THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #226 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #207
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3912
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #226
THE LIFE OF MOSES #207
MOSES AT MT.SINAI#106
THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES ( Part 65)
THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD IN THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES #19
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD FOR CHRISTIANS?
The Bible tells us that the Israelites were to eat only unleavened bread every year during Passover as a commemoration of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage. Since the children of Israel left Egypt hastily, they did not have time for the bread to rise, so it was made on that very first Passover without leaven, also known as yeast.
In describing this bread and why it was eaten, the Bible informs us of the following: "Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt" (Deuteronomy 16:3). Further commands regarding the eating of unleavened bread are found in Exodus 12:8; 29:2; and Numbers 9:11. To this day, in Jewish homes, the Passover celebration includes unleavened bread.
According to the Hebrew lexicon, the term unleavened bread is derived from the word matzoh, which means "bread or cake without leaven." The lexicon also states that matzoh is in turn derived from a word which means "to drain out or suck." In referring to this second Hebrew word, the lexicon states, "In the sense of greedily devouring for sweetness." So it is quite possible that unleavened bread, while it may have been heavy and flat, may also have been sweet to the taste.
In the Bible, leaven is almost always symbolic of sin. Like leaven that permeates the whole lump of dough, sin will spread in a person, a church, or a nation, eventually overwhelming and bringing its participants into its bondage and eventually to death (Galatians 5:9). Romans 6:23 tell us that “the wages of sin is death,” which is God’s judgment for sin, and this is the reason that Christ died—to provide a way out of this judgment for sin if man will repent of his sins, accept Christ as his Passover sacrifice, and have his heart changed so that he can conform his life to what God commands.
Unleavened Bread is a picture of Christ's holiness, purity and sinlessness.
His life and sacrifice was " unleavened"...
without the taint of the curse of death, and therefore He was considered " a lamb without spot or blemish for the ultimate Passover sacrifice ( 1 Peter 1:19 ).
After His burial, His body did not decompose nor return to dust ( the curse of Adam and Eve in Gen.3:19 ).
As the Second Adam, His death "killed the power of death" by putting away sin through the sacrifice of Himself ( Heb.9:26 ).
The Feast of Unleavened Bread has so much to teach us about Jesus who indeed is our Bread of Life.
But do we hunger and thirst for His righteousness like we would hunger and thirst after food and drink in the natural?
When we pray the Lord's prayer and say " Give us this day our daily bread", do we mean " Give us this day our daily Jesus?"
Do we deem His Word more than " necessary food" as Job did in Job 23:12 ( NJKV )
"I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."
