“If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20
When David wrote the twenty-third Psalm approximately three thousand years ago, he mentioned something in that Psalm that is like a newly found gem that has long been searched for. And yet, though it may seem scarce at times, it is a beautiful picture of an aspect of the believer’s relationship with God, that must not go unnoticed. The Apostle John, in the book of the Revelation, in his letter to the church of Laodicea, would speak of the same thing in striking simplicity, with powerful potential of what the Spirit of God can and will do if one believes, seeks, and obeys Christ concerning it. For David, it was a prepared “table set before me in the presence of my enemies.” (Ps. 23:5) Of what is David speaking here? Note that he refers to something that Christ as his Shepherd does for him, and every believer. Not only does this Shepherd call the sheep, His sheep, to a life of abundance of Life by the Spirit, with every need supplied by His grace, knowing His peace, the restoring of the soul, and His leading, but in the difficult circumstances of life when perhaps “walking through the valley or the shadow of death,” or facing one’s enemies, God has provided a table, a place where, in quietness and confidence, there is blessed communion with Him. It is a place and an event where Christ reveals Himself particularly to the heart and soul, and this by the wondrous fellowship He provides and brings to the believer who will sit down with Him at the prepared table and partake of food with Him. It is a time of peace, confidence, assured blessing, which only comes from the God of peace, the believer’s joy, love, and strength. There in that place of certain good, Christ speaks to the heart, as the hymnwriter put it, “…in accents clear and still.”
After the resurrection of Christ, Scripture tells us that He “showed Himself” to His disciples several times. One such event came about when some of the disciples, with Peter, probably needing a break from all that was occurring at that time, decided to go fishing. They fished all night in the quietness, certainly preoccupied still with all that had occurred, and was occurring, concerning the risen Christ. Early in the morning, Christ stood on the shore, and asked if they had caught anything. They did not recognize Him. They had caught nothing and were tired and hungry. It was then that Jesus instructed them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. (Jn. 21:6) When they suddenly caught so many large fish that their nets might have broken, John the Apostle recognized that the one on the shore was the Lord Jesus. When the disciples came to shore, Jesus had prepared bread and fish over the fire. He invited them to come and eat. In that very quiet, and blessed place, where it seemed that heaven and earth had met, stood the Savior of the world, the King Eternal, and Lord of life. The Lord would use this blessed time of eating together to speak to them, specifically to Peter, whose broken spirit, and wounded soul, needed healing. Christ asked him three times if Peter loved him, every time going deeper into Peter’s heart, to bring him to see that, in spite of his helplessness as a sinner, and weakness to love and be loyal by his resolve, Christ’s love remained the same. God’s calling of Peter had not changed. The only thing now that was different, was that Peter knew that apart from the saving Life of Christ, and the received Love of God by the Spirit, there could be no realization of that calling, and the experience of the fellowship that he so desired. However, great assurance came to Peter when he heard again Christ’s unfailing, sufficient, and power-inspiring words: “Follow Me.” Communion came at Christ’s table.
Dear Father, Speak at Your table. In Jesus’ name, Amen.