Christ is the One greater than the temple for feeding His followers. When the Pharisees criticized the Lord’s disciples for picking ears of grain on the Sabbath, He said, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, and those who were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, except for the priests only?” (vv. 3-4). Just as David and his followers were hungry, so Christ and His disciples were hungry. The context, therefore, clearly indicates that Christ is the real temple, the One greater than the temple, for the feeding of those who follow Him.
As the One greater than the temple, Christ feeds us with Himself as the holy food-the bread of the Presence (v. 4). The bread of the Presence in verse 4 refers to the holy food, the bread on the table in the temple. The bread of the Presence signifies Christ as our life supply (John 6:35, 57). In a more particular way, it signifies Christ as the food for God’s priests, since only priests were qualified to be in the Holy Place. Today all believers in Christ are priests, and in Him as the real temple we may enjoy Him as the holy food.
On the table of the bread of the Presence twelve loaves of bread were displayed. The number twelve signifies eternal completion and perfection. Christ is our eternal bread, and our enjoyment of Him as the bread of Presence, the holy food, is eternal.
To the children of Israel the temple was a great thing, and the Sabbath was a great matter. But One came on the scene who was so great that He could declare that He was greater than the temple and assert that He was Lord of the Sabbath. He boldly said to the Pharisees, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8).
In Matthew 12:6 there is a type-fulfilling change from the temple to the person of the Lord Jesus. Now in verse 8 there is a right-asserting change from the Sabbath to the Lord of the Sabbath. As the Lord of the Sabbath, Christ had the right to change the regulations concerning the Sabbath. He could do whatever He liked on the Sabbath, and whatever He did was justified by Himself. He was above all rituals and regulations, and since He was present, no attention should have been paid to such things.
The Lord’s word, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath,” indicates His deity in His humanity. He, the Son of Man, was the very God who ordained the Sabbath, and He had the right to change what He had ordained concerning the Sabbath. It is in His humanity that Christ, the Son of Man, is Lord of the Sabbath.
Since the Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath, He has the full right to annul it, just as He had the full right to ordain it. Furthermore, the Lord Himself is the rest, the Sabbath, to us. Because we have Him as our rest and we are resting in Him all the time, the ritual of keeping the Sabbath is no longer needed. In Him and with His presence such a ritual is spontaneously annulled.
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