The Table

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Published: Thursday, 08 February 2018 20:50
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The Table

Formerly “The Table is ready”

By Augusto A. Kho

February 04, 2018 (Sunday); 7:20 A.M.

Updated: February 6, 2018 (Tuesday); 7:15 PM

Updated: February 7, 2018 (Wednesday); 11:30 A.M.

 

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Above photo is taken from the internet

 

 

The table meal is now ready. And he asked you, “Will you join me at the table?” And you said “No!” How does it feel to the person who asked you to join him for the meal yet you turned him down?

 

The same thing is true to The Lord’s Table when He asked you to join the Lord Christ and yet you turned Him down.

 

 


Due preparation

Jesus reminded His disciples two (2) days earlier of the Passover Meal. In other words, it was not ill-prepared. Hosting a meal demands great preparation. To the host, it is burdensome physically and financially. Even Christ Himself reminded His disciples for the time preparation before the Passover. He said in Matthew 26:2, “As you know, the Passover is two days away ..”

 

On verse 17, His disciples asked Christ preference where the Table will be celebrated. “On the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover.”

 

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Photo by Peps in Saudi Arabia, 1986

 

The central figure of the meal is the word, “for you” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. “For you” in the Greek word “thelo” means “to desire,” “to wish” or “to love” or “to take delight in.”

 

In other words, the table must be pleasing, wonderful and memorable to our Lord Christ as a token of sweet recollection or memoir. It derived from the root word, “aihreomai” which means “to prefer.” It is Jesus’ preference not from others. He is the one to be pleased alone. That is why it is ethical that when you invite someone’s special where to dine in, you would ask him his preferred choice.

 

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Over a dinner with my Chinese niece and her son from China and

Philippine-based nephew Nelson.

 

 

Specific place

There is a specific place and time where Christ wants to join with you for the dinner. In Matthew 26:18,“He replied, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, the teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”

 

In KJV, it says “thy house” in Greek “se” meaning “you.” You play the host, while Christ and His disciples are your guests.

 

So it is a host-guest thing here. Which one would you prefer, the guest or the host?

 

 

Passover

The word Passover in Greek “pascha” is “paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the people’s deliverance of old from Egypt” according to Strong.

 

John 5:24, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

 

In other words, The Table commemorates to remind us the very first day we invited Christ into our lives personally speaking aside from the origin of the celebration in the Old Testament time with Moses.

 

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(photos by peps)

Left photo: Pyramid of Egypt. Middle Photo: The Red Sea. Right Photo: Eastern Wall, Jerusalem.

 

The Passover Feast commemorates the nation of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage to the Promise Land of Israel through their journey in the Red Sea which is a form of water baptism.

(1 Corinthians 10:1-6).

 

 

On May 29, 2017, we checked out from Novotel Hotel in Cairo and left Egypt by land, passing by the Giza Pyramid and literally followed the trail where Moses and Israelites have gone through passing by the Red Sea on our way to the Promise Land of Israel.

 

We also visited Marah i.e. bitter where the Jews murmured against despite of the mighty power He have shown to them. Grumbling is a form of lack of respect and no appreciation to the Lord. We entered Eilat, the border of Israel that connects to Mt. Sinai.

 

What Egypt, Red Sea and Israel symbolizes?

 

Egypt is the land of sin and bondage where God performed His mighty deeds through His servant Moses. It is where the Passover Feast originated consisting of offering to the Lord a Paschal lamb without blemish and spot, whose blood must be sprinkled to the doorpost of any Jewish quarter to deliver every firstborn son from the coming of the angel of death. The Passover Feast or The Table that we celebrate today commemorates that Deliverance.


The Red Sea speaks of distinction, separation and sanctification. The Red Sea speaks of Water Baptism, a journey from death to life but severe testing will occur. The older generation died despite of eating the bread from heaven, the food of the angels which they call “manna”. Only the younger generation survived. Manna which is called bread from heaven or food of the angels are mentioned in different bible translations. I call it “foods for the gods.” Apostle Paul mentioned the Red Sea as a form of water baptism in the ancient time in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 and they were served as an “examples” for us as “warnings” so that we should not fall unlike what the forefathers did (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11).

 

The Promise Land i.e. Israel is the ultimate goal of the journey. Suppose to say, a destination.

That is why Jesus reiterated that promise in the Garden of Gethsemane before His betrayal when He took bread and after giving thanks He broke it and said, “This is my body which is broken down for you. Eat it.” And later He said referring to the wine of suffering, a symbol of the blood of Paschal lamb commemorating what transpired in Egypt, He said, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.,” (Matthew 26:29). Israel is literal and figurative. What Apostle John the Beloved in the Island of Patmos in Greece is two-dimensional : physical and spiritual. He said, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven...”

(Revelation 21:1-2).



Re-enactment

In other words, The Table or The Lord’s Supper must not be taken lightly. It not merely obsolete, traditional, or a sacred feast or memorial but it is also re-enactment of the past, present and future. It is in fact a prophetic act of what is about to come.

 

Turning down an invitation by the Lord Christ To The Table could meant harmful, a self-afflicted injury to the one who is being invited. Declining His Dinner or taking it lightly can be damaging to your soul.

 

 

Church of Laodicea

The table is not only meant for dining alone. It also denotes fellowship, relationship and intimacy. When someone invited you in for a dinner, it must be something special. So when a husband, wife, and the children do not eat together will suggests something else odd if not broken relationship and intimacy. It is the same thing when you do not hold dinner with Christ in The Lord’s Supper. You lost intimacy with Christ.

 


So when the Church of Laodicea and believer’s love to the Lord Jesus Christ have gone stale, Christ appeared to them knocking on the door saying: “ I stand on 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” - Revelation 3:20. Should you be the church in Laodicea, should you let Him in? Or turn Him down? Or you always misses The Breaking of the Bread or The Table because you have something more other things important things to do?

 

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The ruins of city of Laodicea (Photo by Peps, June 2017)

 

Many believers do not appreciate much the Lord’ Supper. Many miss this out. If not they would take it very lightly as if it is merely a casual program in the Church. The Table gives ample privileges to anyone who wants Him (Christ) in.

 

Sitting down with Christ at The Lord’s Supper denotes positioning. Let’s hear what Christ said to Laodicea.

 

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” (Rev. 3:21-22).

 

 

To sit down is positioning

Merely I just dropped by to one the residence of one high-ranking official. When the wife of the politician saw me, she commanded his chief aide to usher me to the conference hall where the public official will be meeting other public officials. I resisted because I don’t any prior appointment and I merely passing by.

 

Finally, Ben (not his real name) escorted me to the Conference Hall where the meeting will be held and all the 70 other public officials transfixed all their eyes on me as I was ushered just beside the seat of the high ranking public official. When this official came and he sat beside me, he simply said, “Don’t leave there pastor. Just sit with me till I finished this meeting.” Whatever respect accorded to that public officials have been also accorded to me. That is what “to sit down” with Christ meant in Revelation 3:21-22 which is the Lord’s Supper.

 

To sit down with the Lord’s table is positioning. Positioning is to accord your with honour, respect, title or authority.

 

To sit down in Greek “kathizo” means “to set an appointment to confer a kingdom to someone” in full definition according to Thayer. Kathizo came from the root word “hedraios” which means “firmly immovable” because where you are seated is exactly where the King of kings is also seated. That is exactly what it means to be invited in and to sit down in the table with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Breaking of the Bread. It denotes “kingdom dominion” which denotes “legal rights to one’s inheritance” as what it says in Hebrews 12:26-28:

 

“Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

 

 

The mark

According to Saint Paul, the Red Sea and the journey of Israel during the time of Moses does not only speaks of water baptism but also Passover Meal (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). And in fact, as Christians we should have been baptized already by water and we in the same way still on the act of (spiritual) journey.


Paul said that Israelites in the past were given to us as “examples” in 1st Corinthians 10:6, and again it is mentioned in verse 11-12 saying, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

 

The word “example” in Greek “tupos” means “the mark of a stroke or blow, print; of a figure or image; the image of gods; the manner of writings; the contents and forms of a letter.” In ethical sense, it means “dissuasive example, pattern of warnings; an example to be imitated.” In doctrinal sense, it means : a person of thing prefiguring a future (Messianic) “according to Thayer.

 

Strong define “tupos” as “a die (of a struck); a stamp or scar, a resemblance or model, a pattern of print.”

 

The marking of crucifixion of Christ is prophesied even before Moses and his people celebrated the Passover Feast. Christ also mentioned this in Matthew 26:2, “As you know, the Passover is two days away – and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

 

In other words, the Passover Meal and Christ’s Death are inter-related. So whenever we celebrate The Lord’s Table always bear in mind – that meal cost His own dear life.

 

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From the internet

 

Disaster-preparedness.

Matthew 24:8 says "These are the beginning of birthpains." " Birthpains" in Greek is "disaster" or "calamity."

 

The 8-magnitude predicted eathquake or Big One in Marikina Fault Valley by Philvocs can flattenned 200,000 buildings and 300,000 deaths are horribly jittery.

 

But like in Egypt, prior to the ultimate God judgment, He commissioned Moses to celebrate the Passover Meal to deliver the Jews and their first born from the angel of death. In the same way; the Lord's Table is exactly a representation of what transpired in Egypt when the disaster struck upon our time today. Therefore the Lord's Table is a shield to disasters and calamities to spare us and our firstborn.

 

NOTES:

  • Most Scriptures quoted in NIV and KJV unless otherwise specified