“The Table of the Lord”
In Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God is displeased with the people and particularly with the priests. The Jews have returned from captivity, the wall and Temple in Jerusalem have been repaired and rebuilt, and sacrifices are again being offered up on the altar. God required the best of one’s flock to be sacrificed, the “lamb without blemish,” inspected by the priest. (Lev. 14:10). Yet now the people were offering, and the priests were accepting, animals who were “blind,” “sick,” and “lame.”
God is not pleased. “Where is my respect,” says the Lord. “O priests who despise my name… you are presenting defiled food upon my altar…the table of the Lord is to be despised? I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you” (Mal. 1:10).
Today, we are to be a “holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” We come to another “table of the Lord” to remember the sacrifice offered “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pe. 1:19, 2:5). Let us do so with great reverence, that the Lord’s table is not defiled. Let God’s message through Malachi emphasize the importance the Lord places on our practice and conduct around His table, in our weekly partaking of the bread and the cup.
-Dennis Doughty