The Divine Meal

Revelation 19:6-9

Immanuel – 9/20/26

Our hearts are desire factories, an endless conveyer belt of wants. It’s such an obvious reality that it has permeated pop culture. Springsteen sang, “Everybody’s got a hungry heart.” Ariana Grande sang, “I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.” And from Mick Jagger: “I can’t get no satisfaction.”

Our modern age is expressing what the Bible has declared thousands of years ago.

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure…and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.                                      -Ecclesiastes 2:10,11

Eat and eat and eat, and still you are hungry. Acquire and acquire and still you are wanting. Experience one pleasure and almost immediately you begin anticipating the next one. I know that feeling. I can return from one mountain and almost immediately start thinking about the next.

But understand this: desire itself is not the problem. God made us hungry creatures because he made us for himself. He created us with enormous appetites for joy, beauty, love, fellowship, and satisfaction because God has an endless ability to fulfill those desires.

Sin does not destroy those desires; it hijacks and disorders them. We take the infinite hunger God gave us and try to satisfy it with finite things. But the Bible tells the story of a God who intends to restore our desires and joyfully satisfy the hunger of his people.

This is why food appears everywhere in Scripture. The Bible begins with God feeding his people in a garden. It ends with God feeding his people at a banquet. And from Genesis to Revelation, God uses the ordinary experience of hunger and food to tell us something about himself, and something about ourselves too.

          Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.                       -Psalm 34:8

          My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.                 -Psalm 42:2

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”                                                                          -Matthew 5:6

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.”

                                                                             -John 6:35

And then Jesus gives his church a meal. In week one of this series we saw that the bread and wine visibly and tangibly proclaim the gospel: Jesus’ body given, his blood shed, our forgiveness purchased.

Last week we saw why we call this meal Communion. At this Table there is koinonia – participation with the risen Christ and, in Christ, communion with one another.

But in both sermons I mentioned another meal. As Jesus told the disciples, “Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”                          -Mark 14:25

Read Revelation 19:6-9

That is the meal Jesus was talking about. And Revelation’s banquet isn’t an isolated image appearing suddenly at the end of the Bible. It’s the culmination of a story God has been telling since Genesis.

There is a pattern running through Scripture. It begins in a garden, appears on a mountain, moves into a tabernacle, and is fulfilled in Jesus. We experience that same pattern every time we participate in the Lord’s Supper. And one day, our faith will become sight and we will feast with Jesus in the fullness of his kingdom.

Main Point

From Garden to Glory, God delights in feeding his people.

So let’s begin where the Bible begins: with food in a garden. God created man and woman in his image, and then he put them somewhere.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.               -Genesis 2:8-9

God surrounds them with abundance: trees everywhere, beautiful to behold and good for food.

In the very place where God dwells with his people, he provides abundant food. And Eden was more than a beautiful garden; it was a sanctuary. God dwelled there with his image-bearing people. Adam was placed there to “work and keep” it – language later used for priestly service – and cherubim would eventually guard its entrance.

Here is the pattern: God’s presence, God’s covenant, God’s provision. In God's sanctuary, he feeds his people.

Yet, even as Adam and Eve were surrounded by untold number of good and pleasing foods – which God had given them – there was one tree he forbade them to eat: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Brothers and sisters, see the implication. God asked Adam and Eve to trust him on the level of their desires. Eating was an act of faith. Every time they reach for food from any tree other than that one, it meant, “God determines what is good. He knows what I need and he wants my good. He provides for me. I trust him.” Then, with every bite, they would taste and see that the Lord is good.

Then that satanic serpent slithered into their sanctuary, and he suggested that God was holding out on them. “You don’t really have enough. There is more for you, there is something better. Go ahead, take it.”

Do you recognize the lie? It’s the lie underneath every disordered desire: God is not enough. What he has given me is not enough. There is something else I need in order to be satisfied. These same lies have echoed through every human heart since Eden.

And our first parents believed his seductive words. They took and they ate – remember those words. The meal of Eden twisted into a meal of rebellion. The very thing God had given to sustain life became the means by which humanity dies.

They were driven from the Garden, driven from God’s presence, driven from the Tree of Life. Barred from the sanctuary, they were cast into a world of curse.

But God was not finished with his rebellious children. He had a plan to bring them home, and gather them at his table once again.

Fast forward to Exodus. God’s people are slaves in Egypt, but God rescues them, brings them through the Red Sea, and leads them to Mount Sinai. There he makes a covenant with them.

Then something unbelievable happens.

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up [Mount Sinai], and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.       

-Exodus 24:9-11

Can you imagine this scene? Sinners behold the Living God, and he does not destroy them. He feeds them. Do you see the ancient pattern repeating? God’s presence, God’s covenant, and God’s provision. It’s the elements of Eden on a mountain.

Do you know what happens immediately after this divine meal? God commands Israel to build the tabernacle:

“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”

                                                                             -Exodus 25:8

The tabernacle is meant to echo Eden: cherubim, precious stones, flowers, a lampstand shaped like a tree. But do you know what else there is? A table. And upon that table is the bread of the Presence.

“You shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.”

                                                                             -Exodus 25:30

The bread was to be placed before the Lord regularly. Every Sabbath fresh loaves were brought into God’s presence, and there the priests ate the bread.

Eventually, King Solomon’s temple carried the same imagery forward: palm trees, flowers, cherubim, fruit, and sacred bread. Eden was not forgotten. God was still declaring his purpose to dwell with his people and to feed his people in his presence.  

But there was a dire problem: sin remained. Paradise had been lost because of sin. Only the elders went up the mountain. Only the priests ministered in the Holy Place. And even the priests could not freely enter the Most Holy Place. A curtain still stood between sinful people and the presence of a holy God.

God dwelt with his people, but paradise had not yet been restored. Something more was needed. Someone more.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Eternal Son took on flesh, touched our sick, held our children, and he loved the loveless. Throughout the Gospels, what do we see Jesus doing again and again? Eating. And he’s telling parables about banquets, describing the kingdom of heaven as a feast.

Jesus does this so often that people try to use it against him.

Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

                                                                             -Matthew 11:19

Jesus’ opponents meant it as an insult. But they did not realize they were announcing the gospel! Jesus Christ is a friend of sinners! The Holy One has come to eat with unholy people. We cannot come to God’s table, so he has come to ours!

This must raise a question in our minds: How can this be? In Eden, God drove Adam and Eve from his presence because of sin. So how can the infinitely righteous God now sit at table with sinners and not compromise his holiness?

Because Jesus did not just come to eat with sinners, but to die for them. He came to take the curse for them. The Son of God took on a human body, so that body would be broken. He planned for the blood in his veins to be spilled for sinners.

Jesus lived the life Adam failed to live. Where Adam distrusted the Father, Jesus trusted. Where Israel rebelled, Jesus obeyed. Where you and I have sinned, Jesus remained righteous. And that Righteous One self-sacrificially became our substitute.

For our pride, selfishness, our lusts, our greed – for our insatiable hunger for everything other than God – Jesus was crucified. The sinless Son bore the judgment of all our disordered desires.

The only One who truly deserved to be blessed willingly received our curse. His innocent body was given, his precious blood was shed, and sin’s debt was paid. But death could not hold him, for three days later he rose victorious, the curse defeated, death had been slain, the King was alive!

Now everyone who trusts in this risen King is forgiven, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, welcomed home as a child, and brought to the Lord’s Table.

John Calvin captures this beautifully. He writes:

“Since it has pleased our good God to receive us by baptism into his Church, which is his house, which he desires to maintain and govern, and since he has received us to keep us not merely as domestics, but as his own children, it remains that, in order to do the office of a good father, he nourish and provide us with every thing necessary for our life.”¹

Hear what Calvin is saying: God does not merely forgive hungry rebels, he adopts them as children, brings them into his household, and as a good Father, he feeds them.

Remember the Last Supper, that Passover meal.

As they were eating, [Jesus] took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.                              -Mark 14:22-24

The Lord’s Supper is a covenantal meal. See the pattern again: God’s presence, God’s covenant, God’s provision. From Eden to Sinai to tabernacle and temple to Jesus, God has been unfolding the same story.

Satan offered a lie and said, “Take and eat.” Through that meal paradise was lost, and we were exiled to a life of sin, toil, and death.

But Jesus answered the serpent’s “Take and eat” with a greater “Take and eat”: “This is my body. This is my blood.”

Through the first meal, paradise was lost. Through Christ’s sacrifice, all things are being made new – paradise is being restored!

But even this meal is not the meal.

The Lord’s Supper is but a foretaste. Every Sunday when we eat the bread and drink from the cup, Jesus is teaching our hungry hearts to look forward. Because another meal is coming.

In Revelation 19, John hears the church. He hears my voice, and yours, and our Christian brothers and sisters who perished in the Nepal floods, and those of the persecuted in Iran, and all the rest: the roar of a great multitude, like the booming of a flood swollen Niagara, like many peals of thunder,

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.

And then the angel says: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Notice, this is not merely a supper, it’s a wedding supper. See how significant this is! Salvation is not about Jesus giving us things, it is about Jesus giving us himself!  

Forgiveness, resurrection, the new heavens and new earth—all these glorious gifts bring us to the greatest gift: Jesus Christ himself. The Bridegroom receives his Bride. God dwells with his people. We will be with the Lord forever!

This is the longing of our hungry hearts, the meal to which all other meals point!

Trace the story one last time. In Eden, God fed his people – but paradise was lost. At Sinai, sinners ate in God’s presence – but they could not stay. In the temple there was sacred bread – but a separation remained. Jesus came and ate with sinners – but then he departed. And at this Table we commune with the risen Christ – but still by faith, not sight.

But a day is coming when faith will become sight. The Redeemed will be gathered to a meal, and Jesus will be there, and we shall eat and be satisfied. The tree of life that was lost in Eden is found in Jesus Christ, who hung on a tree for our everlasting life! The curse is gone. The exile is over. Paradise is restored.

We will have gone from “you may not eat” to “Blessed are those who are invited.” Our hearts once hungry with twisted desires, are satisfied forever by the presence of the one who made our hearts. And he will delight to fill us with all his fullness. For from Garden to glory, God delights in feeding his people.

Whether you realize it or not, this is what your hungry heart has been starving for.

All our feasting on finite things: more possessions, more experiences, more success, more pleasure, another vacation, another accomplishment, another mountain. More, more, more, and still we are hungry. Vanity, vanity – a chasing after the wind. All this time, we have been starving for God.

A little piece of bread, a tiny cup of juice – it doesn’t look like much, but here we remember the One our hearts were made for. We remember that our King purchased our redemption with his body and blood. Here we commune with the Risen Christ who feeds us even now.

So come to the Table and feast upon the only One who can satisfy your hungry soul. And as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, remember: another meal is coming.

A day is coming when the Bridegroom will receive his Bride and every good hunger will be fully satisfied in the presence of our King.

From Garden to glory, God delights in feeding his people.

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

¹Calvin, J. (1541). Short Treatise on the Holy Supper of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Pg 165.