The Big Table

Happy New Years Eve to all.  I wanted to close this year with a final blog of encouragement of eternal value.  When I started blogging this year in January, it was an act of obedience to what I felt God wanted me to do.  I had set a low bar of success of “if just one” person was ministered to through the words I felt impressed of by the Holy Spirit to write then there was success.  I have enjoyed joining with so many of you in working though issues of life this year.  You have encouraged me in so many ways, so I thank you from the depths of my heart.  I also want to thank my husband Darrell who patiently listened to each blog, discussed scripture with me, checked my usage of scripture and encouraged me along the way.  I want to give a big thanks to my five girls who have faithfully read and edited each blog so that my grammar and sentence structures were “sound.”  While I always prayed about what to write, God used a variety of conversations, situations, and discussions to lead me to each week’s topics.  There were so many times in writing, I thought I was going one way to end up with a completely different direction.  I thank God for His guidance always in every blog.
 
As I bring this year to a close, I have been praying about next year.  I have no word for the new year as of yet.  I know I don’t have to have a word, but I do feel God worked in my life through this year’s word being “trust.”  Jeremiah 17:7 (NIV) says, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord and whose confidence (hope, KJ) is in Him.”   This has been a year of trust not only for the blog, but in our daily life events. Our hope or confidence is in Him.
 
As I close out this year, I wanted to focus on the big table.  As the time to be seated at the table for Christmas lunch drew near this past Sunday, there were a lot of emotions that erupted, mine included.  We have a big table that can seat a lot of people, easily up to 14 people, however that falls short of the 23 (not including high chair baby Cooper) people who all wanted to be at the big table.  The big table is where the action happens, big discussions, adults interacting etc. but it really mattered to the grandchildren that they would be allowed to sit at the big table and were feeling left out. Of course everyone wanted a seat at the big table.  We are all family and everyone wanted a place to sit, to be included, valued and loved.  We ended up being scattered between the big table, the two children’s tables and the breakfast table. Lunch came and went and we survived the small eruption of emotions.
 
The whole thought of the big table reminded me of the wedding supper of the Lamb in Revelations 19 and caused me to ponder “how big” is that table?  John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelations. As Genesis is the beginning, Revelation is the culmination and revelation of Jesus Christ, being the bridegroom, united with his bride, the church. We catch the first glimpse of the wedding supper being mentioned in Revelations during the third  “hallelujah” over the Babylon’s fall. Revelations 19:6-8 “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”’ Not to get into eschatology, which I am clearly not an expert, I just want to state we, the church as believers are the bride, and we will be united with Jesus Christ who is the groom. Moving onto Revelations 19:9, ‘Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”’  How do we get our name on the invitation list…to the wedding supper of the Lamb?  To the big table? 

John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 1
 Corinthians 12:13 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. As Christians, the body that we form is the Church.  It is not the physical building we go to occasionally on Easter or Christmas Eve.  It’s the people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Romans 10:9-10 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Your invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb is having your name written in the Lamb’s book of life as noted in several locations in Revelation. 

For me, the culmination of the year of blogs would be to ascertain that the Gospel, the Good News has gone forth. I want to proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior. Romans 10:13 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Thank you for “hanging” with me all year long.  I hope to see all of you at the “big” table, the wedding supper of the Lamb.

Blessings,
Karen
PS.  Already have the solution to the “big” table. We will move furniture out of the way and add more tables together to make one big table next year!