Fellowship
This is part 5 a series of blogposts featuring parts of the Old Testament Tabernacle and how I believe we can relate those to our lives today. Click here for #4 in the series.
Don’t you just love the smell of fresh bread? The smell can permeate any room and bring a smile to any face.
One specific piece of furniture in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle was The Table of Showbread, which was a small table made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. It stood on the right side of the room across from the Lampstand and held 12 loaves of bread, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The priests baked the bread with fine flour and it remained on the table before the Lord for a week; every Sabbath day the priests would remove it and eat it in the Holy Place, then put fresh bread on the table. Only priests could eat the bread, and it could only be eaten in the Holy Place, because it was holy.
“Showbread” also was called “bread of the presence” because it was to be always in the Lord’s presence. The table and the bread were a picture of God’s willingness to fellowship and communion (literally speaking, sharing something in common) with man. It was like an invitation to share a meal, an extension of friendship.
Eating together often is an act of fellowship. God was willing for man to enter into His presence to fellowship with Him, and this invitation was always open.
Jesus exemplified this when He ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and the sinners of Jewish society. But this was more than just a gesture of friendship on earth. Jesus came to call sinners to Him, make them right with God, so that they could enjoy everlasting fellowship with God.
“I am the bread of life.” (Jesus in John 6)
God so desires our fellowship that He was willing to come to earth from heaven as our “bread of life” to give eternal life to all those who would partake in it. At Jesus’ last Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus described Himself as bread again:
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’” (Matthew 26:26)
Today, Jesus’ broken body is our only access to fellowship with God. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or communion, to remember this important truth. And today, as in the day of Moses’ tabernacle, God still desires to have fellowship and sit down for a feast with His people.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20)
I got to thinking about the smell itself. Bread has an unmistakable smell as it bakes, doesn’t it? YUM! What great memories pop up when I smell bread baking! We think about how wonderful it’s going to taste or making it at some point or maybe it reminds us of times of fellowship…
The Israelites would have smelled that bread baking every week and would have been reminded of God and all of His provisions and His desire for communion.
May we also be mindful of His desire to be with us.
