THE TABLE- July 2020

THE TABLE July 2020

Before the foundation of the world, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit made a plan whereby they would have fellowship with human beings. Let us pretend that we could eavesdrop at what we would call their drawing table. Imagine that a couple pages of papers to be discussed, were brought to the table:

Page 1. Mankind will be created with a free will.

(Gen.1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 26.Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”)

Page 2. The man, the head of the household, will be instructed on how to function in their home, the Garden of Eden.

(Gen. 2: 15-18 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”)

Page 3. Mankind will disobey, so Jesus will be sacrificed on Earth to pay the penalty for sin.

( Gen. 3:22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—;

Hebrews 10 : 11-12 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,)

Page 4. On Jesus’ resurrection, He will return to heaven and prepare a table for a continuous supper.

(John 14: 2-3 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.)

Page 5. At one of the tables on Earth, there will be unexpected, disheartening news for mankind.

(Luke 22:21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.)

Page 6. At a final table, there will be all-consuming worship and adoration of the Most High.

( Rev. 19: 5-6 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! )

Page 7. Everyone who accepts the invitation to salvation, and overcomes obstacles, will not be barred from occupying their seat at the final table.

(Rev. 3: 5-6 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’)

Page 8. The overcomers will be called the ” Bride of Christ” at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

(Rev. 19: 7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” )

Today’s Reference: Luke 22: 7-21 (NKJV)

Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. ⁸And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” ⁹So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?” ¹⁰And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. ¹¹Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ ¹²Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.” ¹³So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. ¹⁴When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. ¹⁵Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;¹⁶for I say to you, I will no longer eat of ituntil it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”¹⁷Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves;¹⁸forI say to you,I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is Mybody which is given for you;do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.²¹But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.

There is something special about eating. In any language, hunger is experienced by the same feeling and is satisfied by the same process. Many families hold eating together like a sacred ritual. When the dinner bell is heard, it means it is time together at the table. If father delays, everyone waits so the blessing of the meal can be done together. Regardless of how hungry one may be, one has to wait for that prayer before tasting even a morsel.

In our scripture reference, the time came for Jesus and His disciples to eat the Passover. The time of commemorating the deliverance from slavery was on the agenda that evening. Every Jewish household made diligent preparation for this table, so Jesus sent the disciples to do the same. Not only were the house, room, and table prepared, but also, their hearts. Sometimes when mother is preparing a meal, we may not know exactly what will be served, but we expect an ample, mouthwatering, I’ll-have-seconds, kind of goodies. We are never disappointed. Instead, we are pleasantly surprised when we realize that our favorite dessert is also included. We expect to eat to our heart’s content.

The disciples also expected to eat and share a pleasant conversation. Remember, that the hour had come. On the surface we could think that it was the hour to participate in the Passover meal, but could it be that Jesus had something else in mind? The hour had come for revelation at the table. Jesus had told the disciples that He desired to celebrate the Passover with them before He should suffer.

The traditional Passover was a celebration of the commemoration of victory and deliverance from bondage in Egypt. At that time, the Israelites partook of a specially prepared and slaughtered lamb, as a deterrent to the death angel. This Passover, Last Supper, was doubly symbolic. The disciples thought that they were assembled just to commemorate the departure from Egypt, but Jesus, their new Passover Lamb was about to be sacrificed.

Jesus’ journey took Him through Pilate’s judgment hall. There, He was declared faultless. This was necessary in that the sacrificed lamb had to meet certain specifications, of which Jesus met them all. Among the requirements, the lamb had to be spotless. In other words, it had to be without any kind of defect.

All along, Jesus had been telling the disciples that He would suffer and die for the sins of the world. The disciples lived in denial, so it seemed that on that fateful night, again, His words were not given much importance nor consideration. The fulfillment of His being the sacrificed Lamb was imminent. Again, as on other occasions, Jesus referenced the Kingdom of God. What was the correlation between the Kingdom of God and a hearty meal at what could have been a social gathering? Yet, this final supper would have been the most significant meal Jesus would have had with the disciples.

Today, we see prisoners being offered a last meal before their execution. Apparently, the disciples did not connect the dots when Jesus spoke about not eating with them anymore until the fulfillment of the Passover. The emblems were shared among the disciples as a symbol of what would be accomplished at the cross. Jesus told them that:

1.That Passover table preceded His suffering. (Lk. 22:15)

2.The bread and the wine symbolized how He would suffer…. broken and bleeding. (Lk. 22:15)

3. The sacrifice of Himself was a fulfillment of Kingdom principles. (Lk. 22: 16)

4. Holy sacraments were being given to the Church. (Lk. 22:17)

5. The Kingdom of God would come. (Lk. 22: 18)

6. The partaking of the emblems (Communion) are for the purpose of remembering Him. (Lk. 22: 19)

7. They were partakers in the New Covenant. (Lk. 22: 20; Eph. 2 :8)

What a rich, in-depth disclosure at the Passover table! Apparently, they had forgotten that blood was produced by the killing of a lamb. He was soon to be crucified. Does this remind us that we should sacrifice time to commune with Jesus? He might just be desirous to have some one-on-one time with us, His chosen.

Prior to this time, Jesus had eaten in many homes, even sometimes with the most unpopular people in the society. The gathering for the Passover was supposed to be one of sheer ecstasy, but then there came a bit of disappointing announcement. What should have been a time of celebration, became one of sad revelation. At a moment’s notice they learned that Jesus was about to be betrayed. Someone was up to no good.

The most devastating news was that the betrayer was seated among them. The focus changed from eating, to that of exposing the culprit. Can we imagine the shift in the atmosphere then? Everyone was examining his fellow disciple’s heart. They may have taken the stance, “Don’t judge me!” I wonder what was happening in Judas’ heart.

We have all been there. All we wanted to do was worship, but then our attention shifted to a disturbance in our mind. Our thoughts begin to wander and pretty soon we forget the purpose for which we had gathered. It is unreasonable for believers to think that we will never experience opposition. Despite the reality of the situation, Jesus would accomplish His mission. That table was just a pit stop along His journey. Let us be determined and set our face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7), so that we can run well and not be hindered. (Galatians 5 : 7)

Here it was, Jesus revealed so many things to them, including the fact that there was a traitor among them. He gave them food for thought about His betrayal and suffering, but they did not allow that to marinate in their minds. Their curiosity was short-lived.

Quickly, they began to argue about who was the greatest among them. Of utmost importance was a question of status. So Jesus presented the dessert of the whole meal, another disclosure: Greatness is measured by servanthood. (Lk. 22: 27). He demonstrated that principle when He served them at the table, but it went unnoticed.

Jesus promised that He would go and prepare a place for us. Revelation 19:5-9a, tells us of that place and invites us to eat at that banqueting table. So, while we wait to join Him at the marriage supper, He beckons us to sit with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). This invitation should be readily accepted because we have royal privileges, such as ministering spirits who are ready at Jesus’ command. Let us not miss out on occupying our seat at the table.