Pasover & Unleavened Bread (Deu. 15:19-16:8)

5/11/2009 8:10 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  Passover and Unleavened Bread

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Deut. 15:19-16:8

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 ¶  "You shall consecrate to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20  "You and your household shall eat it every year before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses. 21  "But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 22  "You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as a gazelle or a deer. 23  "Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

    1 ¶  "Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2  "You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to establish His name. 3  "You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4  "For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5  "You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the LORD your God is giving you; 6  but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7  "You shall cook and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. 8  "Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God; you shall do no work on it.”

            There are a lot of things that is talked about in this section of Scripture.  The fact that Israel had to have the first born consecrated to the Lord the firstborn males of the herd and flock.  This was done because all of the first born animals in Egypt were killed the night the children of Israel left Egypt.  The first born of their children were also given to the Lord as in the tribe of the Levites who took the place of the firstborn of all the children of Israel.

            The Passover is also written about here along with the feast of Unleavened bread which followed Passover and then the Firstfruit feast which followed the feast of Unleavened Bread.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes on the subject of Passover and the church today as Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 5:8, “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  “Paul compared the life of the local church to ‘keeping the feast’ of Passover.  The church doesn’t ‘keep the feast’ literally because it has been fulfilled in Christ our Passover Lamb who was sacrificed for us (v. 7).  But like the Jews on Passover night in Egypt, we are a pilgrim people, ready to be called out, and we must not be encumbered by sin.  The Jews ate the Passover feast as families, and each local church is a family of God, feasting on Jesus Christ through the Word and waiting for Him to call His people out of the world.  Like Israel of old, we must remind ourselves that we were once slaves of sin, in bondage to the world (Eph. 2:1-3), and God delivered us by sending His Son as the sacrifice for our sins.  When we observe the Lords Supper (Eucharist), we remember His death and look forward to His return.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the different feasts in the OT and realize that they all have something to do with the Lord Jesus Christ one of the things that I see is the fact that all but one of them make me look back to what Christ has done for me, especially on the cross, and then the Feast of Trumpets makes me look forward to what He will do when He comes to get me in the Rapture of the Church, so in a sense these feasts remind me of the Lord Supper, looking back to what Christ did for me and looking forward to His coming to get me.

 

5/11/2009 8:53 AM