Communion: A 3-Day Devotional With Zach WilliamsSample

A Chair That Waits for You

(To the Table)

Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. 17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ 18 “But without exception they all began to make excuses. . . .21 So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’ 22 “‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’ 23 “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.”

—Luke 14:16-23

Throughout history, there have been many elaborate meals planned for large groups of people. In 1971, for example, the Shah of Iran organized a banquet to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire. The event took a full year to plan—this included building a dinner table which was almost 230 feet long! Around six hundred guests, many who were dignitaries from around the world, dined at that table. The food and drink menus were exceedingly lavish, and the event is estimated to have cost somewhere between three hundred million and two billion Swiss francs.

In telling this parable in Luke 14, Jesus wasn’t advocating for the kind of excess the world often celebrates. But He did use the picture of a great banquet to help us understand the importance of the invitation He has extended to each of us. As incredible as some earthly celebrations are, none can ever come close to comparing to the Messianic banquet in the future kingdom of God.

And there’s a chair that waits there for you.

It is hard to imagine turning down such an invitation. In 1971, it was a great honor to be invited to the Persian celebration at Persepolis. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Excuses were not made—the chairs were filled. Yet Jesus’s far more glorious invitation is often met with excuses.

God’s kingdom is not a distant abstraction; it is a present reality brought about by Jesus’s death and resurrection. To take our seat at the table, we must set our excuses aside. His is not a celebration that begins and ends with a sendoff back to life as you knew it; it lasts forever. The Creator of the universe is offering you His banquet feast of grace. It is lavish and easily accessible. His table extends far beyond any distance the eye can see, and He has secured a chair for you. Will you keep standing at a distance, or will you come and take your place?

• Listen to Zach Williams’s “To the Table.” What lyrics stand out to you as particularly encouraging? Which stand out to you as most challenging?
• Reread Luke 14:16-23. How can you know God’s invitation is for everyone and that “there’s a chair that waits for you”?
• Thank God for His invitation to you to come to His table of grace. Ask Him to help you set aside your excuses so that you might fully enjoy the banquet He has prepared.