2023 Feast of Unleavened
Bread, 1st Day April 06,
2023
Replacing Sin With the Bread of Life
The Days of Unleavened Bread remind us, that with the
Holy Spirit, we must remove and avoid all types of sin in all areas of our
life. Unknown people are watching us all
the time. Our example stands out.
We must replace our human weaknesses and sinful
tendencies with something far better. And we learn this from God’s instruction
to eat unleavened bread throughout this spring feast.
This first High Day, that comes after the Passover,
represents the next step in the fulfillment of God’s master plan. After God has
forgiven us of our sins through Christ’s sacrifice, renewing our pledge with
the Father each year with the Passover, how do we continue to avoid sin, since
we must go on living in this life?
How do we live as God’s redeemed people?
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God's grace
We find the answer in the remarkable symbolism of
the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
When God freed Israel from Egypt, He told His
people:
Exodus 12:15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without
yeast. On the first day remove
the yeast from
your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the
first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
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.
{represents Jesus as sinless, no yeast, bread}
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. We
understand this is crucial to our developing the character of God and being
changed into our Lord Jesus Family at His Second Coming
1 John 2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is
right has been born of him.
1 John 3:7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The
one who does
what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
And what happen to the Israelites
Exodus 12:39 With the dough the Israelites had brought
from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was
without yeast because they had
been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for
themselves.
Leavening is an agent such as yeast, baking powder
that causes bread dough to rise. And the leavening process takes time. The
Israelites had no time to spare when they left Egypt, so they baked and ate flat bread.
What started out as a necessity, continued for a week. God named this time the Feast of Unleavened
Bread
Leviticus
23:6 On
the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Festival of Unleavened Bread begins;
for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.
Did Lord Jesus observed this festival as an adult.
Matthew 26:17 On the first day of the Festival of
Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked,
"Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
The early Church, following Christ in His religious
practices, observed it as well.
Paul used the symbols of this Feast to give
correction to the Corinthian Church.
1 Corinthians
5:6-7 Your
boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of
dough? (7) Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened
batch as you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been
sacrificed.
Paul
knew the Corinthian Church was observing the Feast
of Unleavened Bread to remove leaven from their homes and He encourage them to
celebrate this feast with proper understanding of its spiritual
intent.
Luke
wrote this more than 20 years {about 55 a.d.} after Jesus had been crucified
and resurrected. Paul was 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.
When we remove leaven from our homes for seven days,
it reminds us that we, too, through prayer and God’s help and understanding, must recognize, expel, and avoid sin in our
lives.
This
week is a time of personal reflection and a time to meditate or thinks about our attitudes and conduct and
asks God to help us recognize and overcome our shortcomings.
Philippians
4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely,
whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--meditate on these things.
We know the Holy Spirit will lead us in all things.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only
what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Paul
makes an outstanding and insightful statement.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with
Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me.
Our observance of the Days of Unleavened Bread
helps us realize our crucial need for Jesus’ help in overcoming our weaknesses,
sin in our life.
And this is reflected in the second aspect of how
God commands that this feast be observed—by eating unleavened bread throughout
the seven days.
What is the significance of the unleavened bread we
are commanded to eat? Jesus is this
bread and is the Bread of 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."
John 6:52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
John 6:53-54 Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no
life in you. (54) Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise them up at the last day. {Important Verse}
John 6:55-57 For my flesh is real
food and my blood is real drink. (56) Whoever eats
my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. (57)
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on
me will live because of me.
John 6:58 This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your
fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." {Promise to the Saints}
John 6:59-61 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. (60) On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept
it?" (61) Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this,
Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
John 6:62-63 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend
where He was before? (63) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
The words
that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
{Notice,
Jesus words in this instruction, it is about Spirit, not mere flesh. Those who has the Holy Spirit living in them,
will understand}
John 6:64-65 (64) But there are some of you who do not believe."
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and
who would betray Him. (65) And He
said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it
has been granted to him by My Father."
John 6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked
with Him no more. {this is a hard saying}
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.
This
bread, represents Jesus body, we received at the Passover Service.
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Notice the different terms Jesus applied to Himself
·
the true bread from heaven
·
the bread of God
·
the bread of life
· the living bread which came down from heaven
So what is Jesus’s point in calling Himself “the
true bread from heaven,” “the bread of God” and “the bread of life”?
He’s saying that just as physical bread was
essential for physical life, He as the Bread of God and the Bread from heaven
and the Bread of life is essential for our spiritual and eternal life! Without Him we do not have and cannot have eternal life! What does this means?
·
That means we accept Him as
the final authority in our lives.
·
It means we hunger for Him as
we hunger for physical food.
·
It means we desire to learn
about Him so we can become like Him in every aspect of our lives.
·
It means we study His
teachings and example so we can better follow Him as a disciple, through the
Gospel’s writings.
·
It means we make His
priorities our priorities. It means taking in and living by the whole of
God’s Word.
Luke tells us:
Luke 11:28 But He said, "More
than that, blessed
are those who
hear the word of God and keep it!"
Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not
live by Bread Alone, but by every Word of God.' "
Deuteronomy 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you
with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make
you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of the LORD.
Remember, what the Apostle
Paul told us:
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old
bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth.
On Passover night, we took the bread and wine, remember this throughout
this Feast of Unleavened Bread:
1 Corinthians
10:16 Is
not the cup
of thanksgiving for which we give
thanks a participation
in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the
body of Christ?
On Passover night, we
took the bread and wine, remember this throughout the year what the Paul wrote:
Have a good Feast of Unleavened Bread,
As we eat unleavened Bread during the Feast, take these things and think about our lives, our families, friends and mediate
about what it really means to us personally and the Bread of Life.
This is what we are doing
during this Feast of Unleavened Bread, enjoy the Feast, eating unleavened bread
every day, it is a blessing that we, because the Father picked you and me, you
and I, have been given this knowledge and understanding at this time in our
life, .
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