From verse 27 we see that the rings were close to the border as receptacles for the poles to carry the table. This signifies that both the linking and the moving are dependent on the connecting and strengthening. We have seen that the frame was for connecting and strengthening and that the rings were for linking and moving. The fact that the rings were close to the frame indicates that the linking and the moving are dependent on the connecting and the strengthening. If among us there is no connecting or strengthening, there cannot be any linking or moving. If we are disconnected from one another, we shall not have the strengthening. Then it will be impossible to have the linking or the moving. But because we have the connecting and the strengthening, we also have the linking and the moving. How meaningful it is that the golden rings were placed close to the connecting and strengthening frames!
Verse 28 speaks of the poles: “And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold; and the table shall be carried with them.” Once again, the acacia wood signifies Christ’s humanity. Here the poles made of acacia wood signify that Christ’s humanity is the strength for moving. The fact that these poles were overlaid with gold signifies that Christ’s divinity is the expression of the move of the table. The acacia wood is the strength, and the gold is the expression of God in His move. Furthermore, the poles made of acacia wood overlaid with gold signify that the move of Christ as our life supply is by His two natures mingled as one.
Verse 29 says, “And you shall make its dishes, and its cups, and its jars, and its sacrificial bowls with which to pour a drink offering; you shall make them of pure gold.” The dishes were for displaying the bread. When you serve a meal, you put the food in serving dishes. In the same principle, the dishes were used for displaying the bread.
The cups contained frankincense. Frankincense signifying Christ’s resurrection was poured upon the bread of the Presence displayed on the table. The cups were used to contain this liquid frankincense. The jars and sacrificial bowls were used for pouring the drink offering.
All these utensils were made of pure gold. This signifies that the divine nature of Christ is the means through which we partake of Him as our life supply and our offering to God.
If we consider our experience as Christians, we shall know that this interpretation of the details related to the table is accurate. Praise the Lord that He is God’s ark and our table! He is the embodiment of God’s testimony and also the feast for our enjoyment. As the ark, the law is within Him and the cherubim are upon Him. As the table, the bread of the Presence is displayed on Him. If we remain in the tabernacle to serve God, we shall enjoy Christ as such a portion.
Exodus 25:30 says, “And you shall put upon the table bread of the Presence before Me continually.” The King James Version and other versions adopt the rendering showbread in place of bread of the Presence. In the Old Testament the bread on this table in the Holy Place has two names: the first, found here in Exodus, is the bread of the Presence; the second, found in 1 Chronicles 9:32, is the bread of arrangement. In both places the King James Version says showbread. This expression is very close in meaning to the bread of arrangement. When the bread was arranged in a certain way, there was a show, a display, of the bread. However, by the term showbread we do not have any realization that the bread is related to the presence of God. This bread is not only for a show, display, or arrangement; it is also the bread of the Presence.
The bread of the Presence is surely an unusual expression. In ordinary language we do not have such a term, for this is not part of our culture. People do not ordinarily speak of the food of God’s presence. But this is precisely the meaning of the term bread of the Presence. It denotes the food of God’s presence. Actually, the Hebrew word means face. Hence, verse 30 speaks of the presence-bread or of the face-bread. When you have this bread, you have God’s presence, God’s face. Furthermore, when you eat this bread, you eat the presence of God, the face of God. Therefore, this bread is not merely for show or display.
We have pointed out that the table of the bread of the Presence was not far from the ark of the testimony. This table was thus before God, in His presence.
Perhaps we can illustrate the significance of the bread of the Presence by pointing to the delight a mother has in preparing a favorite meal for her son. Although a certain mother may be in her seventies and her son in his fifties, she still loves him and enjoys cooking for him. Suppose her son comes to visit her after an absence of several years. The elderly mother may prepare a meal she enjoyed cooking for her son and that he especially enjoyed eating when he was young. She recalls that her beloved son enjoys this particular dish very much. Thus, she prepares the meal for him and serves it to him. As he eats the food she has prepared, her eyes are upon him. He enjoys this meal in his mother’s presence. Therefore, this food is the food of his mother’s presence, his mother’s face. In a sense, this meal is virtually the presence of his mother. By eating this food, he eats his mother’s presence. When he eats this food before his mother, it becomes the food of his mother’s presence. In like manner, the bread on the table in the Holy Place is the bread of God’s presence.
This bread is very different from manna. Manna could be gathered and eaten far away from God’s face. We have indicated that no matter where they may be, Christians may have manna without God’s presence. If we consider our past experience as believers, we shall be able to confirm this. Did you not experience manna years ago, before you came into the church life in the Lord’s recovery? But did you enjoy God’s presence at that time? Now in the midst of the built-up saints we have a portion of Christ with God’s presence. Although words cannot explain this adequately, if we have had the experience, we shall also have the understanding. Praise the Lord for the bread of the divine presence, the bread of God’s face! In the church life we are feasting on the face of God.
The presence-bread, the face-bread, signifies Christ as the food of God’s priests. This food was to be enjoyed by them in God’s presence and it was to bring them into His presence. We know from our experience that when we enjoy Christ as such a portion, this enjoyment brings us into the presence of God. Actually we are enjoying Christ as our life supply in God’s presence.