LOVING JESUS DEPENDS ON OUR COMPREHENSION OF THE LAMB OF GOD
Our love for Christ will vary with our understanding of the meaning of Days of Unleavened Bread and the New Covenant Passover. John the Baptist, one of the greatest prophets of all time, said that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the Lamb of God. The significance of His being our Lamb to cover our sins is vital for all believers to deeply appreciate.
John 1:29 NKJV 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus made a profound statement about forgiveness and love that all of us need to think about deeply. How are believers forgiven of sins? How do we become unleavened or pure of the leaven of sin? One statement of Jesus weights heavily on these questions.
Luke 7:36-40 NKJV 36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. .... 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, ,... ; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
Even though they were religious leaders and teachers, some Pharisees were too holy to deal with, or even touch sinners. Jesus revealed to them why he came to earth.
Luke 7:41-47 NKJV 41 "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 "And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."
A truly unleavened believer is one who loves and appreciates all that Jesus has done for us. The Pharisees are rightly criticized for their arrogance and wickedness. But, they were totally clueless. Christ elaborated for this Pharisee.
44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 "You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 "You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."
Our deep spiritual cleansing which makes us unleavened, requires us to realize that our human nature can and often will sin. The Pharisees as seen in the parable of Luke 18:9-13 actually thought they were not as other men- sinners.
Mark 2:16-17 NKJV 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Jesus the Messiah came the first time to treat and clean us sinners. First He atoned for our sins by His intense sacrifice. Jesus put all the sins of mankind on His shoulders and paid the high price. Now as our high priest, He sends us God's Spirit to help us become cleaner and stay spiritually unleavened.
NEW COVENANT MEANING OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
The Corinthian congregation had a boat load of sinful problems therefore, it is a good example of the New Covenant meanings for Unleavened Bread. Paul warns them to remove the open acceptance of a grievous sinner or leavening from the congregation.
1 Corinthians 5:5-9 NKJV 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, SINCE YOU TRULY ARE UNLEAVENED .
Paul rebukes them because openly allowing outrageous sin is accepting contamination which defies the spirit of being unleavened and clean from sin. Note also that this gentile congregation, far from Jerusalem, was keeping the OT or God's Holy Days of Unleavened Bread. Further they were actually free or clean of leavened bread for seven days. They were physically unleavened.
...For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.
Now the Apostle Paul is demanding that they also become spiritually unleavened. Being unleavened means that believers are working to be free of malice and wickedness. Leavening represents a puffed up person who is wicked and the opposite of truth and sincerity. A believer who is unleavened is humble and not puffed up and a person who avoids worldly sinfulness. Why, because Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE TRUE UNLEAVENED BREAD FROM GOD
Jesus cleans us up and his life as our high priest is saving us. Believers need to to work to stay clean and this is represented by our consuming Unleavened Bread for seven days. Through God's spirit we take in the spiritual influences of Christ. We imbibe of Jesus. He is the true Bread of life.
John 6:33-35 NKJV 33 "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." 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.
Jesus is the bread of eternal life. All will die once but we avoid the second death by taking in Christ, our unleavened bread of eternal life.
John 6:48-52 NKJV 48 "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." 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"
Those not called by God could not see that Jesus was speaking figuratively. He, of course, was not calling for cannibalism. Christ wanted them to participate in the words and teaching of God that he was presenting. He wanted them to repent and partake of the Spirit of God. Further, he wanted them to symbolically fulfill the real, full meaning of Passover.
John 6:53-55 NKJV 53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to 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 him up at the last day. 55 "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
During the New Covenant Passover service on the night in which Christ was betrayed, we figuratively eat the unleavened bread representing the body of Christ. We fulfill the symbolism which Jesus referred to in the Book of John. Manna was a physical form of the bread from heaven but the true bread from God is the body of His Son Jesus.
Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV 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.
The true bread of God is the spiritual teaching of God not bread itself. Unleavened Bread season represents us taking in the spiritual influences including teachings of God so we can remain as clean from sin as possible. Why? Because Jesus was sacrificed for us.
John 6:58 NKJV 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."
Remember this when we eat unleavened bread on God's Holy Days.
