OUTLINE FIVE

FURTHER SIGNIFICANCES
OF THE LORD'S TABLE MEETING

Scripture Reading: Heb. 7:1; 6:20; Gen. 14:18; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; Luke 22:30; 1 Cor. 10:16, 18, 7, 14, 21; 11:26, 29

1. The Lord's table meeting as the nourishing feast of the processed Triune God is related to Christ's priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec.
   1. Our Lord Jesus has become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec—Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:15-17; Zech. 6:13.
   2. Melchisedec, king of Salem (peace) and king of righteousness, ministered bread and wine to Abraham (Gen. 14:18), and the Lord Jesus ministered bread and wine to His disciples.
      1. Our basis for coming to the Lord's table is righteousness and peace (Rom. 3—5).
         1. Righteousness has been reckoned to us, and we have been justified.
         2. As a result, we enjoy peace.
      2. The bread and wine on the table signify the processed God, who as the embodiment of God, has been processed that He might be ministered into us.
         1. The bread signifies the life supply, and the wine signifies the blood which accomplishes redemption in order to quench our thirst.
         2. Christ passed through the process of death on the cross that He might be our life supply with the redeeming wine (the redeeming liquid of life; cf. Lev. 17:11) to quench our thirst, which came from being under God's condemnation.
      3. Melchisedec's coming to minister the bread and wine to Abraham, the father of the called race, signifies Christ's coming to minister Himself as the processed God into us.
   3. Today our Christ is not the sacrifice-offering High Priest; He is the bread-and-wine ministering High Priest.
      1. Christ's eternal priesthood and heavenly ministry is for God's original purpose to impart, dispense, and work Himself into us for His corporate expression.
      2. He has redeemed us and now He feeds us.
      3. We need to come forward to the throne of grace to our Melchisedec, the One who ministers the processed God as grace into us to be our daily supply for our enjoyment.
   4. Christ, our great High Priest typified by Melchisedec, intercedes for us and ministers the processed God with the divine blessing to those who fight for God's interest as Abraham did—Gen. 14:17-24; Heb. 7:1, 25.
2. The Lord established His table with the bread and the cup to replace the feast of the Passover, because He was going to fulfill the type and be the real Passover to us—Matt. 26:17-30; 1 Cor. 5:7.
   1. The table of the Passover was the table of the Old Testament economy (Matt. 26:17-25), but the Lord's table as the fulfillment and replacement of the Passover is the table of the New Testament economy (vv. 26-30).
   2. Now we are keeping the real feast of Unleavened Bread—Matt. 26:17; 1 Cor. 5:8.
      1. The feast of Unleavened Bread was a feast of seven days (Lev. 23:6) and was called the Passover—Luke 22:1; Mark 14:1.
      2. Actually, the feast of the Passover was the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread—Exo. 12:15-20.
   3. Other significances of the Lord's table as typified by the Passover:
      1. The Passover signifies a new start because it took place in the first month of the year (Exo. 12:2; 13:4); at the Lord's table, we should be reminded that we need a new start, a new beginning on the eighth day, which is the first day of the week and a day in resurrection.
      2. At the Lord's table, as typified by the Passover, we should be reminded that we were destined to die under God's righteous judgment, but God prepared Christ to be our replacement to die for us.
      3. At the Lord's table, as typified by the Passover, we should be reminded that we do not belong to ourselves but to the One who died for us; now we should enjoy Him for our entire life.
      4. At the Lord's table, as typified by the Passover, we partake of a feast to enjoy Christ in the presence of God; this enjoyment is a mutual satisfaction to God and us.
   4. The feast of the Passover, the feast of the Lord's table, and the feast in the kingdom (Luke 22:16; Matt. 26:29) are actually one feast in three stages—the Old Testament stage, the New Testament stage, and the kingdom stage.
      1. The Lord's table is a replacement and continuation of the Old Testament feast of Passover.
      2. The New Testament feast of the Lord's table will be replaced and continued by the feast in the coming kingdom of God when the Savior will feast with the overcoming saints—Luke 22:30; 13:28-29.