The Table Of Shewbread

by G. Prasher. | Category: The Tabernacle | Aug 1959

The table was part of the furniture in the holy place in the house of God. It was made of acacia wood, and was overlaid with pure gold. It was two cubits long, one cubit broad, and one and a half cubits high. It had two crowns of gold round about, with a border of all handbreadth between them. There were four rings of gold in the four corners, in which were placed the staves made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. These were for bearing the table on the journey. There were dishes, spoons, flagons and bowls of pure gold, and on the table were twelve loaves of shewbread continually. (See Exodus 25.28-30.)

A MAN IN THE GLORY

The table, we believe, speaks of Christ. All the furniture in the sanctuary which was made of acacia wood and covered with gold speaks of Him. "In His temple everything saith, Glory" (Psalm 29.9). The glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus are everywhere seen within the sanctuary.

The acacia wood sets forth His humanity, as we have noted in earlier articles, and the truth concerning the Lord's return to the glory in the body in which He arose from the dead calls for our careful consideration. As He stood and blessed the disciples, He parted from them and was carried into heaven, and in those uplifted hands were the prints of the nails. Thus He went up into heaven, and in that same body He sits at God's right hand upon His Father's throne. "For there is one God, one Mediator also between God and men, Himself Man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a Ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2.5, 6).

"Lo, the tokens of His passion

Still His glorious body bears,

Cause of endless exaltation

To His ransomed worshippers. Hallelujah!

Now the day of Christ appears."

THE LORD'S HUMANITY

We dwell on this important theme yet further, and ask our readers' attention to the Spirit's statements Concerning Him, both prior to His birth and during His earthly sojourn. We read, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1.18). An angel of the Lord explained to Joseph saying, "Joseph, thou son of David,

fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." Earlier, " the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary... And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary : for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS... The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the Holy Thing which is to be born shall be called the Son of God " (Luke 1.26-35, R.V.M.).

Matthew gives the genealogy of the Lord through Joseph, whilst Luke gives it through Mary. Both draw attention to the virgin birth, the conception being in keeping with the prophecy, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7. 14). Special emphasis seems to be laid upon His holiness, in the angel's words

"THE HOLY THING

which is to be born." In these days when so many deny these fundamental truths concerning our Lord's humanity, it is good to be reminded of their verity from the inspired word. Men carnally reason that such a birth is impossible and in the same manner would reason away all the miracles performed by the Lord during His life and ministry. It is sufficient to faith that God has related the facts. The virgin birth was a miracle-one of the many acts of God which are beyond the ordinary laws of nature. Why should men judge it impossible for God so to act when He pleases? The course of time affords ample evidence of such variations as retardment, cessation and alteration in the working of natural laws. For example, God made Adam without the agency of man and woman: He made a woman, Eve, without a woman: and He "sent forth His Son, born of a woman" who was a virgin.- These three scenes may well impress our minds and hearts. By so bringing His Son into the world as Man He broke the entail of sin. The conception was of the Holy Spirit of God, and the body prepared by God for His Son was immaculate, sinless, and holy Unlike the sons of men, who are shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin (Psalm 51.5), the Son of God was shapen in rectitude, and conceived in holiness.

"Amen, Lord, we bless Thee,

Born for our salvation,

Lord Jesus, for ever be Thy name adored;

Word of the Eternal,

Late in flesh appearing;

O come let us adore Him,

0 come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."

OUR LORD'S IMPECCABILITY

As to the life of our Lord a comprehensive statement is given in Hebrews 7.26. He is described as holy, hosios, that is supremely holy, pure: guileless, 'akakos, free from evil, innocent, harmless undefiled, amiantos, without even a tinge of the corruption and pollution that were around Him. His excellence continued unimpaired as the years of service passed, and His blamelessness remained inviolate. Great contrast this to the first man who was so soon defiled, depraved and unchaste through the one act of disobedience! Try as the devil would, and try he did, he could find nothing in Christ. Surrounded with desert wastes, and the wild beasts, experiencing gnawing hunger and weariness, beset by Satan's subtle wiles-all were unavailing to deflect Him from the path of rectitude. It was impossible for our Lord to sin. There is still another word in the list before us, namely, separated from sinners. Though moving about in the midst of sinners He was separate from them. Repentant ones found in Him a Friend, as in the case of the woman who stood condemned to die, but her would-be accusers found it impossible to abide the presence of the "holy One of God." They went out one by one, beginning from the eldest, even unto the last.

The essential holiness of the Son of God severed Him from the evil of mankind. Kechorismenos, translated separated, means sundered or disunited. That is what sin effected when it invaded Eden, but when the Son of God became incarnate the separation He maintained was from all that would defile. Fitting it is that He should be elevated above the heavens. He is a High Priest "that hath been in all points tempted (put to the trial) like as we are, yet without sin." This is the One who is shadowed in the acacia wood of the table which stood in the holy place.

THE GLORY OF GOD

The table was overlaid with pure gold, and this, we understand, shadows the glory of Christ's Deity, His Godhead. When God indicated the glory of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, He showed that monarch an image with its head of fine gold, and said, "Thou art the head of gold "(Daniel 2.38). As the acacia wood speaks to us of Christ as Man, so the gold speaks of the glory of God. The table with its acacia wood overlaid with pure gold sets forth the God-Man, Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God frequently speaks of Christ as God, as in Psalm 45.6, "Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever"; and in Hebrews 1. 8 the writer 'says, " Hut of the Son He saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever." Again in Isaiah 9.6 He is called, "Mighty God," and in John 1.1 we read, "and the Word was God." This was the revelation received by Thomas as he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God " (John 20.28). He is called the Image of God in 2 Corinthians 4.4, Colossians 1.15 and Hebrews 1.3. "Being in the form of God" is the description of Him given in Philippians 2.6; and He is referred to as Creator in John 1.3, 10; 1 Corinthians 8.6; Colossians 1.16. In Him all things hold together throughout the universe (Colossians 1.17), and He is the Upholder of all things (Hebrews 1.8).

"In Him I see the Godhead shine, Christ for me.

He is the Majesty divine, Christ for me."

The table, standing in the sanctuary, covered with gold, speaks to us of the Lord Jesus as He now is upon the throne above. He is there in all the brightness of His eternal glory. Our mortal eyes could not endure the sight of such glory but thank God, we shall one day be fitted for that sight when "The' beauty of the Saviour shall dazzle every eye.

Yet, despite the outshining of His glory, how comforting for us to remember that He is Man nevertheless when He was down here in the flesh His humanity was apparent, but to most His Deity was veiled, yet He was God nevertheless; so up yonder, though it is His glory as God that is manifest yet lie is Man, the Man Christ Jesus, "One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin," and can therefore be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. It is thus that He is a High Priest able to bear gently with the ignorant and erring, and ready to dispense both mercy and grace. Surely such an High Priest becomes us!

KING AND PRIEST

There were two crowns around the table with a border of an handbreadth between them . These rims or crowns of gold are very suggestive in connexion with the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some are reminded by them of the Headship of the Lord, as Head of creation, and Head of the Body, the Church; but the writer is caused to think of two crowns that belong to Christ. We know that the kingly crown is His by right (Jeremiah 23.5; Isaiah 32.1), and in the coming day men will say: "The LORD is our King; He will save us" (Isaiah 33 22) but there is another crown which His brow adorns-that of the priestly office. "Make a crown, and set it upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest,:' was the command in the days of the Remnant. A holy crown is worn by the Great High Priest "He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne and He shall be a Priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zechariah 6.11-13, R.V.M.).

The uniting of the kingly and priestly offices in one person was not found in operation since the days of Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of God Most High (Hebrews 7.1).

Uzziah, king of Judah, apparently sought to unite these offices. He was a good king and for long time he sought the LORD an prospered, being helped by a man named Zechariah who had understanding in the vision of God. But alas! the time came when "his heart was lifted up so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against the LORD his God; for he went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense" (2 Chronicles 26.16). He was punished for his presumptuous sin, and was leprous in his forehead even while he stood at the altar of incense, and was a leper until the day of his death. The honour of being king and priest is reserved for Him whom God delighteth to honour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be a Priest upon His throne. Here we see the dual crown.

Despite the attitude of the nations to the LORD and to His Anointed, God has set His King upon His holy hill of Zion (Psalm 2.6); and yonder within the veil, as a Forerunner, Jesus has entered for us, having become a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6.20).

G. Prasher. | Aug 1959
The Tabernacle