At The Table

In Revelation 3:20, we read something that’s fairly familiar to us who grew up in the church–especially the Seventh-Day Adventist church:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)

For the majority of us Seventh-Day Adventist teens, we’ve always understood this verse to mean that Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts, wanting to come in. And praise God if you, dear reader, have already let Christ come into your heart!
But here’s something I’d like to ask you today, dear reader:

Where’s Jesus in your heart right now?

A Heart Full of Rooms

Based on the verse we’ve just read, Revelation 3:20, we can think of our heart as like a house that we allow Jesus to come into. So, just like literal houses have various rooms, so do our own hearts.
But dear reader, I wanna ask you:

Within your heart, which room is Jesus in?

The Table

Revelation 3:20 mentions that when Christ enters our hearts, the very next thing He does is that He will “dine” with whoever has let Him in. The dining table is often the place where Christ would speak truth to His hearers.

One illustration of this is found in Luke 24:30-31. It says:

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
(Luke 24:30-31, emphasis added)

These verses are talking about Jesus staying with the men whom He crossed paths with on the road to Emmaus after He had resurrected (see verses 15-16). Now, here’s three phrases I wanna highlight from these verses:

1. “He sat at the table with them”
2. “He took bread, blessed and broke it”
3. “Then their eyes were opened”

Do you see what I’m seeing based on the 3 above phrases? If not, I’ll expand more on it in the next section below.

It All Starts At The Table

As I mentioned in the previous section, the dining table is where Christ would share truth to His hearers. And it’s still the same today–learning truths from God’s Word starts at the table. I mean, we see it explicitly illustrated in the three above phrases from Luke 24:30-31! First, Jesus sits at the table, then He takes bread and blesses and breaks it to the two men, and lastly, their eyes open to see Jesus. When we invite Jesus into our hearts, we’re to escort Him to the table–because it’s at the table where our eyes will be opened to see deeper and more nourishing parts of His Holy Word.

Having our eyes open to seeing brighter truth begins the moment Jesus is taken out of the basements of our hearts; out of the closets of our hearts; out of the attics of our hearts–and taken to the table.
The HEAD of the table of sweet, close fellowship.

A Table Prayer

Dear reader, if you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you of not really keeping Jesus at the head of the table in your heart, I appeal to you to just pray:

I’d like to conclude this post with a poem by my friend, Deborah Ann Belka. It’s my hope and prayer that, as you read her poem, you’ll be inspired to let Jesus come and commune with you at the table.

“At My Dining Table” | By Deborah Ann Belka

I invited Jesus,
to break bread with me
the day I gave Him
to my heart the key.

Ever since that day,
we daily sup and dine
and He shows me how to be
a faithful branch on His vine.

Early in the mornings,
His Gospel we sit and read
and through the scriptures
I follow where He leads.

Together we dig into,
the real meat of His Word
so that apostasy
I’ll know when it’s heard.

I invited Jesus,
to sit at my dining table
and now His Word has become
for me a daily staple!

May each of us make God’s Word our daily staple, and spend time with Him every day at the table of sweet, close fellowship!
Amen! Maranatha!

***Thank you to Deborah Ann for allowing me to use her poem for this blog post!***