"As for Mephibosheth, said the King, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons."
In every thought connected with the King's table we see Jesus only. He prepares the feast, - 'Thou preparest a table before me.' He gives the invitation - 'Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me.' He gives the qualifying position of adoption, receiving as 'the King's sons.' He brings us into 'His banqueting-house.' He bids us partake, saying, 'Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.' He is with us at the feast, for 'the King sitted at His table.' He Himself is the heavenly food, the bread and the meat of His table; for He says, 'The bread that I will give is my flesh,' and 'My flesh is meat indeed.'
He Himself! Nothing less if offered to us, for nothing less could truly satisfy. How wonderfully the spiritual feeding, with its mode and its means, is expressed in the words of the Communion Service: 'Feed on Him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.' 'Feed on Him!' - not on sacred emblem, not on 'outward and visible sign,' but on Himself. This first in place, first in thought. 'He that eateth Me' (can words be stronger?), 'even he shall live by Me.' Then the mode, 'by faith,' - could it close otherwise than 'with thanksgiving'?
It is not occasional but continual feeding on Christ that really satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. 'He did eat continually at the king's table.' It is 'he that cometh to Me' who 'shall never hunger,' not 'he who did come.' 'To whom coming,' always coming, never going away, because we 'have tasted that the Lord is gracious,' we shall be 'built up.'
If we are really guests at the King's table in its fullest sense, - if we are feeding upon Christ Himself, and not on any shadow of the true substance, - we must be satisfied. Here is a strong, severe test. Christ must satisfy; then, if we are not satisfied, it must be because we are not feeding on Him wholly and only. The fault is not in the provision which is made, - 'For all that came unto King Solomon's table, they lacked nothing..'
When we feel that 'we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under His table,' how precious are the words, 'This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them!' When we remember that we were dead in trespasses and sins, we may recollect that Lazarus, the raised one, 'was one of them that sat at the table with Him.' When we come back from the battlefield, weary yet victorious, we may look for our King of Peace coming to meet us with bread and wine and His own priestly blessing, that we may be strengthened and refreshed by Himself.
[From My King; or Daily Thoughts for The King's Children, p. 110, The Table of the King]
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