TD Jakes - The Most Holy Place (11/21/2018)
Entering the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, believers move from bronze (judgment) to gold (divinity); the table of shewbread, made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, holds twelve loaves of fine flour representing the crushed yet preserved tribes of Israel—symbolizing Christ as the living bread and believers offering themselves as a continual living sacrifice before God.
From Bronze to Gold: Better Things
Well, we go into the tent. We have left the altar of sacrifice. We have left the laver, both of which were made out of bronze or brass. Remember that? The women’s looking glasses making the laver? Both of them were made out of bronze. When we go into the tent, everything is made of gold—so it does make a difference. We are moving from bronze to gold, okay? We are moving from bronze to gold. We have gone from bronze to gold.
Gold is a metal that maintains its composition even through the fire. Its value will always exceed bronze. So, when we go in, like Hebrews, we are going to better things. When you start talking about gold, it has been through the fire. It has been through the fire, and it becomes a representative of God. It will liquefy, but it will never be anything but gold.
If it was gold when it went in the fire—oh, they did not hear me. Only that one sister heard what I was saying. You heard what I was saying, did you not? If it was gold when it went in the fire, it is going to be gold when it comes out of the fire. I am going to say that again. If it was gold when it went in, it is going to be gold when it comes out.
If you were saved when you went in the fire, you are going to be saved when you come out. If you had the Holy Ghost when you went in, you will... Oh, y’all do not hear what I am saying. So, the thing to those of you who might not realize—the theme of the book of Hebrews is called the book of better things. The reason it is called the book of better things is that the writer of Hebrews is comparing the old covenant with the new covenant, and, in essence, we have gone from bronze to gold, okay?
The Table of Shewbread
Now, we are at the table of shewbread, okay? The table of shewbread literally means the bread of presence—the bread of the presence. In the King James Version, it is called shewbread. In a Biblical or Jewish context, it refers to the cakes or loaves of bread that are laid on top of the table—shewbread.
This is the table of shewbread. This is the table of shewbread. And before I get to the bread, I want to make the table because the table has to be made. A table has to be made. Say that with me. Ooh. When you get in the car and you are halfway down 408, that is going to hit you.
That is what children do not know. They just come and eat. They do not know a table has to be made. A table has to be made. They do not just—“Thou preparest”—so the table had to be made. The table had to be made, and it was made out of wood according to Exodus 25:23 through 24. It was made out of wood—so all the carpenters got busy sanding and filing and shaping and spinning to make the wood.
It is about three feet—not a big table—by one and a half feet in rectangular shape. It was not a big table because it had to be carried. It is important that you understand that the bread had to be mobile. Uh-huh. Yeah. And it is made out of what the King James Version calls shittim wood, which is really acacia wood. Got to add a little humor into it—makes it better.
Wood Overlaid with Gold: Humanity and Divinity
Acacia wood is a wood that grows in dry climates that exist in desert places. It is strong. It is resilient. It is tough. Because there is little to feed it, it naturally has a propensity to withstand the elements. It is strong. It is resistant. It is tough—but it is wood, and it can be cut, and it can be shaped, and it can be sanded. And, before the table was gold, it was wood—so it was made out of wood and then overlaid with gold.
It is getting down to the good stuff now. Excuse me. This is the good stuff now—see, because we are coming into covenant. We are coming into covenant. We are coming into the strange paradoxical covenant relationship that is established in this table between the wood, a perishable substance.
See, if the wood would have went through the fire, the wood would have burned up—so you are taking a perishable substance and you are marrying it to an eternal substance. So the wood represents humanity, and the gold represents divinity. Oh, we are going to dress this table out in a minute. And the wood would have perished, but it was covered—yeah—by the gold.
And this table—this table—this table of wood and gold—this table that was wood and gold—this table that was humanity and divinity—is made to be mobile. It is made to move. This wood and gold—this human and divine—this man and God—this God-man—this God/man—is made to move. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the wonder of His glory. Are you hearing what I am saying?
We are at the table of shewbread. We got bread moving. Somebody holler, “The bread is moving.” The bread is moving.
Twelve Loaves: The Tribes Before God
The bread was to never leave the table. The bread was to never leave the table. It is stacked on the table—twelve loaves of bread, twelve round loaves of bread to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Are you hearing what I am saying? To represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
There we are. That is the picture I want—that one right there. It is stacked up there. God gave specifications on how everything was to be made. Even the crown around the table has symbolic value and worth—crowned with honor and glory. It has power. The artifacts were preserved—the plates, the cups, everything.
Look at that. Bless my soul. Does not that look like a communion table set up, getting ready to be served? So, it is not so much that God is giving us new ideas. It is that God is unveiling. The word “revelation”—“apocalypse” means “unveiling”—unveiling—as if an artist painted a picture and he unveiled it slowly. The part you saw—you did not see it because he painted it. It was already painted. You saw it because he is revealing it.
What God is revealing to you is not new. It was always there. He is just revealing it. Can I go deeper with this? Now, this is where—to me—it gets really good. It gets really good because this thing about bread is not new. Jesus is born in the house of bread. This thing about bread is not new. He is the true bread. He said, “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and perished. I am the true bread. I am your provision.”
God's Provision in the Wilderness
Now, the provision of God was so strong that, when the children of Israel were going through the wilderness and they ate manna, the provision was so strong that it protected their clothes from wearing out. They went through the wilderness—forty years in the wilderness—without a new dress, forty years and never needed a new pair of shoes.
I am going to say it again—forty years walking in the wilderness, and the soles of their shoes never wore out. I want to talk to somebody that God has sustained. It might not look like you are getting ahead, but you have not gone down either. You might not have got out, but you never went under. I wish I had a witness. Will not God keep you in your wilderness?
You must understand this bread was not made because they went down to Wal-Mart and picked up the flour. This bread had to be made by the threshing—by the growing of wheat and then the crushing of wheat. Now, y’all do not want to make homemade bread when you buy flour. These folks are in the wilderness. They do not have no dough maker—and here is the criteria.
The bread is to be presented before God, and the criteria in the recipe—now, I cook. How many people cook in the room?—the criteria in the recipe is not just that it might be flour, but it must be fine flour. In order to be in here, it has to be flour that has been pulverized—totally crushed. There is a difference between all-purpose flour and cake flour. Cake flour is finer. If you know anything about cooking, you know what I am talking about. It weighs out different. God says, “Make this bread from fine flour.”
Fine Flour: Bread Through Crushing
This bread represents the twelve tribes of Israel. This bread represents people. God says, “I will make bread out of you after you have been crushed.” You are not bread because you want a title. You are not bread because you want a position. You become bread through the crushings.
You understand what I am saying? Now, you can go online and get you some credentials and call yourself a minister—but what you call yourself does not make yourself. Just because I call myself a car does not make me a Cadillac.
God says, in order to get in, this bread must be made of fine flour—so, when God is getting ready to make you bread—I do not know who you are, but I am enjoying you enjoying the Word. He is having a better time than I am over there—crushing you, shattering you, breaking down your pride, breaking down your stubborn will, bringing you down to ashes, making you humble yourself, making you say yes to His will and yes to His Word and yes to His way. This is fine flour.
Let me show you what fine flour is. Paul writes to Corinth—to a brother who has been sleeping with his father’s wife—and the Corinthian church was in trouble because his brother is having an affair with his father’s wife. And Paul sends a letter of judgment condemning this brother and telling them how to handle him—and they bring him down. They humble him because he would not change and he would not stop and he would not repent.
But when he repented, he says, “If a brother be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one.” You are not supposed to keep your foot on nobody. I do not care what they did. You are not supposed to keep your foot on nobody because of what they did.
If a brother be overtaken in a fault—“overtaken” means all of us got fault, but that means that fault has taken over—then ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness—you said it—considering yourself. So that means, in order to be ye which are spiritual, you have to...
I do not understand how you can be so judgmental and self-righteous—and you have forgotten yourself. That is why you need to be beat some more—because you are still hateful and judgmental and self-righteous. But, when God gets through beating your behind, you will give mercy because you got mercy.
I would rather get to heaven and hear God say, “You was too merciful,” than to get to heaven and hear God say, “You was too judgmental”—because I do not have a right to be judgmental. God is beating us to fine flour.
Now, that is who is spiritual. That is who is spiritual. People who have been beaten to fine flour can be trusted to make judgments because they consider themselves.
God Makes Bread Through Crushing
“Hear ye the Word of the Lord. I have not taken you through this test to destroy you. I have taken you through this test to refine you. Many shall come and eat from your wisdom because of the crushing I allowed you to suffer.
Hear Me the Word of the Lord. Despise Me no longer. Put away your bitterness toward Me. It is true I have beaten you—but I beat you to make you bread.
I will draw people to you that I could not draw before because I could not trust you. But, because you are now fine flour, I will draw people into your life for you to feed and not fleece.”
I feel the glory of God. There are many of you in here who have endured the chastening of the Lord, and God has set you on a path to make you bread. You are not in that office for the pay. You are there for bread—and God says, “I will send you into places and give you opportunities because I have prepared a table, and I have laid you on the table as bread.”
I do not know who that is for. Maybe it is you watching on the internet. Maybe it is somebody up in the balcony right there. Maybe it is somebody who has been through a painful series of crushings and loneliness and isolation and death and turmoil—and you have cried, and your flour has gotten salty with tears—and the Lord brought you here today to make you understand He is making bread.
There is no other way for you to know what you know. There is no other way for you to have the wisdom that you have. You could not read this in a book. You could not get this on a tape. You had to go through this so that you would know that you know that you know that I am your God.
So, when the twelve loaves were laid on the table of shewbread, it was from twelve tribes who had been walking a year in a desert—and they presented the bread before God. So this is what I want you to see—and I will stop.
The thing that amazed me is that it is not just God presenting bread to us. It is that we present ourselves to Him. I present myself a living sacrifice—so the first thing I want you to understand is, you are on the table.
You are on the table of the Lord—and every crushing and every breaking in your life made you eligible to be meat for the Master’s use.
There was never to be a time that the table was to be without bread. The bread was laid up before God all week and changed out on the Sabbath—and, on the Sabbath, in the incense of prayer, the bread was exchanged, and the priest ate the bread in the Most Holy Place. But the table was kept with bread on even when it was moving.
You better believe it. The table was never to be without bread. Lord, do not let my table ever be without bread.