Friday, August 22, 2008

The Table of Favor

Remember me, O LORD,
With the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.
(Psalm 106:4-5)
When we take the bread and the cup at the Table of the Lord, it is a sign that God has answered this request. He has remembered us and shown us the favor He has for His people, for Jesus has given His body and shed His blood on our behalf. In Him we have become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). God now looks upon us just as He looks upon Jesus.

Another word for “favor” is “grace.” The Table the Lord Jesus has prepared for us is a deep revelation of His grace. In Him, God comes to us with His “salvation.” The Hebrew word there is yeshuah, which speaks of deliverance, healing, prosperity and victory. The name form of this word is Yeshua, the Hebrew name of Jesus.

At His Table, we can experience the benefit of His chosen ones, the intimacy of His presence. The HCSB has “That I may enjoy the prosperity of Your chosen ones.” This is the prosperity of soul that comes from knowing Him, the prosperity from which all other prosperity comes (3 John 2).

At His Table, we can celebrate with the delirious joy of His people, as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation — His own special people. Once we were not a people; now we are the people of God. Once we did not receive mercy; now we have received the mercy of God (1 Peter 2:9-10).

At His Table, we can glory in the inheritance we have in Him, for we are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). He has made us partakers of His inheritance with all His people (Colossians 1:12), an inheritance that will never perish or fade away, and cannot be corrupted or defiled (1 Peter 1:4).

The Table of the Lord is the constant sign of the favor God has toward us in Jesus Christ.

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