The Meaning of the Lord's Table

Chapter 1, we'll read from verse 12 to verse 14. While the king is at his table, my spocknard sendeth forth its fragrance. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me.

He shall pass the night between my breasts. My beloved is unto me a cluster of heathen flowers in the vineyard. We come together this morning to remember our Lord at his table.

When you look at this table, it's very simple. We have the loaf and the cup on the table, and nothing else. From the human point of view, it looks very humble, common, almost nothing.

If we look at it that way, then we can come without preparation, without really meditating upon the Lord. We can just come and partake of it as carelessly, as casually as we can. But dear brothers and sisters, even though it's an awkward appearance, this is so humble, this is so common, and we do it every Lord's Day.

But if we really understand what this table is, I believe it will transform our attitude. This table is the king, and the king himself is at the table. Do not think that only we are here.

He is here. He is the one who prepared this table for us. And what a preparation he laid on his life.

The loaf here represents his body. That perfect life shall go through the judgment that should be upon each one of us. The blood shed for the remission of our sins.

What a price he has paid to prepare this table. Can you think of any other table prepared on earth that is paid with such tremendous price? If we look at it spiritually, with our inner eyes, what do we see here? We have seen the tremendous love manifested to us through Christ. He is here with us.

He is here giving himself totally. He is assuring us that he loves us today. He used his blood to seal the new covenant with us.

Do we really appreciate what he has done? Do we really come with appreciation? And out of appreciating him, pour forth our night. That which is most precious to us, we pour out to him, that he may be honoured and glorified. This is the time that we come here to appreciate him, to tell him how much we appreciate that love.

Can we withhold ourselves from pouring out from our very heart our appreciation, our love to him? As Mary of Odes, when our Lord was at the table, she came in, broke the alabaster flesh, and poured out the precious blood upon the feet of the Lord. Because she considered our Lord as worthy. Can we care so much of ourselves as the alabaster flesh, that we will not break it and pour out that fragrance? In the Song of Songs he says, He is like a bundle of myrrh to me in the night upon my breath.

He is like a cluster of heathen flowers to me in the garden of entity. Dear brothers and sisters, sometimes we go through the night. Sometimes we are in the daytime.

That is life. Sometimes we have to suffer. Sometimes we are blessed.

But whatever, whenever it may be, whether it is night, we have him with us as a bundle. It is upon our breath. He passed the night with us.

When we are in suffering, we remember him. He is the one who suffers. His suffering is our salvation.

His suffering is our hope. His suffering is our strength. When we suffer, he suffers with us.

And it is his suffering that comforts us. That is what he is. And sometimes we see him under broad daylight.

Do not forget that he is like a cluster of heathen flowers. In other words, he is our beauty, he is our decoration. He is our joy.

Everything comes from him. His death, his life, we remember at all times. That is what he is.

So dear brothers and sisters, how can we come to this table casually? How can we withhold ourselves so tightly from pouring forth upon him all that is worth it each time we come to this table? We are in communion with him. He lives in us. It is he that brings us through life.

Without him, where will we be? Oh, my dear. And all that is within me, that is his only being.