Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread April 30, 2016
Why are we here today, because this day is a Holy
Day on which God's people are to rest and assemble for worship?
Exodus 12:16 On the first day there
shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of
work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only
may be prepared by you.
How did it go this last week? Did anyone find leaven in their homes this
week or happen to eat something they should not?
Exodus 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats
leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be
cut off from Israel.
Our Lord Jesus tells us to eat unleavened
bread. Did we remove all leaven and
leavened food from our homes and property that what we would eat, and not bring
it in during the seven days of the Feast.
Exodus 12:19-20 For seven days no
leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that
same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is
a stranger or a native of the land.
(20) You shall eat nothing
leavened; in all your dwellings you
shall eat unleavened bread.' "
Remembering that leaven symbolize only the putting away of sin and we are commanded
to eat unleavened bread which symbolizes righteousness--active obedience to
God. Not our righteousness, but God’s
righteousness in our lives.
Understanding this is crucial to our developing the character of God and
being changed into our Lord Jesus Family at His Second Coming.
Did Lord Jesus
observed this festival as a child
Luke 2:41-43 His
parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. (42)
And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to
the custom of the feast. (43) When
they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother
did not know it;
Matthew 26:17 Now on the first day
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to
Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"
This week was a time of personal reflection. It is a time to med-i-tate or
thinks about our attitudes and conduct.
We should ask God in prayer to help us recognize and overcome
our shortcomings. Remember, the
Holy Spirit will lead us in all things.
Life is a continue battle with sin until our end of
days. These 7 days is a time
set aside for us to really think about what we are doing in life. We should be doing this year around, but we
probably do not. Life happens.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we
also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so
easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
We have our own
part to play in struggling to overcome sin. Yet we must realize our crucial
need for Jesus’ help in overcoming our weaknesses.
Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling;
(13) for it is God who works in you both to will
and to do for His good pleasure.
Something we have to do physically.
Our Lord Jesus explains what does the unleavened bread
represent? Remember, Jesus Himself had no sin. A complete, Sinless life.
John 6:27 Do not labor for
the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life,
which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on
Him."
John 6:32-33 Then Jesus said
to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread
from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. (33) For the bread of God is He who comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world."
John 6:35 And Jesus said to
them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and
he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
John 6:41 The Jews then
complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down
from heaven."
John 6:48-51 I am the bread of
life. (49) Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,
and are dead. (50) This is the bread which comes down from
heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
(51) I am the living bread which
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My
flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
Yes, physical
bread is essential for our physical life.
But more important, our Lord
Jesus is our Bread of life and is essential for our spiritual and eternal
life. Without Him we do not have and cannot have
eternal life.
Passover Service
The spiritual lesson of God’s command to eat unleavened
bread during this feast is that if we want to rid our lives of the leaven of sin and wickedness, we have to fill our lives with the unleavened bread of life, Jesus Christ.
We have to take Him into our lives.
Our Lord Jesus put away sin through the
sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:26-28 He then would
have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at
the end of the ages, He has appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
(27) And as it is appointed for
men to die once, but after this the judgment,
(28) so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who
eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for
salvation.
Because of His sacrifice, our Lord Jesus is
the bread of life.
Galatians 2:20 I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
And He continues to help us put sin out of our lives by
dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is leading us to regular repentance and to live in
obedience to God.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not
know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
(17) If anyone defiles the temple
of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not
know that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not
your own?
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 And what
agreement has the temple of God with
idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God has said: "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG
THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE." (17)
Therefore "COME OUT FROM
AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN,
AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU." (18) "I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU
SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY."
If our
actions and the way we live are in the Way of Death (which are the works of the
flesh), then we will be blaspheming the name of God. If our actions are in the Way of Life that Jesus taught, lived and instructed, then
the way we live our Lives shows the fruit of the Spirit.
Jeremiah 21:8 "Now you
shall say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I set before you
the way of life and the way of death.
What are some of the Spiritual lessons we can
learn by observing these spring feast days.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Your glorying is not good. Do you not
know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (7)
Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since
you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for
us. (8)
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.
Galatians 2:20 I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This verse was written more than 20 years
after Jesus had been crucified and resurrected.
The Apostles were observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Acts 20:6 But we sailed
away from Philippi after the Days of
Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed
seven days.
Like
leaven, sin easily grows, spreads and can take over and direct our lives.
Putting out leavening from our homes is symbolic of putting both the visible
and hidden sins out of our lives. Christians come to realize that we can't do
this on our own. We need to examine ourselves and repent and strive to change,
but it is Jesus Christ's help, as we submit to Him living in us, that produce
true spiritual progress.
Jesus gives us a direct statement to live our lives in a certain
Way.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them,
it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and
I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
John 14:23-24
Jesus answered and said to him, "If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We
will come to him and make Our home with him.
(24) He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you
hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
Remember, the lessons we learned during these
feast days. If we do not learn and act
on the lessons, then it is a wasted lesson and our Lord will allow another
lesson to come upon each of us.
So we are to study His words, to grow in
grace and knowledge and to learn the Way of Life that Jesus instructed us to
learn. This is what we should be doing
as we go forward to the next feast and High Day, Day of Pentecost.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God
and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.
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