A COVENANT KEEPING GOD

God instructed Moses for the people to take the finest flour and use it to bake twelve loaves of bread. Everything was to be carefully measured using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf.

When the bread was baked it was to be arranged in stacks. There were to be two stacks of six, or six loaves in each stack. They were to be placed on the table made of pure gold before the LORD in The Holy Place.

Each stack was to have pure incense burning beside it as a memorial reminder to God that the bread was a food offering being presented to the LORD.   This bread was to be set before the LORD every Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelis, as a lasting covenant.

Remember how a covenant was made where there were animal sacrifices cut into and separated and the person walking through the two parts with a smoking pot of fire would be pledging to always keep the covenant?

How could God see the shewbread on the golden table and not think of His covenant with Abraham?

It was a reminder; a constant weekly memorial of the covenant.

LASTING MEANS FOREVER

Notice the word “lasting” is used here.  A “lasting” covenant is a covenant that does not end.

It goes on and on and on forever.

The bread belonged to Aaron (as high priest) and his sons (as priests) and they were to eat the bread in the sanctuary area which was the most holy part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the LORD.

THE FINEST FLOUR

The ancient people called this bread the shew-bread.

Every Sabbath the bread that had been on the table all week was removed and two fresh new stacks of bread were placed there.

This bread of the Sabbath was made from the finest flour.

These were twelve large loaves. The twelve loaves represented each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

The baking process took place every Friday afternoon before the sun set. This meant that the bread would always be fresh and still warm when the Sabbath began.

These loaves were unleavened and contained no leavening ingredients.

Each loaf contained two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour; which comes to about six pints of flour in our modern ways of measuring.

Just what does God mean when He tells Moses to use “the finest flour” for this bread that will be offered up to God in The Holy Place; then fed to the High Priest and His Sons?

Historical records tell us that twenty-four seahs of wheat were beaten and ground and passed through twelve different sieves, each smaller than the other in a progressive order to make this special flour for the shew-bread.

KNEADED INTO THE PROPER SHAPE

The dough was kneaded outside the court then put into a golden mold that held the exact size and form and shape that God had requested.  

Each loaf was just enough for one man and his neighbor to share.

It was then brought into the court and taken out of the golden mold, then put into another similar mold and baked.

As soon as it was taken out of the oven the bread was put into a similar third mold. When it was turned out from this mold the cake met the exact measurements required. Each loaf contained two omers of wheat which is two tenth parts of an ephah.

AN OMER OF BREAD; OUR DAILY BREAD

It seems that an omer  (two-tenths of an ephah) of wheat for bread is the quantity which supplies the daily wants of one human being who wishes to share with his neighbor.

Each of these loaves represent the food of a man and his neighbor.

Of course we cannot read this part of the lesson without thinking of The Lord’s Prayer; that section that says:  “give us this day our daily bread.”

We now know there is a type of “physical” bread as well as a type of “spiritual” bread.  

This shewbread was mysterious to the ancient people for this reason.  

They could see the physical bread but the consecration of it gave it a mysterious, spiritual and sacred quality that they did not yet understand.

This understanding for mankind increased with the coming of Christ.

Think of the process of making the fine flour and the processes of bringing the bread before the altar of God. Every step of the way represents a part of the coming, living, dying and resurrection of Christ and the way he provides for our daily needs and redemption.

This process of making the shewbread is an amazing foretelling of the story of Messiah that is represented with all of this ancient ritual and then repeated time-after-time and year-after-year for thousands of years by God’s people.

A SABBATH CEREMONY

The shewbread was brought in by a ceremony each Sabbath.

The Mishna states that two priests would carry the piles of bread inside (six in each stack) and two priests would carry the cups of incense to place near them. Another set of priests would carry the old bread away.

Those priest who brought in the new bread stood at the north side facing southwards, and those priest who took away the old (4 more priests) stood at the south side facing northward.  Each priest had a place to be and a task to perform.

The older bread was lifted off the table and the newer bread was lifted onto the table.

The loaves that were removed were taken to the priests for their consumption within the tabernacle.

All of this amounted to seventy-five pounds of bread per week.

At the same time the old loaves were removed, the frankincense was burned on the golden altar of incense for a memorial, or an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

TRANSLATING THIS CEREMONY INTO MODERN TIMES

Does anything sound familiar here?

Do you ever participate in the act of communion?

Today, with the covering of Christ, His faithful followers are considered to be a special priesthood.

Christ stands as the High Priest today and His Sons (followers made up of believers) now stand as the ordinary priests of His Kingdom.

Each Sabbath we come before the altar of God and we are given a special bread.  It is consecrated and mysterious.  It contains the elements of life-giving healing and strength that we need in order to survive and thrive and be nurtured as God’s children.  

THE SYMBOLISM

The memorial fire burns from the incense beside it which came from the eternal flame of God’s Holy altar.  

Today we know this eternal flame is symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit.  

This is the eternal flame that keeps the sacred bread alive and working in our lives.  

We remember God’s covenant as we remember Christ and all He has done for us.  We come to communion at the table of the sanctuary that holds God’s bread.

The bread we are given is called the same as the bread given in the old testament; The Bread of The Presence.

It is one of the most mysterious parts of God’s nature; to be present with mankind.

THE MYSTERY OF THE SACRED BREAD

We take this bread into our bodies and it symbolically represents the fact that we are consuming Jesus into our souls.

He lives within us. It is a holy mystery; but anyone who has participated in this holy act has experienced the truth of it. The more you partake of communion; the more Jesus grows and lives within your heart.

The old ancient priests consuming the bread within the wilderness sanctuary were comparable to us consuming the Bread of The Presence in the holy act of communion today.

We are a peculiar people and a holy priesthood.  

Our High Priest is our LORD Jesus Christ who lived, died and rose again for us.  

He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Beloved Who will come again, The Perfect Lamb of God who is also The Lion of Judah.

He is the Bread of Life.

A RITUAL OF GOD ALMIGHTY

Holy Communion isn’t a ritual that men made up themselves.  

What would be the purpose in such a thing?

God commanded this ritual to be among His people from the very beginning of the formation of the pattern of holiness that He was forming into this nation called Israel.

This is how God taught the people to worship.  

They set the pattern for everyone who would follow in the future.

Every Sabbath we are to partake of the Bread made of the finest flour which is presented to The People of God who make up the holy priesthood of heaven.

Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, administers the blessing that multiplies the nourishment to our souls and fills our days with awe for God The Father.

A CONTINUOUS UNCHANGING PATTERN

It all started way back in the days of Moses.

How many such rituals do you know of that have continued unchanged throughout the history of mankind?

Nothing compares to this amazing act of taking the Bread of Heaven into our lives and letting it multiply out through our actions into God’s world. This is one way that our bodies are able to take on a reflection of the nature of God.

The Bread of The Presence is like the loaves and the fishes from the sermon on the Mount.  It mysteriously multiplies out to every corner of the earth through the actions of our love for God.

This is what changes everything.

In the eyes of God, this is what is necessary, right and good.

The meaning of Holy Communion grows and multiplies as you continue to partake.  It should never be skipped over or taken lightly; but treated with great and sacred respect.

God set the pattern for the faithful.

It is God’s nature to love to teach us how to be faithful.