25:23 ¶ Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood:
two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a
cubit and a half the height thereof. 24
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold
round about. 25 And thou shalt make unto
it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown
to the border thereof round about. 26
And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the
four corners that are on the four feet thereof. 27 Over against the border shall the rings be
for places of the staves to bear the table. 28
And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with
gold, that the table may be borne with them. 29
And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers
thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.
30 And thou shalt set upon the table
shewbread before me alway.
There was to be
this table of shewbread set before the Lord at all times. This represents the communion
that God wishes to have with His people in their hearts. We are to be in
constant communication and fellowship with our Creator.
Romans 12:12b …continuing instant in prayer;
1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
It is of great
importance to keep one’s mind focused on God.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
And there is a
future event that this idea of communion with God signifies, in my mind.
Revelation 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
In symbolism that
the Bible gives us bread is compared to God’s words. See the contrast here
between being without bread and being without the words of God.
Amos 8:11
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the LORD:
Words
and food are contrasted in other places. For instance,
Job 34:3
For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.
And Christ is
likened to bread.
John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Whereas the priests
were supposed to eat of this bread…
Matthew 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did
eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them
which were with him, but only for the priests?
…the believer is a
type of priest…
1Peter
2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ…9 But
ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light…
…and we partake of communion with God symbolically memorializing
Christ’s death with bread representing His body, broken on the Cross…
1Corinthians
11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
So, there are a lot of symbols associated with bread and I think
many sermons could be made about the shewbread in the sanctuary and bread in
general as representing our communion with God, Christ as the bread of life,
God’s words as bread, and other representations that I have missed here. Of
course, there is always the risk of taking a type or symbol too far.
The main point is that the shewbread continually set before God
and eaten by the priests represents God’s desire to commune with mankind, one
of His apparently prime motivations in His ministry of reconciling sinful man
to Himself, the main theme of the Bible.
Why do I say that this is the main theme of the Bible? Well, you
will find mention of Heaven in the Bible but not have all of your questions answered
about it. You will find mention of science, history, philosophy, and other
topics referred to in the Bible but never have all the answers you need. There
is no wedding ceremony for Christians, no orders on how we are to conduct
church services, no funeral ceremony. We are not told how to conduct the minutiae
of living from day to day in the Bible. What we will be doing in eternity or in
the millennial reign of Christ even is not completely explained. However, God’s
work in drawing man to Himself is thoroughly and clearly laid out for us to
see. The Bible is the revelation of God’s efforts at providing a way to be
saved from the eternity of death man has chosen. By necessity we learn about
God’s nature, His power, His love, His desire for us, and the response of many
to Him, favorable and unfavorable, from the words in this book as He reveals
His actions toward us.
You will search the Bible for definitive answers on many topics
but be frustrated by the lack of information and how topics are dismissed with a
casual reference. For example great men of history are given short shrift.
Alexander the Great gets a mention as the
prince of Grecia and many others are completely ignored. This is why
preachers try to make the Bible say things it does not say, because they are
looking for answers in it that it does not provide because they are not its
subject. The subject of the Bible is God’s ministry of reconciling mankind to
Himself and in doing so it provides the key to our salvation. But, it does not
tell you how to conduct Wednesday night prayer meeting or even if you must have
one. We need to quit misrepresenting God like Job’s friends and twisting the
text like taffy to make it mean something that matters to us but just isn’t
there.
That being said, you can find yourself in every verse, and God has
something to tell you in every passage. We need to be open to the Holy Spirit’s
leading. What a verse means to you spiritually and practically may not be what
it means to me. Obviously, the Hebrews of the twelfth century BC would see this
passage differently than you or I would today in many respects. We have the
complete revelation of God’s ministry of reconciling mankind to Himself
although we await its final fulfillment. Think about what knowledge and
understanding they would have had at that time.
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