God has always spoken to His people using pictures and parables that we should be able to understand. Prophetic literature is filled with word pictures, similes and illustrations that teach us to know our God… But these are always a double edged sword. For we will all too often refuse to understand, refuse to see the truth and run to that which is false as if that which is not could supply the need of the moment or beyond. In Isaiah 55.2 God rebukes Israel for this tendency…"Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance." (Isaiah 55:2, NKJV) Notice the implied offer of bread contained in the rebuke, we chase after and spend ourselves to exhaustion to buy that which is not real, and all the while God offers us freely to have what we need and cannot otherwise obtain. The bread that we need cannot be bought. But it can be obtained in the covenant relationship with our God that is only available in Jesus Christ. As we return today to consider the shewbread once more, I want to focus our attention on the bread that it represents clearest. The bread of life, Jesus Christ.

It is extremely important for us to understand that we are saved by God, yes; but more to the point, we are saved FOR God. Our salvation is not a possession, a thing we carry about like a favorite toy, or treasured collection of junk that has no real value. It is not a thing given that is put in the bank or hoarded. It is the truth that we are saved for the sake of an ongoing relationship with God. This truth is captured powerfully and poignantly in the bread. In English it is the bread of presence, in older translations it is coined the shewbread, but literally in Hebrew it is the bread of the face. Or the bread of faces, usually simply stated; the face. It is the symbol of the presence of God among His people and the promise of their welcome with Him.

We come this week to the table of the showbread. The bread is obviously the centerpiece of the issue, but consider this: The bread changes out weekly, the table stands forever in the holy place, offering the provision of the bread, demonstrating the communion between God and His people, anointed and sanctified for holiness and grace… The bread was the bread of presence, or the bread of the face (of God) it became called both the bread of presence and the showbread. There was much significance here, but let us first consider the table itself.

Last week we spoke of the lampstand and the display of Christ in the lampstand, we touched very briefly on the reality that the light itself was also the display of God and the glory of God in Christ. But this topic is too large to pass over lightly. So before we move on to the showbread, we will spend some time together considering the nature of light, for the imagery used in scripture is replete with references to light. Light itself is part of the fundamental nature of the glory of God. And light and darkness are fundamentally opposed… this world is darkness, so to combat it God gives us light.

Everything in the tabernacle points to Christ. This is the essence of this passage of scripture. As we think about the lampstand, let us remember that Jesus is the Light of the world. And that anything that points people away from Him is darkness and destruction. There is much that the world looks unto for light, understanding and power, from spiritists, to mediums, to crystals, chanting and spirit guides… all of these are the darkness of the enemy and have no place in the life of the Christian. There is only ONE source of light in the world, and that source is Jesus Christ. This morning we begin thinking about the furniture in the tabernacle and we start with the lampstand.

The tabernacle was the place of the presence of God. As the writer of Hebrews makes his short description of the place of Hebrew worship, we see the presence of God in Christ given to the people He chose for Himself. We see the signs of Jesus' coming in the articles, in the worship in the confession and in the sacrifice. But we also see Him in the presence… the tabernacle was the place where God made Himself known; In Jesus Christ that work is completed.

Just as our activities of worship are defined and prescribed by Scripture, so too are our places of worship, and the life that grows from and centers around them are also defined and bounded by the Word of God. We must avoid the pagan ideas that this place of worship (or any) is HOLY for its own sake, consecrated ground is a fallacy of the pagan mind. But when we walk in the truth of God, empowered by His Spirit and motivated by His will and purpose every place we set our foot is holy ground. This is a holy place because of the life of Him who lives in us! And that truth should shape and form every single thing we are and do as a church!

The worship of the church is prescribed by God. He has determined our structure, our practice, our doctrine. This is how God has ordered the worship that He would accept from His people since the beginning of time. We do not invent our practice, we receive it from God Himself. It is not the will of man that rules the church, but the rule of God, given by the Word and guided by His Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews draws the justifiable conclusion that the Old Covenant is obsolete, aging and soon to disappear. The ceremonies still being conducted under it were spiritually empty; and the author's words suggest that the prophetic words of Jesus about the destruction of the temple (Matt 24.1-2) in Jerusalem were in his mind. The temple and its rituals were both empty of life, and so too was the covenant they proclaimed. It is likely that this prophecy was fulfilled soon after the book of Hebrews was written. If so, it was a dramatic confirmation of the writer's thesis about the Old Covenant. While the Mosaic Law still has a purpose in God's plan (cf. Gal. 3), it never was the vehicle that brought salvation. Rather, It brings people to Christ by showing fallen humanity their sinfulness and need for salvation. It helps us understand God and His ways. It is related to the new covenant as promise to fulfillment. While the law was incapable of bringing salvation because of the weakness and sinfulness of fallen mankind, the grace of God through the death of Jesus Christ delivered what the law could only hint toward. Just as the Jews (and many Jewish Christians) were clinging to the old Covenant and its rituals, we too, often live in obsolete ways. Bound to that which no longer has purpose or power we live in the old life and the old patterns…

The oldness of the old covenant is the planned obsolescence of God's purpose being displayed. It has not worn out by mere age, for the New Covenant has continued longer than the old, did and it is still fresh and new. It was worn out by its accomplished purpose. It did what it was meant to do and so has been forever put aside. It will NOT be resumed, taken back up or added back in in some partial measure. To do so would be a abrogate the sacrifice made by Jesus for the redemption of His people. The OT law and system of sacrifice is gone forever, and the church should celebrate this fact. For in it, is our hope and joy… the completion of that system by the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.