Unleavened Bread

Dear Brethren,

We hope that the Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread went well for you.  These were certainly very happy and inspiring occasions for us here in central Arkansas.  The Last Day of Unleavened Bread is Wednesday, April 15th.

The Feast of Passover pictures Jesus Christ – who is the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth – dying for our sins.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread shows us that simply accepting Jesus’ sacrifice to pay for our sins is not enough.  We must endeavor to cease sinning.  After repenting of our sins and being forgiven by God, we must strive to come out of sin completely, just as Israel came out of Egypt, a type of sin (Hebrews 11:25-29).  True Christians continually strive to rid sin from their lives.

God’s Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures this part of His plan for mankind – coming out of sin and becoming righteous.  How does this take place?  Jesus Christ gave His Church this second annual Feast, which has great meaning.  The observance of this seven-day Feast teaches us that we must put on righteousness and strive not to return to the sins Jesus paid for with His shed blood.

Jesus Christ gave the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the tribes of Israel before they reached Mt. Sinai, and He instructed them, and succeeding generations, to observe it forever (Exodus 12:17; 13:10; Leviticus 23:6).  The first and seventh days are set apart as Holy Days of convocation – days of rest and worship of God.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th of Abib, the day following Passover.

Leaven is often used in the Bible as a type of sin.  God instructed the Israelites to put all leaven bread out of their homes during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15-19; 13:7).  It symbolizes putting away sin.  Leavening agents are substances, like yeast, that are used to make dough rise by the process of fermentation (Matthew 16:6, 11-12; Luke 12:1; 1Corinthians 5:8).

Unleavened bread contains no leavening agent, and therefore typifies sin-less-ness.  God commands His people to eat unleavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15, 19-20; Leviticus 23:6).  It symbolizes putting on righteousness and obedience to God.

These lessons are even more important for the New Testament Church than they were for ancient Israel.  Upon repentance and baptism, Jesus’ sacrifice blots out all past sins.  He died so that we would not have to pay the penalty of eternal death (Romans 6:23).  We are to “go and sin no more,” and strive to obey His Law – to "unleaven" our lives.

The apostle Paul showed clearly, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that New Testament Christians are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (1Corinthians 5:8).  Paul told the Corinthian Church members, who were keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread, to put out spiritual leaven (sin), just as they had already put out all physical leaven products in preparation for the Feast.  They were to keep the Feast not only with real unleavened bread, but also with the spiritually "unleavened" attitude of sincerity and truth.

In order for us to become Spirit-born members of God’s Family in the resurrection, we must prove that we will obey God here and now by striving to put the spiritual leaven of sin out of our lives and keep it out.  Paul said that we are to lay aside every sin that so easily besets us – striving against sin (Hebrews 12:1, 4).

During these seven days of Unleavened Bread, lets be reminded of our need to keep God’s Commandments.  Let’s renew our resolve to live in harmony with God’s Law, and rededicate our lives to continual spiritual growth and overcoming.  Once, we were destined to die eternal death for our sins, because “the wages of sin is death.”   (Romans 6:23)  “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)

It is crucial that we understand what took place as Jesus was dying on the stake [Greek ‘stauros’].  God the Father had to desert Him.  It was the most excruciating time for the Father and for Jesus who had always been together.  It was the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy.  Jesus became Sin.  He who had never sinned – became sin in our place.  Because God the Father is Most Holy, no sin can ever come into His sacred presence.  “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you.”  (Isaiah 59:2)  It is sin that separates one from God.  Only reconciliation can bring us back to God.  "Christ has suffered once for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."  (1Peter 3:18)

2Corinthians 5:18 and :21 are the key verses that explain how this reconciliation with the Father is possible.  "God has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ" (vs 18).  When Jesus took upon Himself all of our sins, He became Sin – the total sin offering.  God the Father had to turn His face and abandon Jesus to die on the cross.  Jesus cried with a loud voice – describing the rejection, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46)  The Father forsook Jesus because Jesus had become Sin.

Jesus, Who never sinned, paid the death penalty in our place, substituting His death for ours.   His death substitutes for our well-deserved death, which we earned through sin.  Let’s notice the double-substitutionary act of God.  Jesus was sacrificed in our stead, and we in turn have His righteousness imputed to us.  

In the same way that God made Jesus to be Sin, He has made us to be Righteous.  God in turn, substitutes the righteousness of Jesus to us!  God the Father made Jesus Christ, who never sinned, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  Jesus took on our sin, so that we might put on His Righteousness.  “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  (2Corinthians 5:21)

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Righteousness Series:

 

Sermon:	"Sin Out - Righteousness In"
Sermon:	"Unleavened Bread"
Sermon:	"Righteousness of God"