Why keep this holy day at all?
A Commanded Convocation
Leviticus 23:4 ‘These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations [a time for a special church service; annual meeting days not dissimilar to the weekly ones] which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover.
Leviticus 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Leviticus 23:7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
Leviticus 23:8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. [We still give offerings all seven days, not animal not just monetary] The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.‘ ” [a day of ceasing from our regular activities]
There are two Holy days here that we are commanded to keep. Here is the scriptural basis for the holidays that God wants us to keep. But this is not where this holy day was first instituted and commanded
Institution of Passover and Unleavened Bread
Exodus 12:6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
Exodus 12:11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.
Exodus 12:13 Now the blood shall be a sign [to identify] for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
Exodus 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses [you shall have no leaven in your house from this day forward]. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 12:16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.
Exodus 12:17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies [masses] out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. [second time we have seen this].
Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Exodus 12:19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
Exodus 12:20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ “
This is associated with exodus
Predates Other Events
2 quick points:
Given before Sinai
In effect before old covenant, so it could not be done away with the Old Covenant
Given before Sacrificial law
About a year before the sacrificial system was given (not to be confused with sacrifices in general) and it was added later because of sin (Galatians 3:19). So therefore it could not be made obsolete with the sacrificial system.
Not only Kept in the Old Testament but the New
Testament as Well
Jesus Observed
Matthew 26:17 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
Still Observed after Jesus Died
Days of Unleavened Bread (1 Corinthians 5:6–8)
In the Future
The Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread will be kept during the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten” (Ezekiel 45: 21).
What is the meaning of these days and why does God want us to keep them?
God always does things for a reason. When we go through the word of God we need to look for meaning and understanding. We should use the Bible to interpret Bible. We don’t come up with our own interpretation of scripture. It will and has to agree with the rest of the Bible.
So what is it that God wants us to learn from the Days of Unleavened Bread and how do we apply this to our lives?
Come out of Egypt
Exodus 13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.
Exodus 13:8 And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.’
Why did God take them out of Egypt?
Notice what was going on in Egypt:
Joshua 24:14 “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
In other words, come out of Egypt — a type of sin
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
Egypt was a type of the sinful world
John 17:14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
John 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
John 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
We are to strive to completely come out of the sinful world and its ways and what it has to offer
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.”
Pharaoh: a type of Satan
If Egypt was a type of the world then Pharaoh was a type of Satan and this ties into why we need to come out of the ways of this world symbolically speaking. Because Satan is the god of this world at this time
2 Corinthians 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Ephesians 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
We are to remember that it was God that delivered His people from Egypt and the power of Pharaoh and it is God who still delivers His people out of the world and out of the grasp that Satan has on us.
God did this! God does this!
When in slavery in Egypt, the Israelites could do nothing on their own — God did all the miracles!
Same for us today — we cannot do the necessary things on our own, but we do still have responsibilities.
Very Serious about Leaven?
Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Exodus 12:19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
Exodus 12:20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ “
Because of its significance and meaning
What does it symbolize? It is parallel to sin (it is equated to sin).
1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
One little bit of leaven will eventually permeate the whole lump of dough and it becomes inextricable.
Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
Romans 7:16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
Romans 7:17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
Romans 7:19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
Romans 7:20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Leaven is ingrained in bread as sin can be in us; Ingrain literally means “work into the grain”
2 Timothy 2:17 And their message will spread like cancer [sin]
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
Paul talks about this many times!
Deleavening
This coined word is not found in the Bible or any major dictionary — it simply means to remove the leaven of sin (out of your home and more importantly out of your life spiritually)
God wants us to remove leaven from our lives. He wants us to remove sin from our lives. God is very serious about deleavening.
1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
1 Corinthians 5:8 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.
We do this physically and spirtually
How serious was He about this?
1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1 Corinthians 11:29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
1 Corinthians 11:30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
1 Corinthians 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
RE-CITE:
Exodus 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses [you shall have no leaven in your house from this day forward]. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 12:19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
It is a sign
Exodus 13:9 It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. [a type of sin].
Exodus 13:10 You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
Aren’t we always looking for signs [where God’s people are]?
Of course we have our part
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
We are to be removing sin from our house, but more importantly How do we purge out the leaven from our life. We ask God for help and He will.
Conclusion
Sin is counter-productive to living a christian life. It is going away from God and our ultimate goal.