This is a meal indeed, but it is also preparation for the Meal. It is a true Supper, but it is not the final Supper. All of history is God’s preparation for the final Table of rejoicing, the great Supper of the Lamb.
In one way we certainly are at the Table. Sit and eat, sit and drink. But in another sense we are all still in the kitchen. We take a morsel on the run, the way a cook might taste how the food is coming along. We are still pilgrims, and this is why it is a privilege to snitch from the hors d’oeuvres tray, sitting there by the kitchen door. There is food here, there is camaraderie here, but there is also a mess and quite a bit of hurly burly. If you are frazzled, or distracted, calm your spirit. Quiet your heart. Peek out the door—the ultimate Table is set, and it is waiting for us there.
We must always remember that history is fluid, not static, and this means remembering that God is taking us somewhere. An understanding of where He is taking us, and all human history, and all the nations of men, is an eschatological understanding. One of the reasons conservations discourage so easily is that they don’t have a robust eschatology. Without a robust eschatology, every battle becomes the whole war. But this is not how God is governing things at all.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.