As we come to the Table, Paul tells us to “behold Israel after the flesh.” Look, he says, at Israel in the Old Testament, and take special care to note how their condition was similar to yours.
We partake of Christ in the bread and wine. They were partakers of the altar as they ate the sacrifices of the altar. And the Gentiles, who sacrifice to demons, are partakers — communicants — at the table of demons.
This shows us that God has embedded covenantal realities deep within the created order. Covenants do not rest lightly on the surface; they provide the skeletal structure for all reality. Sin does not alter the fact of this skeletal covenantal arrangement, but it does dislocate and break all the bones. Covenant allegiance — of some sort — is at the center of every soul present here today.
Notice that Israelites were partakers. We are partakers. Heathen are partakers.
Ultimately, this is because there are only two tables — the table of the Lord and the table of demons. God has prohibited any attempt to work both tables — the one who moves back and forth between the tables is inviting God to strike him down. The one who partakes of sin and unbelief is lost in what he eats.
But the one who eats at the table of the Lord, in evangelical faith, is given the great privilege of eating and drinking salvation. If the abuse of the table is tantamount to shoveling down damnation, what is it to approach the table in genuine faith? God has indeed set this table with pleasant food.