“And we are witnesses … us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.” (Acts 10:39a, 41b, NKJ)
It was God’s eternal perfect cyclical timing that caused the “appointed time” (Ex 34:18, Darby) of Jesus being handed over to synchronise with the celebration of the Passover (Matt 26:17). The instruction to the Israelites was very clear: “You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt …)” (Ex 23:15). On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him where He wants them to eat Passover (Matt 26:17). We know that Jesus is the Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7), “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin (=yeast/leaven) of the world” (John 1:29). Paul teaches in 1 Cor 5:8: “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The table with the unleavened showbread is thus, on one level, pointing to this Unleavened Bread, Jesus (Heb 4:15), and His many members.
The fact that there were twelve showbreads, two groups of six, has multiple meanings. It refers to the twelve tribes of Israel (and grouped into two groups of six each like on the ephod – Ex 28:12), the first-fruits of Israel. But clearly it is also the prototype of the twelve disciples, the first fruits of Jesus’ ministry. 1 Cor 10:17 states it strikingly: “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” He is the Bread, but we, as first fruits of the Spirit (Rom 8:23), are also the bread! Thus Rom 11:16 says: “For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Therefore, as Num 18:13 prophesies: “Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.”
- Sela: Marvel at the detail of His appointed times, also in your personal life.
- Read: Ex 38; Ps 88; Mark 14
- Memorise: Mark 14:22
- Going deeper: Read Rick Joyner’s article: Apostles and elders are coming, in The Morning Star Journal Vol 16(2), pp. 97-106, and link it to this teaching.
