The Miracle Table: REDISCOVERING THE POWER OF COMMUNION

by Andrew Murray

The thing about religion - doing things in God’s Name without God’s presence - is that we can think that it tastes wonderful. We enjoy our programmes, we enjoy our songs, we enjoy the stuff that we do for Him. But there is something better that He is calling us to - communion. “Sit with Me.” “Dine with Me.” “Fellowship with Me.” For two thousand years He has been calling us to, “leave your own banquet and come to My banquet,” “leave your religious gatherings and empty ceremonies and sit with Me for a moment. Eat of Me, drink of Me, enjoy Me.” But like Vashti, we have refused. Like Vashti we carry on going through the motions, preparing our own religious banquets, not realising that there is something far greater available. No wonder we have lost our influence in the nation. Our influence and authority only comes due to our relationship with the King. Without that, we are left with nothing.

Esther was aware of Vashti’s choice and decided to make a better one. Esther knew that the desire and longing of the king was to have communion with his bride. This is what he asked of Vashti and she had refused to come to his table. So now, Esther took the initiative, knowing that if she could get the king to the table, if they could just spend time together in communion, she would satisfy his heart. In satisfying his heart, every need she had and that the Jewish people had would get met automatically. That’s why she never mentioned her needs or the needs of her people. She knew that if she could meet the king’s need then her own needs would get met. Her priority was him. Spending time in his presence. As we have already looked at so far in this book, the great desire and longing of King Jesus is for communion with His Bride: ‘With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you.’ (Luke 22:15 - KJV) He tenderly woos us to His table. His greatest thought, His greatest longing, His greatest desire is to fellowship with us. To eat with us, to drink with us, to spend time with us in communion. This is His greatest joy. This is His greatest passion. Those that know the heart of the King have discovered this. And they have found this key - if I can satisfy the Kings heart, if I can touch Him by communing with Him, all my needs and all my requests will be met automatically. The great power of prayer is that we can ask for anything and it will be given to us. But this g...

The principle is this: instead of focusing on getting your needs met, focus on the Master. Make sure that the Master is satisfied before you move onto your own needs. What satisfies the Master? Communion. Spending time with you. That should be our only goal and concern when I come to pray - have I spent time with Jesus?

Esther knew that there was only one way Haman could be defeated - to bring him to the table. Haman was second in command in the most powerful empire on the planet. His plans to annihilate the Jews were already in place, the gallows to hang Mordecai on were already erected. Esther couldn’t stop him. It wasn’t in her power to change the situation. But she knew - if she could just get him to the table - she knew the king would take care of everything... If I can just get my enemy to the table – I know that everything will be alright. This revelation truly shows us the power of communion. Surely He has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies. (Psalm 23:5) Whatever your enemy is today, whatever it is in your life that is trying to destroy you - bring it to the Table.

You can’t defeat sin in your own strength. You can’t shake off depression or fear. You can’t heal yourself of that incurable disease. But you can bring those things to the Table! You might not have the ability or the power to change things, but the King does. If you can bring those things to His table and allow Him to deal with them, everything will be ok.

When we do warfare at the Table something powerful happens - God begins to arise on our behalf. And when God arises His enemies are scattered (Psalm 68:1) Some of us having been fighting and battling for years and not seen the breakthrough, but if we will just come to the Table then we will find that God will fight for us! The King will deal with every enemy and our victory is assured. We don’t need to fight any more - we just need to commune.

The powerful truth is that satan is silenced at the Table. He is constantly lying, scheming, sowing seeds of doubt and fear, but He has no response to what is on the Table. Show him the Bread. Show him the Wine. He is rendered speechless. He cannot respond. He has nothing to say when confronted with the Bread of His Presence. He has nothing to say when confronted with the Blood of the Lamb. Every fear is swallowed up, every lie is exposed, every accusation is silenced.

As Spurgeon put it “He who fights with the blood of Jesus fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus: sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death, and heavens gates are opened. The blood of Jesus – we shall march on, conquering and to conquer as long as we trust in its power.”

It is this defeat of satan that we remind ourselves of and enforce every time we have communion with the King. Whenever we come to the Lord’s Table we also show satan his gallows, which is the cross of Calvary. Surely our fear is hung there, our guilt and shame is hung there, our sickness hangs there, even death itself hangs there. The defeat is total, and eternal.

According to Jesus, the act of Communion is an act of proclamation, “you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). What are we proclaiming? We are proclaiming that another decree has been made. Satan may have pronounced death over us, but the King has made another decree, “death is defeated.” Satan may have pronounced sickness over us, but the King makes another decree, “by My stripes you are healed.” God does not ignore our sins and failures, but in response to the accuser He makes another decree, “My blood cleanses, My blood forgives, My blood washes away, My blood makes you clean, My blood makes you righteous, My blood makes you worthy.” Glory to God, that the words of this second decree, the power of this New Covenant are more powerful than the words of the written code that has been nailed to the tree with Him. Those words now no longer have power over us:

When we have communion with Jesus, many of our enemies are defeated immediately and we see sudden breakthroughs, miracles and answers to prayer. But then there are other enemies that seem to hang around a little longer. We leave the Communion Table and it seems like nothing has happened. But there are two ways in which God gives us the victory - He either deals with the enemy directly, or He empowers us to overcome him. Either way, something happens at the Table.

At the Lord’s Table, He anoints our heads with oil (Psalm 23:5) which speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As I commune with the King, I am empowered by the Spirit of God and I leave His presence with an authority and an ability to defeat and overcome all the powers of hell,

Despite the circumstances, focus on the King. Focus on touching His heart. Come to His Table. Dine with Him. Fellowship with Him. In doing so you are positioning yourself for a miracle and placing yourself where you can be empowered by His Spirit. Bring your enemy to the Table with you and leave him there. He is silenced at the Table, He is defeated at the Table. He is the turnaround God, watch Him turn things around for you!

“The flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ that the soul may likewise be filled with God.” - Tertullian

Robert Murray McCheyne put it powerfully: ‘If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.’

Melchizedek is what we would call a prophetic type of the Lord Jesus. Like Jesus, Melchizedek is both a king and a priest (the only two individuals in scripture of whom this is so). Melchizedek’s name means the “king of righteousness,” and he is the king of Salem (Jerusalem) which means “peace.” He is the king of righteousness and the king of peace. Our High Priest, Jesus, is not only our Priest, but He is also King. Indeed He is the King above all kings, just like He is the Priest above all priests. He is the Righteous King, the Prince of Peace, the One who is pure, holy, awesome, and glorious. He is ‘Holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.’ (Hebrews 7:26)

When Melchizedek met Abram, he only did two things. Firstly, he gave him bread and wine - symbols of communion and covenant. They had a communion meal together. This is the first time the bread and wine are mentioned in connection with a meal. This is also the first time the priesthood is mentioned. The second thing that happens is that after the bread and wine have been given, Abram is blessed by the priest. Remember, Jesus is not a high priest like Levi, He is a high priest like Melchizedek. What happened under the Levitical priesthood? Under the Levitical priesthood the people would bring their sacrifice and their offering to the priest. What was the prerequisite? The sacrifice had to be pure, without spot or blemish. The priest would examine the sacrifice looking for fault, looking for imperfections. If he found anything wrong, the people were sent anyway. Only if it was a perfect offering could he then pronounce a blessing over the people. But what happened under Melchizedek? Under Melchizedek there was no examination of Abram’s offering. Why? Because Abram didn’t bring one. In a total turn around, it was the priest himself who brought the gift - he brought the bread and wine. All Abram had to do was sit down, and eat, drink, and fellowship with the priest. Then what happened? He got blessed! Melchizedek blessed Abram without requiring anything from him - other than communion. Please see this picture. Under Levi, you give the priest your best, and if it’s good...

Although all believers would recognise Jesus as their High Priest, many of us still think that He is a priest like Aaron. This is not the case. How many of us still think that what God requires of us is to bring our best to Him. We bring Him our prayers, our worship, our money, our time, our service, our righteousness. We then subconsciously think of Jesus as our priest inspecting what we give Him. We somehow think that if only what we give is perfect then we may obtain His blessing. How many of us have wondered ‘Is my prayer life good enough?’ ‘Is my worship acceptable?’ ‘Am I giving enough?’ ‘Am I spending enough time with God?’ ‘Is God pleased with me?’ We are continually hoping that our best is enough, forever wondering if we are good enough for God to bless us. We are striving to be better Christians, continually aiming for perfection. This is what it is like to see Jesus as Aaron/Levi. But He isn’t. Hebrews tells us that seeing Jesus like this leads to a faith that is weak and useless. (Hebrews 7:19) But we don’t have to live like this! There has been a change of priesthood (Hebrews 7:12) and the old priesthood has been set aside. He is my Melchizedek. He comes to me, and He offers me bread and wine. He doesn’t demand that I bring anything to Him, after all even my best is not good enough. My best prayer is not good enough. Whatever I give Him could never be enough. My own righteousness is like filthy rags in His sight. And it is in seeing this that freedom...

The call of the New Testament is no longer ‘come to the altar’ but ‘come to the table.’

Of course, Abram would go on to give to Melchizedek a tenth of all that he had, but this was not to receive the blessing, it was a response to the fact that he had already been blessed! Likewise, the giving of our lives in worship to God is our response to the reality that we have already been blessed. We already have been given all things in Him. As you come to the Table - see the Bread, see the Wine. See the love. See the sacrifice. Trust in it. Trust in the Body. Trust in the Blood. They are enough. He is enough. Christ is always enough.

“O most admirable banquet, to which it is an unspeakable favour to be invited! There is no language adequate to describe the joy one experiences through this sacrament which draws sweetness from its very source and keeps alive in us the memory of love, of which Christ gave proof during His passion.” - St. Thomas Aquinas

Even though the baker died in Genesis 40, his testimony of Joseph still spoke to Pharaoh in the following chapter. The cupbearer, who did not die but was restored back to Pharaoh’s presence, he was the one who speaks on behalf of Joseph to Pharaoh. The Bread and Wine still speak today. Even though the body of Christ was broken two thousand years ago, His sacrifice still speaks, His wounds still speak. They still speak of our salvation, they still speak of our healing. Even now in the presence of God our King, the blood of Christ is still speaking on our behalf. There is still life in His blood, His blood still speaks. It speaks to God for us and enables us to be brought into the throne room of Heaven and the presence of the King of kings. We have access because the blood testifies on our behalf. It speaks of mercy, grace, and acceptance.

In three days the baker - the bread - was hung on a tree. He died but the other man lived. The other man was restored. There was redemption for him - grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Once again he had purpose, once again he was allowed access into Pharaoh’s presence. Here we see the great divine exchange of the cross. One man, the Bread of Life, was hung on a tree. Now the many find redemption, the many find grace, mercy and forgiveness. One man died but now the many find purpose. The many have been restored back into the presence of God.

This part of the story ends with these words: ‘he restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.’ (Genesis 40:21) Surely, God uses our Joseph to restore us back into the presence of God, to restore back to us the divine image and mandate that was lost by Adam. Life eternal has been restored back to us.

Pharaoh has a dream about grain (the bread) and the interpretation through Joseph is that a great famine is coming. The fulfilment of this prophecy is found in Genesis 41:53 where it indicates that the famine spread throughout the known world. But not in Egypt. Egypt has a saviour called Joseph. And Joseph has made sure that there is plenty of bread in Egypt. The storehouses of Egypt are full of grain. While the rest of the world starves, Egypt has an abundance of bread. Now the nations have a choice. They can continue to die in their famine or they can come to Joseph and buy bread. Joseph is their only hope. He is the only one who can give life when all around them is death. The parallel here should be obvious. This world is in famine. There is no life in this world. For all our riches, entertainments, and freedoms, we are still starving for hope, joy, love, purpose, and for true freedom. This world cannot give life. This world can only ever produce death. But we have a Joseph, a Deliver, a Saviour, and His Name is Jesus. He is the Bread of Life. He is able to satisfy every longing and need of the human heart. He is able to fill the emptiness within. In Him is life eternal and abundant. In Him is found an escape from death itself. The storehouses of heaven are full. They are never empty. They are always full, and overflowing. There is always an abundance of bread on His Table. Whatever we need to satisfy us, whatever is the answer to our need - Jesus has the key...

This was entirely deliberate on the part of Joseph. He would not allow them to pay for the bread. He wanted to give it to them for free. In the same way, we cannot buy or earn the saving bread of Jesus. His grace is entirely free. No good deeds or no observance of the law can save us. We are not saved by our own righteousness. There is nothing that we can give to God to earn or receive His salvation. It is entirely ‘by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.’ (Ephesians 2:8-9)

How does Joseph treat his enemies? He washes their feet and invites them to dine with him. This is a clear foreshadowing of Jesus who washed His disciple’s feet and then dined with them at the Last Supper. (John 13) Even Judas was among those who had his feet washed and sat at the table with Jesus. Here we see the amazing grace of our Lord. Even though our sins have put us at enmity with God, even though we have rejected Him and rebelled against Him so many times, even though it was our transgressions that nailed Him to the Cross - still He shows mercy. Our humble King still stoops down to wash our feet and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Still He invites us to sit and dine with Him.

As we move on in the story of Joseph we come to Genesis 44, and the completion of our communion typology. As chapter 40 focuses on the bread and wine, chapter 41-42 focus on the grain (the bread), and chapter 43 focuses on the table, chapter 44 focuses fully on the cup (the wine).

Far from it being a sign of his anger, the cup was the very thing that Joseph would use to get the brother’s back into his presence. And it was here, as they returned the third time that Joseph revealed himself to them. It was here that the veil was removed and they were reunited with their brother. It was here that he embraced and kissed them. The cup that they had been so fearful of, ended up resulting not in judgement but in forgiveness and reconciliation.

The cup of wrath has become a cup of blessing. The symbolism has changed. Now when Jesus offers us the cup to drink from He is no longer pouring out His judgement, but He is offering us His embrace and His kiss. The cup now for us is no longer used for judgement, because Jesus drunk the cup of judgement Himself. (Luke 22:42) Now the cup is what God uses to bring us back into His presence. The cup is what God uses to forgive, to redeem, to restore, and to reconcile. For the cup is filled with the wine of His blood, ‘poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Matthew 26:28)

Notice the reply of Ahimelech, “I don’t have any ordinary bread.” (v4) The bread that is available from the priests table is consecrated bread. It is the bread of the presence that has been placed in the Holy Place. It has been soaked in the presence of God and has therefore become special. There is something spiritual, and supernatural about this bread. When we come to the table of our High Priest we must understand that it is not ordinary bread that He gives us. We cannot feed on ordinary things if we are going to live an extraordinary life. He gives us ‘special bread.’ He gives us the bread of His Presence. He gives us something spiritual and supernatural to feed us with. He gives us Himself and says, “take and eat, this is my body.” (Matthew 26:26) The bread that He gives are His Life giving words and His life giving presence. His bread fills us and satisfies us. His bread makes us whole. His bread gives life - abundant and eternal. His bread sustains us. His bread raises us up.

At the High Priest’s table, grace is more powerful than the law, and there is enough bread for all, regardless of whether the law disqualifies us or not.

But at the High Priest’s table there is a higher law at work: the law of grace. It is the truth that in Christ Jesus everything that would disqualify us has been removed and nailed to the cross with Him. (Colossians 2:14)

Every time we eat the bread and drink the wine we are testifying that sin has been forgiven, the enemy has been defeated, and death has been robbed of its power. Therefore the Bread and Wine become a sword that we use to fight the enemy, and we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. (Revelation 12:11)

Jesus wants to speak to us. He wants to speak words that are so intimate and powerful that they literally become like a sword in our hands. But not everyone is close enough to Him to receive those words. Only those who know the secret of communion. Only those who know what it is to get so close to Him in communion that they can lean back and feel His heartbeat. They are the ones that know what it is to get behind the ephod and touch the heart of the High Priest. In doing so, they find that they never leave His presence empty handed. They leave with the sword of the Lord - the very words of God Himself. (Ephesians 6:17) Today He invites us to lean in, lean back, to touch His heart, to listen, and to receive.

“How many are they that say: “How I should have wished to see His fair form, His figure, His clothes, His shoes!” Why here you see Him! You eat Him! And while you are longing to see His clothes He gives you Himself, not only to look at, but to touch, and to eat, and to receive within you.” - St. John of Chrysostom

when we gather around the Lord’s Table, we are not only fellowshipping with the risen Christ, but we are fellowshipping with His Church - with each other.

Communion was never meant to be taken in isolation but as part of Christian community. Likewise it was never meant to be just a personal thing between us and God, but it was meant to be at the very centre of our gathering together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what unites us. This is at the very heart of our meeting together.

There can be no Christianity without community.

Although worship is an intensely personal experience, it is a corporate experience also.

As I got older and began to fear the Lord, there were occasions when I would refuse Communion due to some sin that I had committed that week and the fear that I would ‘sin against the body and blood of the Lord.’ As I have matured though, I have come to realise what a bizarre misunderstanding of Scripture the traditional interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11 is. Firstly, nowhere does it tell us that we are examining ourselves to see if there is any sin in our lives. Secondly, if we have committed sin that week, the whole point of taking Communion is to remember the blood of Jesus that washes away our sin. Surely if we are convicted of sin, the answer is not to not take Communion, but to take it! If we have sinned we need Communion more than ever! We need to confess our sin, repent of it, and receive the bread and wine that testify of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that enables our sins to be forgiven!

Don’t let Communion bypass you if you’ve told a lie that week; repent and get on with it! But do let Communion bypass you if you are not in right relationship with the Body of Christ. Don’t take Communion if you don’t honour and submit to your pastor, if you don’t love your brother and sister, if you haven’t forgiven that other Christian that hurt you, if you don’t love and appreciate your local church, and aren’t serving and contributing to the life and well-being of the Body.

There is one loaf. At the Lord’s Table, we all eat from the same loaf of bread and we are all drink from the same cup of wine. The Lord’s Table is the great leveller. There is no spiritual hierarchy. We are not divided by age, gender, race, or social status. There are no denominations at the Table. There are no tribes. Theological differences are not discussed at the Table. Styles of worship are irrelevant. The one loaf testifies that we are just that - one in Christ Jesus.

‘On the night He was betrayed.’ Paul reminds us that Jesus Himself knew what it was to be betrayed and hurt by those closest to Him. But the way Jesus dealt with betrayal was the Communion Table. Jesus could not go to the cross carrying any offence, bitterness or unforgiveness in His heart towards Judas. He made sure that He sat with Judas at the Table, and offered His betrayer bread and wine. We would do well to follow the example of Jesus and not separate ourselves from fellowship when we have been hurt or betrayed by our brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead we continue to gather around the Table, and show forgiveness and mercy to those who have wounded us so deeply. In reminding ourselves of His grace to us, we find strength to show grace to others.

“My sweetest joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament.” - Katherine Drexel

Communion is a serious business. We are remembering the death of Jesus. We are looking back at the suffering and crucifixion of our Saviour and friend. It is undoubtedly a time for reflection, repentance and solemn remembrance. But is there also a place for joy around the Lord’s Table? I think that there is!

He is alive! And He is with us! This is a reason to be joyful and to celebrate!

Jesus was so famous for His dinner parties that He even had a reputation as a party animal! It was said of Jesus, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard.’ (Luke 7:34) Now I am certain that Jesus was neither of these things, but He must have done something for people to speak of Him like that. It seems his dinner parties were pretty raucous occasions! Would a man, who just nibbled on a piece of bread and sipped at his drink really be accused of being a glutton and a drunk?! No of course not! When Jesus ate with His friends, there was plenty of food and drink, there was laughter, there was joy and there was celebration. It was not a dead, stuffy, religious gathering, but a party full of life and freedom!

If we can’t see the Biblical Jesus in our Church culture, then the Church culture has to change.

Wurmbrand tells the following story: ‘When I was still living behind the Iron Curtain, I had met a Russian captain. He loved God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a Bible. He had never attended religious services. He had no religious education, but he loved God without the slightest knowledge of Him. I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around the room in rapturous joy, proclaiming, ‘What a wonderful beauty! How could I live without knowing this Christ?’ It was the first time that I saw someone jubilating in Christ. Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion and crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him for this. He had not expected it. When he heard how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified, and that in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He had believed in a Saviour and now his Saviour was dead! I looked at him and was ashamed that I called myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Russian officer now shared them. Looking at him was, for me, like seeing Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross or at the empty tomb. Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. When he heard this wonderful news, that the Saviour arose from the tomb, he slapped his knees, and shouted for joy: “He is alive! He is alive!” Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with happiness! I said to h...