Leaven

DEVOTION

EXODUS

LEAVEN

Ex 12:12-20

12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals — and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. 14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD — a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat — that is all you may do. 17 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread."

NIV

Although we already dealt in sorts with the Passover, here is the exact instructions regarding their continued celebration of this event. It is certain God is showing them and us that salvation only comes through the blood of the Lamb. We can also be certain at some point in time he will once again strike at the heart of all the gods man has created for himself since the time of the Egyptians. He did not leave a god of theirs unjudged nor will he leave any god of today unjudged. Ever knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is LORD. The rest of this narrative deals with the feast of unleavened bread. What is the deal with yeast? It is a foreshadowing of the communion we celebrate whenever the Pastor feels it is the right time, or fits into a sermon he is preaching? We certainly do not have a regular schedule as it certainly appears the LORD has laid out for Israel. So it cannot be a foreshadowing or we are not keeping with his command. Yet the question still remains about the yeast, or the lack of it in their houses for the duration of the seven days. It is interesting the day they are to begin this week long remembrance of their rescue. It was the fifteen day of the month, which the scholars have determined was the same day the LORD was crucified. We are not sure how that was determined, however we do know the LORD celebrated the Passover with his disciples just before his arrest and crucifixion, so had he celebrated on the first day of Passover, which was the fifteenth day of the month he could not have actually been crucified on that same day. It was certainly in that Passover period, or during the feast of unleavened bread. This is also why we Christians use the communion as our remembrance instead of the Passover, due to Jesus doing what he did while they were celebrating the Passover. Yet our lesson is in the yeast, or the lack of it. Yeast corrupts everything it contacts. A little yeast will spread throughout the whole of what it is added to.

Luke 12:1-3

 "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

NIV

Jesus makes the parallel between the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and yeast. This is the idea that we need to remove the yeast of our old thinking. We are not to let the concepts, the ideologies of this world corrupt our lives. In this sense we are to live an unleavened life.

1 Cor 5:6-8

6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

NIV

This brings it right home to where we live today. We are in fact to live an unleavened life, ridding ourselves of all the yeast of the world. How do we do that? We are so intertwined with the world we live in. We have to work among the leavened. We live next door to them, we are involved in social or work related events among them. We are continually bombarded by commercials, on radio, television and social media with their leavened ideas. If we adopt any of their ideologies, if we allow any of their ways of life to infiltrate into our thinking, that yeast will permeate throughout our whole life. We are admonished all throughout the Holy Scriptures to turn from our wicked ways. Many consider their list of don’ts as being in obedience to this command. Many believe when we accept Jesus we have done just that, turned from our wicked ways. But the fact remains if we have any yeast of the world at all within, we are being corrupted throughout. The warning Jesus gave concerning this yeast of the Pharisees is loud and clear. We cannot hide any yeast of the world within us without it being known and shouted from the rooftops. This is not easy, this requires a whole lot of attention, a great deal of contemplation and determination to continually yield to the Spirit, who leads us into all truth, as well as convicts us of our leaven. Let us hear the Spirit and understand what yeast we are infected with, and rid ourselves of this leaven, so we can worship our Lord in spirit and truth.