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215 The Tabernacle persons could not partake of the shewbread: No stranger, no sojourner, no hired servant, no priest with a running sore could eat the holy bread. What a picture for us, as Christians! No stranger, no one who denies the blood of our Lord Jesus, should dare go to the Lord's Table to partake of the Lord's Supper; yet our own country is filled with many professing Christians who do this very thing-belong to churches and sit at the Lord's Table, yet deny the Lord who bought them! God does not honor such wickedness. No sojourner, no passing friend, could partake; neither should any guest or member of a be- liever's household go to the Lord's Table except by per- sonal faith in Him of whom it speaks. No hired servant in Israel could eat the holy bread; neither can we appre- ciate the meaning of the Lord's Supper if we are trying to work for our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, not by our own paltry works. No priest with a running sore could eat the holy bread; and God tells us in the epistles that we must approach the Lord's Table in full confession of all defilement of sin; we must put all sin. under the blood of Christ, or else we eat "unworthily." The priest with a running sore was a priest still; once saved, w-e are always saved. But it is possible for us to be saved, yet miss God's richest blessing by unconfessed sin in our lives. Let us read prayerfully Lev. 22:4, 10 to see God's commands concerning this vital matter; then let us exam- ine our own souls as we apply the message to our own hearts. The Church at Corinth had sinned in going to the Lord's Table to eat and drink (I Cor. 11:20-22); and for t:his gross iniquity Paul severely rebuked them. Then he w-ent on to explain to them the true meaning of this sacred memorial, saying, in part,
The T abernaclt now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). To believe His Word, to accept Him personally as Saviour and Lord, is to "eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood" (John 6:63; cf. 6:51-63). To appro- priate His gift of eternal life, is to feed our souls upon the Living Bread, which came down from heaven. But how starved we are spiritually! Many of God's people who would never think of missing a meal of physical food three times a day, let whole weeks and months pass without more than a cursory reading of the living Word of God which speaks of the Bread of Life. How can Christians "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" unless they feed upon His Word? (See II Peter 3: 18.) May God help us not to starve our souls! The more we read the Bible, the more we love it. The more we love it, the more wonderful it becomes to our hearts. Why do we neglect it so? Only because we let Satan crowd other things in its place. That should not be se>-if we truly love the Lord. "The Bread of God"-Food for the Priests We have seen from our study today that this holy bread became food for the priests, and that they were to eat it in the Holy Place. Thus it becomes a beautiful symbol of the "table" which the Lord has "prepared" for us in memory of His broken body and shed blood-"till He come." It is the "Lord's Table," not ours. We are His invited guests; He has provided the bounty. We sit at His table to hold sweet fellowship and communion with Him. It is "a pure table"; the bread is "holy." Moreover, it is to be eaten only in the Holy Place, as it were. Accordingly, God expressly commanded that certain
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