Exodus 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment