23. Sit down in the kingdom
Matthew 8:11
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus promises that many will come and sit down in the kingdom of God. The many certainly includes the believers in Christ. These believers will come from all over the world (from east and west); everyone everywhere can know that they, too, can be included in God’s Promise and Blessing to Abraham. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are Patriarchs of the Jewish faith, and Jesus claims them as patriarchs of the Christian faith. They are called by God the Father to be founders of the kingdom of God, invisible on earth and visible in eternity.
When you sit down with someone it means you are joining together in table fellowship accepting each other as equals and peers. In many cultures eating together at the same table assumes acceptance into one’s social or family circle. We see the Patriarchs welcoming believers into an intimate relationship of love and mutual fellowship at the Messianic Banquet, the Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom. Jesus’ “eating with” tax collectors and sinners practiced this kind of Table Fellowship. This kind of table fellowship and acceptance into the family of God in His inner court continues today in the celebrations of the Lord’s Supper in churches all over the world every week. Participation in Holy Communion is the ultimate enjoyment and guarantee of acceptance into the kingdom; it is the present day enjoyment of fellowship with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And the church’s Communion is a “foretaste of the feast to come.”
The promise of “sitting down” is being fulfilled regularly during our lifetime in hope during church worship; this hope is the substance of future reality. The promise of “sitting down” will be experienced in reality in the eternal kingdom of God in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom. The anticipation of this wonderful reality comes back into our present time and gives hope, strength and encouragement.