Make a Table

“Make a table…Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim.  Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners…The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table…Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times” Exodus 25:23-30.

 

God was very specific about everything involved with the temple.  One of the most important designs was the table constructed to display the bread of the Presence.  “In this phrase, ‘Presence’ refers to the presence of God himself” NIV Study Bible, p. 125.  In reading this today, I couldn’t help but to consider that possibly the bread foreshadowed the life, death and resurrection of Christ.  If Presence represented God then the bread of the presence seems to point to the body of Christ to be broken for us all.  ‘The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread…he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 1 Co 11:23-24

 

With so much of the Old Testament foreshadowing the New Testament, we can also apply the symbolism to our lives.  We are to make a table by accepting that we need fellowship with God.  We are to make around it a rim with a molding by carving out space in our day, and protecting the time we set aside to ensure the Bread will not fall away from our table.  We are to use our gifts as the poles to carry Christ into a dark world displaying the Bread of Life to all so they can also partake.  We are to strive to put Christ ahead of everything so that God will be glorified. 

 

As I apply this to my own life I know that I am to always make sure the Bread is being displayed on my table, to protect my time with the Bread, and to always carry the Bread out into the world for others to partake.

 

“Jesus replied, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again’” John 6:35.