KJV 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 14 “You are always to remember this day and celebrate it with a feast to the LORD. Your descendants are to honor the LORD with this feast from now on. (NCV) Once a person has been saved, a matter of critical importance arises: He must immediately flee the evil of his past life. He must immediately rush to live a life of righteousness as he marches to the promised land of heaven. This was the picture, the symbol, God wanted seen in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Picture the scene: there was an Israelite family standing around their table in the wee hours of the morning. They had been slaves all their lives: mistreated, abused, and brutalized. But there they were... • fully dressed • sandals on their feet • staffs in their hands • ready to go Thank God, they were to be free at last. When the orders came to march, they were to be ready, ready right then and there. Very little time had been given to prepare. They were even to take unleavened bread, bread without yeast. There was no time to let the leaven or yeast do its work, no time to let it permeate the bread. This was the picture being painted by the unleavened bread. Note that leaven is mentioned eight times in this passage. Leaven or yeast causes dough to ferment. Because of the fermentation effect, leaven was used to picture corruption and evil in the world, to show how sin permeates and spreads throughout the world and in the hearts of men. Throughout Scripture, leaven symbolizes evil. This means that unleavened bread symbolizes righteousness: we are to eat the bread of righteousness. Historically, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to remind Gods people of the time when they had to rush out of Egypt, away from the evils of Egypt (the world) and of enslavement. Spiritually, the feast symbolizes the utter necessity for the Christian believer to rush away from the world with all its evil (leaven) and to rush toward the promised land of heaven. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to remind Gods people of the time when they had to rush to their new life in the promised land of Canaan. They had to rush forth into freedom with only unleavened bread. Spiritually, this symbolizes the utter necessity for the Christian believer to rush forth with the unleavened bread of righteousness. The Christian believer is to march forth toward the promised land, digesting only unleavened bread, only the bread of life, the bread of righteousness. 1. The significance of the feast: to be celebrated annually, forever—as a permanent ordinance (v.14). 1. The feast was instituted by God Himself. God instructed Moses and Aaron to establish the feast. The feast was so important that God Himself felt compelled to establish its celebration. Note that the feast was to be celebrated every year, and it was to be a lasting ordinance of Israel. 2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a part of the Passover, but it was also considered a separate and distinct feast. They were both celebrated at the same time, and they were a part of one another. Nevertheless, they were two distinct feasts, symbolizing two different truths. The Passover was celebrated on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Expositors Bible Commentary makes the following points. a. Both names are used to refer to the same feast: Both feasts are called the Passover (Exodus 34:25; Ezekiel 45:21). Both feasts are also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deut. 16:16; 2 Chron. 30:13, 21; Ezra 6:22). b. Both feasts are also treated separately (Leviticus 23:5-6; Numbers 28:16-17; 2 Chron. 35:1, 17; Ezra 6:19-22; Ezekiel 45:21). c. The New Testament also uses each name to refer to the same feasts: The Passover (pascha, John 2:13, 23; John 6:4; John 11:55). The unleavened bread (azymos, Matthew 26:17; Luke 22:1, 7). 3. Leaven symbolizes evil and unleaven symbolizes righteousness. As stated above, this feast was to remind the Israelites of Gods great deliverance, just how quickly God had delivered them. The people had been forced to rush out of Egypt, to quickly rush from the evil of slavery. They had to begin their march to freedom so quickly that they had time to prepare only unleavened bread. The leaven was to forever symbolize the evil of Egyptian slavery. And the unleavened bread was to forever symbolize the utter necessity of rushing to their new life in the promised land, a new life of righteousness under Gods leadership and rule. The person who is truly saved by Jesus Christ is born again: he has a new life. As the believer marches to the promised land of heaven, he is to live for Christ: 1) He is to live a righteous, godly life. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (Romans 6:6). Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:12-13). I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:1-2). Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17). And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephes. 4:24). Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:12-13). But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless (2 Peter 3:10-14). Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:15-16). 2) He is to live a life studying the pure, unleavened Word of God. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me (John 5:39). These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11). And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified (Acts 20:32). For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4). Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1 Peter 2:2-3). Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.... Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalm 119:9, 11). Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail (Isaiah 34:16).
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 11:08:16 +0000
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