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The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Finding Significance by Relating with God through the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened BreadSummary The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the day after Passover, and is kept for seven days. Special care is taken to remove all leaven (yeast) from the house. God had a lot to say about the leaven: anyone eating any leaven would be cut off from the congregation of Israel (Exodus 12:15), whether a stranger or native; it shall not be seen among you (13:7); "You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven” (Exodus 34:25 NKJV). Even in the New Covenant, the LORD specifically exhorted the people several times to beware of the leaven of the religious leaders as well as Herod. What is the issue with leaven? It is a fermenting substance; a turbulent form of bacterium that is permeating and pervasive in nature. It spreads like a cancer or virus, contaminating, polluting and corrupting what it touches. It therefore, is used as a metaphor for sin and falsehood. As it spreads, it compromises and destroys what is true, good and otherwise pure. The LORD fulfilled this celebration, being sinless. He was pure, filled with a full measure of the Holy Spirit, and demonstrated a lifestyle free from sin. He has once and for all fulfilled the requirement of this law. All in the LORD are not only justified before God, but sanctified (cleansed from sin) in His name. So, why was this feast prescribed for seven days, whereas Passover is a single-day event? While redemption was accomplished by a single blood sacrifice, we appropriate that sacrifice and pursue a life-long process of being continuously sanctified and purified (washed), growing into the measure of the stature of the fullness of the LORD. (Ephesians 4:13) This entails:
This was what the apostle, Paul, had in mind in teaching the disciples to, “keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling,? for God is the one working among you both the willing and the working for what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:12-13 JNT)
Life Application Questions Do you genuinely feel clean before God? Are there ways you find yourself justifying your righteousness, or standing before God? Do you ever feel condemned by others, and/or the need to defend your works or self-worth to others? If so, there may be some areas God wants to cleanse in your life. You can’t vindicate yourself and have peace. Only God can give you true peace. Allow the Holy Spirit—God’s Comforter—to minister God’s love and cleansing work in you. Are there known areas of sin in your life? Earnestly ask God to show them to you. He will be faithful to reveal to you—as your heart remains inclined toward Him, and is prepared to receive His truth in His love. For, with His love—which is unconditional—comes His mercy. Embrace David’s prayer in Psalm 51:1-3.
Scripture References Exodus 12:15-20; Leviticus 23:6-8; Psalm 24; 26:8-12; 119:1-40; Romans 3:21-5:20; Galatians 2:11-3:25; James 2:14-26; John 17:17-19; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 7:14; Hebrews 10:5-18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Colossians 1:21-23
Discovering God’s Purposes by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened BreadSummary The LORD’s blood erased our slate from the handwriting of God’s judgment, “cleaning” our account from the debt of sin. We celebrate His cleaning of our “spiritual house,” our bodies, by keeping our hearts and minds clean, meditating on His words and noble and righteous thoughts, and resisting the temptations of the world—vain desires, pride and pulls of the world. Beyond the external things that can destroy our physical bodies, we can allow our spiritual condition to deteriorate from the inside—by harboring destructive attitudes, like bitterness and judgment; and maintaining selfish motivations and pursuing self-centered interests and agendas. That’s why the LORD declared, “There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!” (Mark 7:15 JNT) God wants us to walk in integrity—values based on what is sound, true and right. That’s why Paul reasoned; “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:8) Paul taught how our body is the temple of God’s Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19) It, therefore, behooves us to keep ourselves clean on the inside by reading, meditating, and digesting God’s Word, communing with Him by the Holy Spirit, and confessing and turning (or repenting) from revealed sins.
Life Application Questions In what ways do you endeavor to keep your heart clean before God? In what ways do you hurt yourself by harboring wrong attitudes of the heart? Are there any things you do on a regular basis that may cause harmful attitudes to persist? What falsehoods might you be holding onto or trusting in that could be preventing you from receiving truth from God?
Scripture References Psalm 19:7-14; 24; 51; 119: 1-40; Matthew 5:8; 21-29; 12:33-37; 13:18-23; Mark 7:17-23; Ephesians 4:17-32
Receiving God’s Amazing Grace by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened BreadSummary His spirit, therefore, descended into hell where he battled with the devil, and led the forces of darkness which had held mankind into captivity into their own captivity. In addition, as Revelation 1:18 records, He took the keys of hell and death—Satan’s authority, away from him; therefore absolving him from his authority over mankind. As Scripture says, “He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. 15 Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake.” Satan had won a position of spiritual authority over mankind when Adam and Eve believed the lie of the serpent (the devil personified) and disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The LORD won back that authority. Believers, therefore, benefit from His authority over the power of sin and death. Those who have not put their faith in the LORD have not appropriated His authority over the devil, leaving them under the jurisdiction of the powers of darkness.
Life Application Questions Do you understand how the LORD defeated the devil, and made a way of escape from the bondage of hell for you? Have you fully received His exchange for your sins and attempts to justify yourself? Are there things in your life—attitudes, ways, habits, values, material possessions—you may need to “bury” and put behind you so you can receive God’s grace and advance forward?
Scripture References
Responding in Faith to God’s Invitation of Life and Peace by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened BreadSummary This feast, in essence, acts as a shadow pointing forward to the LORD’s ongoing process of cleansing by the Holy Spirit; from the effects of sin and the corrupting and contaminating influences of the world, and establishing in us a pure heart and cleansed life before God. In another sense, it is a reflection of the outward practice of water immersion, or baptism, which expresses what God has already done in the heart by burying the “old nature of the flesh.” The LORD fulfilled all righteousness by allowing John the Immerser, or Baptist, to baptize Him in the Jordan. As He came up from the water, a dove descended upon Him. This marked Him as the bearer of the Holy Spirit, and identified Him as the Servant Isaiah prophesied of. “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him...” (Isaiah 42:1 NKJV) John declared the LORD would thereafter baptize believers, “with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Paul, therefore, affirmed that once immersed, or baptized, the believer should walk in the LORD’s grace, expressing this new nature.
Life Application Questions Have you participated in an outward immersion, or baptism? How does your life reflect the inward change of your “new nature” in the LORD?
Scripture References Isaiah 42:1-4; Matthew 3:11; John 1:26-34; Romans 6
Walking in Spiritual Reality by Relating with God through the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened BreadSummary As we walk in this life, we are continuously bombarded with messages of this world that may seem good. The majority of them, however, are rooted in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They look good on the outside—but are not rooted in God’s truth or life of His Spirit—and therefore, cannot bear the life, wisdom or fruit of His Spirit, and produce God’s real peace and joy. God wants us to eat of the tree of life! He wants us to discern between what is of Him and what is of the world. He wants to bring us from confusion to clarity. That is accomplished by seeking God’s wisdom and peace through His Word and Spirit; and comes from receiving the true light of the world—the LORD, Messiah Jesus. The LORD’s sacrifice, therefore, not only released you from the burdens of the effects of sin, but accomplished what the Law of Moses could never permanently do: legally clear you of all possible charges of sin, removing all possible effects of guilt, condemnation and confusion found under the law of sin and death! His last words proclaimed on the cross were, "It is finished!" (John 19:30) Paul, therefore, endeavored to clear the disciples’ conscience from all traces of guilt proclaiming:
Free from guilt and condemnation, the believer can receive the LORD’s mercy and truth. By receiving His mercy and truth, you walk with a refreshed mindset and perspective on life—God’s perspective! Such a mindset sets things clear to you so you see with God’s kind of open vision. Truly, His open vision enables you to walk in the light of His wisdom and truth.
Life Application Questions Have you allowed the LORD to clear all the charges of guilt and condemnation from your conscience? Are there areas where you still come under guilt and condemnation? Have you received the full mercy of God? Do you extend mercy to others—even those with whom you have difficulty? How about those who scorn, use, or mock you? Do you judge anybody? Do you hold anybody in low esteem? Are you quick to condemn those who do you wrong?" This is a more crucial issue than most of us like to believe. As Scripture says, “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.” (Matthew 6:14-15 JNT)
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Be Blessed by Embracing God’s Values and Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened BreadSummary While Unleavened Bread stands for a process of removing leaven from the home, this process in essence acts as a shadow reflecting the reality and value of engaging in an ongoing process of removing revealed sin and contaminating and corrupting influences from our life, purifying our heart—and walk—before God. In another sense, it also points to the outward sign of water immersion, or baptism; which affirms the inward cleansing work of the Holy Spirit. In valuing this reality, we have the opportunity to submit our fleshly desires to the LORD. We then place our faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to help us resist those appealing, but unprofitable temptations. Paul referred to this process as, sanctification by the Spirit or a “holiness that has its origin in the Spirit and the faithfulness that has its origin in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13 JNT) By doing so, we trade the harmful influences of the world for the grace of the LORDs dominion, headship, or Lordship. We also allow the power of His resurrection to become a personal reality, and work a progressive cleansing work in our life. For this reason, Paul exhorted the disciples to, “abound more and more,” walking through life pleasing God. “For, this is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1-3 NKJV) Therefore, in being alive in the newness of the LORD’s life, we need to understand that, as much as grace and sanctification work together, vibrant communion with God’s Spirit cannot coexist with idols in our heart. For, idols are images we place greater value upon, than that of our relationship with God. It, therefore, behooves us to honestly assess our values, and truly discern the things in life that may take on the form of idols.
Life Application Questions How do you examine your standing—or health of your relationship with God? Are there crevices in your heart that the Holy Spirit may be shedding light upon to bring your heart into a greater degree of sanctification, and unity with God?
Scripture References 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 4:1-3; James 4; Ephesians 1:15-21
Living Life in its Fullness by Relating with the Lord who is the Light of the WorldThe LORD was teaching in the temple. A group of religious leaders brought to Him a woman caught in adultery, a sin worthy of death. They tested Him by asking what He thought. He replied to her accusers, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7 JNT) Her accusers, convicted by their own conscience, left. He said He did not condemn her, and that she should sin no more. He then shared something that brought peace and strength to her as well as others hearing. I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life. The light of the LORD reveals truth. Receiving His Words breathed by His Spirit bears the life of God’s truth. For, His words cut through the darkness of lies that condemn. His words and Spirit bear truth that sets people free. The LORD revealed this later in His conversation. If you obey what I say, then you are really my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Light, separating truth from lies, in essence is what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is about. Why does Scripture prescribe removing leaven from the home? Leaven is a fermenting substance; a turbulent form of bacterium that is permeating and pervasive in nature. It spreads like a cancer or virus, contaminating, polluting and corrupting what it touches. It is what sin and bad influences do to our life. As we actively receive and embrace the LORD and the light of God’s truth by His Word, His Spirit cleanses and sanctifies us. This is what the apostle Paul related as, “sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV) In the LORD, we have a living revelation of El Emet— |
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