Come to the Table Exo 25:23-30

Intro: Good Morning FE, we are glad you are with us this Thanksgiving weekend. If you are watching us online, welcome.

On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving, a time where we gather with family and friends to eat, fellowship, and express our thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us. Thankful for his protection, his providence, his provision. This year maybe you hosted people at your house or maybe someone hosted you at their house, or maybe you spent Thanksgiving with your family or your friends. Either way if you were the host, you welcomed people into your home shared life with them or if you were a guest you experienced the blessing of being recieved into a home where the host is able to share the blessings the Lord has given. When you think about Thanksgiving, the invitation is come to the table, let us eat, share, be with one another and be thankful for what the Lord has done for us.

When we come to the tabernacle, which is God’s house, the presence of God living in a tent among his people. We have been looking at the different items which are housed in God’s house. We have looked at the ark of the covenant and the altar. Today, we see the Lord tell Moses build me a table.

Exodus 25:23–30 (ESV)

“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

23 Harás asimismo una mesa de madera de acacia; su longitud será de dos codos, su anchura de un codo y su altura de un codo y medio. 24 Y la revestirás de oro puro y harás una moldura de oro a su alrededor. 25 Le harás también alrededor un borde de un palmo menor de ancho, y harás una moldura de oro alrededor del borde. 26 Y le harás cuatro argollas de oro, y pondrás argollas en las cuatro esquinas que están sobre sus cuatro patas. 27 Cerca del borde estarán las argollas para meter las varas a fin de llevar la mesa. 28 Y harás las varas de madera de acacia y las revestirás de oro, y con ellas llevarán la mesa. 29 Harás también sus fuentes, sus vasijas[r], sus jarros y sus tazones con los cuales se harán las libaciones; de oro puro los harás. 30 Y pondrás sobre la mesa el pan de la Presencia perpetuamente delante de mí.

There are many similarities between how the table and the ark were constructed.

both acacia wood

both covered in Gold

both crowned with molding

both had rings and poles for carrying

The difference is the poles for carrying the table were removable.

When you think of the tabernacle and its furnishings, they were not large. This is true of the table as well. The table was about the size of a coffee table, 3 feet long, a foot and half wide, less than 3 feet tall. The beauty and the significance of the tabernacle was not how massive the tabernacle was but the message it was communicating to the people of Israel.

There are many different names for this table throughout the Old Testament. Numbers calls it “the table of the Presence” (4:7). Leviticus calls it “the table of pure gold” (24:6). In 2 Chron it is called the “ceremonially clean table” (13:11) in 1 Kings we read “the golden table for the bread of presence” (7:48).

This title for the table identifies the most important thing about the table, what was on it. Lets read from Leviticus

Leviticus 24:5–9 (ESV)

“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

5 Tomarás flor de harina y con ella cocerás doce tortas; en cada torta habrá dos décimas de efa. 6 Y las colocarás en dos hileras, seis en cada hilera, sobre la mesa de oro puro delante del Señor. 7 Y en cada hilera pondrás incienso puro, para que sea porción memorial del pan, una ofrenda encendida para el Señor. 8 Cada día de reposo, continuamente, se pondrá en orden delante del Señor; es un pacto eterno para los hijos de Israel. 9 Y será para Aarón y para sus hijos, y lo comerán en un lugar santo; porque lo tendrá como cosa muy sagrada de las ofrendas encendidas para el Señor, por derecho perpetuo.

William Tyndale, called this the show bread when he translated the Bible into English. Some things to notice

12 loaves of bread symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel were on the table in piles of six.

The bread was changed every Sabbath. New bread was made the day before. The old bread was to be eaten by the levitical priest and they shall eat it in the holy place.

They were to pour frankincense on each pile as a memorial and a food offering to the Lord.

The priest, representing the people, is to do this as for the people as a covenant forever.

What does all this mean? What was its spiritual significance? When we think about the tabernacle and its significance, we must look to the Old Testament, to see what spiritual significance the Old Testament gave to these items. When we do we discover that the acacia wood, the gold, the rim, the 4 golden rings, or even the dishes are given any symbolic significance in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, which means we should not look for hidden meanings in these items.

The one thing that is very clearly symbolic was the bread of the presence. We can even say the reason the table is in the tabernacle at all was to provide a place for putting the bread. The bread was the important thing, not the table.

If this is the case what did the bread mean? When you read OT Scholars some will suggest the Israelites borrowed this practice fro ANE religions, they would put out food for their gods to eat. This stemmed from the belief that the gods needed food and they needed to eat, so the people would leave food offerings for their gods.

This is not what the Israelites were doing, this would have been idolatry because God doesn’t need us to give hime food. This idea of feeding bread to the almighty God makes God in our image. God doesn’t need our help, he is self-sufficient, there is nothing we can add to God to help him keep going. He does not depend on us to provide for him.

So what is going on here then? Well quite the opposite: we as a people our utterly dependent on God. This is what bread signifies. Bread is one of the most basic foods, when Israel was hungry in the desert, what did God provide for them, bread from heaven. When Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray, what does he say?

Matthew 6:11 (ESV)

Give us this day our daily bread,

Danos hoy el pan nuestro de cada día

In this request Jesus is pointing out our dependence on God not just for bread, but for life. We are dependent on God to sustain life for us in general. We are dependent on him for everything.

As we seen the 12 loaves are for the twelve tribes of Israel, symbolizing that every tribe had a seat at at God’s table. Notice were the bread is, the ark is in the holy of holies or the most holy place, the table with the bread, was just outside the most holy place, before God’s presence or literally before the face of God. As we seen that this bread was replaced every Sabbath, so the bread was always before the presence of God.

Leviticus says that this is a memorial, the memorial was not for God, but for the people. They were to do this so the people Israel would remember God’s providential care over are lives. God is caring for us, supplying our needs, sustain us. Bringing the bread before God’s presence was not for God’s benefit is was for their benefit. The showbread was to be a constant reminder that God is aware of their needs and their needs were always before his presence.

God not only sees their need he also provides for their need. We seen this throughout the Exodus.

The people needed freedom, the Lord liberated them

The people needed bread God gave them bread from heaven

The people need water, God provided water from a rock

The people needed meat, God gave them quail

The Lord provided for the needs of his people. The showbread was to be a constant reminder of the covenant and of God’s continual care for his people.

We seen that the Lord cares for the needs of his people, the Lord provides for the care of his people. There is something else we see with bread of presence and what it symbolizes, God’s fellowship with his people. In Exo 24, we read that after Moses recieved the law, Moses and the elders fellowshipped with God around his table, they “saw God, and they ate and drank” (.11) We read in Leviticus that this privilege was extended to the levitical priests. Every Sabbath the priests ate the bread of presence from the previous week before the presence of God. First the people presented the food offering as gratitude to God for caring for them, then the priest ate it in the presence of God on the Sabbath symbolizing God’s fellowship with the people.

Vern Poythress writes, “In the ancient Near East sharing a special meal together was an act of friendship and personal communion. The host undertook solemn responsibility to serve and protect his guest while they enjoyed the meal. Thus God invites Israel to share a meal with Him and enjoy His protection.”

This is beautiful picture of what the Lord has done for us. In the Old Testament Moses and the elders and the levitical priest experienced eating before the presence of God. We live in an era where all people, from every tribe nation and tongue are invited to the great supper of God. The Lord invites everyone to come to the table.

Let’s go back to the original question what does this all mean for us?

We know that God still cares for us, what did Jesus say on the sermon on the mount in Matt 6? If the birds and the lilies are cared for how much more will he do it for you, are you not more valuable than the birds and the lilies? God still cares for us and God still provides for us. We can go through this room and ask, how has the Lord provided for your needs this year? We will hear story after story of how God supplied the needs of his people this year. We will hear story after story of how the Lord showed us he cares for us. I know there are times when we feel alone, times when the stress gets high, times when we do not know how we will get buy. In those times we need to remember what the Lord has done for us, how he has proven to be faithful in our lives and trust God’s providential care for our lives. I know it can be difficult when you are going through it but hang on and trust in the Lord’s care for you and trust the Lord will provide you what you need, and it may not always be what you want.

When the Lord provides for our needs, he is really teaching us a greater lesson, the lesson we need to learn is what we really need is the Lord himself. The Lord wants us to realize that our greatest needs is the Lord himself. Our deepest need is to have fellowship with the Lord, more than needing God to give us a place to live, more than clothing, more than food we need to feed on the Lord.

In John 6 we read the miracle of feeding of the 5000 and the masses followed Jesus for what he could do for them physically and Jesus recognized this.

John 6:26 (ESV)

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

26 Jesús les respondió y dijo: En verdad, en verdad os digo: me buscáis, no porque hayáis visto señales[m], sino porque habéis comido de los panes y os habéis saciado.

Jesus told them, you are just following me for what you can get for me. Why are you following Jesus?

Jesus goes on to say,

John 6:32–35 (ESV)

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

32 Entonces Jesús les dijo: En verdad, en verdad os digo: no es Moisés el que os ha dado el pan del cielo, sino que es mi Padre el que os da el verdadero pan del cielo.33 Porque el pan de Dios es el[p] que baja del cielo, y da vida al mundo.34 Entonces le dijeron: Señor, danos siempre este pan. 35 Jesús les dijo: Yo soy el pan de la vida; el que viene a mí no tendrá hambre, y el que cree en mí nunca tendrá sed.

Jesus said, you guys are looking ot the bread I just gave you, but my Father has given you bread from heaven and I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger and thirst again. What is Jesus saying? Is he saying you will never lack anything? Is he saying you will have anything you want?

It is clear form the context that Jesus does not mean that, what Jesus is saying is that we only find true meaning and true satisfaction In Christ.

Jesus goes on to say

John 6:51 (ESV)

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

51 Yo soy el pan vivo que descendió del cielo; si alguno come de este pan, vivirá para siempre; y el pan que yo también daré por la vida del mundo es mi carne.

What is Jesus saying? How do we eat his flesh? Jesus is talking symbolically here when talks of eating my flesh. How do we know? Well if you read the context, Jesus says he is the bread of life, we don’t think that Jesus is an actual loaf of bread, no, it is symbolic language. Jesus is saying you want to have fellowship with me, you want to come to the table to have fellowship with the Lord, come. Come to the table, but when you come it has to be through me. Everyone is invited to the table to come have fellowship with the Lord, but we must come through Jesus, we must identify ourselves with Jesus, we must desire Jesus and following Jesus more than anything. In Christ, we are given the opportunity to return to what we were originally created for, to have communion with the Lord. The Lord says, come to the table, come and eat the bread of life, come communion with the living God.