Verse of the day: Exodus 25:23 “You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height.”
The Table of Showbread (also known as “the bread of presence”) served to remind Israel of two things. It was on the Table for seven days, and then could only be eaten by the priests, in the Holy Place, on the Sabbath. It was significant in that it reminded Israel of the LORD’s provision and God’s willingness to fellowship with them. The manna in the Ark was a reminder of their rejection of God’s provision, while the showbread was a reminder of God’s faithfulness to provide, in spite of their lack of gratitude. For us, today, it certainly serves as a reminder that we have a God who is faithful to take care of our needs (Matthew 6:25-33); but more importantly, it was a picture of Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6:35), in whom we have eternal life. Jesus told us in John 6:51, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” The showbread also reminded Israel that God had a desire to fellowship with them, even though they were a stiff-necked people. Jesus was highly criticized because He spent time with those who were looked down upon in society, the tax collectors, prostitutes, and undesirables. His response to His critics was, in Mark 2:17, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” This has not changed today. The Lord has commanded us to go out and bring the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). We are here to bring the lost, those who are sinners, just like us, to Christ. Before we were given eternal life in Christ, and became God’s children, we were just as lost as the vilest of sinners. We are sinners saved by grace, and we must not forget that. The Apostle Paul put it best, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Sadly, there will be Christians, who are Pharisaical in their approach to Christianity, who will criticize those of us who will chose to be among, and befriend, the unsaved, in order to bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. I am not saying that the unsaved should be our primary, or only, source of fellowship, or that we should practice the same things that the unsaved practice. I am saying that we cannot win the lost if we do not go to where they are. Someone once did that for us, and the least we can do, in the Name of Jesus, is do the same for others. When Jesus multiplied the loaves, and the fish, feeding 5,000 men, and their families (Matthew 14), it was a wonderful picture of how Jesus, the Bread of Life, would give eternal life to anyone who would come to Him. There is no limit to the number of people who can be saved, if they would put their faith and trust in Him. Therefore, it does not matter who it is, where they came from, or what they are currently practicing, we must be willing to talk to them about the One who laid down His life for them. John 3:16, tells us that “God so love the world”, there was no exception to that love. He did not say that He does not love a certain class of people, or a class of people who practice a certain thing. He loves the world, and desires that none would perish (2 Peter 3:8-10). The showbread is a wonderful reminder that God provides for His people, both in the physical, and the spiritual, and desires to have fellowship with even the vilest of sinners in order that they would accept His gift of salvation in Christ. Let us never forget where we came from, and what we were saved from. Praise God that He did not reject any one of us when we trusted, and called on, Him.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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