a week or so ago, if you really want to see a portrait of Christ, look in the Old Testament. Look in the Old Testament and look at these types, these pictures, and we have a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this morning we are going to look at the Table of Showbread. Now, showbread means bread of faces or bread of presents, that s what it means. And the meaning is very important. So this morning we are going to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who brings us into the presence of God. Christ is the bread of life, He's the bread of presence, He's the showbread.

Now we're given, we're given in this first, or in verse 23, what the table is going to be made of. It's to be made of shidum wood, that is the acacia wood, that acacia tree. It grew in the desert, and we went over this before, but we're gonna go over it again, because that's what we do. We go over it again and again and again. Line upon line, precept upon precept, this is how we learn. and this wood was resistant to rot and decay is what it was resistant to.

And this shows us a real good picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this fallen world and remained holy, knew no sin. Though He came into a sinful world, an ungodly world, yet He Himself knew no sin. He knew no sin. We see that in 2 Corinthians 5 21. And this table was to be overlaid with gold, speaking of His divine nature. If Christ were only a man, He could not save us. If He were only God, He could not represent us.

BUT BEING THE GOD-MAN, HE IS OUR PERFECT SAVIOR. HE'S THE PERFECT SAVIOR. HE'S THE ONE WE NEED. GOD HAS PROVIDED IN HIS SON EVERYTHING WE NEED. LISTEN TO ISAIAH 12, VERSE 2. BEHOLD, GOD IS MY SALVATION. I WILL TRUST AND NOT BE AFRAID. FOR THE LORD JEHOVAH IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG. HE ALSO IS BECOME MY SALVATION. He has become my salvation. And the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty, has become my salvation.

Now this table had a crown of gold round about it. And the reason it was round about, this crown of gold was round about it, it kept all that was put on the top of it from falling off. The bread, the frankincense, it kept them from falling off. Christ, our King, keeps His people from falling away. We are secure in Him. We are secure in Him. We are, as I said before, we are like being in an ocean, being in Christ like being in an ocean, just surrounded by, engulfed by that great vast of water.

Now on this table here was twelve loaves of bread called the showbread. And the priests put this on this table every Sabbath. And they would take off the old bread and they did not throw it away. They did not discard it. They ate it. Those twelve loaves were eaten by the priest and they were eaten in the holy place. That's how they handled it.

Our Lord said in John 6, verse 51, He said, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. It struck me, and I was watching, even last night I was watching a piece on how to make bread and how they would take that fermented dough, that yeast, or we call it in the scripture called leaven, and they'd put it in this bread they were making and they'd let it sit and it'd ferment and it would rise.

And that yeast they put in there is a living organism. The bread that you and I eat called light bread, it's dead bread. There's no living organism in it. The yeast is killed in the process. That's so much like false religion. The bread we eat on our tables is like false religion, there's no life in it.

But that bread that they made back in those days, it had that living organism in it. And they would take from that yeast and they'd put it in that, it's called starter, and they'd put it in that bread, and they'd put it in more bread, and it just kept going. And I read this this morning, Christ said, I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live.

He shall live forever. And the priests, now as I said, as they would change this out, they would eat this bread and they were the only ones who were allowed to eat it in the holy place. What does the scripture say about us? It says we have been made kings and priests unto God. We are allowed to eat and feast on the Lord Jesus Christ continually. And something else I read this week that's interesting.

When the tabernacle was moved, when it was moved, they did not take the bread off, they didn't take any of that stuff off the table. Here's the interesting, they laid a blue cloth over the table and they would place the articles on the table, they'd place it on the table.

That blue represents FROM ABOVE. Christ said, I AM FROM ABOVE. And then it was taken and over the bread and articles that were on the table, a SCARLET, a SCARLET CLOTH was laid over the table. And I thought of the song and I was telling Craig, under the blood, under the blood. When the priest took those staves and put them in there and they carried it, it was under the blood.

But you know what was over top of that? Badger skin. Badger skin. The humanity of Christ, the blood of Christ, and then Christ from above, that blue cloth that was laid over. were laid on the table in the scarlet in the badger skin all of that resembles the Lord Jesus Christ it speaks of him they didn't take the bread off and put it in a sack and carry it it did not leave the table it stayed on the table and they just covered it and then the priest carried it I thought that was so interesting when I was reading that yesterday. You'll find that over in Numbers 4 verse 7 and 8 if you want to read it sometime.

That gives, when the tabernacle is moved, a description is given how everything is to be handled and how everything is to be moved. I mean it was very particular. But what we have here is this, we have the presence of God restored. In Christ, in Christ our tabernacle, the presence of God is restored. As I said, the bread is called the Bread of Presence or the Bread of Faces. And this points us to the presence of God. What is our greatest need here this morning? What's our greatest need? Here's our greatest need, the presence of the Lord. THIS IS NOT A WORSHIP SERVICE IF HE'S NOT HERE. WE NEED HIS PRESENCE. THAT'S OUR GREATEST NEED THIS MORNING.

AND IF WE HAVE HIM, IF WE HAVE HIM, WE HAVE THE PRESENCE OF GOD. FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, IN HIM DWELLETH ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. SO IF WE HAVE CHRIST HERE THIS MORNING, AND HE SAID WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN MY NAME, There am I in the midst.

I do not come out here and preach at any time that I don't think, Lord, and pray, Lord be with us this morning. And I expect Him to. I expect the Lord to be with us. How solemn does that make this service? That the Lord is with us. The Lord, we have His presence. We honestly have His presence here with us. And we need His presence. We need His presence. I know this.

I know God is everywhere. It says in Psalm 139, Whither shall I flee from thy presence? God is omnipresent. God is everywhere. There's no place He's not. He said, If I take the wings and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, thou art there. You're there. There's nowhere I can go that God is not. He said the darkness is like light before you. The darkness of night hides nothing from God. It's His light before God. Our greatest need is God to be here personally, to have His personal presence.

You know, in Eden, Eden the Garden of Eden Adam enjoyed the presence of God for a while, and I think it was a short while But after he rebelled and sinned against God listen to Genesis 3 8 and and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord they heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and That voice is Christ. They heard Him walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And it says that Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God. Cain went even further.

It says in Genesis 4.16 that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. He went away from the presence of God.

Says he went eastward and he set up camp in Nod. Nod means exile. Nod means vagabond. That's what he was. He was a vagabond in the earth. That's what he was. And he went eastward. You know, when God cast Adam out of the garden, God put flaming swords at the east. I told you this here a week or two ago, at the east of the garden, flaming swords. Adam, when he was kicked out, went eastward. That represents going away from God. And Cain went further away. And that's what man does, he keeps going further away.

UNLESS GOD STOPS US! UNLESS GOD DRAWS US! UNLESS HE DOES LIKE HE DID TO PAUL ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS! THROW US IN THE DUST! UNLESS HE DOES THAT, WE WILL KEEP GOING EASTWARD! WE WILL KEEP GOING FURTHER AWAY FROM GOD! I TOLD YOU THIS, THAT'S THE REASON WHY, WHEN THE TABERNACLE WAS MADE IN THE COURTYARD, THERE WAS ONE GATE!

AND THERE WAS ONE DOOR! in the tabernacle and it was put in the eastern part so man had to turn around to come back to god he had to turn around and come back but thank god he made a way for us to come back christ said i'm the door if any man enter in he shall be saved I'm the door.

God made a way back to Himself, and Jesus Christ is that way. He's not one of the ways. Jesus Christ is not one of the ways to God. He's the only way to God, the only way. Christ restores what was lost. At the table of showbread, we see God's presence restored. The table here represents, as I said, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we have God's presence. And the bread represents His people. There was twelve loaves of bread there. Twelve loaves. Representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Representing all the children of God. Representing all His children. But I thought of 1 John 4, 17, As He is, so are we in this world. Christ is the bread and we are the bread. Let me show you that in 1 Corinthians. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians 10, look at verse 16 and 17. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

For we being many, I mean there's 12 loaves on that table, we being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread." Listen, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. We are partakers of that one Spirit. We are partakers of that one bread, the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's something interesting.

WE HAVE THE TABLE THAT'S MADE OF SHITTUM WOOD, IT'S OVERLAYED WITH GOLD, AND THESE TWELVE LOWS IN TWO STACKS, ONE OF SIX, IT IS PUT ON THE TABLE. AND A THOUGHT STRUCK ME THIS MORNING HOW THAT CHRIST BEARS UP and carries His people. They didn't take that bread off the table when they moved it. They just covered it. It was covered with blue, scarlet, and badger skin. And then they carried it to the next location. Christ bears up and carries His people. We are NEVER apart from Christ. We are NEVER separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. EVER! AS THAT BREAD RESTED ON THE TABLE, SO REST WE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. WE REST IN HIM.

In Exodus 33, verse 14, MY PRESENCE WILL GO WITH YOU, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. God said, MY PRESENCE WILL GO WITH YOU. Moses said this, IF YOUR PRESENCE GO NOT WITH US, DO NOT LEAD US UP. If your presence doesn't go with us, don't let us go. Don't let us go there. This ought to be a prayer that we pray all the time. We should constantly pray, especially when we endeavor to do something. We should always pray, Lord, if it be your will, If your presence goes with me. If not, don't let me go there. Don't let this happen. Don't let this happen. I never want to be where God is not.

Where His special presence is not. Now we have the blessing of God's presence. When we have God's presence, We have courage. We have courage. He said, I am with you wherever you go. He said this to Joshua. Turn over to Joshua chapter 1. In Joshua chapter 1, look in verse 9. Have not I commanded thee?

Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. The Lord said in Hebrews, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. I will not, I will not, I will not. ever leave you or forsake you." That ought to give us real courage, shouldn't it? It should ENCOURAGE us, is what it should do. And then His presence, when God is present, it calms our fears.

In Isaiah 43, when you pass through the waters, not if, it's just when, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. You're gonna pass through the waters. Trials are gonna come, God's going to send trials. He's gonna send trials. But here's His promise, I'll be with you. I'll be with you.

His presence brings joy to His people. Psalm 1611, in your presence is fullness of joy. FULLNESS OF JOY! Not just joy, but FULLNESS OF JOY! Those who are in His presence right now in Heaven, they are experiencing FULLNESS OF JOY! Now we've never experienced the absolute fullness of joy because of sin. Sin doesn't let us do that. That old nature we have will not let us do that. But one day when we lay this all down, we will experience the fullness of joy in God's presence. We will be in God's presence and we will be in God's presence forever and ever and ever. That never stops. It just goes on.

Now we have a warning here. Let us not take this for granted. David lost this joy, didn't he? Through sin, David lost it. Turn over to Psalm 51. I'm having you to turn a little more this morning, so I want you to read it from the Scriptures. In Psalm 51, Let me see what verse I had written down. Verse 11 and 12. CAST ME NOT AWAY FROM THY PRESENCE, TAKE NOT THY HOLY SPIRIT FROM ME, LISTEN, RESTORE UNTO ME THE JOY OF THY SALVATION, AND UPHOLD ME WITH THY FREE SPIRIT.

How do you lose that joy? sin, sin. We cannot lose our salvation in Christ, we cannot lose that because it's not on our shoulders. The responsibility of our salvation is in Jesus Christ alone, He's our surety. HE'S OUR SACRIFICE, HIS BLOOD IS THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT ON OUR BEHALF, HE'S OUR PRIEST, HE'S EVERYTHING WE NEED TO STAND BEFORE GOD, WISDOM, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION AND REDEMPTION. WE CANNOT LOSE OUR SALVATION, BUT WE CAN LOSE THE JOY OF IT. THAT FELLOWSHIP CAN BE BROKEN BY SIN, IT CAN. IT CAN.

Now we have here, I said it was the bread of presence. I've been talking about the presence of God. Now let me talk about the face of God. It also means the bread of faces. And this points us, I believe, to a little deeper relationship with God. In Exodus 33, 11, it says, God spoke to Moses face to face.

Face-to-face. When you speak face-to-face with someone, all of you are present here. That's obvious. But then when we talk to each other, we are face-to-face. We are having a fellowship. We're talking, we're communicating to one another. Face-to-face is a little deeper relationship going on here.

TO SEEK HIS FACE, NOW LISTEN, TO SEE HIS FACE, TO SEEK HIS FACE IS TO SEEK HIM, NOT JUST HIS BLESSINGS. MOST PEOPLE, NOT GOD'S PEOPLE, NOT GOD'S PEOPLE, BUT ALL THOSE IN FALSE RELIGION, THEY SEEK THE BLESSINGS THEY CAN GET OUT OF HIM. That's why these televangelists are so popular. They're always talking about health and wealth and what they can get out of God. Salvation is not about what you and I can get out of Him.

It's about a relationship. It's about being made one with God. It's communion. It's fellowship with God again, our Creator, our Savior. That's what salvation is. It's not missing hell and going to heaven. It's being made one with God. It's fellowship with God. That's what it is. That's what salvation is. Be saved from my sins, that I can be brought into heaven and have eternal communion with God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that is.

When we have God's face, we have His favor and blessings. Psalm 67 1 God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us shine upon us when God's face shines upon us it means we have his grace it means we have his blessing we have his approval if his face shines upon us You know, God said at one place, no man can see my face and live. But now we can. Now we can.

When we see the Lord Jesus Christ, we see the face of God. We see the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we see God's glory. Now we see something of God's glory in creation. What a beautiful creation God has created even with sin in it, it's still beautiful. This earth is still beautiful. But to see God's glory, His chief glory, is to see it in the face of Jesus Christ.

And the only way you can do that is to let God give you a revelation of Christ. Not seeing some vision, but for Him to open up your mind and your understanding and you say, I SEE! I see. I understand. I understand who God is. I understand who I am, what I am. I understand that. And I understand how God can save me and be a just God in doing so through the Lord Jesus Christ. I understand that. And you know why I understand it? John tells us, Before the Son of God hath come and given us an understanding. He's given us an understanding that we may know Him, that we may know Him.

And we are called upon in the scriptures to seek His face. Listen here in Psalm 27, 8. When thou saidest, Seek ye my face. Now you're seeking somebody's face, you're seeking a person. You're seeking a particular person. Seeking my faith. My heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

James says this, James 4 verse 8. Draw near to God. Now these are promises. When we read the Word of God, read it as the Word of God. Here's what He says, and this is a promise. DRAW NEAR TO GOD AND HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU. DRAW NEAR TO GOD AND HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU. THAT'S A PROMISE. IT'S NOT DRAW NEAR TO GOD AND HE MIGHT DRAW NEAR TO YOU. NO, HE WILL. GOD WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU, HE SAID.

TO SEEK GOD'S FACE MEANS TO SEEK GOD HIMSELF. IT MEANS TO SEEK COMMUNION with God. Do we really take time by ourselves to seek fellowship and communion with God Almighty? I know most of the time, 99% of the time, we are always praying and asking God for something.

And that's all right, cast all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you. But we need to take time just to call upon Him and to ask Him, Lord, would You commune with my heart today? Would You speak to my heart? Would You enable me to have fellowship with You today? And press upon my mind, as I go throughout this day, and press upon my mind scriptures that speak of You. Thoughts of you. Impress upon my mind, thoughts of you. Every now and then we ought to do that. Actually, we ought to do it all the time.

You know, God knows our needs, doesn't he? Is there anything we need that God doesn't know about? Our greatest desire should be to seek fellowship with the Lord. To know Him more and more and more. I ask the Lord. I often ask the Lord to enable me to know Him more and more and more. Because I know I cannot exhaust the knowledge of God. I cannot exhaust knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot exhaust knowing the Infinite God. God who can't be measured. You can't exalt something that can't be measured.

It's seeking communion with God. It's desiring His presence above everything else. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And I desire none on earth beside Thee, more than Thee. My desire, Lord, is to you make it grow. Make my desire to you to grow. That will make dying so much easier when we really desire now to be with the Lord, to know the Lord, to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, just our minds and hearts just set on Him. Desiring his presence above everything. I've got to show you this in 2 Samuel. Let me get a drink of water. In 2 Samuel. You'll get there before I do, so wait on me. 2 Samuel. I guess you'll have to. I haven't given you the verse yet. And 2 Samuel 19, this is what I'm talking about.

2 Samuel 19, in verse 29, now you know the story of Mephibosheth and Ziba, David, you know that story and what Ziba did to Mephibosheth. If not, go back and read this chapter. And the king, it's King David, said to Mephibosheth, that's who he's talking to, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters of this matter? I have said, Thou and Ziba, you divide the land, both of you divide the land. Now listen, And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take it all.

This is beautiful. Let Him take it all. He can have all the material things of this world. For as much as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto His own house. Oh, this is what Christ is. If I have Christ, I have it all. I have it all. If the family wants to fight over the inheritance, let them have it. There, take it all. My parents passed away and they were talking about the inheritance and all that.

You don't have to call me. I did. You don't have to call me. There's seven of us kids. We had no trouble in any way, shape or form, but they can have it all. I have the game. I have the King. I have it all. You're looking at a very, very rich man. Very, very rich. All things are yours in Christ. I have it all. I have it all. You remember Abraham and Lot? Their husband was fighting, And Abraham told Lot, he said that, you know, we're gonna have to separate here. You know what Abraham said to Lot?

I'm gonna paraphrase. You go wherever you want, you take whatever you want, I'll take what's left. He didn't know. Abraham, listen, Abraham had the authority here. He could have said, Lot, you see that place over there, that desert place? You go over there, you and your scoundrels that are fighting with my men, you guys go over there. But he said, Lot, that was just his nephew. He said, you take whatever you want, I'll take what's left. But you know what the beauty of this story is? After Lot left, after he left, God said, Abraham, lift up your eyes.

I'm going to give all this to you. It's all yours. That's beautiful, isn't it? That's so beautiful. It's all yours. This is my father's world. I wouldn't be lying if someone asked me about my father and asked him what he owned, I'd say he owns it all. Would I be lying? That's the absolute truth. My father owns it all. He said he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He didn't say he owned a thousand cattle on a hill. He said I own the cattle on a thousand hills. They're all mine. They're all mine. Everything belongs to my Lord.

And He gives to me what He can wisely give me, what I can handle. What I can handle. So don't complain about your lot. Don't complain about you don't have enough of this or that. If you can handle more, God will give it to you. What you ought to pray is, Lord give me WISDOM to handle what you have given me. And then He may give you more. Oh my soul!

My, my soul! now all this i've been talking about the presence of the lord the presence of god the face of god all of us fulfilled in the lord jesus christ because god's face is revealed in christ christ said he that has seen me has seen the father he's seen the father in john 14 paul speaking in second corinthians turn over second corinthians chapter 4 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and look in verse 6 for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts And this is interesting because he's speaking here about the beginning of creation.

What's the first thing God commanded? He said, let there be light. God did not ask creation if he could create. Listen, this is important. There's some real truth here that's a blessing if we can understand it. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has SHINED IN OUR HEARTS!

He didn't ask me if he could! One day I went to my parents' house, sat down, my dad said, that man's preaching the gospel, and I sat there and God SHINED IN MY HEART! He commanded the light of the gospel to SHINE IN MY HEART! He didn't ask me if He could. He just did it. He commanded.

Light and life. Has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I've seen it! And I see it. I see God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ, in the person. You see, a face reveals a person. So when we're talking about a face, we're talking about a person. And I see God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ.

I see it. I see it. I can't unsee it. I can't unsee it. You know, if you see something, you can't unsee it. That's why you need to be careful what you see, because you can't unsee it. You can't unsee it. And once God commands that light you see, you can never unsee it.

To see Christ is to see God's character revealed. To see Christ is to see God's love displayed. To see Christ is to see God's heart opened. He is Jesus Christ, He is the visible expression of the invisible God. now the final promise and i'll close one day one day and it's going it's a it's a short day it's a short day we will fully see his face in revelation 22 4 it says they shall see his face And 1 Corinthians 13, 12, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. Here's the climax of faith, when faith gives way to sight and we see, we see Jesus Christ and seeing Him we see God, we see God. Now, in conclusion, seeing the face of God means having His attention.

God turned towards you. He has turned towards you. It's having His intimacy, knowing Him. Here's what that means, knowing Him personally. WE KNOW HIM PERSONALLY. WE HAVE HIS FAVOR, HIS GOODNESS SHINING ON US. You're here this morning, aren't you? You who believe, you're here this morning? And God's face is shining on us this morning. How would to God we could really get a hold of that? WE HAVE HIS FAVOR, HIS GOODNESS. WE HAVE HIS PRESENCE. NEARNESS, so near that you can experience God. WE HAVE HIS FULLNESS! WE HAVE HIS FULLNESS! WHAT WE WILL ONE DAY SEE COMPLETELY WE HAVE IN CHRIST NOW, HIS FULLNESS!

IN THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD WE DON'T JUST SEE FURNITURE! WE DON'T JUST SEE FURNITURE, SOME PEOPLE DO! The Babylonians, when they came in and they raided the temple, they saw furniture. They saw some expensive furniture. They saw gold and silver, and they said, Whoa, we hit the jackpot! We don't see furniture. We see Jesus Christ. We see Him. The One who brings us back into the presence of God, to the very face of God. Table of showbread. There's so much in that. But God's given us this as a picture of His Son, Jesus Christ, that in Him, the bread of life