The first “supper” we read about in the Bible is in Genesis 3. The appetizer, main course, and dessert were all wrapped up in one juicy piece of fruit that was “pleasing to the eye.” Who was on the guest list? Adam and Eve, of course. They didn’t pay money for this dinner, but oh, how they paid! The cost of this dinner? Destruction and sin entered the world, which led to death, nakedness, shame, fear, broken relationships. It was disastrous!
Far down the time line was another feast known as the Last Supper. The guest list here was Jesus as guest of honor and His twelve disciples. The menu: unleavened bread, lamb, bitter herbs, and wine. The cost? The ultimate sacrifice to pay for the cost of the first supper—providing victory over death, the gift of forgiveness, the chains of shame and fear and bitter relationships broken, and freedom restored. Hallelujah!
In the New Earth there will be another feast. In the book of Revelation we are told the guest list here will include all believers. We will be invited to eat from the tree of life. Interesting. The Garden of Eden had a tree of life but the two were told not to eat from it. Disobedience brought on sin. We are told in Revelation that believers will be invited to eat from the tree of life because our sins have been removed. I’m definitely no Bible scholar, so this may be literal or symbolic. But it just goes to show that there was a plan in place even when the first two diners committed the first wrong.
I don’t know about you, but this gives me comfort. From beginning to end we see God and His plan. He is just and He is loving. The two go hand in hand.
The first supper involved selfishness and disobedience. The last supper involved unselfishness and obedience. The first supper, Satan slithers and misleads. After the last supper, Jesus moves toward crushing the serpent’s head.
In the New Earth feast our dining clothes will be robes of righteousness. The cost of this feast? According to Revelation 21:6, there will be no cost. He says, “To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of life.”
Dining with Jesus, can you fathom it? As believers, we already dine with Him. We can’t see Him face to face, but He is always with us. Do we act like He is with us at our dining table, our restaurant table, our picnics? He not only feeds us with food and drink, but also feeds us with forgiveness, peace, joy, and unconditional love.
Who’s coming to your dinner tonight? Will there be a place set for the one called “The Bread of Life?” If so, let’s remember to say “thank you” for all that He provides for us. Then, after the prayer of thanks and gratitude, let’s “eat, drink, and be merry” (Ecclesiastes 8:15). —submitted by Kris Bridgman, US
mike wittmer on June 11, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for spotting this exciting inclusio in Scripture–the bookends of the tree of life. I wonder if this explains Scripture’s focus on eating together in the book of Acts. If creation began and will end with eating from the tree of life, then perhaps that gives meaning to the Lord’s Supper and the disciples “breaking bread” together?