While you're turning to Leviticus
24, I want to make some very pointed, plain statements with
regard to the gospel of our God. I hope these are things that
God has written on your hearts and that God will write on your
hearts daily. First, all who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, All who believe that Jesus is the Christ, that
Jesus of Nazareth actually accomplished and fulfilled everything the
prophets of the Old Testament said the Christ would accomplish
and fulfill. Everyone who believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ is numbered among God's elect. Chosen, redeemed,
born again, called, saved by the grace of God. Whether you
feel like it or don't. Whether you have warm spiritual
senses of God's presence or the heavens seem to be brass above
you. Our acceptance with God and the evidence of that acceptance
is one, just one thing, faith, faith. Do you believe on the
son of God? To believe him is to have a life
everlasting. All of God's elect are in Christ. in Christ by divine election,
in Christ by regeneration, in Christ by faith, because God
has put us in Christ. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus. All God's elect are accepted
in Christ, accepted with Christ, accepted for Christ's sake. accepted in exactly the same
manner, in exactly the same fullness as Christ himself is accepted
of God, accepted in the beloved. God's elect also are supplied
and provided for by Christ Jesus, constantly provided for. Our
Lord Jesus, after hearing Peter speak of his great sacrifices,
said to Peter and the other disciples, lacked ye anything? Nothing,
Lord, nothing. God's elect are safe and secure
in Christ, no matter what trial they face. No matter how they
fail, no matter how corrupt they know themselves to be, no matter
what heresy confronts them, God's elect are safe and secure in
Christ. They shall never perish. They
are being in Christ a part of what Peter describes as a royal
priesthood who serve God continually in the sanctuary. a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, serving God continually in the sanctuary. And all God's
elect are one in Christ. All God's elect are one in Christ. Wherever they're found, At any
time in history, throughout the ages of history, whether in heaven
or on earth, the church of God is one body, the body of Christ
with many members. Now our text this evening is
Leviticus chapter 24, verses 5 through 9. In these verses of scripture,
we're given the instructions that God commanded Moses to give
to Aaron and the children of Israel regarding the table of
showbread as it was set in the tabernacle. Now, you will remember
that there were three pieces of furniture in the first section,
the outer sanctuary of the tabernacle. as the priest walked to the holy
place, as he went before the veil in his ministering day after
day, that veil that separated the holy place from the Most
Holy and the Ark of the Covenant, he would see these three things,
standing Right before him, up against the veil, would be the
altar of incense, that golden altar of incense, that golden
testimony of constant acceptance, the sweet fragrance ascending
into heaven, accepted of God, a sweet-smelling savor of God,
which Christ is and which we are in Him. On his left side,
he would see the golden candlestick representing Christ, the light
of the world, and you and I, his church, his light in this
world. On his right side, he would see
the table of showbread with 12 loaves of bread in two rows. with golden dishes, golden bowls,
and golden spoons, and frankincense sprinkled upon each loaf of bread,
each row sitting on the table. Now, hold your place here in
Leviticus. We'll look at this in just a minute. Turn back to
Exodus chapter 37. Exodus 37. Here, Moses describes
the furniture in great detail, this table of
showbread. He tells us how and of what the
table of showbread was made. Exodus 37 verse 10. He made the
table of Shittim wood. That's a wood that was not subject
to decay for a long, long time. Two cubits, about 36 inches,
was the length thereof. And a cubit, about 18 inches,
the breadth thereof. And a cubit and a half, about
27 inches, the height thereof. And he overlaid it with pure
gold. and made thereunto a crown of gold round about. Also he
made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about, and
made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about. And
he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon
the four corners that were in the four feet thereof, over against
the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear
the table. And he made the staves of shittum
wood and overlaid them with gold to bear the table. And he made
the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes and his spoons
and his bowls and his covers to cover with all of pure gold. Now that was the physical description
of the table of showbread. In our text this evening, Leviticus
24, verses five through nine, the Spirit of God shows us the
instructions Aaron was given with regard to this table and
its bread. Verse five, thou shalt take fine
flour and make 12 cakes thereof, two-tenth deals shall be one
cake. And thou shalt set them in two
rows, six in a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. 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. Every Sabbath, he shall set it
in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children
of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his
sons, and they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most
holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a
perpetual statute. This table of showbread and the
bread upon it give us much typical instruction concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ and his bounteous provisions of grace for his people. This is all about Christ and
the provisions of his grace for his people. I want you to see
at the outset this golden table of showbread itself is a picture
of our Savior. It's called in Numbers 4 verse
7, the table of showbread. That title for it might better
be translated, the table of the bread of presence. It speaks
of the presence of Christ continually with God and continually with
us. All the materials of the table
clearly speak of our Redeemer. It was made of shidom wood overlaid
with gold. The shidom wood was, the best
comparison I can think of, was like our cedar. It did not decay
or rot. It portrays our Savior's blessed
humanity, that which never saw corruption. In order to redeem
us, in order to save us, in order to bear our sins in his body
on the tree and die in our stead, the Son of God must himself become
one of us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God, came here in human flesh. He took into union with himself
our nature forever, so that seated now in heaven, he sits in heaven
a man in human form, in human nature, a man who is God, in
whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I have
no idea how that can be fully expressed. other than in the
very language of scripture I've just given you. Jesus Christ
became a man. The Son of God became a man because
man had sinned and man must be punished. And he, becoming a
man, is now God in our flesh, capable of suffering and capable
of death. Sin is that which has corrupted
God's universe. and corrupts our race, and shall
at last corrupt our bodies in the grave. But it did not corrupt
our saviors. Though he was made sin for us,
when he had put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, he rose
again before his body could see corruption on the third day because
he had put away sin and there was no possibility that sin should
corrupt him. And yonder he sits in heaven,
having ceased from sin. The shidom wood was overlaid
with pure gold, speaking of our Savior's perfect, eternal divinity. He is God. God loved the church and gave
himself for it. God redeemed the church with
his own blood. God, who can never die, died
in our stead in human form as a man at Calvary. Well might
the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in when God,
the mighty maker, died for man the creature said. The table
wearing a crown of pure gold speaks of our savior's exaltation
and glory. He having finished his work,
having fulfilled his father's will, having accomplished all
things written in the prophets concerning him, ascended up into
heaven, took his seat on the throne of God where he sits now
on the throne of grace and bids us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Be sure you don't fail to see
the second thing, the place where the table of showbread stood.
The table of showbread, that is the bread of the presence,
stood in the holy place of the tabernacle before the presence
of the Lord. The bread was, as it were, before
God himself all the time. always before God. He stood before
the Lord God continually as bread fit to be offered to God, as
bread honored by God, as bread accepted by God. He stood there
symbolically as the bread of God, always in God's presence. Now here are our Savior's words
concerning himself. The bread of God is he that cometh
down from heaven and giveth life to the world. The bread of God,
the staple of life, is God who came down from heaven and gives
life to sinners scattered through all the world. This is Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, the bread of life. He is the very bread
of God, the food of heaven. That is to say, our all-glorious
Christ, his person and his work is that bread that's portrayed
here. And it's only portrayed in the
sense I recognize God's infinite, eternal, incomprehensible spirit.
He doesn't get hungry or thirsty. But this bread is portrayed as
the food of God. the bread that satiates, that
satisfies God. He who gave himself for his people's
sins, for the honor of God's glory, his justice, his holiness,
and his truth, has fully and forever satiated God by the sacrifice
of himself. The loaves are described in verses
five and six. There were 12 cakes, 12 loaves
of bread set continually upon the golden table. Now, 12 is
significant. That's the number of God's elect
described in Revelation 7, the 144,000. Without question, these
12 loaves typify the Lord Jesus, the bread of life, as we've seen.
But that fact that the bread is specifically required to sit
there in 12 loaves makes it clear they represent Christ in connection
with his people. They're represented by 12. Many,
many times in Scripture there were 12 tribes of the nation
of Israel. 12 names were inscribed on Aaron's
breastplate. 12 stones were erected by Joshua
when Israel crossed over Jordan. 12 stones were erected by Elijah
before the prophets of Baal. There were 12 apostles. We're
told there fell 12 foundations to the New Jerusalem. and 12
gates of the city. 12 times 12, the 144,000, giving
the totality of God's elect. These 12 loaves in the holy place
upon the table before God tells us that Christ, the high priest
of God, has an abundant supply for all those whose names are
inscribed upon his breastplate. Therefore, none shall perish. hear our Savior, hear Him, oh,
hear Him, needy soul, and rejoice. In our Father's house is bread
enough and to spare. In our Father's house is bread
enough and to spare. There is in Christ an abundant,
superabundant supply. Notice that each loaf had two-tenth
deals of fine flour. That's two omers. Now that's
interesting. That was double any man's daily
provision of manna in the wilderness. Twice as much as any man was
allowed to gather. If he gathered more, any day
during the wilderness, that that he gathered excess would just
rot in front of him. But here the bread is double
the daily portion of any man in the wilderness. In other words,
in each loaf of bread sitting on the table in the holy place,
there was symbolically twice as much bread for every person
in Israel as he needed. Because where sin abounds, grace
does much more abound. Our Savior's supply is an infinite,
boundless supply for needy sinners, for hungry souls. His supply,
my brother, my sister, His supply is bountiful of grace and of
glory. He supplies us with all things
continually, a constant supply for sinners. Sinners have been
feasting on this bread from the beginning. And yet there is such
an infinite sufficiency in Christ Jesus that there is no diminishing
of the bread, no diminishing of grace, no diminishing of pardon,
no diminishing of righteousness. Come now, let us reason together. You may not know that your name
is in the book of life. People often ask me, how do I
know I'm one of God's elect? You may not know that Christ
died for you. How can I know that Christ made
atonement for me, that I'm one of his sheep? You may not know
that your name is inscribed upon the breastplate of our sin-atoning
high priest, but this you should know. You should know it because
our text and the whole word of God declares it. There's plenty
of bread at God's table. Plenty of bread for your needy
soul, and you're welcome to it. Now listen to me. Eat it, and
it's yours. Eat it, and it's yours. The proof
of election, the proof of redemption, the proof of life is faith in
Christ. And faith in Christ is eating
the bread of life. Perhaps you think, Brother Dodd,
no one's hand was allowed to touch that bread except the priest.
Satan is a fiendish foe. And he has a fiendish way of
turning the truth of God into a lie and making what should
be most encouraging horribly discouraging. Yes, it's true. No hand but the hand of the priest
was to touch that bread. But that ought to tell you that
the bread of life is for sinners who need a perfect priest. The
priest alone must manage the table and keep the bread at all
times. The bread was in the holy place
so that needy, hungry sinners could get it as they come to
God by faith in Christ. This was God's provision for
his servants. It was pre-spread. Certainly
that implies, as many suggest, those who preach the gospel are
to live by the gospel. That which is represented here
is the salvation of God's elect by the will of God And that's
Christ our bread and we are his bread that upon which he feasts
Still the bread is for us. It speaks of Christ our bread
declaring plainly that the if I come to him the bread of life,
and eat him, I am, I must be, one of those made of God, a chosen
generation, and a royal priesthood before God. The fact that I feast
upon the bread of God, the fact that I live upon Christ, tells
me I am God's priest. We often say the proof is in
the pudding. Well in this case, the proof is in the bread Eating
the bread is life eternal. That's the message our Lord gives
in John chapter 6 Would you read it with me one more time John
chapter 6 verse 54 Yeah, verse 54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. Whoso takes my righteousness and my atonement as his only
righteousness and his only atonement. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has eternal life. The proof of it is he's eating
my flesh and drinking my blood. Come, my brother. Come, my sister. Come, needy sinner. Come, oh
my soul. There's bread abundant on the
table. And it's the king's table. You
remember Mephibosheth who was laying on both his feet? David
brought him to the palace and he said, Mephibosheth, you will
eat bread at the king's table. And here we sat at the king's
table. All our bards fall utterly out
of sight, feasting on the bread of life, Christ Jesus the Lord. Then we're told that the bread
was to be set on the table in two rows. There's the priest,
Aaron, or one of his sons standing before the tabernacle with 12
loaves of bread before him. That's Christ standing in the
holy place, ever busy, never idle, his hands constantly and
bountifully providing bread for his people. the bread of grace,
the bread of providence, the bread of consolation, the bread
of his tender care, the bread of his presence. Now notice this. The bread, we're told in verse
eight, was to be taken from the children of Israel because the
Lord God would have all his people know that it was for them. so too our Lord Jesus Christ
was taken from among men, that we might know that he does everything
he does on our behalf. Just listen to this passage.
Every high priest, we read in Hebrews 5, what? taken from among
men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may
offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now listen to this,
Hebrews 5, 2. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity. Christ Jesus is taken from among
men. Our high priest is one of us.
And being one of us, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,
he is able to have compassion, co-passion with us in all our
infirmities. It was required of God also that
each row of bread have some frankincense upon it as a memorial for a burnt
offering to the Lord. Verse seven, the bread was to
be eaten, but the frankincense was to be burned. The frankincense,
of course, speaks of our acceptance with God and the acceptance of
our worship, our praise, our sacrifice, the acceptance of
our very lives with God, our God, by Christ Jesus. All of God's Israel, all his
church, All the people of God are accepted of God all the time,
in the totality of our being, as we walk before God, serving
him in the sanctuary, accepted by the blood and righteousness
of Christ. I have used illustrations speaking
of a child trying to please his father and the father looks at
the child's efforts and is pleased with the child because he's making
an effort. That doesn't cover it with regard to our acceptance
with God. The Lord God takes Don Fortner. The Lord God takes Don Fortner. in the totality of his life. As he rises every morning and
goes through every day and comes in every evening and lies down
every night, Don Fortner, aware of his failures, his hardness
of heart, his corruption of nature, his mishandling of things, his
abuse of things, Don Fortner. serving God in his sanctuary. And he smells nothing but perfection,
nothing but righteousness, nothing but holiness. You understand
that, David? He accepts us in the totality
of our lives in his sword. So it doesn't matter whether
you're in your shop working on computer, or you're in the garage
working on your car, or you're in the kitchen fixing a meal
for your family, or you're in the pulpit preaching, or in your
closet praying, or in the study preparing a message, or seeking
to go to the mission field and preach the gospel, God accepts
us, not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has
done and who he is. He accepts us in his Son, with
his Son, as his Son. In verse eight, the Lord God
required Aaron to set fresh bread on the golden table every Sabbath
day. There's more here than I can
say. But this is certainly and distinctly
a word of instruction to God's servants. Preachers particularly. The bread was to be prepared
before it was brought to the tabernacle. It was to be freshly
prepared. Every Saturday the priest was
required to set fresh bread on the table in the house of God.
I just read this afternoon Comment by Robert Hawker, he said, I
don't know that it was so, but the Jews have a tradition, one
of those things they've passed along generation after generation.
As the priest would set the bread on the table, there'd be one
priest here and one priest here. So that as soon as this loaf
was moved, a fresh one took its place. So there was never any
lack of fresh bread on the table. So gospel preachers, must come
to the house of God with fresh bread and set the bread on the
table before the Lord, feeding the children of God with the
bread of God. That means, Fred Evans, you and
I have a tremendous weight of responsibility. I have said many times, speaking
to preachers in groups when I had an occasion to do so, to give
some instruction. You labor in the word. If that
means you have to stay up all night Saturday night, stay up
all night Saturday night. You labor in the word. If that
means you have to give up time with your family, you give up
time with your family. Our business is to set bread
on the table for God's people. Fresh bread for the feeding of
their souls. And the bread with which we feed
them is Jesus Christ and him crucified. as the bread was brought
before the people and placed in the holy place on the golden
altar, on the golden table. Every Sabbath day, so Christ
the bread of God shall be brought out on the morning of the great
eternal Sabbath awaiting us and set gloriously before his people
forever. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the
one who saved me by his grace. What a day, glorious day that
will be. One more thing. The two rows of bread, six loaves
in a row, sitting upon that golden table, suggest the blessed fellowship
unity and oneness of God's Church. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 10.
1 Corinthians 10. God's Israel in this gospel age
is one tribe. In 1 Corinthians 10 verse 16,
we're going to, in just a few moments, celebrate the Lord's
Supper together. And this refers specifically
to what we're about to do. First Corinthians 10, 16. The
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion, the
fellowship of the blood of Christ? We take that cup of wine and
drink it together in sweet fellowship in and with and by the sin atoning
blood of the Lord Jesus. The bread which we break, is
it not the communion, the fellowship of the body of Christ? We take
each of us a piece of the bread, representing the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ. For we being many are one bread
and one body. For we are all partakers of that
one bread. We are one in Christ. That's
our unity, our peace, our joy, our strength. These loaves sat
on the table one beside the other, each closely connected with the
other. I would urge you to read again
third chapter of Colossians. The words one another are used
again and again and again because believers live not for themselves
and to themselves, but for one another. Believers do. I didn't say they ought to, I
said they do. They live not for themselves,
but for their brethren. We live to love and serve one
another, being kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. We live
to serve one another because we're one. Now I can tell you
what you're not likely to see me do. You're not likely to see
me take a hammer and smash that finger right there. You might
see me do it to somebody else, but not me. Because if I smash
that finger, I'm smashing my finger, and I hurt. Then put away all evil communication. all malice, all anger, and all
wrath from among you. Just put it away. Just put it
away. Well, I'm some man. Do always
what you ought to do, not what you want to do. Behave like you
ought to. If you injure your brother, you're
just injuring yourself. If you injure your sister, you're
only injuring yourself. If you speak ill of your brother,
you speak ill of yourself. You speak ill of your sister,
you speak ill of yourself. One last thought. God's Israel,
God's church, is always one before him. I find this interesting,
these 12 loaves covered with pure frankincense, arranged in
divine order on the table of pure gold, standing in the place
before the Lord in the holy place, standing in the light of the
golden candlestick, display the unity, the indissoluble unity
of God's Israel. Over in 2 Chronicles 13, you'll
find that even after the revolt of the 10 tribes, there were
still 12 loaves on the table. Even after the 10 tribes revolted
and Israel was divided into the northern tribes and the southern
tribes, there were still 12 loaves on the table. because the purpose
of God, according to election, stands and cannot be altered. God's people are one. We ought always to behave as
such. The church of God is one body,
the body of Christ, already seated as one with him in glory. Not
one member shall ever be severed from that body. Let me never
sever myself from one member. all Israel shall be saved. This is the everlasting memorial
of God's honor and glory. Like those 12 stones, Joshua
stood up after they came across Jordan. Like those 12 stones,
Elijah stood up before the prophets of Baal. These 12 loaves in the
tabernacle declare to the glory of God our Savior, whose name
is called Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. And that's the message of the
table of showbread. Oh, what sweet bread we find
in our Redeemer. What nourishing bread for our
souls. What encouraging bread with which
to feed the people of God. how anxious, how anxious we ought
to be constantly to feast upon him who is the bread of life. God, give us grace to do so. Amen.