"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." (Psalm 23:5)
There are many cooking shows and competitions on TV and social media. In one of the, cooks are all given a box with the same ingredients and must use only those ingredients to create a dish within a fixed amount of time. The judges will select 3 dishes to taste based on visual appearance and technique. From these 3 they select one winner who will gain an advantage in the elimination test. The 3 judges taste the dish, and vote "yes" or "no" to keeping the chef in the competition; 2 "yes" votes are required for the chef to move on and receive a MasterChef apron, while those who fail to do so leave the competition.
In our text today, God is portrayed as the chef who is setting the table and we get to be the winners. We see God hosting tables for people in many places throughout the Bible. He hosted the people of Israel with Manna in the desert. He prepared a table for them in the promised land. He prepared a raven to bring food to the prophet. Jesus prepared table for the five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, and then another four thousand with seven loaves and fish. Jesus hosted a table on the night before his death. He asked us to continue hosting table until He come. Christians are to continue celebrating The Lords table until He comes again. All Christian denominations celebrates the Lord's Table all over the world.
1. God prepares the table before us. When God prepares the table, you don't have to do anything. Just show up. The first blessing you will find on your plate is immediate and unconditional forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). There is nothing you can do to earn it. God gives us all his blessing along with eternal life freely without price. There is nothing we need to do or we can do. We don't prepare the table ourselves! Quite often people wear themselves out trying to prepare that table when God has already prepared it. In the parable of the prodigal son, the runaway young man was overcome by sin and spent all his resources on his lusts. He ended up in virtual bondage, having to eat swine’s food. He thought, “I’ve sinned so badly I can never be accepted by my father as before. Surely I have to pay for this somehow. So he asks his dad to hire him as a servant. He thought he could pay some of it back. But his father wants him back ash His son, not servant. Scripture tells us, “The father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry” (Luke 15:22-23). God's grace is deeper than the deepest sin you may have committed. He will forget the past and forgive the sins. He will give you the bright robe of righteousness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
2. When we are invited to the table, we focus on the table and not the enemy. It is a bountiful table with all heavenly delights. God's table is full of the riches of his blessings. If we are focused upon looking at the enemy, it may be difficult to see the table that God has set before us. The enemy is anything that steals the joy of your life. It can come in many forms, as people, as sickness, financial struggles, family problems, and as relationship issues.
"The enemy is at the door and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace." (Spurgeon). The enemies can be guilt, or lack of patience or anger or frustration like we see in Martha and Mary in Luke's gospel. He wants you to enjoy the meal without worrying about the enemy. Mary sat down at the feet of Jesus to the learning table that Jesus set before her. Martha tried to create her own table for Jesus. (Luke 10:38-42). "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:42).
In the presence of your enemies means this cannot be heaven because the enemies won't be there. It has to be here on earth. Life on earth is full of setbacks and obstacles and conflicts. God's table is to enjoy without fear of the enemy. A commentary reads, "A magnificent banquet is provided by a most liberal and benevolent host; who has not only the bounty to feed me, but power to protect me; and, though surrounded by enemies, I sit down to this table with confidence, knowing that I shall feast in perfect security." (Clarke). In Philippians 4:19, Paul says, "Do not worry about anything, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
The enemy comes to kill and also do damage to our future. The Parable of the Tares is one of the places where Jesus teaches what the enemy can do. We see that in Matthew 13:24-39. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He then says, 29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds. He said “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.” (NIV)
God gave us our life in this world as a gift. Because of sin, our world is broken, scarred and full of evil. But God is more concerned about the redemption of his chosen people than the destruction of the evil. He would not pull out the weeds because of you and me. "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).
4. Jesus is preparing a table in heaven, where there will be no enemies. Jesus prepared a table at the passover just before he went to Jerusalem to be tried and crucified (Luke 22). There were the priests and the scribes waiting to crucify him. The Roman government and the Jewish leaders would sentence him to death. On that night Jesus met at the upper room. There was already a table prepared and ready for them. Jesus took the bread said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." He then took the cup and said, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). The table that He prepared was a table of remembrance. It is where the 13 men sat, one of them betrayed his Lord, and another one rejected him and all of them left him when faced with trial of death. It is a table of remembrance to all of us. We remember the unfailing grace and mercies of God even when we become unfaithful. Today millions of Christians around the world celebrate this table. In small groups to thousands of people gathering, from various nations and race and languages, various cultures and colors, various levels of social and economic status, all sit together as one body in Christ, sharing His body and His blood. That table is the table of triumphant victory and unity that will shake the foundations of hell. The table signifies the feast in heaven when one day, all those who are redeemed by the blood of lamb of God, will eat together with Him.
Then we will all say like David, "The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want (He is all I want!)" The Lamb will be our shepherd. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Rev 7:17) The great preacher Spurgeon wrote, "While I am here I will be a child at home with my God; he whole world shall be his house to me; and when I ascend into heaven, I shall not change my company, God is still there with me forever."
The metaphor of shepherd and sheep is insufficient to describe the richness of the relationship between the Lord and His people, so the metaphor shifts to that of host and guest. The Lord spreads a fabulous feast for David and receives him as the guest of honor at the banquet. Faithfulness to the terms of the covenant deserves and receives an invitation to a place of honor at the king’s table, while the psalmist’s enemies are judged and found wanting. The parable that Jesus told about the sheep and the goats similarly blends the metaphors of sheep and shepherd with that of the King who hosts a banquet (see Matt. 25). There, too, the faithful sheep are invited in to receive their reward while the unfaithful goats are cast out into the darkness.
We wouldn’t normally invite our foes to watch us eat, and we might regard their presence as likely to spoil our appetites. Yet in this setting, their unwilling attendance at the feast is the important proof of a decisive shift in the balance of power now that the great King has finally arrived. For too long, David’s foes mocked him and his faith, and David was powerless to overcome them. For years, he had been crying out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? . . . How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” (Ps. 13:1–2). It must often have seemed to David, and to the watching world, as if the Lord had indeed forgotten him and allowed his enemies to rejoice in triumph. But he realized that the ultimate victory is his and the table is prepared in the presence of the enemies.
Jesus is preparing a table for us in heaven so that we will be feasting with Him forever. Our Shepherd has laid down His life for us and has been raised from the dead, putting to shame our last, greatest enemy—death itself. We will all feast at the heavenly banquet with the Lord being our host and and chef one day.
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