Ezekiel 41:21-26: a reflection

21The door posts of the nave were squared. As for the face of the nave, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple. 22The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.” 23The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other. 25There were made on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside. 26There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. This is how the side rooms of the temple and the thresholds were arranged.

As Ezekiel is shown the temple in his vision, his guide points to a particular object, a wooden altar, and gives it a name that draws the attention: This is the table that is before the LORD. In the house of God stood a table, set before the LORD's presence, a place of meeting and fellowship in his sight. Amid all the measurements and details of the temple, this table before the LORD is singled out and named.

Notice what the object is called: the table that is before the LORD. A table is a place of fellowship, of shared meals, of communion; and this table stood before the LORD, in his presence, a sign of the fellowship God offers his people, a place where they might come near to him. God did not remain distant in his house; he set a table before his presence, inviting his people to draw near, to commune with him.

That table before the LORD points forward to the fellowship God offers us in Christ. In the Lord's Supper, Christ sets a table before us, inviting us to come near, to commune with him, to receive from him. God still invites his people to the table before him, to fellowship in his presence, not to keep their distance but to draw near. Do not keep your distance from God, as though his house were only a place of awe and not of fellowship. He sets a table before his presence and invites you to come near, to commune with him. Draw near to the table God sets before you, and enter the fellowship he offers, for the God who set a table before his presence still invites his people to come and commune with him.

Lord, in Ezekiel's vision of the temple, a wooden altar was named the table that is before the LORD, a place of fellowship set before your presence. Thank you that you did not remain distant in your house, but set a table before your presence, inviting your people to draw near and commune with you. And thank you that this points forward to the fellowship you offer in Christ, who sets a table before us, inviting us to come near and receive from him. You still invite your people to the table before you, to fellowship in your presence, not to keep their distance but to draw near. Keep me from keeping my distance from you, as though your presence were only a place of awe and not of fellowship. Help me draw near to the table you set before me, and enter the fellowship you offer. Thank you that you invite me to come and commune with you; help me draw near.