As the Lord Jesus taught His disciples on the Emmaus road, He showed them many glorious things out of the Scriptures. But before He did this, He rebuked them with the words “fools and slow of heart to believe.” He then went on to show that the entire Old Testament was talking about Him. This is a rebuke we still need.
We have come now to the Lord’s Supper, and we have it on the Lord’s authority that this is also prefigured in the Old Testament in many ways. This is the heavenly manna, down from heaven. This is the meat of the Passover lamb, and the broken bread of the Passover meal. This cup is Jeremiah’s new covenant. This is the meal that the elders of Israel shared on the mountain with Jehovah. This is the fruit of the tree of life.
But this morning, you are invited to think of it as a table prepared for you in the presence of your enemies. In the midst of conflict, and impending war, and disaster, and terrors on every side, and rumors of battle, God invites you to sit and eat. He does not do so because your enemies are imaginary. They are present. But their role is to see that you share table fellowship with the God of heaven, the God of battles, and they do not. They are envious, and filled with hatred. You are to be filled, but not with glee, not with malice, not with your own wisdom. You are to be filled with the bread and wine of grace.