God made us so that we eat to live, so He made a world of food for us.  Yet, we are not like cattle or horses that graze the grass upon which they walk.  We eat at a table, generally and usually. When Yeshua fed the multitudes in the wilderness there were no tables, so he ordered them to gather together into groups.  This is a central part of the ordering of the Lord – that we gather together to eat and that before the Lord. We must work for our food, it’s there and in great abundance and variety, but it must be gathered, harvested, grown, hunted, shepherded, sown, prepared, caught, cooked, picked, mixed, milked, washed, soaked, sliced, etc.  Even manna from heaven had to be gathered.

The Table of the Lord is much more than a place to eat.  It is a sacred place of family,  fellowship, serving, hospitality, celebration, thanksgiving, sharing, communion and blessing.  It is as ordinary and familiar as sleep, but it is also a place of the highest honor and where our most significant and life changing events are held, such as the wedding banquet, feasts of holy celebration, award banquets and presentations of honor among rulers.

The Bread of the Presence was on a golden table in the temple before the Lord at all times. (Exod. 25:30).  The Lord’s table is what all believers share in.  It is holy and not to be mixed with demonic tables.  “No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” (1 Cor. 10: 20-21).

The Bread of the Presence represents Yeshua Messiah, who always is before the Father interceding for believers.  We partake of Him as the Levitical Priests ate the Bread of the Presence.  Yeshua said, “I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6: 49-51).

Of course, we celebrate the communion for the same reason, to remember and participate through a physical act of eating bread and wine, as an acknowledgement of our spiritual participation in Yeshua through His body and blood she’d on the cross for our salvation. This is the table of the Lord in its most holy and sacred setting and it is shared among the family of believers.

God communicates this precious element of sustaining life from the most ordinary setting of daily meals taken with thanksgiving to the depths of meaning and understanding in the old covenant priestly service of the temple, foreshadowing the life of Messiah and continuing into the new covenant through communion.  Finally, the greatest banquet table will be in heaven with Yeshua in His glory and fullness.  “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”  And he added, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev. 19: 7-9).  This old hymn proclaims well the yearning we now have for our Messiah, the “Bread of Heaven”.

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,

pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak, but thou art mighty,

lead me with thy powerful hand.

Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven;

Feed me till I want no more,

Feed me till I want no more.