After God revealed the details concerning the ark of the testimony, He went on to speak not of the golden incense altar (which is the closest piece of furniture in the tabernacle to the ark) but of the table of the bread of the presence.
This table had similar dimensions – and the exact same height – as the ark, and the fact that the Lord spoke of it right after the ark indicates there’s a connection there. In the sequence of God’s revelation, the table of the bread of the presence comes after the ark, showing us that in our spiritual experience, when we see and enjoy Christ as the testimony and embodiment of God, the issue will be that we feast on Christ as the bread of God’s presence, and this will result in us becoming God’s testimony.
The table of the bread of the presence had twelve loaves of bread on it which were set there in two rows of six, sprinkled with frankincense; these were for God’s food and for the priests’ supply. The bread of the presence indicates that God wants to be His people’s life supply so that they would feed on Him, take Him in, and enjoy Him as their spiritual food.
In our spiritual experience, whenever we come to God to meet with Him upon Christ as the propitiatory cover, enjoying fellowship with God and hearing His word, the ark on which we meet becomes a table where we enjoy a nourishing feast – we feast on Christ as the bread of God’s presence.
This is according to our experience: whenever we contact God standing on the blood of Christ, this Christ as the embodiment of God becomes our feast, our supply, and our nourishment. Today we want to see more on this matter, how Christ as God’s testimony – the reality of the ark – becomes our feast for our serving supply.
Seeing Christ as God’s Embodiment issues in Enjoying Christ as the Bread of Presence
If we are enlightened by the Lord and have any veils removed from our eyes, we will see the connection between the ark of the testimony and the table of the bread of the presence. It is a fact in our spiritual experience that, whenever we have the propitiatory cover of the ark – Christ as our place of propitiation – eventually the ark becomes a table (Exo. 25:18-23).
When we take Christ as the One who is both the propitiatory sacrifice, the One who makes the propitiation, and the propitiatory place (the reality of the lid of the ark), we enter into God’s presence and have His direct speaking from His mouth.
When we come forward to the throne of grace, enjoying Christ as the propitiation place where we can meet with God in a situation of mutual satisfaction, we are under the shining of God’s glory, and in this fellowship and enjoyment of Him we discover that He is a table with rich food to cheer us, nourish us, and supply us.
This is the experience of the one Christ: the Christ who is both the embodiment and expression of God as His testimony, and the One who becomes the table and the food on the table, on which we may feast for our nourishment.
Looking at the measurements of the table of the bread of the presence we see that the table was two cubits in length and one cubit in width; it was two square cubits; spiritually, this signifies the perfect and complete life supply of Christ (the square) to issue in a testimony (number two).
Our enjoyment of Christ at the table of the bread of the presence is perfect, without bias or defect, and this enjoyment and feeding on Christ as the bread of the presence makes us a testimony of God. Hallelujah, when we enjoy Christ as the bread of the presence, we are becoming the testimony of God, and this enjoyment is so pure, sweet, perfect, and complete!
On the one hand we need to know Christ as God’s testimony – Christ as the reality of the ark; on the other hand, as we know such a Christ, we feast on Him as the bread of the presence and we are being made the testimony of God.
We need to advance in our Christian life to know Christ not only as the Son of God, the Savior, the Redeemer, and the Healer, but to know Him as God’s testimony; when we know this Christ in a deep and subjective way, we will be brought into the enjoyment of Him as the bread of His presence on the table, and we are becoming the testimony of God.
Lord, may we know You as the testimony of God, the embodiment of God, so that we may go further to enjoy You as the bread of the presence. Lord, we come forward to God to meet with Him upon Christ as the propitiatory cover and enjoy fellowship with God and hear words from His mouth, so that we may enjoy You as the bread of the presence, our serving supply. Lord, may the ark become the table in our experience: may our experience of Christ as the place of propitiation become a feasting table for our serving supply!
Feasting on Christ as the Bread of the Presence makes us God’s Testimony
No measurement, detail, item, or aspect of the tabernacle and its furnishings is at random; God has a specific and detailed plan for His building, and what we see in type in Exodus we need to experience as a spiritual reality today. We need many rich and varied experiences of Christ – as typified by the tabernacle with its furnishings – for the building up of the church, the house of God.
The fact that the height of both the ark and the table of the bread of the presence was the same (one and a half cubits) indicates that our enjoyment of Christ (the reality of the table of the bread of the presence) must match the standard of God’s testimony (the reality of the ark; see Exo. 25:10, 23).
Many Christians enjoy Christ in some ways: they love reading the Bible, studying the word of God, singing, meeting with other believers, praying, etc, but they carry with them many other mixtures like worldly things, dancing, drinking, entertainment, worldly music, worldly ways of doing things, etc. Their enjoyment of Christ – even though it may be genuine – does not match the standard of God’s testimony.
We need to enjoy Christ, and our enjoyment of Christ must be up to the standard of God’s testimony, Christ. The more we enjoy Christ and feast on Him as priests, we become the testimony of Jesus for His expression.
The table of the bread of the Presence signifies Christ as the nourishing feast for the believers as God’s priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10). This table was set up in the Holy Place within the tabernacle (40:22; Heb. 9:2), signifying within, or among, God’s people as His builded habitation (see note 151 in ch. 26). In the Bible a table signifies not an individual feasting but a corporate feasting (1 Cor. 10:16, 21; cf. Psa. 23:5). Christ as the food of God’s priests is for a corporate feasting within God’s dwelling place.
In the sequence of God’s revelation, the table comes after the Ark (vv. 10-22), implying that the table is connected to the Ark. In spiritual experience, when we meet with God upon Christ as the propitiation cover, enjoying fellowship with God and hearing words from His mouth, the Ark becomes the table of the bread of the Presence, where we enjoy a nourishing feast. This means that Christ, the embodiment of God’s testimony, issues in our enjoyment of Him. Furthermore, in our experience, our enjoyment of Christ always brings us back to Him as God’s testimony. (Exo. 25:23, footnote 1 on, Table)
In the church life, we should have both God’s testimony and the rich supply, both the ark and the table of the bread of the presence. These two go hand in hand, and one issues in the other.
When we have Christ as the embodiment and testimony of God, we enjoy Him as our feast, the bread of the presence; the enjoyment of Christ as the bread of the presence brings us back to the ark and makes us the testimony of God. The table comes out of the experience of the ark, and the enjoyment of the table brings us back to the ark.
What God desires is to gain His testimony on earth, and the way He does this is by showing us a revelation of Christ, the embodiment and testimony of God; when we see and know such a Christ, we spontaneously feed on Him and are nourished with Him as the bread of God’s presence, and the result is that we become the testimony of God.
Christ as the embodiment of God’s testimony issues in our enjoyment of Him, and our enjoyment of Him always brings us back to Christ as God’s testimony.
Hallelujah, this wonderful Christ is everything to us, in us, and through us for God’s building, and when we enjoy Him as God’s testimony we are brought up to the standard of God’s testimony and even become God’s testimony in Christ!
Lord Jesus, uplift our enjoyment of You so that it may match the standard of the testimony of God. Lord, keep us enjoying You as the feast on the table so that we may become the testimony of Jesus for God’s expression. We want to enjoy You and feast on You as the bread of God’s presence so that we may be brought up to the standard of God’s testimony and even become God’s testimony in Christ. Lord Jesus, You are our supply, our life, our bread, and our feast for our service as priests, and You are making us Your testimony! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1049-1065 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 3 (week 27), The Table of the Bread of the Presence.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# We are feeding on the living bread, / Eating of the feast our Lord has spread, / And whoso eateth, Jesus said, / Shall hunger nevermore. (Hymns #1150)
# Christ Jesus is the food we eat; / He is our bread, He is our meat; / He is our life-supply complete; / We daily eat of Him. (Hymns #1145)
# Christ is the testimony true / Of God in essence and in deed; / God’s glory He has fully shown, / And we in Him God’s nature read…. / Christ as the Spirit now has come / That He our portion be fore’er; / In spirit we partake of Him / And all God’s being fully share. (Hymns #494)
We have seen that both the Ark and the table were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, that both were of the same height, that both had golden rings at the feet, and that both were carried on poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold. These similarities indicate that the table comes out of the experience of the Ark. It is always the Ark which first issues in the table, not the table which issues in the Ark. Eventually, however, in our experience it is difficult to say which is first. The Ark issues in the table. But the more we experience the table, the more we shall have of the Ark, for the table will always bring us back to the Ark. Therefore, the Ark issues in the table, and the table brings us back to the Ark. This means that Christ as the embodiment of God’s testimony issues in our enjoyment of Him, and that our enjoyment of Him always brings us back to Him as God’s testimony. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1065, by Witness Lee)
Wow, amen, it’s good to see that the Ark issues in table. But the more we experience the table, the more we shall have the Ark, for the table will always bring us back to the Ark. This means that Christ as the embodiment of God’s testimony issues in our enjoyment of Him, and that our enjoyment of Him always brings us back to Him as God’s testimony. Wow. Thank You Lord. Keep us in our enjoyment of Christ to be brought back to God testimony.