It was a season of celebration, when men from various parts of the world came to the Great City to commemorate an outpouring of blessings upon their ancestors. They were to remember how the men of old, who’d experienced slavery and oppression for generations, had finally been lead to liberty by the power of their God. In a quaint house in that very city, men made their way up the exterior stairs to a small room to celebrate this memorial. None of these men was the owner of this abode. They’d acquired a room within its walls just prior to the meeting from a man who had an allegiance to the guest of honour. In the middle of this room stood a block table surrounded on three sides by cushions and mats that had been upholstered by local women. On that table, laid unleavened bread and a jug of wine as was required for the ceremony. That evening, the guest of honour reclined at the table with His devotees but unknowingly, except for Him, there was a traitor in their midst, one who would betray Him for a sum of silver paid out by the Guest of Honour’s enemies. It would be the last time they would sit together at any table since that very night the guest of honour would be taken away. The table in this culture was a place of fellowship and a festive spirit, where people expressed their honour for one another. There was a bond between those at the table that centered upon the Guest of Honour. That night, however, while their intent was to celebrate a long-established festival, something was about to change. The men who had come to that table were about to unexpectedly experience the beginning of something that is still experienced by people to this day. The commemoration that they’d sat down to observe was about to be crucified on a cross but be resurrected into something so much more glorious. What these men may not have realized was that they were not reclining at an ordinary table, they were sitting at the covenant table of God! The same God who had previously lead their ancestors to freedom and who inaugurated this ordinance, this Holy and Glorious One was about to institute another in their midst.
Once the feast began, the Guest of Honour took this bread and broke it in half then circulated it among them. Earlier He had referred to Himself as the bread of life, an expression to indicate where one could find eternal life. But this broken bread would serve as a greater expression, a reminder of how that life would be won. It was meant to open their eyes to what was coming, the breaking of His body and the suffering that He was about to endure. Then, without wasting a moment, He took up a single cup filled with the sweet fruit of the vine and gave it to them to drink. This time, comparing it to the death He was about to experience, where His blood would be poured out publicly upon a hill in front of His countrymen and enemies. But this death wasn’t the result of a helpless victimization but an offering up of His life willingly for the forgiveness of many. His blood would complete an offering, a payment for forgiveness and to initiate a new covenant, one very different than previous alliances inducted in past times. It was a divine treaty between God and men that would bring about peace between these two parties. It would initiate an unbreakable covenant that could not falter because of the depravity of men to break it. The participants in this New Covenant, would have their corruption cleansed and they would be transformed. They would be granted new hearts and a new birth to assure their standing. The God who would enter into that transaction would assure that they were purified, given a new law, a righteousness that they would follow willingly with their hearts. They would no longer be required to following a set of legal terms to carry out its observance but a they were to live with faith in the Guest of Honour, much like in the way they were at the table they were sitting. All their iniquities and sins that had separated them from their God would be taken away, never to be placed in front of Him again, and the punishment for those sins would be nailed to a cross.
But that night, the Master’s lips did not touch the cup, there would be another time coming, sealed by promise per say that even though this Guest of Honour would pass on, He would once again sit at a table with them, not in a small room, in a simple house with a flat roof in the Middle East, but in a Kingdom.
The Covenant table of God is still with us today. It is a place where men and women come to fellowship with that same Guest of Honour some on a weekly basis while others on a monthly, to be reminded of the Lord who just after reclining at that table, was betrayed, judged by sinners and crucified on a cross in shame and woe on behalf of those who recline with Him. Believers in Him come together to celebrate the fact that His death wasn’t the end of Him, the covenant Lord who initiated this glorious reminder of His suffering and death, knew His way out of the grave. The table in that lowly room has multiplied itself. It has expanded into every country in this world, so that men and women from various backgrounds, from a multitude of ethnicities, can come to this table of blessing. A Table that we should take very seriously, one that requires us to examine ourselves to assure that we aren’t living a life that would disgrace it, making sure we are not hindering any hate for anyone around the table. We are to be together as one, in unity with the Lord of that table still present before it to this day.
Brothers & Sisters, when you come to the table, draw near with reverence for the Guest of Honour. Remember that the Lord of the table still meets with His people. Make sure you come knowing that you’ve been accepted in the Holy One, come with a joyous heart of celebration, come with a spirit of fellowship with those to whom you share the same Lord, take your place around the table as a child of God! Don’t forget the privilege that this table brings for those who gather around it. It is a taste of the seat of honour that we will enjoy in the Father’s kingdom when we are able to meet the Guest of Honour face to face, and sip on the sweet luxurious fermented juices with Him.
The Moncton Herald 