Preface To The Second Printing
1. Must God Plead With God?
   
2. How The Spirit Leads
   
3. Physical Reinforcements of Faith
   
4. Jesus' Physical and Spiritual Death
   
5. Is There Merit in Pain?
   
6. The Six Days of Creation
   
7. Adding Guilt to Anxiety
   
8. Wine and The Disciple
   
9. Revolution or Evolution
   
10. I Am That Disciple
    
11. When People Disagree
    
12. Is Unity Based Upon Seven Doctrines?
    
13. Our Seven Sacraments
    
14. Instrumental Music
    
15. The Mood of Worship
    
16. Justified Then Sanctified
    
17. Is Christian Our Name?
    
18. The Lord's Table
    
19. Righteousness That Exceeds
    
20. Neither Destroyed Nor Nailed To The Cross
    
21. The Right of Self-Protection
    
22. A Tree of Error
    
23. God is Limited
    
24. You Are Here
    
25. God is In Charge
    
26. Hook's Points
    
27. Lamentations of A Mediocre Preacher
    

THE LORD'S TABLE

Paul mentions the "Lord's table" (1 Cor. 10:21 KJV). What is the Lord's table? Surely, all of us have seen the Lord's Table, a piece of furniture located between the pulpit and the pews, engraved with "In Remembrance of Me," on which "the communion" is set-as though communion is something that can be put on a table.

If that is the Lord's table, what and where is the table of devils that Paul refers to in the same passage?

You surely agree that the table of the Lord is not a piece of furniture. Everybody knows that it is the Lord's Supper-well, everybody except a few heretics like me who are always troubling the waters by asking foolish questions. Let's investigate a bit.

In an effort to make an interpretation consistent with Scripture, let us look back to the Old Testament writings. Perhaps, this is going too far for a context, but it does give some Biblical background.

Adonibezek said that seventy conquered kings "used to pick up scraps under my table" (Judges 1:7). Rather than being under his dining table literally, these subjected kings had to survive on his meager dole.

When David became king, he promised Mephibosheth, "you shall eat at my table always," which he did, being provided for "like one of the king's sons" (2 Sam. 9:7, 10, 11, 13). A similar provision of sustenance was made for Barzillai because of his loyalty to David (2 Sam. 19:31-40; 1 Kings 2:7).

The daily grocery list for those who ate at Solomon's table included ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and a hundred sheep (1 Kings 4:22-28). Those who ate at Solomon's table were persons on government upkeep.

Those "who ate at Jezebel's table" were the 850 prophets of Asherah and Baal who were sustained at government expense while she was queen.

Nehemiah informs us that "there were at my table a hundred and fifty men, Jews and officials, etc." and gives an impressive list of daily supplies that were required (Neh. 5:17f). These were people whose needs were supplied by the government through Nehemiah.

In Psalms 23, the table prepared for David was not a dining table, but the total provision of blessing with which God enriched his life, even in times of stress, so that he could say, "I shall not want."

When Israel murmured, asking, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?" they were questioning God's ability or willingness to care for their needs in the wilderness (Psalms 78:17f).

From these references, we can rightly conclude that to eat at the king's table meant to be kept, sustained, and provided for by the king or other ruler at his, or his government's expense. Thus they were honored as sons of the king.

Paul had been dealing with the matter of eating meats offered to idols. Then he gave a warning against idolatry in 1 Corinthians 10:1-22. He points to participation in the communion, involving the cup and the bread, as indicating oneness with Christ, even as the eating of the Levitical sacrifices made Israelites partners in the altar. From these two illustrations of sharing and partnership, he seems to go beyond reference to the Lord's supper by alluding to their traditional concept of what it meant to eat at one's table. A seat at the table was a reward for loyalty and oneness of purpose. The expression, "to sit at one's table," meant to give honor and distinction by providing for the upkeep of the person.

A similar expression of sustenance is seen in Acts 6:2 where "the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, 'It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.' " Those widows were being provided for and sustained by the church, which program was to be administered by the seven deacons. In view of this, we can say that the children in our church­supported homes are eating at the church's table and that church­supported ministers eat at the table of the church. In like manner, the Lord's table is his provision for us rather than being either the communion or a piece of furniture.

When we accept Christ, and are accepted by him, we are honored to sit at his table "like one of the king's sons!" Every spiritual blessing is supplied in him and, concerning physical needs, he promises "all these things shall be yours as well." "And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work" (2 Cor. 9:8). He will never leave us or forsake us.

We cannot eat at two tables, expressing loyalty and partnership with, and being sustained by, both the Lord and demons at the same time. There is no double-dipping.

What a blessing, honor, and security it is to sit and eat at the Lord's table like sons of the King-and like the apostles of Christ (Luke 22:30).