¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

Hinted at in the previous verse, the comparison becomes clear. The “foods” of verse 9 refer to the animal and grain offerings brought to the temple during life under the Mosaic covenant. There was a certain exclusivity about that ritual that only Jews or converts to Judaism (“proselytes”) could enjoy.

The tables are turned now that Christ has come. He is our altar. Or rather, the cross is our altar, where our great High Priest Jesus offered Himself as the once-for-all-time sacrifice for our sin. He Himself laid the foundation for this thinking when He spoke to the woman at the well: “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father … But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21, 23–24).

The people who hold on to, or revert back to the Levitical worship system (that is, “those who serve the tabernacle”) have “no right to eat” at the altar of Christ. Not even being a priest or Levite will help. By application, being a member of the so-called clergy, or a “man of the cloth,” or any ritualistic approach to God that depends on ecclesiastical forms, reaps no particular benefits when it comes to worshiping God, which is what an altar represents. Being a Jew offers no benefit in that regard. All must come to God through Christ, exclusively. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). The word of salvation which God “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son” (Heb 1:2) is unashamedly exclusive. This means that all worship of God is invalid unless it is done at the altar of the cross.

Now, how does that look in practice? It means when we “worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24) it must be centered on Christ’s death and sacrifice for our sin. Interestingly, the Christian practice of the Lord’s supper, instituted by the Lord Himself, involves eating the bread which is symbolic of His body and of our fellowship and unity in Him. Is it any wonder that He told us to, “Do this in remembrance of me”? We worship God through Jesus Christ. No one else has the right and privilege.

Father, I commit to worshiping You with Christ as the center of my focus. And I commit to remembering Him at the breaking of bread, as He commanded.