Face Bread Fellowship
1. There is a very interesting picture / parable of Christian fellowship in the Old Testament. The people of Israel made a special kind of bread to use in the temple. It was called the showbread, or "Face Bread." It was symbolic of the covenant that God had made with the people of Israel.
2. This bread was baked with wheat taken from every corner of Israel, thus signifying that the whole people of Israel were one people. Interestingly, they used wine to leaven the bread. (In those days the wine was not pasteurized. Thus the yeast used to make the wine would still be active.) Honey, salt, and olive oil were some of the other ingredients. It had to be a very good tasting bread. Before putting it in the ovens, they split the tops of the loaves with two slits, making the shape of a cross. After the bread was baked, it was placed on a table called "the table of the face bread." There were twelve loaves in all; one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Each loaf was sprinkled with granules of sweet smelling, red frankincense - representing the sweet smelling fragrance of walking in right relationship with each other, and with God. The twelve loaves were stacked up on two racks containing six loaves apiece. Finally, two cups of red wine (representing the blood of the covenant [see Exodus 24:8] ), were placed between the stacks of loaves.
3. The table was made from acacia wood completely overlaid with gold. Acacia wood is the longest lasting wood known on earth. The table of the face bread had a frame surrounding the top of the table, and another one around the legs about halfway down to the floor. These two frames looked like crowns so they were called "crowns." One crown was for Jesus as the Son of God, and the other for Jesus as the Son of Man. The table of the face bread represented Christ Himself. The acacia wood was symbolic of His humanity. Gold, in the Old Testament, was symbolic of Deity.
4. The symbolism of the "face bread" and the "table of the face bread" is hard to miss. Leavened with the new wine of God's grace saturating the wheat (the Body of Christ), seasoned with salt (eternal life), soaked with olive oil (the Holy Spirit), baked with honey (the sweetness of our fellowship in Christ), visibly marked with an empty cross (resurrection power), and sprinkled with sweet smelling frankincense (the fragrance of Christ). The loaves actually looked more like large sheet cakes, and were baked in pans made entirely of gold.
5. The finished loaves (us) were placed upon the table of the face bread, symbolic of Christ and His finished work of redemption, which carries us into the presence of God. (We rest upon His completed work - of grace.)
6. But why was the bread called "face bread?" It is because grace brings us face to face with God. There we stand, stripped of all our pretenses, faced with His covenant love. And in His face, what do we see? The greatest kindness, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, and gentleness imaginable! We can have no attitudes there. We are left only with thankfulness and praise.
7. Don't forget those two cups of red wine that were placed between the stacks of loaves! Yes indeed! The bread and the wine represent communion! (But this is not the Lord's Supper. This just represents intimate fellowship with God and with one another. This is the communion within the communion, if you will.) Grace brings us into intimate fellowship with God!
8. We have met the face bread and it is us! The fellowship of the face bread is the fellowship of believers. Stripped of all our pretenses we come face to face with God - and with each other. But in order to partake of this face bread we must come together, collectively, in the presence of God.