THE BREAD I

In the model prayer that Jesus used when his disciples asked him how to pray, one of the lines was ‘Give us this day our daily bread…’ (Matthew 6:11; Luke 11:3) and is literally better written and understood as: ‘Give us our bread for today and tomorrow and after’ (Vine’s Dictionary). Bread is an all-purpose word and understanding meaning our daily need of food. But bread is the heart and symbol of this saying.

Jesus later said in Luke 13:29: “And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.” This is much bigger than the Table of Showbread (also called the Bread of Presence, Exodus 25:30) in the Jewish temple. “Showbread (or shewbread) in a biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present, on a specially-dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God.” (Wikipedia) But now the Kingdom of God is the Table of God and the Bread is Jesus himself. Always present. The Showbread, or shewbread has changed covenants.
Jesus also said in Luke 14:15: “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” What a meal we have ‘ever present bread in our temple’ the Spirit-filled body of the believer. We are the table. Jesus said in John 6:35: “I am the Bread of Life; the one who comes to me will not hunger.”

“This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Jesus