The Tabernacle
The Tabernacle
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"As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" (I Cor. 11 :26). Thank God! This memorial feast will one day be done away; for we shall not need these emblems to remind us of the broken body and shed blood of the Son of God! We shall see Him as He is, look upon His face--and be like Him-for all the endless ages! But meanwhile, let us sacredly guard the significance of this blessed memorial, lest we bring reproach upon the holy name we bear. The shewbread cost the priests nothing; nor did our salvation cost us anything! It cost the Father an awful price! It cost the Son of God a terrible price! But the Bread of Life is free to all the world, "without money and without price" (Isaiah 55: 1) ! Only the priests could eat the holy bread; and they had to go by the way of the brazen altar of sacrifice and the brazen laver, in order to enter the Holy Place, where they partook of this sacred thing. But, while no priest with a running sore could partake; yet it is beautiful to note that the priest who was lame or blind or deformed in any way was not excluded from the table. He could not serve God there, but he could eat the holy bread. (See Lev. 21:22; cf. 21:17-23.) I wonder if our spiritual lameness is hin dering our service for the Lord? Yet however faltering, however weak, however stumbling our testimony is for Christ; if we are truly born again by faith in His shed blood, we are invited to sit at His Table, "prepared" by Him for His own. Moreover, we are exhorted to encour age the weak, to strengthen them in the faith, that they may grow more and more like our Lord. (See Rom. 14:1; I Thess. 5:14; Heb. 12:12, 13.) Israel's priests partook of the holy bread 1 as they jour-
neyed in "the howling wilderness." We, too, are in a godless world; the tempests and storms of life would dis courage us and lead us to despair. Our own lameness and sinfulness would drag us down; but our Lord invites us to His Table--to remember Him in His sufferings for us, "till He come." Meeting Him there, we take fresh cour age; we see His all-mighty power, and His never-dying love-all exercised for us. Then we "thank God, and take courage." He is a wonderful Saviour! Many centuries ago there lived a lame man who sat at a king's table. His name was Mephibosheth; his father, Jonathan, the devoted friend of David, the king. When Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle on Mount Gilboa, tidings of their death reached the nurse of little Mephibo sheth, who was just :five years old. She picked him up and fled, fearing lest he should be killed because he was of Saul's household; and when she fled, she dropped the child and he became lame for the rest of his life. The years passed. David's wars were over for a time. He remembered his love-covenant with Jonathan, and asked, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that , k ?" I may shew him kindness for Jonat h ans sa e. And he was told of Mephibosheth. He sent for the. yo~ng man, who in turn was afraid, lest the king shoul?, ~ill him. He had been in hiding, dwelling in Lo-debar, the P!ace of no pasture." Tremblingly he went before the kmg, and from David himself heard the reassuring wo:ds ,of w~!corne to the king's own table. And at the k~? s ta e k . , ,, yet he was lame on he sat "as Qlne of the mg s sons. . 1 both his feet." But as he sat at the king's table,dhIS ame . W h not counte as one feet were hidden from view• as e of the king's sons? (See II Sam. 4 : 4 ; 9 :l-l 3 .)
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