So, you think you already know what Passover and Unleavened bread are all about, what they represent? I challenge you to rethink this and see if there might something you have missed! 1Feast of Unleavened Bread The first age of Gods plan of salvation for mankind is the 6,000-year period which extends from creation to the return of Messiah Yeshua. This part of the plan is symbolized by the first measure of flour in Yeshuas parable and the first pilgrimage festival of YHVHs sacred year, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast was immediately preceded by the sacrifice of the Passover lambs, which were a type of the Lamb of God, Yeshua (John 1:29, 36; I Cor. 5:7; Rev. 5:12). So interconnected was the Passover sacrifice to this festival, it was sometimes referred to as the Feast of the Passover (Exo. 24:35; Luke 2:41; 22:1; John 6:4; 13:1). Literally, on that first Passover the blood of the sacrificial lambs provided salvation for the firstborn of Israel, while the Egyptian firstborn not under the blood were killed (Exo. 12:12-13). This tenth plague, the death of the Egyptian firstborn, was what finally caused Pharaoh to free Israel from their bondage (Exo. 11:1; 12:29-32). The Israelites began their journey out of Egypt on the first day of this festival (Exo. 12:33-37; Num. 33:3) and completed their departure on the seventh day when they crossed the Red Sea (Exo. 14:15-31). As the Exodus story clearly shows, Israel was able to leave Egypt only because of Gods supernatural intervention on their behalf. Spiritually, this feast pictures putting sin (represented by yeast/leaven during these seven days) out of our lives after having been saved by the blood of the Lamb of God. The historic events underlying this feast show us that it is not our own strength that accomplishes victory over sin. It first takes acceptance of the sacrifice of Yeshua our Passover to provide forgiveness for sins. Then another miracle of God, produced by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, allows believers to overcome sin as they are molded into the divine image of Yeshua (I Cor. 15:49; II Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29). A fact that is widely overlooked in the Passover story is the true function of the lambs blood. While most believe that this blood saved all of Israel (and it did in a way), it specifically saved from death ONLY the firstborn. Those who were not firstborns were not in danger of dying that night. Symbolically, this shows that the INITIAL salvation provided by the Lamb of God during this first age of YHVHs plan (a 6,000-year period which proceeds from creation to the second coming of Messiah Yeshua) will apply only to the SPIRITUAL firstborn. Notice Gods focus on the physical firstborn in Exodus 34:19-20, which is found within one of the passages where the three pilgrimage festivals are commanded. Since YHVH had spared the firstborn in Egypt, He claimed them for Himself. For a short time after leaving Egypt, the firstborn served as priesthood for the tribes of Israel (Exo. 24:5). However, the sin of the golden calf (Exo. 32:6) disqualified them, and they were soon replaced by the Levites (Exo. 32:25-29). The instruction regarding the firstborn might seem out of place in a casual reading of Exodus 34:18-23. However, its inclusion reveals the symbolic relevance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the spiritual firstborn (those called to Yeshua by Yah the Father during this age - John 6:44, 65). As the author of Hebrews revealed, those now being called into the body of Messiah are part of this assembly of spiritual firstborns: HEBREWS 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, (NIV) The apostle Peter disclosed that the spiritual firstborn who make up the body of Messiah will be the kingdom of priests and the holy nation (Exo. 19:6) that Israel was originally called to be: I PETER 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. (NIV) Those few who are chosen by God out of the many He will call during this age (Matt. 20:16; 22:14) will be His spiritual firstborn. When Yeshua comes to reward his servants at the sounding of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15-18), the righteous dead will be raised as spirit beings and the living saints will be transformed from flesh to spirit: I CORINTHIANS 15:50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (NRSV) I THESSALONIANS 4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangels call and with the sound of Gods trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. (NRSV) Once changed into the glorious image of the Messiah (Phi. 3:21; I John 3:2), the spiritual firstborn will serve as kings and priests over the nations in the coming age when King Yeshua rules the earth from Jerusalem: REVELATION 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (NKJV) REVELATION 2:26 And he who overcomes, and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations – 27 He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potters vessels – as I also have received from my Father; (NKJV) The Scriptures show that those who are called, chosen, and faithful during this first age of Gods plan will be the spiritual firstborn. They will be the first crop that God reaps from humanity. It is no coincidence that the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was when barley, the first crop of the year, was harvested in the Holy Land. Here is what The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says about barley: Barley bread was the common food of the poor. . . . The grain was fed to horses, asses, and cattle. . . . Barley is sown in the autumn following the early rains and ripens about a month earlier than wheat. In Palestine the harvest takes place in March or April, depending on the location. (p. 431, vol. 1, Barley) Barley was considered the least of the grains in biblical times. This grain is symbolic of the poor people who will be harvested into the kingdom of God during the first age of YHVHs plan. Paul describes this initial group that will be saved in his first letter to the Corinthians: I CORINTHIANS 1:26 Just look at yourselves, brothers – look at those whom God has called! Not many of you are wise by the worlds standards, not many wield power or boast noble birth. 27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise; God chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the strong; 28 and God chose what the world looks down on as common or regards as nothing in order to bring to nothing what the world considers important; 29 so that no one should boast before God. (CJB) God commanded Israel to offer an omer (a measurement equal to about 2.2 quarts) of the first fruit of the barley harvest on the day after the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:10-15). The Jewish sages generally understood the time of this offering to be the day after the annual Sabbath which begins the feast (i.e., the 2nd day of the feast). At the time of Yeshuas ministry, this barley offering was harvested just after sunset at the beginning of 16 Nisan. Delegates from the Sanhedrin cut down 10 omers of barley that had been identified as ready and bundled before the beginning of the feast. These barley sheaves were brought into the Court of the Temple and thrashed to remove the heads that night. The barley was dried over a fire on a pan with numerous holes, and then subjected to the wind. The parched grain was finally ground to fine flour in a barley mill. Although 10 omers of barley were initially cut down, only one omer of flour (mixed with oil and a handful of frankincense) was waved before YHVH by the priests in the Temple the next morning. The remainder of the barley flour was not reckoned as holy and could be redeemed and used for any purpose. This barley offering (often referred to as the wave sheaf) represented the saints who are part of the church of the firstborn. Just as the barley was prepared by fire, the saints are shaped into the image of Messiah by the fiery trials they suffer (I Pet. 4:12). Just as the barley was ground into flour by a mill, the saints are ground into powder by the chief cornerstone, Yeshua (Matt. 21:42-44). Just as only a small part of all the barley flour prepared was offered to God, only a few from the many called by God will be chosen (Matt. 20:16; 22:14) to serve in Messiahs Millennial government. The following list shows the scriptural symbolism regarding those who will be saved during the first age of Gods plan of salvation for mankind: First Measure of Flour / Feast of Unleavened Bread / Omer Offering of Barley = SPIRITUAL FIRSTBORN In summary: The SPIRITUAL FIRSTBORN will be those few chosen during this age out of the many God will call. They will be changed from flesh to spirit at the first resurrection, which represents the culmination of the yeasts work in this first measure of flour. This congregation of the firstborn will be priests and kings, ruling with Messiah in his Millennial kingdom. They are not chosen at this time simply to obtain their own salvation, but rather so they can help Yeshua successfully carry out the plan of YHVH.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:22:25 +0000
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