Buried in today's chapters is one of the most astonishing sentences in the Bible: the elders of Israel went up the mountain, and they saw the God of Israel, and they ate and drank.

A meal in God's presence, no lightning, no casualties. Everything the tabernacle chapters are about, God arranging to live among His people, starts from that table. Come hungry for nearness today.

The Bible's storyline can be told in tables. Elders eating on a sapphire pavement. A tabernacle built so God could move into the neighborhood. A returning Master hoping to find His servants feeding the household. God's endgame has never been distance management; it is shared residence, shared meals.

That reframes waiting for Christ's return. Readiness is not calculating dates Jesus said even He did not know; it is doing what the faithful servant does, feeding whoever God put in your care, until the sound of the trumpet. Weeping may spend the night here. But morning, and the Master, and the wedding table are coming.