When we come to this point in our worship service we must not take the furniture for granted. This is a table, not an altar. We are here to feast, not watch; to remember Christ’s sacrifice, not reenact it. It is Christ who is our mediator and has brought us into communion; thus, this is His table at which He presides, and He passes the plate around.
We sit on the shadowlands side of the table, while our brothers and sisters of the faith who have already died are seated on the high countries side.Here we are, a family of saints, gathered around a table. We should think of it as a really big table with our Lord Jesus sitting at the head saying grace. We sit on the shadowlands side of the table, while our brothers and sisters of the faith who have already died are seated on the high countries side. As the plate is passed, since we are His body, when your neighbor hands the plate to you, it is also Christ handing the plate to you. We are a family, God is our Father, Christ is our brother, and the Spirit unites us together as one.
There is a warning though. Some sit at this table every week, then go out and look an awful lot like they would rather be in the family of Satan. Friendship with the world, is enmity with God. God’s family feasts, laughs, and loves. Satan’s family bites, devours, and kills. At this table there is joy, there is glory, there is an eternal fountainhead of love. At Satan’s table you come to feed, and instead you are devoured. If you insist on feasting upon your selfish lusts and prides, you will find in the end that they have eaten you instead.
But at this table God serves us Himself. He is all joy, all glory, all delight, all goodness, all nourishment, and all life. In Him is no shadow of sorrow, only joy: a boundless, limitless, eternal joy. He has prepared for us a most sumptuous feast of the richest and most satisfying fare. He gives us the best, because He is that which is best.
