The Feast of Unleavened Bread - Saved for Sanctification

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The Passover • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Exodus 12:14–22

Feast of Unleavened Bread

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We have saved by God for His Glory and to be set apart unto HIm

Notes

Transcript

Background

According to the New Bible Dictionary, 3rd Ed: “In bread-making the leaven was probably a piece of dough, retained from a former baking, which had fermented and turned acid. This was then either dissolved in water in the kneading-trough before the flour was added, or was ‘hid’ in the flour (Mt. 13:33) and kneaded along with-it. The *BREAD thus made was known as ‘leavened’, as distinct from ‘unleavened’ bread (Ex. 12:15, etc.). There is no clear trace of the use of other sorts of leaven, although it has often been suggested that the Jews used also the lees of wine as yeast.” [1] The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible tells us: “The slow working of the leaven proved to be a problem during the agricultural stage of Hebrew development, especially during the first busy days of harvest. Unleavened dough therefore became increasingly common for ordinary baking. This practice was encouraged by the growth of the idea that leaven represented decay and corruption, as did other fermented things. This view excluded leaven as inconsistent with the concept of the perfect holiness of God. Plutarch was expressing a long-held belief current also among other peoples when he wrote, “Now leaven is itself the offspring of corruption and corrupts the mass of dough with which it has been mixed.””[2]

Exposition

Verses 14 - 17: The passover and feast of unleavened bread commemoration was to continue into perpetuity so that future generations would know what Yahweh did, his great deliverance from the bondage of slavery and bringing His people to their inheritance and Himself, and give Him due worship. To commemorate this event is to recognize that LORD who performed this great act is still LORD and the only God of His people. It keeps before the people the reality that they exist as a nation only because of Yahweh’s great act of salvation and judgment. While technically the passover day and the feast of unleavened bread are separate things they are often treated together in scripture and celebrated together ‘til this day. The initial reason the bread was unleavened was the Israelites weren’t going to have time to allow the bread to rise. As the LORD has said, they will be driven out of Egypt with haste. It would later come to symbolize the laying aside of corruption and impurity. This was certainly the case by the time of the NT where most of the references to Leaven are negative, such as Mark 8:14-21, Luke 12:1, and 1 Cor. 5:6-8. There are two positive references in Mt. 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21 in which leaven is used to describe the kingdom. Leaven them also symbolizes the pervasive spread of something. By way of application allow me to return to the point Paul just made: the people couldn’t afford to remain in Egypt any longer. Egypt, and all it represented, needed to be left behind. They needed to separate from it and its influence entirely as a new life was beginning for them. The Christian must do the same with sin and wordly influence. They must separate from it and at the same time be absolutely committed to spread of the gospel and the kingdom of God.

What follows here is a ban on the use and possession of leaven at specific points of time. Universal use of leaven was not barred and was in fact used in day to day Israelite life and required for some sacrifices (Lev. 7:13;23:17). The first and seventh days would be sacred, Sabbath days when no work was to be done except food preparation.

Verses 18 - 20: These verses are in large part a repetition of the prior four. Whenever something is repeated in scripture we need to take heed to it. The LORD wants to drive home through the Passover commemoration that Israel did not save itself, nor would it continue to exist without Him and without holiness until Him. Israel was never to forget where they came from and what they were supposed to be. The prophets, in calling Israel to repentance, make repeated references to what the LORD had done for Israel in her deliverance and inheritance. This section does expand the previously given instructions to include aliens in the land (those who would be circumcised - Ex. 12:48). No one is except from Yahweh’s judgment and all must act in believing faith to be saved. When it comes time to celebrate God’s saving act, their can be no leaven. They can be nothing that denigrates what the LORD has done. There can’t be a impurity among the people. For the believer, sin can’t be entertained in the slightest. It will bring destruction. It will break fellowship. It will bring divine judgment. Even as yeast couldn’t be in the houses of the people so we must strive to remove all and flee from sin in our lives. There are eternal consequences.

Verses 21 - 23: Moses provides the instructions to the elders concerning the passover. Notice the repetition concerning the blood of the basin. The blood of the lamb is essential for the salvation of the people as blood sacrifice is the sole acceptable payment for sin. It must be on the doorposts and the top doorframe and the people must stay in his house covered by the blood. To be found outside a blood covered house is to accept the judgment of God for oneself.

Verses 24 - 28: Yahweh stresses the importance of the Passover as an ordinance for both the current and future generations. Every generation needs to know Israel exists solely by the grace of God and continue by His power. Whereas the people were discouraged in Ex. 6:9. They have come to see and know the God that Moses brought before them is the one true and living God who is able to do as he says. The people respond in the only appropriate way: worship and obedience.

Practical Application

The people of Israel were never to forget what the Lord has done from them. Their lives were never to be the same again. God was bringing a great deliverance, one which would demonstrate His Sovereign Lordship and power. He was be the only God to them and their lives were to reflect this fact and his great work. So it is with the Lord’s supper. Though the Lord’s Supper is more than an annual event, it is also a reminder of what the Christ has done for believers. His saving act brought salvation from and judgment of sin in the flesh. His death and resurrection gave us new life. We are to live in light of the work of the cross of Christ and the empty tomb. We are to continue striving toward holiness. Returning to the Leaven point: “Leaven is created by taking a small portion of existing dough and allowing it to ferment. The leaven is then added to a new batch of dough, which allows the bread to rise. But there is a risk in continuing to use the same leaven. Leaven could become infected or tainted, thereby leading to the spoiling of the new dough and the entire loaf of bread.”[3] We are to put aside every impurity. We are to leave behind every bondage of the sin that we were delivered from.

Bibliography

[1] Douglas, J. D. (1996). Leaven. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (3rd ed., p. 679). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[2] Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Leaven. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1320). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

[3] Selvaggio, A. T. (2014). From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses. (I. M. Duguid, Ed.) (p. 98). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing

The Passover ritual addresses the consequences of human rebellion against God, restoring this broken relationship. T Desmond Alexander, Exodus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2016), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 52.

When we consider how the Feast of Unleavened Bread is connected to Passover, we discover a very important truth about salvation—namely, that we are saved in order to be sanctified. Passover is about getting saved. It reminds us that we have been delivered from death by a perfect substitute whose blood was shed as a sacrifice for our sins. The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminds us what God wants us to do once we've been saved, and that is to live a sanctified life, becoming more and more free from sin. Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God's Glory, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 338.

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