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof”, with which to pour out, (as it should read) “of pure gold shalt thou make them”. Then the bread is mentioned — as you will see in the next verse, “Thou shalt set upon the table shewbread”, which means the bread of the presence, “before me alway”. It is not a question of the number of loaves, but simply the bread that is in the presence of God. You see how near we are brought to God. What I have read gives the very words of Jehovah spoken on the mount to Moses. How holy they are! What surroundings there were on the mount where the [p. 193] pattern was shown! And so, dear brethren, we are reminded of what the saints are, not simply now priests, but vessels for the most sacred use — dishes, spoons, bowls with which to pour out. Where are we with regard to all these great things? These things were written for our learning with regard to the Lord’s sacred service. On the dignified table of God are these holy vessels. Later such vessels were carried away and were desecrated in the hall of Belshazzar, but God never lost sight of them. And so today He is viewing them as He did in the days of Zerubbabel and Joshua, when He raised up Cyrus to restore and re-build the temple at Jerusalem. These holy vessels were restored, at least in measure, and what God is doing today is restoring vessels that belong to Him.
I wish to speak specially of the bowls “with which to pour out”. The pouring out is of strong drink. I am speaking of divine things, and God is pleased to use as figures what man is accustomed to, to set out His mind, and He is pleased to use the thought of strong drink in His sanctuary. Wine, we are told, makes glad the heart of God. The vine said, when the proposal came to it to become king of the trees, “Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man?” What a thing it is to be a vessel with which to pour out, to pour out strong drink before God! What is it but that which suggests what is for Him, holy stimulation! Think of what a God we have! How near He comes to us to make His mind known to us, how He loves what we have of Christ in our hearts as expressed before Him. There must be something in the vessels to be poured out; it is the power of the Spirit of God in the worshipper. So that, whilst the table refers to what God dispenses towards man, it also has to do with what is for Himself. It is therefore a most precious thing as the very centre of that family sphere that is set up in [p. 194] the wilderness, where God is in the midst of His people; He is in some little way in the midst of His people today, where He has something of this joy ministered to Him. Oh, how He looks out upon the holy vessels that are in captivity! He would have them delivered from the captivity, and set down in His house, so that they might be vessels unto Him, vessels unto honour, sanctified and meet for His use. His heart is gladdened by their worship. It is indeed a question of our worshipping God in spirit and in truth.
Well, that was all I had to say, dear brethren. It is a matter more of suggesting than dealing with the subject exhaustively. Indeed one would never attempt it, for there is no such thing as dealing with divine things exhaustively. They are infinite! We can just touch on them and suggest, and then the Holy Spirit helps us to fill them out in detail, and get the benefit of the teaching. May the Lord bless the word.