According to the sequence of revelation in Exodus, the table is related to the ark, signifying Christ, God's testimony, becoming our nourishment. The table was set up before God (Exo. 25:30) and the bread on the table is called the "bread of the Presence", signifying the presence of God. The table is the first piece of furniture in the Holy Place which the priest would encounter upon entering the first veil into the Holy Place. This signifies that our first service to the Lord is to be fed by Him as the Bread of Life, the Bread of His presence (John 6:35).

The literal meaning of the "shew bread" or the "bread of the Presence" was "face bread." This is derived from the Hebrew word for "presence" which means "face." This is very meaningful to us in our experience. The priest began his labor in the outer court where he offered sacrifices and offerings at the Brass altar. He would proceed to wash in the laver located just outside the veil of the Holy Place. All of these activities were to take care of the priest himself. No one was allowed near God's presence without the proper sacrifices and the proper washing. Upon entering the veil of the Holy Place, the priest would begin his actual service to the Lord in the tabernacle or the temple. The first place he would stop is the "face bread" table. Praise the Lord! All of our serving of Christ begins in His presence. We do not serve alone nor in our natural state. The Lord takes care of our sin and fallen nature at the Brass altar, He takes care of our oldness and spots and wrinkles at the laver, then He Himself is with us to begin our serving.

The bread of the Presence was placed on the shewbread table within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, signifying that Christ is the food of God's priests for a corporate feasting within God's dwelling place. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, "So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The apostle Paul told all of us New Testament believers to "keep the feast of Unleavened bread." This is equivalent to the bread of the presence on the shewbread table for the Old Testament priest to enjoy corporately. All believers in Christ serve by eating the bread of life together in the Lord's presence. Christ being our food (1 Cor. 10: 1-4) nourishes us and strengthens us inwardly to serve Him. What a marvelous provision of God at the onset of our serving!

Another key point to the bread of the Presence was that it was prepared and placed on the shewbread table continual even when they were moving the tabernacle from place to place. In our experience we can never serve, no matter where we go or what we do, without the Lord's presence to nourish us and to strengthen us in our spirit.