The Higher Powers/The Lord's Table
Addressing his letter to the "sanctified in Christ Jesus", the Apostle Paul wrote: "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." (1 Cor. 10:21,22) Since these words are addressed to Christians, it behooves every true Christian to know just what they mean. To have no desire to investigate would classify one as not being a Christian and as having no interest in the Lord's table. The apostle draws attention to two tables, one called "the Lord's table" and the other 'the devils' table, and tells us that a Christian can not eat of both at the same time. This statement is entirely in harmony with the words of Jesus, who said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." (Matt. 6:24) These words assure us that every one who claims to be a Christian is serving either the Lord or the Devil. There are only two masters. To serve the Lord, of course, would mean to be interested in his Word to the extent of studying it in order to know just what the Lord would have us do. Without such an interest and study and effort to please the Lord no one could even claim to be serving the Lord. To serve the Devil one will be doing the Devil's will and work, or at least be indifferent to the Lord's will and work. There are many millions of people who think they are on the Lord's side, but who take no interest in either his Word or his work. They are indifferent to what the Lord would have them do. Such people are serving Satan, even though they are doing it unwittingly. But what is meant by "the Lord's table" and 'the devils' table'? In ancient times it was customary for kings to invite those whom they desired to specially honor to a great feast, prepared especially for them. The table was laden with all the bounties at the king's command: hospitality was unlimited, and every need supplied. This was the king's method of showing favor to his guest, of honoring him and bestowing his approval upon him. To decline such an invitation would mark one as an enemy of the king, and to accept instead an invitation extended by another would be a positive insult.
The apostle was using this illustration. He was showing that Jehovah God is the greatest king in the universe; that he has invited certain ones to be his guests, so to speak; that he has specially prepared a table for them. On this table are all the bounties which God has to give to his creatures. These bounties consist of all the promises made to them; all the joys; all the privileges of service; all the hopes; all the doctrines and truths found in his Word; and all the blessings of his favor, approval and love. It is an honor to be invited to a feast by the great Jehovah. To refuse to accept such an invitation would mark such a person as God's enemy, and to sit down at the table of the Devil instead would be a gross insult to the God of the universe. These things being true and self-evident, it becomes an important matter to every one who claims to be a Christian to take time to investigate and see whether he is sitting at the Lord's table or at the table of devils. If we are sitting at the latter table we are enemies of God, despising his grace and favor, and treating him with contempt. The prophet, speaking of those who despise the Lord's table, says: "Ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.... My name shall be great among the heathen.... saith the Lord of hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible."-Mal. 1:7,11,12. But what is meant by the table of devils? The table of devils refers to all those lies against Jehovah God and his Word of truth, of which Satan is the father: it includes also all those false doctrines which are not found in the Bible but which Satan has persuaded the people to believe are taught therein. Speaking of these false doctrines, Paul says: "Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." -1 Tim. 4:1. The table of devils is filled with slanders against God and against his truth; it is spread with messages that have no comfort in them, that contain no hope of blessings to come and that are not a source of joy or peace or pleasure. Chief among the slanders against God is the doctrine of eternal torment of the wicked; that God has created a lake of fire and brimstone and also a wicked creature called the Devil, and appointed him to the task of tormenting some of the race for
ever. Those who feast at the Lord's table are well aware that no such dish as eternal torment is served up to them by their gracious, loving heavenly Father. This food is found only on the Devil's table, and those who are feasting on it and dealing it out to others are sitting at the table of devils. Another article of food which is not found on the Lord's table is the doctrine of "trinity". It belittles Jehovah God by teaching that instead of his being the one and only true God, he must share this honor with two other persons. The teaching that the wicked, corrupt governments of earth, filled with oppression, graft and corruption, and that the divided condition of the religious denominations of our day, with varied and contradictory creeds and innumerable money-begging schemes, and their modern tendeney to deny that the Bible is inspired and to declare that man was not created by an intelligent God but is the creature of a blind force called evolution, all these teachings are found on the table of devils and not on the table of the Lord. Jehovah God chose the one nation of Israel. He prepared a special table for them. He made a special covenant with them, which covenant he did not make with the other nations of earth. He gave them special promises, set a special hope before them, and promised them a special reward if they would keep their covenant faithfully. They were his own peculiar people. The word of God, given to Moses, is: "If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."-Ex. 19:5,6. All the hopes, promises and blessings mentioned in that covenant were the food on their table. No other nation on earth had any right to eat thereof. But this special favor of Jehovah God puffed them up, and they felt and claimed to be superior to other people; and in their pride and self-conceit they broke their covenant. As the prophet stated it, they "went a whoring after other gods", and established an "altar to Baal under every green tree". They deserted Jehovah God and sat down at the table of devils. They worshiped Baal, and were served at their table by Baal-zebub the prince of devils, that is, by the Devil himself. Speaking of their pride and their fall from favor, David says: "Let their table become a snare before them; and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap." Paul quotes this text and applies it to Israel. See Romans 11:9. The rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day (mentioned in the parable in Luke 16:19-31), is the nation of Israel seated at the table specially provided by the Lord. The beggar, who was full of sores and lay at the rich
man's gate, represents those believing Gentiles, like Naaman the Syrian, the widow of Zarepta, and the Syro-phenician woman, all of whom begged for crumbs of favor (food, blessings) which were on the rich man's table. When the woman of Canaan begged Jesus for the healing of her daughter, Jesus said to her: "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This plainly shows that this blessing of healing belonged especially to Israelites. It was promised to them in their covenant, but their pride and unbelief kept them from enjoying the blessing. To this woman Jesus said: "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." (Matt.15:26) Now note her answer. She said: "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Here was a Gentile "dog" begging for a crumb which fell from the table of Israel. This explanation entirely explodes the idea of eternal torment which has been built up on this parable. At the first advent of the Lord he found the great religious leaders claiming to be worshipers of Jehovah God but really sitting at the table of devils. In blistering language and with a biting sarcasm Jesus reproved those hypocrites, saying, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. "-John 8:44. In a most beautiful parable beginning in Matthew 22:2 Jehovah God is pictured as "a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding; and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready". What does this parable mean? It means that during this Christian era, since the death of Jesus, Jehovah God has invited 144,OOO persons to be the bride of the Lamb. He has made a covenant with them; given them special promises; set before them a special hope; promised them his special care and supervision of their every interest, so that all things shall work together for their good. He has promised them a special reward of 'glory, honor and immortality' if they are faithful even unto death. He has promised them a share in the first resurrection; that they shall be like the Lord and see him as he is, and that they shall live and reign with him a thousand years. These promises and hopes and blessings are called their "table". The food on this table is for them and for nobody else. These promises are for an elect little flock; they are for the overcomers; they are only for those who are faithful unto death. Speaking of this elect class, David says: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." (Ps. 23:5) To this special class of faithful ones Jesus made a special promise. He said: "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my
table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." What a stupendous promise. Thus we can see that faithfulness in partaking of the Lord's table now will entitle us to feast with him in the kingdom, which means that we shall share in all the blessings and work of the kingdom. All other tables are described by the Prophet Isaiah
(chapter 28, verse 8), as follows: "All tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean" The vomit and filthiness on the Devil's table consists of false and slanderous doctrines, blasphemies against Jehovah God and denials of the inspiration and accuracy of his Word.
In Mark 9:47 we read: "If thine eye offend thee pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be east into hell fire; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, and not to the multitude. They are a warning to those who have entered into a covenant with the Lord, that there is a danger of their missing the kingdom of God. To understand these words it is quite necessary that we grasp the thought that the Bible was not written to or for sinners, but was written for the consecrated child of God, the true church. The Apostle Paul calls attention to this fact, saying, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable...that the man of God may be perfect." (2 Tim. 3:16,17) When Jesus spoke in the presence of multitude he always spoke in parables, and it is written that "without a parable spake he not unto them". (Matt. 13:34) The disciples asked Jesus why he spoke unto the multitudes in parables. His answer was. "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." - Matt. 13:10,11. Because there is danger of missing the kingdom of heaven and of being east into a hell-fire which will never be quenched, and were worms will never die, those who love the Lord and are trying to do his will should be anxious to know the meaning of this text. Those people who believe in eternal torment have misunderstood this text to apply to a literal lake of fire and brimstone where wicked people are tormented for ever. Indeed it is often used as one of the texts to prove eternal torment to be true. It is strange how a false doctrine will become so rooted in the mind that one will cling to it tenaciously no matter how unreasonable it is. For instance, it never seems to occur to believers in eternal torment that if this were a real lake of fire and brimstone, worms could not live for a single moment in it. Likewise, it never seems to occur to them that if there were literal worms which could never die, then these worms would be immortal, for immortality means that which can not die, that which is deathproof.
It is impossible for any one to have a sensible understanding of this text as long as he believes in eternal torment. Another thing that helps to hide the real meaning of the text is the mistranslation of one word, namely, the Greek word translated "hell fire". The word does not mean hell-fire, and should never have been so translated. In the Greek the word is gehenna, which, correctly translated, means "the valley of the son of Hinnom". The Hebrew word sheol, in the Old Testament, and the Greek word hades, in the New Testament, are properly translated "hell", because the word "hell" means "the grave". But this word gehenna is not found in the Old Testament at all, and is found only eleven times in the New Testament. It is wrongly translated "hell" and "hell fire". The translators believed in eternal torment, and were desirous of finding something to support their unscriptural theory, and so made this mistranslation, probably hoping that people would never find cut the fact that they had been duped. There is no excuse for the mistranslation, for every commentator on earth who understands the Greek knows full well that gehenna means "the valley of the son of Einnom". This means that a man by the name of Mr. Hinnom lived in or near Jerusalem and owned a valley just outside of the walls of the city. Mr. Hinnom had a son whose name is not known. Mr. Hinnom died and left an estate to this son, and the estate included this valley. Thereafter the valley was called "the valley of the son of Hinnom". It is impossible for any one, by any hook or crook, to make gehenna mean eternal torment, or lake of fire and brimstone, or suffering or anguish, or anything akin to these. Now let us read the verse in its correct translation. "It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into the valley of the son of Hinnom; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." To grasp the thought which Jesus had in mind when he uttered these words, it is necessary to know what this valley was used for. History records that it was used for the purpose of burning up or destroying all the offal and rubbish of