The Table of Shewbread: Christ Set Before God Alway (Exodus 25:23-30)

God told Moses to build a table.

Not a throne, not a weapon, not a monument. A small table, about three feet long, made of wood and wrapped in gold, to sit inside a tent in the wilderness. On it there was to be bread, twelve loaves. And the bread was never to be missing. Not for one day.

You can read Exodus 25:23-30 in under a minute, and most people do. They see cubits and rings and staves and spoons, and their eyes slide right on to the next chapter. But God does not waste words. When He spends eight verses on a piece of furniture, He is showing you something.

Here is what He is showing you. Every piece of that tabernacle is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The table of shewbread is no exception. It is the place of fellowship, the place of the Word, and the place where bread sat before the face of God alway.

But before we can sit at that table, we have to look at the box beside it. There was a lid on that box, and what happened when men took it off will tell you why the table matters at all.

Before the bread, there was the blood

The mercy seat was the lid of the ark of the covenant. It was made, cherubim and all, out of one piece of gold, and the cherubim were of beaten gold. Remember, everything in that tent points to Christ. And I may get a lump in my throat writing this, but beaten gold is exactly what He was.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

This is the place where God said He would meet with His people:

“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus 25:22)

Once a year the high priest came in and put the blood of a lamb without blemish on that mercy seat, for himself and for the sins of the whole nation. Then he came back the next year and did it again.

But when Christ rose from the dead, He presented His own blood before the Father at the mercy seat in heaven. That blood is still there. It will be there forever.

Think about that. When you get to heaven and you see that throne and that mercy seat, you are going to see the blood that made it all possible.

What happens when you take the lid off

Israel once carried the ark into battle against the Philistines, hoping it might deliver them. They put their faith in the ark of the covenant instead of the God of the ark of the covenant, and the power of God was not there. Israel was soundly defeated. The ark was captured. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were killed, and when Eli the high priest heard that the ark had been taken, he fell backward off his seat, broke his neck, and died.

The Philistines carried the ark home and set it in the temple of Dagon, right in front of their god. Dagon was a huge statue. The next morning they came in and found him on his face before the ark of the LORD.

They figured that was a fluke, so they stood him back up. What kind of a god do you have to set back up?

“And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.” (1 Samuel 5:3-4)

Then God smote the Philistines with emerods. The best anybody has come up with in all the history of study is that this is another word for hemorrhoids. No kidding. But hemorrhoids unlike anything you could ever possibly experience. It was horrific.

So their wise men told them to make five golden emerods and five golden mice, one for each of the five lords of the Philistines. They put those in a box, set the ark on a cart, and sent it off. If it wandered off any which way, the whole thing had been chance. If it went straight back toward Israel, they would know they were under judgment.

It went straight back toward Israel, to a place called Beth-shemesh. And the men of Beth-shemesh did what curious men do. They took the lid off.

“And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.” (1 Samuel 6:19)

You may say that seems like harsh judgment. Remember the picture. Inside the ark were the tables of the law, the golden pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. The law, the body of Christ, and the resurrection. Everything you need to know is in that box.

But when you take the mercy seat off, you no longer have a mediator between God and man. You have the law of God and the righteousness of God laid bare in front of sinful men, and nothing standing in between. Without the mercy of God, all that is left is the wrath of God.

Years later David made a similar mistake. He knew better. The ark was supposed to be carried by the Levites, and the Levites knew better too, because they were the ones supposed to carry it. Instead David built a brand new cart, patterned after the way the Philistines had moved it, and hitched it to oxen.

“And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:6-7)

It was a natural reaction. Grab it before it falls. But God had already said who could touch the holy things and who could not:

“And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.” (Numbers 4:15)

David was displeased at first. Then the fear of God settled on him.

“And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9)

That is the right question. How does a holy God come near to people like you and me? The answer is sitting in the next room of the tabernacle.

The table of shewbread is made just like the ark

“Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.” (Exodus 25:23-30)

Here is the detail I don’t want you to skip. The table is made of the same materials as the ark: wood overlaid with gold. Wood for His humanity, gold for His deity. So the table is also a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man in one Person, carrying out another part of His priestly work.

It was not a big table, about fifty-two inches by thirty-one by thirty-one. But it was large enough for everyone who has been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Your Lord wears two crowns

The table had a border around it, a hand’s breadth wide, with a crown of gold on the table and another crown on the border. The first held the bread in place so it would not be displaced on the road. The second kept anything from sliding off the border.

Two crowns. You already know the first one.

“And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27:29)

And you know the second, the one He will wear when every knee bows for real:

“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:16)

Then there are the four golden rings at the four corners, with staves run through them so the table could be carried wherever Israel went. I see in those four rings grace and truth, justice and holiness. And the staves were never taken out. That table could be picked up and taken anywhere, and so can the Christ it pictures.

Twelve loaves of fine flour

Here is the bread God commanded for His table:

“And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.” (Leviticus 24:5-6)

Fine flour, nothing coarse in it, no lumps. It is a picture of absolute purity, the perfect God-man. Jesus said it Himself:

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

Why twelve loaves? Because there were twelve tribes of Israel. Every tribe had its loaf before the face of God. Not one was left off the table.

That is why the table pictures the high priestly office of Christ. He is Prophet, Priest, and King, and here He is the Priest, bearing His people before God.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:11-12)

Once. He did not have to come back the next year.

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14)

How much more. If the blood of animals could clean up the outside, how much more can the blood of Christ clean up your conscience, so that you can quit carrying dead works around and actually serve the living God?

“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:15) “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:” (Hebrews 9:24)

For us. He is standing there right now, on your behalf.

The wounds that never close

I once preached a message called “The Wounds That Never Close.” You’ll hear people talk about the scars in our Lord’s hands and feet. They are not scars. They are wounds, open wounds.

You say, “But there’s no blood.” That’s because the blood is at the mercy seat. The wounds stay open as an eternal reminder. If they ever closed, it might be forgotten. They never will.

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1)

You have an accuser, and he is relentless.

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:10)

So the devil comes around and says, “Look at that one. See what he just did. See what came out of her mouth.” And your Advocate stands up the way a defense attorney stands up, and He says, “Father,” and holds up His hands.

That is the end of the case.

I really do enjoy this. I hope you’re beginning to.

The Book sits across from the candlestick

The table also pictures the Word of God and the pulpit where it is preached. Look at where God told Moses to put it:

“And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses. And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward.” (Exodus 40:22-24)

The table, the Word, on the north side. The candlestick on the south side, and the candlestick pictures the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s church. They face each other, and the order matters.

The Word of God is the authority over the church. The church is not the authority over the Word of God.

There are belief systems that will tell you the church wrote the Bible, or that the church decides what the Bible means. Not according to the Bible. The Word of God is the final authority in every matter, period. And God has chosen to put that Word in front of His people through preaching:

“But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;” (Titus 1:3)

When you sit under the preaching of the Word, you are at the table.

Frankincense on the bread

“And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.” (Leviticus 24:7)

You can still buy frankincense today. It is used in medicines and so forth. The Hebrew word behind it carries the idea of whiteness, of purity and righteousness.

The bread pictures the flesh of Christ. The frankincense pictures that flesh offered up as a sacrifice, a burnt offering, a memorial before God. And the priest would later take that frankincense to the altar of incense, so a sweet savor would rise before the Lord, a picture of the prayers of the saints. Your prayers go up to God on the merit of a sacrifice that has already been made.

Bread that never went stale

Read the last line of the passage again:

“And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.” (Exodus 25:30)

Alway. The bread sat on the table for a week. On the seventh day the priests took it off and set fresh loaves in its place, and the dishes stood around the table all week long as a reminder that the day was coming. There was never a moment when that table stood empty before God.

The physical loaves changed from week to week. The symbolic bread in the presence of God never changed. It never got old. It never went stale.

That is a picture of your security in Christ. The body of Christ is perpetual. What He did for you on the cross does not wear out, and what He is doing for you at the right hand of the Father does not take a day off.

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8) “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)

Remember Beth-shemesh. Remember what it means to stand before a holy God with the lid off and nothing in between. Then look at that table, with twelve loaves set in order, every tribe accounted for, and bread before His face that never once went missing.

The men of Beth-shemesh met God without mercy. You do not have to.

So come to the table. Feed on the Word. Trust the Advocate who holds up His hands.

Your bread is on the table.

It always will be.

Will you come and eat?

Adapted from a message preached from Exodus 25:23-30.