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I. The Lord's table meeting as the nourishing feast of the processed Triune God is related to Christ's priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec.
А. Our Lord Jesus has become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec — Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:15-17; Zech. 6:13.
B. Melchisedec, king of Salem (peace) and king of righteousness, ministered bread and wine to Abraham (Gen. 14:18), and the Lord Jesus ministered bread and wine to His disciples.
1. Our basis for coming to the Lord's table is righteousness and peace (Rom. 3—5).
а. Righteousness has been reckoned to us, and we have been justified.
b. As a result, we enjoy peace.
2. The bread and wine on the table signify the processed God, who as the embodiment of God, has been processed that He might be ministered into us.
а. The bread signifies the life supply, and the wine signifies the blood which accomplishes redemption in order to quench our thirst.
b. Christ passed through the process of death on the cross that He might be our life supply with the redeeming wine (the redeeming liquid of life; cf. Lev. 17:11) to quench our thirst, which came from being under God's condemnation.
3. Melchisedec's coming to minister the bread and wine to Abraham, the father of the called race, signifies Christ's coming to minister Himself as the processed God into us.
C. Today our Christ is not the sacrifice-offering High Priest; He is the bread-and-wine ministering High Priest.
1. Christ's eternal priesthood and heavenly ministry is for God's original purpose to impart, dispense, and work Himself into us for His corporate expression.
2. He has redeemed us and now He feeds us.
3. We need to come forward to the throne of grace to our Melchisedec, the One who ministers the processed God as grace into us to be our daily supply for our enjoyment.
D. Christ, our great High Priest typified by Melchisedec, intercedes for us and ministers the processed God with the divine blessing to those who fight for God's interest as Abraham did — Gen. 14:17-24; Heb. 7:1, 25.
II. The Lord established His table with the bread and the cup to replace the feast of the Passover, because He was going to fulfill the type and be the real Passover to us — Matt. 26:17-30; 1 Cor. 5:7.
А. The table of the Passover was the table of the Old Testament economy (Matt. 26:17-25), but the Lord's table as the fulfillment and replacement of the Passover is the table of the New Testament economy (vv. 26-30).
B. Now we are keeping the real feast of Unleavened Bread — Matt. 26:17; 1 Cor. 5:8.
1. The feast of Unleavened Bread was a feast of seven days (Lev. 23:6) and was called the Passover — Luke 22:1; Mark 14:1.
2. Actually, the feast of the Passover was the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread — Exo. 12:15-20.
C. Other significances of the Lord's table as typified by the Passover:
1. The Passover signifies a new start because it took place in the first month of the year (Exo. 12:2; 13:4); at the Lord's table, we should be reminded that we need a new start, a new beginning on the eighth day, which is the first day of the week and a day in resurrection.
2. At the Lord's table, as typified by the Passover, we should be reminded that we were destined to die under God's righteous judgment, but God prepared Christ to be our replacement to die for us.
3. At the Lord's table, as typified by the Passover, we should be reminded that we do not belong to ourselves but to the One who died for us; now we should enjoy Him for our entire life.
4. At the Lord's table, as typified by the Passover, we partake of a feast to enjoy Christ in the presence of God; this enjoyment is a mutual satisfaction to God and us.
D. The feast of the Passover, the feast of the Lord's table, and the feast in the kingdom (Luke 22:16; Matt. 26:29) are actually one feast in three stages — the Old Testament stage, the New Testament stage, and the kingdom stage.
1. The Lord's table is a replacement and continuation of the Old Testament feast of Passover.
2. The New Testament feast of the Lord's table will be replaced and continued by the feast in the coming kingdom of God when the Savior will feast with the overcoming saints — Luke 22:30; 13:28-29.
III. Whenever we come to the Lord's table to enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive One, in our experience we are in the good land, enjoying all the riches of the land — Deut. 8:7-11; 1 Cor. 1:9; 10:16.
А. Christ as our table is typified by the good land, which was a table to the children of Israel; when they dwelt in the good land, they feasted on the table, enjoying all the rich produce of the land.
B. Enjoying the riches of Christ as our table issues in living Christ, defeating the enemies, establishing the kingdom of God, and building the house of God to fulfill His eternal purpose.
IV. Our experience at the Lord's table is typified by Israel's eating of the offerings at the altar — 1 Cor. 10:18.
А. The fellowship of the altar is a type of the fellowship of the blood and body of Christ.
B. The fellowshippers of the altar, those who ate the sacrifices, are types of the fellowshippers of the Lord's table, those who eat Jesus (John 6:57) as the reality of the sacrifices.
C. Fellowshippers also means joint-participants.
1. To partake of the table is to enjoy the Lord and to become one with the Lord.
2. Eating makes the eater one with what he eats.
V. The Lord's table is a sign of the New Testament jubilee, in which we are free from all bondage of sin and are enjoying the release of God's salvation with the Triune God as our life and blessing — Luke 4:18-19; Lev. 25:8-17.
VI. To partake of the Lord's table is to flee from idolatry — 1 Cor. 10:14.
А. In 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 Paul is speaking concerning the Lord's table, but he opens the section with a charge to flee from idolatry.
B. Idolatry is the enjoyment of something in place of the Lord (1 Cor. 10:7), but the Lord's table is the true enjoyment of the Lord Himself.
C. Ultimately in the entire universe, there are only two tables: the table of demons, which causes people to be one with demons, and the table of the Lord, which causes the believers to be one with the Lord — 1 Cor. 10:21.
D. The Lord's table is not only a matter of meeting on the Lord's day; this table should be our enjoyment every day, even continually.
1. Do not eat anything other than the Lord, and do not enjoy anything in place of Him.
2. We should not have any enjoyment other than Christ, who is our table, our feast, our land.
VII. The Lord's supper should serve as a reminder that we are living on the earth for the Lord's satisfaction.
А. At the Lord's table, we receive His body and blood for our enjoyment; at the Lord's supper we give Him our remembrance for His enjoyment.
B. By eating the bread and drinking the cup, we "declare the Lord's death until He comes" — 1 Cor. 11:26.
1. The church bridges the gap between the Lord's first coming to carry out an all-inclusive redemption through His death and His second coming to set up God's kingdom.
2. The death of Christ has produced the church, and the church will bring in the kingdom for the Lord's satisfaction.
3. Eating the supper reminds us to have a life in the church of responding to and cooperating with Christ in His heavenly ministry to bring in the kingdom for His satisfaction.
VIII. At the Lord's table, we present Christ as the peace offering to God the Father — Lev. 3:1-5, 6-7, 11-12, 16; 7:11-13, 20-21.
А. When our trespasses and sin are solved by Christ as the trespass offering and sin offering, and when God and we are satisfied with Christ as the burnt offering and meal offering, we can offer Christ to God the Father as the peace offering for mutual enjoyment in peace.
1. In order to enjoy Christ as the peace offering at the Lord's table, we need the covering of the Lord's redeeming and cleansing blood — Lev. 3:2; 1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 12:24.
2. We cannot partake of the peace offering if we are unclean; all uncleanness must be dealt with — Lev. 7:20-21; 1 Cor. 6:11.
B. Christ as the peace offering offered by us to the Father is for the enjoyment of God and all the parties participating in the dispensational worship.
IX. When we eat the Lord's supper, we satisfy Him by remembering Him, and we care for God's administration by discerning the Body — 1 Cor. 11:29.
А. The unique mystical Body of Christ is the means for God to carry out His administration.
B. When we go to the Lord's supper, we must discern the Body to determine whether the bread on the table represents the unique mystical Body of Christ or any division of man (any denomination).
C. Our participation in the Lord's table must be the unique fellowship of His unique Body without any division either in practice or in spirit.
D. In order that God's administration may be carried out, we must care for the oneness of the unique mystical Body of Christ.
