LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Table of Shewbread
The second piece of furniture of the tabernacle described in Exodus 25 is the table of shewbread. As we have said, sequence is important when describing the furniture of the tabernacle. First there is the ark in the Most Holy Place, because it represents Christ; then, moving outward, in the Holy Place, there are two, one on the north side (the table) and the other on the south (the lampstand).
The table, then, is in second place. It was made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold. It had a gold cornice, a gold molding, four rings, one at each corner, and poles to carry it. Twelve loaves of bread were to be placed on the table weekly, one for each tribe.
These shewbread represent the people of God, and the table speaks to us of communion (Rev. 3:20). It is the expression of communion among the people of God. The loaves go through a process before they become bread. There is wheat ground, kneaded and baked. In the same way, God's people are not the aggregate of grains, that is, they are not individuals, but men and women whose ego has been ground to dust, to become one.
The fire of the oven is an important part of the process. Subjected to high temperatures, the bread becomes fit to be eaten. How could the Son of God eat a raw loaf, or an "unturned cake" (Hosea 7:8), i.e., baked on one side but raw on the other? At the Lord's table, in communion with Christ, there is bread properly kneaded and baked.
There are four things that characterized the life of the church in Jerusalem, in the time of the apostles: "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). These four things are closely related to the principal furnishings of the tabernacle, the first of which is the ark, "the apostles' doctrine", that is, Christ. The second of these things, "the fellowship one with another", is the table of shewbread.
We must have what to offer the Lord when he comes to commune with us. As we eat of the living Bread which came down from heaven (for he gave himself to us), so he also eats of us, and then we are to be properly kneaded, that is, having lost our individuality, and baked, that is, judged and stripped of our natural condition. Nothing of the old must remain in us. We must become pleasing to the Lord, in whom he may find contentment, for he is the Son over his house (Heb. 3:6). Can we offer the Lord intimate fellowship at a clean table, well supplied with baked bread of the finest flour?
The table also has to do with communion with one another. If we have communion with Christ, then true communion with other children of God is possible. "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another" (1 John 1:7).