Pastor's Comments April 6, 2012

“Seven days shall you eat Unleavened Bread; but on the first day you shall have put away leaven out of your houses; for anyone eating anything leavened, that soul shall be cut off (Hebrew, executed) from Israel, from the first day to the seventh day” (Exodus 12:15, Magil’s Linear School Bible).

Once again the true people of God have had the blessing of entering into His Master Plan of salvation for all of mankind by having observed the Passover. This is a vital and most meaningful time of the year for the Church of God

The partaking of the Passover Symbols along with these Days of Unleavened Bread are intended to be a refresher of what this life is all about in God’s Master Plan of Salvation as well as the renewal of our Covenant with our Father and Jesus Christ.

To begin the Days of Unleavened Bread is the observance of the Night to be Much Remembered; to be observed in memory as the very night the House of Israel began leaving Egypt, a type of sin.

Israel left with a high hand, meaning much happiness for having been delivered from the bondage of slavery and looking forward to the new land that would be theirs – a land of milk and honey (Exodus 14:8; Numbers 33:3; Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 8:8).

A land they would inherit due to the promise God had given their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; whose name had been changed by God to Israel (Genesis 12:13-18; 35:9-10).

For the understanding of the Night To Be Much Remembered, it has to be kept within the context of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread.

The whole account of what took place with Israel began in the first part of the Book of Exodus and carries through to the first part of the Book of Joshua (5^th chapter), is in TYPE of what God has done with the New Testament Church of God from its beginning.

The Night To Be Much Observed, and Remembered, is the “CENTERPIECE”, or the MAJOR STEP, that would be connected to the PASSOVER for it would mark their beginning DEPARTURE from Egypt as God’s chosen nation!

Of what lasting value would the PASSOVER have been to Israel had they remained in BONDAGE, SLAVERY IN EGYPT?

To be God’s chosen Nation and fulfill His purpose for them, they had to be liberated from the bondage to Egypt and depart from it. Egypt was a type of SIN!

It was the night of the actual beginning DEPARTURE from SIN and ENTER INTO GOD’S WAY OF LIFE and would in time lead them to the LAND OF PROMISE.

A major lesson we are to learn from the REMEMBRANCE OF THIS NIGHT is that the physical is in TYPE – of the Spiritual!

It should bring back to our own remembrance of our beginning step to DEPART from our own bondage to Sin, and the beginning walk into God’s way of life (Ephesians 2:1-10).

This is what we should see and understand as we REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE this same night as did Israel of old in their DEPARTURE from Egypt – the land that represented SIN. With us – it is the world of SIN!

Exodus 12:40-41 And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years – on that very same day – it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is A NIGHT of solemn observance to the LORD for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

“And the time of dwelling of the children of Israel which they dwelt in Egypt (was) 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of 430 years and it came to pass in this selfsame day, went out all the hosts of the LORD from the land of Egypt. It is a night of celebration ([alternate] ‘watching’) to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt; it is this night [which is] a celebration (watching) to the LORD for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.”

Note the comment of explanation from the Jewish Commentary, as they understand it:

Soncino Commentary: “Because God shielded them and did not suffer destruction (death) to approach their houses. He ordered that the night be observed by all Israelites as a night of watching, a MEMORIAL of the night of REDEMPTION [= liberated from the bondage of sin]. It was the BIRTH-NIGHT of the Israelitish nation and the history of Israel is stamped with its memory.”

The PASSOVER was the beginning step to the BIRTH-NIGHT of becoming God’s CHOSEN NATION!

Clarke Commentary “A night to be held in everlasting remembrance, because of the peculiar display of the power and goodness of God.”

To really be meaningful to us we have to think in terms of the PHYSICAL being A TYPE of the SPIRITUAL – to think of the New Testament Church and each one as individual members of it.

Israel went out of Egypt on the morrow after the Passover, on the 15^th and by night:

Numbers 33:3 “They departed from Rameses in the 1^st month, on the 15^th day of the 1^st month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.”

“... the children of Israel went out with an exalted hand before the eyes of the Egyptians while the Egyptians were burying whom the LORD had smitten among them every first-born; also on their gods did the LORD execute judgments.”

In regard to this Scripture, the exact same thing will be realized in the very near future when the ELECT will be making their way out of this land of SIN, and while doing so will witness people burying their dead due to the famine and disease epidemics just as did the people of Israel witness that of the Egyptians.

With these things in mind perhaps we can better understand WHY this night is so important as to be REMEMBERED and OBSERVED throughout all the generations of Israel and the Church of God.

God wants His Church to REMEMBER this always, and also to be thought about in TYPE in view of our own spiritual deliverance from spiritual slavery and eventual complete deliverance at the coming of Jesus Christ into our own Promised Inheritance.

Briefly we will consider this, but first there is a need to have in mind why God spoke of this night in the context of their deliverance at that time from the bondage and affliction of the Egyptians (Exodus 1:8-14).

The children of Israel were suffering harsh slavery and bondage due to not only living in a nation that is a type of sin, but they were caught up in this idolatrous worship of idols and from sin in general.

This is based on what took place when Moses went up to meet with God on Mount Sinai and the Israelites forced Aaron to mold them a golden calf (Exodus 32:1-6).

It was made with wings – after Satan – the fallen cherub. It was worshiped and called by God’s Name. They had REVERTED to idolatrous Pagan worship! So has it been since – using Pagan practices to worship God.

God chose Israel as a physical nation to be of service to Him (Exodus 19:3-6). This is a type of God’s purpose in calling each of the members of God’s Church – since its beginning in 31 A.D. (John 6:44; Revelation 5:10).

Before God would bring them out from that land of sin, they had to realize the consequences of sin (death, Romans 6:23).

They had to realize they could only be spared from physical death by having the BLOOD of the slaughtered lamb over the entrance to their homes. In addition they had to remain INSIDE of their homes all night lest they be struck with death – inside and away from the darkness of the night, and death that was just outside their homes.

Then they had to leave Egypt – depart from it with the promise of a land to become their very own – a land that flowed with milk and honey; the Promised Land.

They left Egypt that night with A HIGH HAND – exulting in their freedom and filled with the hope and promise of a brand new land that would be rich with bountiful blessings.

God’s true people also had similar feelings based on even better promises – and exulted with a new and wonderful relationship with God after He chose each one, and through His goodness led each one to repentance, and baptism, and begot each one with His Holy Spirit as His children, and began leading His people out of Egypt.

This night also marks the beginning of the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread; a commanded observance for God’s people.

“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. 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. . . . You shall therefore keep this statute in its season from year to year” (Exodus 13:6-10; Leviticus 23:6-8).

As each member should know leavening is used as a type of sin during these seven days. It is to teach the vital lesson of being vigilant in obeying the laws of God for it is by law that sin is made known for what it is:

Though it is perfectly all right to eat foods with leavening in them any other time of the year it is forbidden for this period of time.

Below is copied a large segment from the Bible Study Course to aid each one with further understanding of these Days of Unleavened Bread.

Let's return to the account of the Exodus from Egypt, and see what new lessons we can learn about the Days of Unleavened Bread.

COMMENT: Even in Revelation 11:8 SINFUL Jerusalem is called Egypt spiritually.

2. Did the people of Israel SUFFER in miserable slavery to the cruel taskmasters of Egypt? What was life in "sin" like? Ex. 1:14 and 2:23.

COMMENT: A modern example of this sort of persecution and human slavery is seen in Adolph Hitler's Nazi Germany! Slavery for Israel in sinful Egypt was very much like living in Hitler's concentration and slave-labor camps. There was one great difference however. Nazi Germany's domination lasted for only little more than one terrible decade, whereas ancient Israel served the Egyptians FOR SEVERAL GENERATIONS!

In the same way, the entire world has SUFFERED from its own sins since the creation of Adam -- NEARLY 6000 YEARS AGO! Today it is still a world of misery, frustration, discouragement and failure.

3. Did Moses have to choose between the licentious sins of Egypt and serving God? Did this mean that by so doing Moses would probably suffer along with God's people? Heb. 11:25. Why was Moses willing to make such a choice? Heb. 11:26.

COMMENT: Moses was willing to sacrifice sinful pleasures knowing that if he wanted to inherit the gift of eternal life he must UTTERLY FORSAKE THE WAYS OF SIN!

4. Just as Moses was willing to forsake the practices of sin, are New Testament Christians expected to do the same? Hebrews 12:1-4. Does God command us to strive TO EXPEND EFFORT AND ENERGY -- to put sin out of our lives? Verses 1 and 4.

COMMENT: God expects us -- through His help -- to expend every effort to QUIT SINNING. We must come TOTALLY out of -- no longer to participate in sin. If we are to become a part of His family and receive the gift of eternal life, we must PROVE OUR OBEDIENCE HERE AND NOW by getting the LEAVEN of sin out of our lives! This is OUR PART in God's plan. (See Jesus' answer to the lawyer in Luke 10:25-28.)

5. Was any leaven to be found in the Israelites' homes, or on their property? Exodus 12:15.

COMMENT: Leaven is a type of sin. Leaven puffs up -- and so does sin. Unleavened bread IS FLAT BREAD which contains NO LEAVENING AGENT, and therefore typifies putting out sin.

A leavening agent is any substance used to puff up -- to produce fermentation, causing dough to rise -- a type of sin. Yeast, soda, baking powder are such leavening agents. (They are, of course, proper to use at any other time of year.) Bread, crackers, some prepared cereals and most cakes contain leaven and are to be avoided during this festival.

ALL LEAVEN was to be removed from the premises. God's people weren't allowed to store it in some other room, a shed or outbuilding.

But it was and is God's way of testing His people to see how much they prize obedience.

6. Does God positively command His people to eat unleavened bread -- a symbol of obedience -- during this festival? Verse 20.

COMMENT: They were not merely to abstain from all leavened bread during these seven days. That would have meant ONLY PUTTING OUT past sin. They were commanded to do something positive, to eat unleavened bread in the festival. That symbolized obedience, actively OBEYING God, SUBMITTING to His will.

1. After Israel escaped slavery in Egypt, what was their attitude? Ex. 14:8. Were their spirits high? Same verse. However, were their troubles only just beginning? Same verse.

COMMENT: Pharaoh is a type of Satan the Devil. Satan does not want to let a sinner escape the bondage of sin (Rom. 6:16).

2. What were the physical circumstances that made escape from Egypt IMPOSSIBLE for the fleeing Israelites? Ex. 14:2-3.

COMMENT: Pi-hahiroth was a mountain range that made escape from Pharaoh impossible by land to the south and west. The Red Sea to the east was OVER EIGHT MILES ACROSS at the point where Israel had encamped, and Pharaoh's army of chariots was thundering down on the trapped Israelites from the north!

3. Who had brought these circumstances about? Ex. 14:4. Why had God done this? Same verse. Did God want to demonstrate that He ALONE has the POWER to deliver his servants -- to deliver us -- from sin? Same verse.

4. When the Israelites understood their predicament, what was their reaction? Ex. 14:10. When God tested them by not answering their prayer immediately, what was their reaction? Ex. 14:11-12. When the going really got tough, did they regret that they had escaped from the slavery and sins of Egypt? Same verse.

COMMENT: Immediately after Israel left Egypt they were pursued by Pharaoh! So today newly begotten Christians are often pursued by Satan. He will set any obstacle in your way -- he will attempt to discourage you, to cause you to stumble he will do ANYTHING to keep you from receiving eternal life. His favorite trick is to make you WANT TO RETURN TO THE LIFE OF SIN YOU SHOULD BE FORSAKING.

Yet some people blindly prefer to continue in sin! They don't want to rejoice before God on His annual Festivals because they don't WANT TO QUIT SINNING! Israel displayed this same SELFISH ATTITUDE as they journeyed out of Egypt through the desert to Sinai.

5. Who did they blame? Ex. 14:11-12. Was it Moses or God Himself who was REALLY responsible? Ex. 14:8. Then it was God that the people of Israel were REALLY rebelling against, wasn't it? Same verse.

COMMENT: Israel was afraid that God would not save them from the terrifying situation in which they found themselves. They realized that they needed POWERFUL SUPERNATURAL help, and that they couldn't deliver themselves from the army of Pharaoh.

7. But did God provide a means of escape? Ex. 14:13-23. Did God even "sabotage" the Egyptian chariots when they tried to follow the Israelites into the now dry bottom of the Red Sea? Ex. 14:23-25. Who was it then that fought Pharaoh to deliver Israel? Verse 25.

COMMENT: God supernaturally delivered Israel from Satan and from the bondage of sin in Egypt.

8. Does God want His people even today always to remember that it was His POWER that delivered Israel from the harsh bondage of Egypt? Exodus 12:42. Is the Feast of Unleavened Bread an everlasting reminder of this fact? Same verse.

9. Does God promise to help any man or woman who is willing to flee the bondage of sin? I Cor. 10:13. How does God intend for Christians to be able to resist sin? Rom. 8:13.

COMMENT: God will provide a means of escape for anyone who really seeks to overcome sin, to mortify or kill his own selfish desires, just as God made it possible for Israel to escape from Pharaoh through the Red Sea.

May our good and wonderful Father and Jesus Christ bless each one with a most profitable and blessed Passover season.

Some of the Quotes in the above Article are from various news sources and therefore intended for educational purposes only.

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