The Passover
We have proved
from the scriptures that not only a weekly Sabbath, but that there are annual
Sabbaths. We proved that they were kept
by Ancient Israel, which according to the book of Acts they were the Church in the
wilderness. We proved that the New Testament Church in our Bibles observed
these annual Sabbaths. We proved that
Christ and the Apostles kept and observed these Holy Days.
We proved as well
that the scriptures show forth that these wonderful days will also be observed
in the ages to come and on into the Kingdom of God.
By practicing and
keeping the Biblical Holy days, one can see by observance that they spell out
the story of the Salvation of the world, beginning with the Church. It is comforting to know and understand that
Yahweh has His own Holidays or Holy days.
His days are in contrast to the false holidays of man that have been
passed down to our day from pagan origins.
The first Holy day season is the Passover and the days of unleavened
bread. It is the day in which we
remember the death of our Messiah.
Those that
observe the pagan days of Good Friday and Easter, do so without Biblical
authority. In other words there are no
scripture to support their belief. The Messiah was crucified, but not on Good
Friday and no resurrection on Easter Sunday morning.
Now in the year
that the event actually took place, the crucifixion occurred on Wednesday and
the resurrection took place just before sunset on the weekly 7th day
Sabbath. Some may say what in the world
does it matter. Many have fallen into
the belief that there are no absolute truths.
And since there are no absolutes, they have in essence created their own
set of beliefs which gives them the release to disobey the plain statements of
the Holy Scriptures without feeling guilt for doing so.
You know an old
Prophet of God had some words spoken through him concerning such people.
Jeremiah 7:8-11 "Behold, you trust
in lying words, that cannot profit. Will
you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense
unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not; and come and stand
before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered
to do all these abominations? Is this
house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the
Lord."
So the Lord
plainly says that some trust in lying words that cannot do us any good. God begins naming all kinds of abominations
that His people were doing, and brothers and sisters you can find a spiritual
intent for everything in the list described there in verse 9.
My Bible tells me
that you and I can murder someone without killing anyone, but just by being so
angry with someone that we have murdered them in our hearts. My Bible tells me that you and I could commit
adultery without having ever done the actual deed, but by lusting after another
man's wife or another woman's husband.
So don't think that just because you don't think that you have ever done
the things mentioned in verse 9 that you are off the hook. Sin sometimes has a spiritual meaning that is
often overlooked.
The Lord just
asks the question, are His people going to come to Church and claim to be
Christians and yet think that they are delivered or have been freed to commit
sin or abominations?
Jeremiah 8:12 "Were they
ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither
could they blush: therefore shall they
fall among them that fall: in the time
of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the Lord."
A person can be
so blinded to the Truth or can become so backslidden from the ways of God to
the point that they no longer feel a conviction over their sins. They are not ashamed to sin, why they don't
even blush. Sin does not embarrass them
any longer.
And so it is yet
in our day. People don't desire the pure
Truth of the Word, but instead go out and follow after lies and deceptions and
are happy doing so. Nothing absolute matters
any longer. So to observe the death of
the Christ on an incorrect day doesn't bother them. They are not ashamed but rather boast in
their ungodly ways.
I have heard it
said. All that matters is that we love
Jesus. Let's all just love Jesus. Let's overlook our differences, overlook our
doctrine and just love Jesus. Well that
is just what the ecumenical movement has been seducing people with for many
years now. It is all an effort to bring
the Protestant daughters back home to the Mother Church.
I have a picture
stuck away somewhere, but it shows the Pope standing on a stage with religious
leaders from Buddhist, Hindus, Protestants and even voodoo witch doctors. He
made the statement that there are many paths that lead to God. In other words putting his
blessing upon all religions.
Didn't matter what anyone believes, each one is on a path that leads to
God.
My Bible tells me
though that Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots would commit
fornication with the kings of the earth and would make the inhabitants of the
world drunk with the wine of her fornication.
The Great Whorish religion of the ages would have a spiritual
relationship with the world and would spiritually intoxicate the people of the
world with her false doctrines.
But the last Pope
that died was considered so great that they have put him in a tomb right next
to Simon Peter so they believe. Which I
believe is actually Simon the sorcerer spoken of in our Bibles and not the great
Apostle Peter who spoke against the doctrines of what would one day become
Catholicism.
But could this
next Pope be the one spoken of in Bible prophecy? The religious leader who along with the Beast
system under the influence of Satan the devil that will unleash the next great
time of tribulation and persecution of the Israel of God? Only time will tell
if a Pope or a leader of another religion will arise and fulfill prophecy. I have kind of gotten off the subject, but
the signs of the times sure points to a movement to bring all religions under
and into one fold, the Holy Roman Empire revived.
And one of the
main ways in which Satan is seducing America and the Lukewarm Church is by
straying away from the Bible Standards of God's Word to where we cannot know
what to believe, because nothing is sure and absolute any more. This is exemplified through all of the
different versions of Bibles out there these days, most of which are no longer
based upon the original Textus Receptus. Well brethren, we know different, don't
we? Don't ever let go of the pure and
strong Words of the Living God. Hold
them dear to your heart, as a treasure to be much desired.
So while the
world and the worldly Churches observe their pagan non-biblical Easter and
their Sun-day we will year to year hold to the Biblical evening to be much
observed and the first of the annual holy days of the year to come, the
Passover and the days of unleavened bread.
Each Spring of the year, my family and I go on a moon watch. We
anticipate on seeing the Biblical new moon.
The fine little crescent that appears within one to two days after the
moon has gone dark. In the scriptures,
the months begin with the new moon. In
fact you will find that the word "month" actually means "new
moon."
We presently
believe that the New Year biblically occurs in Spring. The Vernal Equinox being the sign in the sun
and the next following new moon is the sign in the moon. That little new moon marks the beginning of
the month, but actually marks the beginning of the 1st month of the
year unto God's way of calculating time.
Leviticus 23:1-8 "And the
Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak
unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the
Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my
feasts. Six days shall work be done: but
the seventh day is the sabbath
of rest, an holy convocation; you shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy
convocations, which you shall proclaim in their
seasons.........................
So the Lord
commanded Moses to speak with Israel about the Holy days. Now it is easily proven that these days were
observed long beforehand, even by Abraham, the father of the faithful. But Israel had lost much of the ways of God
while in Egyptian bondage. The Lord had
to re-reveal unto them His ways.
These Feast and
Holy days were to be holy convocations, which means
they were like a summons to appear before the Great God of the universe. It was a commanded assembly. One of these Feast days was the weekly
Sabbath. Moses and any
one who is called to do so is to proclaim these Feasts in their
seasons. Each season of Passover and the
days of unleavened bread, we begin proclaiming the Holy days and in each season
we proclaim the holy days at their prospective times.
Let's read on
with verse 5 now...........In the fourteenth day of the first month at
even is the Lord's passover......................
So here we see
that on the 14th day of the 1st month is Passover. Now this is not talking about January the 14th. The only reason for us to abide by man's
calendar is so that we can live and interact in the society of our day. Otherwise we are not to go by how man counts
time. It is just not Biblical.
Passover most
definitely does come on the 14th day of the 1st month of
the year, which occurs in the Spring of the year.
I have yet to
find a place wherein the Passover was considered a Feast Day or a Holy day.
It is the next day
afterwards and then 7 days later are the two Holy Days to occur during the
Passover season.
Read on with verse 6..........And on the fifteenth day of the same month
is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days you must eat
unleavened bread. In the first day you
shall have an holy convocation: you shall do no
servile work therein. But you shall
offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein."
So after
Passover, as the 14th day of the 1st month is ending and
the 15th day is beginning is when the 1st
annual Holy Day Sabbaths occur for the new year. It is called the Feast of unleavened bread,
it lasts for 7 days and during that time we are to eat unleavened bread, which
has a tremendous spiritual meaning that we'll get into later. The 1st and 7th day of
the 7 days of unleavened bread are both considered as Sabbaths.
We are to observe both of these days just as if they were a weekly Sabbath.
Now we no longer
make an offering made by fire. Christ
became the eternal sacrifice for sins.
We are now to be a living sacrifice unto our God. Sacrificing the ways of the
world, a self denying lifestyle, dying daily to the old way of living that we
might be that new and living creation in Christ our Lord.
We are in need of
some clues as to how to correctly date Passover. When I first saw these things back in the
early 1990's, I was flabbergasted. I didn't realize that objects in the sky
that have been adored and actually worshipped were set up there as great time
pieces to assure you and I that we would not be
without a witness to the Biblical calendar of God.
Genesis 1:14-19 "And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and
it was so. And God made two great
lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the
night; He made the stars also. And God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to
rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."
So the Lord our
God created lights in the sky. He
created the stars. But this is mainly
speaking of the two great lights in our sky.
The Sun and the Moon. The Sun is the greater light and the Moon is
the lesser light. Their main purpose was
to give light upon the earth. Without
the Sun, the earth could not support life, at least life as we know it. But there is another reason for these two
great lights in our sky. Verse 14 tells
us of this. Notice that Elohim said that these two great lights were to be set in
the sky for signs and for seasons.
The word
"signs" as it is being used in the text, in the original Hebrew
meaning it is as though a great flag has been raised, or a beacon to mark a
point in time. So there is something
that the Sun and the Moon do throughout the year that should catch our
attention, like a flag going up.
The word
"seasons" that we see in this verse is determined by the signs that
we are to be looking for in the Sun and in the Moon. In the original Hebrew, the word
"seasons" means an appointment, a fixed time or season; specifically,
a festival, by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose);
technically the congregation, a solemn assembly, congregation, a set feast.
So Elohim God put the Sun and the Moon in our sky so that we
would know when to keep an appointment.
That appointment is a Holy convocation, a commanded assembly. We are to convene for a definite purpose at a
fixed time and in the Hebrew it actually says for a festival or for set
Feasts! This is speaking of God's Feast
days.
So God placed His
calendar in the sky so we would know when to keep His Feasts. Not just to know the days. We can use the Sun to count days and know
that every 7th day is the weekly Sabbath. Not just for years. We can count 12 moons and know that a year
has passed. But we can know when to
observe His Holy Days.
The Hebrew
calendar has the month of Abib, which signifies the
ripening of the barley. This always
occurs in late Winter or early Spring of the
year. Abib
coincides with our March and April. We
are about to see that the barley shows us the time of the year in which we are
to be looking for the signs to know the seasons for Passover and the days of
unleavened Bread.
Exodus 9:31 "And the
flax and the barley was smitten: for the
barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled."
Now this was
taking place just before Passover, during the plagues that were being poured
out upon Egypt. One of the plagues was
the hail mixed with fire. This
supernatural hail storm destroyed the barley harvest that year in Egypt.
So somewhere near
the time of the barley maturity there is going to be a sign in the Sun and in
the Moon. Without the barley as a clue, we
would have to make a choice between the Autumnal Equinox and the Vernal
Equinox. Since we know that the barley
begins to grow toward maturity in late Winter to early
Spring, we know to look for the signs in the Sun and the Moon near the Vernal
Equinox. Whatever this sign is, it occurs like clockwork every year without
fail.
The only sign in
the sun that takes place every year near the time of the barley harvest is what
is called the Equinox. It is when day
and night are equal. It is the mark
between Winter and Spring.
Since the Sun is
the greater of the two lights, we must find the sign in the Sun first. So we find the equal day and night, which
occurs on or near March 20th in our hemisphere. Then we must find the sign in the Moon after
the sign in the Sun. The sign in the
Moon is when it reappears as the tiny crescent after going dark, marking the
beginning of the month. That little
crescent after the equinox is the 1st day of the 1st
month of the new year.
Exodus 12:1,2 "And the Lord spoke unto Moses and
Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first
month of the year to you."
So Moses and
Aaron had done all of these great wonders before Pharaoh. Plague after plague had befallen Egypt. Just before the final plague, the Lord spoke
to Moses and Aaron and told them that the month that these things were taking
place in, was to be the 1st month or the beginning of months or the
1st month of the year.
We'll just take another
look at the time period for the Passover observance before moving on. In this next scripture, we see
It wasn't done
once per month or every quarter, every week or twice per year as we see being
done in the worldly churches. No, it was
observed on the anniversary of the actual event. It was a memorial. Memorials are kept on the day in which an
event is being memorialized. My birthday
is in October, but nobody tells me happy birthday in July for the day of my birth. So it is with the Passover and it's rich spiritual meanings. Not only for what took place with the ancient
Israelites, but what took place concerning Passover for the Church.
Numbers 9:1-5 "And
the Lord spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the
second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel also keep the passover
at his appointed season. In the
fourteenth day of this month, at even, you shall keep it in his appointed
season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies
thereof, shall you keep it. And Moses
spoke unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover. And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at
even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the Lord commanded
Moses, so did the children of
So once again we
see the meanings for signs and seasons from Genesis chapter one. Passover was to be observed at the appointed
season, not just any day of anyone's choosing, but on the 14th day
of the 1st month. It gets specific. Right down to the time of the day in which to
engage in the night to be much observed.
Let's take a look
at what took place on the night of the Passover. While we read these words, try and find a
spiritual interpretation of these words.
These words are simply rich in spiritual applications for the
Church. We are up to the last and final
plague to hit Egypt and it is the one in which thrusts the Israelites out of
the land of bondage.
Exodus 12:12-27 "For I will pass through the land of
Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both
man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am
the Lord. And the blood shall be to you
for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will
pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a
memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your
generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for
ever............................
Brethren, we must
have the blood of the Lamb applied to us.
The door posts of the homes of the Israelites is
just symbolic of the door posts of our hearts.
Yahshua (Jesus Christ) was and is the Lamb of
God. He was killed as our Passover Lamb
so that we can be freed from the bondage of sin.
Israel was freed
from the bondage of slavery that they were held in while in Egypt. You and I as well were in bondage. We were slaves to sin until the Lord our God
called us and freed us that we might not any longer serve sin, but now are
servants unto righteousness. In the day of judgment, we must have the blood of the Lamb applied
so that we would be passed over and not be judged for our sins.
Messiah was judged
for our sins, His blood was sufficient, His Grace, His sacrifice paid the
price. He was judged in our stead. But if the blood is not applied, we shall
stand on our own, naked in our sins before a Holy God!
Passover is to be
a memorial. It is a day to be remembered
forever. According to what we have just
read, it is to be observed throughout all our generations forever. The Feasts of unleavened bread is to be kept
as an ordinance for ever.
Let's continue
with verse 15...............Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread;
even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever
eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall
be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be
an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that
which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened
bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought
your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day in
your generations by an ordinance for ever.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, you
shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at
even. Seven days shall there be no
leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is leavened, even
that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your
habitations shall you eat unleavened
bread............................
Now some have
argued that we New Testament Christians no longer
have to actually eat unleavened bread and deny ourselves anything leavened and
that we are no longer bound by the law of Yahweh.
Well that is a
decision that each of us will have to make.
I personally abide by what the scriptures say. The unleavened bread issue is a spiritual
matter. And we'll get into that shortly.
But my family and
I still observe the letter of the law concerning the days of unleavened
bread. It is one of the richest and
greatest teaching tools for what it means to get sin out of our lives. Each year as we practice it, it really brings
it home to us what Christ did and is still doing on our behalf.
Every year before
the 1st day of unleavened bread we begin purging our home of all
leavened products. We do the same with
our vehicles and personal areas of our workplaces. Before the 1st Sabbath we will have either
consumed all leavened products or have fed it to our animals.
We will vacuum
and clean the cabinets. And as we clean,
we are reminded of searching the deep dark corners of our lives where sin or
hypocrisy could be hiding out of sight.
It is a time to examine ourselves in a greater and deeper way.
And you know
what, it never fails that sometime during the week of unleavened bread, we will
always find something that we have missed.
That teaches us that we are always in need of the saving grace of our
God. That we cannot do it on our own,
but that it requires Christ in our lives to bridge the gap wherein we fall
short.
Do you know what
is just as important as getting all the leavening out of our homes? It is just as important during the week of
unleavened bread to eat unleavened products.
And so during the week after Passover, we will consume breads and food
products that are unleavened. My wife
will make homemade unleavened bread, and we'll eat it during the week.
It is just as important
to not only get the leavening out, but to put unleavening
into our bodies during the week. And
every time that I eat unleavened bread, it reminds me that I must partake of
the righteousness of God. I must be
filled and refilled and refilled again and again and refreshed with the Spirit
of God. It reminds me of my need for
Christ in my life. It reminds me of my
need to continually dine off of the Word of God.
Yes I so enjoy the days of unleavened bread and the great
spiritual lessons that I learn from it by practicing it for that one week out
of the year. It strengthens me
spiritually for the year to come by physically observing 7 days of an event
that has deep spiritual meanings. It is
to be a memorial forever.
Continue now with
verse 21....................Then
Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and
take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And
you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side
posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the
door of his house until the morning. For
the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood
upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door,
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite
you. And you shall observe this thing
for an ordinance to you and to your sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when you be come to the land which
the Lord will give you, according as he has promised, that you shall keep this
service. And it shall come to pass, when
your children shall say unto you, What mean you by
this service? That you shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover,
who passed over the houses of the children of
Christ was being
killed at the time the Jews were killing their lambs. Christ, the Lamb of God became our
Passover! And just like the ancient
Israelites, a time will come when our children or grandchildren will ask us why
are we doing this? Why are we getting
the leavening out of our houses? Why are
we eating unleavened bread for 7 days?
Why are we observing Passover?
Just what do these things mean?
Then we shall say that this is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. That Christ was sacrificed for our sins. And that He smote our sins and delivered us
out of the slavery that sin held us in.
For these things, we are to worship the Lord our God.
Exodus
So it is with the
But we instead
are to consider Passover a night to be much observed for bringing us out of sin
and darkness and into life and righteousness and godly living and into the
light of God's Word and His ways. The sacrifice of Messiah makes this possible.
For this we are
to observe Passover and the days of unleavened bread in all our
generations. As our children have
children and they in turn have children, this is to be observed in all the
generations so that someone will be keeping the charge over God’s ways. Every generation of children that rises, we
are to teach them of these things, that they in turn would pass it on to the
next generation. It is our duty to carry
the torch of God's ways unto the next generation.
Exodus 13:9-10 "And it
shall be for a sign unto you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your
eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand has the
Lord brought you out of
Yes the Passover
season shall be a sign unto you and I upon our
hands. What do our hands represent? They represent our actions. It is to be a memorial between our eyes. Our minds are between our eyes. Our thoughts put our hands into action. Every year and this says from year to year,
so every year at the time of Passover and the days of unleavened bread, these
things are brought back to our memory.
We begin to
ponder more deeply the things of God. We
begin to ponder more deeply the great salvation of the Christ and the sacrifice
made on our behalf. That pondering, that
memory, that memorializing, puts our spiritual hands to work. Our faith comes alive and we begin putting
our faith to work. Faith without works
is dead. But when we do not practice
these precepts we can very quickly forget them and they become
unimportant. Should we keep the
Passover? Some do and then don't keep the days of unleavened bread. Some spiritualize it away to where there are
no bases for an observance of any part of it at all.
The Passover and
the days of unleavened bread is a memorial of the death of the Lord who became
the Passover Lamb to be killed so that you and I might be saved from the
judgment to come and to be set free from the slavery of sin.
Let’s spend some
time looking at the spiritual aspects of the Passover season. The book of
Exodus itself has a spiritual meaning that fits in with Passover and the days
of unleavened bread. The word “exodus” literally means to leave or to
depart. And so you and I are called out
of Egypt as well spiritually just as Israel was called out physically. We are leaving and departing from a lifestyle
of sin and unrighteousness which is depicted through the removing of leavening
from our homes.
Our Exodus then
leads us into the Promised land. A land filled with milk and honey. A spiritual land of godly
living by the power of God's Spirit.
A promised land of blessing and honor. Eventually the Kingdom!
Exodus 16:4 "Then
said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and
the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove
them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.....................
Drop down now to verse
14-15 "And when the dew
that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small
round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they
said one to another, It is manna: for they did not
know what it was. And Moses said unto
them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat."
So the Lord told
Moses that He was going to rain bread from heaven. Now this bread was most definitely for the
Israelites to eat. There is no doubt
that it was eaten for food as we are told in this chapter. But that is not what the Lord said that it
was for. He told Moses that it was that
He might prove the people, whether they would walk in His law or not.
Now without going
into it at this time, but the Lord had specific instructions as to how and when
to collect this bread. So the Lord was
testing the people through this bread as to whether they would obey Him or not. Brethren this has not changed in our
day. And as we'll see before we are done
here today that we are still eating bread and we are still being testing
through the consumption and through the gathering of that bread as to whether
we also are going to obey God's ways or not.
And so the people
went out and found this stuff on the ground.
It looked like bread but they could only guess as to whether it was
bread or not. So they had to ask, what
is it? Or whatsit as it became to be
known as. Moses told them that this is
the bread which the Lord has given them to eat.
And this was one of their primary foods for 40 years, and yet they never
really understood what it was that they were eating.
This bread thing
has a much deeper meaning than some may realize. It most definitely had a deeper meaning than
what the Israelites of that day had a comprehension of. All they were thinking about was feeding
their bellies. They were murmuring and complaining. They complained that in Egypt that had food
to eat and that Moses had led them out in the wilderness to starve. And yet all along they had such short
memories of the slavery and bondage that they were being held in. Yeah, Moses why did you have to come along?
We would have been better off in Egypt.
At least we had something to eat and you have led us out here to
die.
And so it is in
our day. People would rather stay in
their spiritual slavery to sin and false doctrine than to change. Why? Because change is scary. Change requires faith. It requires faith to believe that the path of
righteousness is not always an easy path to take. It is often filled with great hardships and
persecutions and sometimes a loss of a job or even the possibility of your
families and friends turning against you because of your strange beliefs.
Our Lord Himself
warned us of these things. He told us
that our enemies would be those of our own households. Brother against brother. Sister against sister. Father against son. Wife against the husband. Mother-in-law against the
daughter-in-law. It's the outlaws
and the inlaws.
And all because of the Word of God. Christ said that He didn't come to bring
peace, but rather division and yes between friends, families and even between
brethren.
No the path of
righteousness is a difficult and narrow path.
It requires your complete attention or you might just fall off the
path. But the path of the ways of the
world is wide, without confrontation until God calls you out.
But you know one
of the great things about that narrow path?
The writer of the Psalms said in one place that the Word of God is as a
lamp unto his feet and a light unto His Path.
If we are in the Word, we can see clearly that Path that will bring us
to the gates of the Kingdom of God. But
while in Egypt brothers and sisters, you are not really getting fed the manna
from heaven. No, you are eating the
leavened bread of false doctrines and hypocrisy and ungodliness. No, we must
come out of Egypt and in haste. We must
quickly remove ourselves from the ways of the world.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3 "All the commandments which I
command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply,
and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your
fathers. And you shall remember all the
way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to
humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would
keep his commandments, or no. And
he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you
knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man
does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of the Lord does man live."
So the Lord our
God plainly tells us that All the commandments we are
to do and to observe that we might live.
Brethren, obedience brings life.
Disobedience brings death. Sin is
when we break the law of God. The wages
of sin is death. So when we disobey we
bring ourselves under the penalty of death.
When we obey we are truly living by the power of God.
And God humbled
the Israelite people out there in the wilderness. He fed them with a bread
that they nor their fathers knew anything about. No this was not a normal
bread that they had been eating all of their lives. There was something supernaturally different
about this Bread.
No, man just
cannot live by bread only. We must have food to eat. No doubt about it. We must eat or this old body will die, it can
be starved to death. But God said that
we cannot live by bread or physical food only.
Our life consists more than just the food that we stick into our
bodies. So it takes more than just
eating corn and beans or a chicken leg or a hamburger or even some good wheat
bread for us to live. There is a missing
ingredient that we must consume in order to truly live.
The Lord said the
missing ingredient that you and I must consume in order to live, is "Every
Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, that
is what will make us alive." In
fact we can literally live forever if we eat the Word of God.
So what about the
manna, the bread that came down from heaven that the Israelites consumed while
out in the wilderness? What did it mean
spiritually for you and I today? We are about to see and this has such great
and wonderful meanings for the Church of the living God.
1st Corinthians 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for
ensamples: and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."
So the things that
happened to Ancient Israel happened unto them for one purpose. They were all figures and types and examples
for you and I.
All these things that happened unto them,
happened for you and I. Wow! Every time I think about that, it becomes a
much more awesome concept than it did for the first time that I understood
this.
Every time I read
that verse and others similar to it, it is as though I have never read it
before. And yet I have read it many
times and have understood it’s meaning for many years, but there is just
something about it’s meaning that makes it new to me
every time it is read.
The things that
took place with Israel of old, really didn't take place so much for them in
their time as it did for us in our time.
And they were written down for our admonition, as a warning or as an
encouragement for those upon whom the ends of the world are come. In other words it all happened to them as
symbols and learning tools for the Church who would be in existence at the time
of the end of the world. Good things or
bad things, obedience or disobedience, doesn't matter. Whatever they did or took part in, or how
they were dealt with by God, was for you and I so that
we might learn from their error or..... from when they
got it right!
1st Corinthians chapter
10:1-4 "Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through
the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual meat: and did all drink the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual
Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."
We can see from
these and other such scripture verses that Christ was the one that led them
through the wilderness. He was and is
the Rock of our salvation. But we read
here that the Israelites while out in the wilderness ate and drank of a spiritual meat
and a spiritual drink. You can look up
the word "meat," and it means food, not literally the flesh of an
animal, but food. So they ate a
spiritual food.
Now we know that
they physically ate and drank. They
physically ate that manna that came down from heaven. This was a physical act of eating and
consuming a physical object.
Most certainly they
would have died physically without eating this food that God was providing for
them. That manna, that bread had texture
and taste, it was physical and yet it was considered to be spiritual. It was a spiritual meat that they ate. They drank of that Rock. It was the only water to be found. Most certainly they would have died
physically without water. This water and
the drinking thereof was physical, yet it was also
considered to be spiritual.
This is our God
speaking to us through this message, not me.
I don’t know anything without my God.
You don’t know anything without your God. I’m just a vessel in this work to be used of
God as He speaks through me in this message.
I have to rely on faith to believe that He is actually speaking through
me. You as well have to rely upon faith
to believe He is speaking to you today.
Get past me. I have to get past me, otherwise I could never stand up and speak or write a
single word.
Now we are about
to cut into a chapter of the book of John, a day following the miracle of the
five loaves of bread that the Lord had divided and multiplied to feed about
five thousand people. A
great a notable miracle. But
nevertheless, there were many people the day after this miracle who were trying
to find Jesus.
John 6:26,27 "Jesus
answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not
because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were
filled. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son
of man shall give unto you: for Him has
God the Father sealed."
The Lord
pointedly stated that they were seeking Him for the wrong reasons. All they were wanting was another free
meal. The day before they had eaten of
the loaves of bread and got full bellies and were hoping to get the same
today. But the Lord said don't work for meat that will perish, but rather work for
meat that will last eternally. In other
words, the bread that they ate yesterday and they got full of,
was already gone and they were hungry again.
Physical bread or any food will not last forever, and if you don't eat
of it again and again and again, your body will starve and you will die. But Christ said instead of working to fill
your bellies, work hard at seeking that you might attain a
spiritual bread that will last forever.
You know what all
of that reminded me of? Reminds me of
the Lord's Words that we read from earlier in this message about how man cannot
live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God. Physical food will only sustain the
body as long as the length of years that has been given for our bodies to
live. But the Word of God, the spiritual
meat, that spiritual bread, can give us true life and that being life
eternal. But we have to eat it. And we have to eat it as God commands us to
do so and how He commands us to do so.
The Lord God is
proving us, just as He did ancient Israel, to see whether we will obey His law,
His ways or not. Unfortunately, many are
trying to make it into the sheepfold some other way than through the approved
door and by doing so they are being proved that they are not keeping the ways
of God, nor obeying His commandments.
John 6:31-35 "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is
written, He gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread
from heaven. For the
bread of God is He which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the
world..........................
So these people
made mention of the bread that came down from heaven that their fathers had
eaten. But Christ kind of interrupted
and essentially said, excuse me,.... but the bread that
they ate out their in the wilderness was not that
bread from heaven.
Now we know that
it was from God and did come down out of heaven. We have already read that with our own eyes
in this teaching and straight from the scriptures. But Christ was trying to get them to
understand that the manna that came down from heaven that the Israelites ate in
the wilderness, was only symbolic. It was not the real bread that was to come
down from heaven. It was just a symbol
of that real bread. Remember we read earlier
that the things that happened to ancient Israel took place for you and I and the Church at the time of the end. So Christ is proving that point to us.
Jesus went on
then and said that the Father gives mankind the true bread from heaven. So the true bread is not the same as the
symbolic bread that fell from heaven for Israel to consume and eat in order to
live while out there in that desert wilderness.
No, the true
bread to consume is every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that we
can spiritually exist off of and live eternally. The bread of God, according to verse 33, is a
"HE," a person, and He came down from heaven and He is the giver of
life unto the world.
Let's continue
with verse 34 .........Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore
give us this bread. And Jesus said unto
them, I AM the bread of life: he that
comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never
thirst."
No doubt about
it, before coming into the human form, Yahshua was
the great I AM that spoke from the burning bush to Moses and led Israel out of
Egyptian bondage. No doubt about it,
Jesus is the bread of life.
We are to seek
Him, not just that we can have our bellies filled, not that we can have a house
to live in, a good job, dependable vehicles, good health, no, these things the
Lord knows that we have need of. But we
are to seek Him, and hunger and thirst for righteousness, that we might be
filled spiritually with the bread and the water of life. And although we are to hunger and thirst for
the ways of God, only Christ can fill our need and keep us filled that we would
never be in need again of being spiritually deprived of the good things of God.
John 6:48-58 "I am
that bread of life. Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof, and not die. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of
this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood,
has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood,
dwells in me, and I in him. As the
living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even
he shall live by me. This is that bread
which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead:
he that eats of this bread shall live for ever."
So our Lord
plainly says it again, that He, the great I AM that spoke to Moses in the
burning bush, that led the Israelites through the wilderness, that fed them the
manna and gave them to drink, that He is that bread of life. Jesus is the bread.
The Israelites of
old did most certainly eat the manna in the wilderness, but they are all
dead. But the true bread, the Word of
God, Jesus the Christ which came down from heaven is a living
bread and if any man eat the living bread he has the opportunity to live
forever.
Not in this body,
but in a new body that will be given when the Lord our God returns and we shall
shed these corruptible bodies that grow old and eventually wear out and die,
but we shall be granted immortal bodies that are not subject to death and
corruption. The bread that Christ is and
gives is his flesh. It is the giving of
his life for the life of the world. That
is the bread that we can have a part in and partake of.
Jesus said that
unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood that we have no life in us. His flesh is food indeed and His blood is
drink indeed and if we eat His flesh and drink His blood we shall dwell in Him
and He will dwell in us. Now brethren,
we are not cannibals. We don't eat human
flesh. We are not vampires. We don't drink blood. You will not find any text of scriptures that
shows the disciples chewing on Christ and eating His fingers or cutting Him
open and lapping up the blood that dripped from His wounds. But these are spiritual things that we speak
of today. Not the physical manna that
fell from heaven in the wilderness. That
manna was supernatural in that it came down from heaven, yes it most assuredly
did. It came down to them for the
purpose of teaching you and I about the true spiritual meat, the Bread of life
who came down from heaven and we must eat of spiritually in order to have life
and to have it eternally.
Messiah ends up
in verse 58 once again making the comparison between the bread
that Israel ate in the wilderness and yet those people are dead and that of
eating the Word of God, the bread of life through which one can live forever.
The Apostle Paul
was dealing with idolatry in the Church of his day. The Corinthian Church received some very
heated letters from the Apostle Paul concerning many things as can be read in
the 1st letter to the Corinthians. It
must be realized that these were Gentiles who were converted to Christianity. They were in the process of becoming
spiritual Israelites as we all must become in order to partake in the covenant
of God. But the Churches that the
Apostle Paul had established were cut right out of the heathen Gentile nations
and along with it then they had many heathen customs that they were struggling
with and were being told to stop, get away from and to repent of. (no different in our day)
1st Corinthians
10:14-17 "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from
idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge
you what I say. The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ? For we
being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all
partakers of that one bread...........................
Paul admonishes
the Church to flee from idolatry and idolatrous practices. Now he says that he is only speaking to wise
individuals and that they should judge what it is that he is saying. Then he begins to speak of the Lord's supper or a communion service. He plainly asks, is the cup, meaning the cup
of wine that is drank in observing the communion, he asks is the blessed cup
that we bless for Passover, isn't it the communion of the blood of Christ? In other words, isn't that what the partaking
of the cup of wine is all about? Isn't
it about the communion of the blood of Christ. Now the word "communion" simply
means to participate or take part in and to be in fellowship with. It is the combination of the two words,
"common" and "union."
We are to have a
common union with one another and with the shed blood of Christ, which is
symbolized in the cup of wine. We are to
have a part or participate in the blessing of the wine. Then he goes on to talk about breaking the
unleavened bread that we take part in as well.
He plainly says again, is not the bread that we break, isn't it supposed
to show our participation and fellowship with one another and the body of our
Lord?
The communion
service is a symbolic reenactment of not only the last supper the Lord had with
His disciples and the fellowship that they had with one another and with the
Christ, but also in drinking of the cup of wine and the broken bread
symbolizing the shed blood of Christ and of His broken body for our sacrifice
for sin.
Now there are
many members that make up the body of Christ.
The true Church is now the temple of God, if you have repented of sin
and have begun walking in His ways, you are now the
body of Christ.
We are now to be
a part of the Bread of Life, by partaking of the Word of God and becoming a
member of His body, the Church of the living God. The Church of Corinth had merged and
amalgamated many of their pagan beliefs with their worship of the Lord. The Apostle Paul had to write some very stern
words to them for their correction. The
evidence shows that they must have turned the Lord's Supper or communion
service, the New Testament Passover into a drunken debauchery with an
idolatrous twist.
1st Corinthians 10:21 "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup
of devils: you cannot be partakers of
the Lord's table, and of the table of devils."
No brethren, this
is a very serious and solemn occasion.
We must come to the table with pure hearts void of any heathen, pagan customs,
void of disobedience, void of insincerity, void of idolatry, void of hypocrisy
and void of leavening in our lives.
Christ said in one place that we are either for Him or against Him. That we cannot serve two masters or we will
either love one or hate the other or hold to one and despise the other.
1st Corinthians
5:6-8 "Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you
may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Paul was
addressing another problem that the Corinthian Church was dealing with. There was fornication common within the
Church. Something that
just should not be going on within the Church.
Paul asks the question, don't you know that a little leaven will leaven
the whole lump? Kind of like a rotten
apple in the bushel basket will eventually infect the entire bushel with rotten
apples.
Leavening is
essentially yeast or any agent used in food and especially for baking that
makes the bread to rise. It doesn't take
but just a little bit of yeast, just a small amount of a leavening agent to
make the entire lump of dough to become leavened.
Paul was saying,
hey Church of Corinth, if you allow this fornication to continue in your midst,
it will eventually affect the entire Church.
We could use this scenario in many aspects of the Church and even in our
personal lives. If we allow one sin in
our lives, that one sin will eventually become a springboard for other sins to
infect us. If we allow sin to come into
the Church, and we don't put it out, it will eventually destroy us.
If we allow the
traditions of man to come into our midst, if we allow pagan beliefs to come
into our fellowship, then we will eventually become no different than the
Churches of the world. We might begin to
have large numbers of people, but we would be totally leavened, just by
allowing a little leavening to enter into the flock. So brethren, it doesn't take much. It only takes a little leaven to come in,
just a little sin, just a little tradition and whammy! The whole lump, the entire Church will become
leavened and worldly.
Paul goes on then
in verse 7 and says to purge out the old leaven that we might be
a new lump, an unleavened lump before the Lord.
Purge out of the Church trouble makers, purge out of the Church sin,
purge out of our lives ungodliness, but purge we must so that we can become and
remain unleavened in the sight of God.
This is a duty of
every member of the Church of God. You
and I must continually examine ourselves so that you and I would not bring a
curse upon you and your fellow brethren by delving into sin and still remain in
the bushel. That is why God is not at
the present time looking for quantities of people. He is looking for quality in people.
Paul says in verse
7 that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Yes Jesus is the true Passover. He is called in a number of places, "the
Lamb of God." Every year when
Israel killed the male lamb that was without spot or blemish, that was pointing
to Jesus the Lamb of God who would one day come and be killed himself and on
the Passover.
And because He is
our Passover, verse 8 openly commands us to keep the feast. Not with the old leaven, not with the old way
of life, not with the traditions of men, not with disobedience, not with
hypocrisy, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
And that is what
being unleavened spiritually is all about.
During the day of Unleavened bread we partake
of unleavened bread for 7 days, we are symbolically putting sin out of our
lives and then yielding our lives to Christ.
Unleavened bread is not pretentious.
It doesn't puff up, it doesn't pretend to be
something that it is not. It is sincere
and truthful with nothing to hide. That
is to be you and I spiritually. But the bottom line is that Paul the great Apostle, told us that since Christ is our Passover, we are
to keep the Feast!
Once again we
find the Apostle Paul rebuking the Corinthians.
This time it is for turning the Lord's Supper into just a big drunken
party.
1st Corinthians
11:20-22 "When you come together therefore into one place,
this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
For in eating every one takes before other his
own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What?
Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise you the Church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not..................
When they were
coming together, the way they were observing the Lord's Supper was not the way
the Lord's Supper was to be observed.
Sure, they had the wine, symbolic of the shed blood of Christ. Sure they had the unleavened bread, symbolic
of the broken of body of Christ.
Now there is
nothing wrong with drinking wine and eating unleavened bread at a meal. But they were making the Lord's Supper just
that. A big supper,
putting no emphasis on the meaning of what they were taking part in. There was no distinction between the
communion service and that of the Feast meal to be observed afterward. They were combining the Lord's Supper and the
Feast meal all into one. And worse than
that, they were only bringing just enough for themselves, and some didn't have
anything to eat and went hungry, and some were actually getting drunk from
drinking to much wine.
Looks to me that
the Apostle Paul was hot mad at this practice.
He says you have your own houses to go do this in,
you are despising the house of God by getting drunk and shaming those who you
are excluding from the meal. Above this,
you are not actually observing the Lord's Supper in a solemn and sincere
setting. You are not memorializing the death of our Lord,
no you are just feeding your bellies and feeding your drunken lustful
ways. They had turned the night to be
much observed into a drunken debauchery of sin.
Paul could not praise them in this practice. He would not put his blessing upon what they
were engaging in.
Verse 23.......... For I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: And when He had given thanks, He brake it,
and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of me.........
The Apostle Paul
had received divine revelations from the Lord Himself. The Lord showed Him somehow what took place
the night that He was betrayed. He
showed Paul the night of the Lord's Supper.
Christ took bread, unleavened bread if I might add. And He broke it into pieces, and told His
disciples to eat it and said that this is His body which is broken for you and
He said to do this in remembrance of Him.
So the bread
represents the broken body of Christ.
When you eat that little piece of unleavened bread, it is as though
spiritually you are symbolically saying, yes Lord, I
will have a part in this with you and my brethren. Yes Lord, I will partake with you in your
sufferings, in your death and in your resurrection. When we eat that piece of bread, it represents
the Bread of Life that came down from heaven.
The true bread of life.
Verse 25........After the same manner also He took the
cup, when He had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of
me. For as often as you eat this bread,
and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He come........
So the Lord
supped from the cup and told His disciples that the cup is the New Testament in
His blood and that this also was to be done in remembrance of Him, as a
memorial of the Lord's death. The Lord
commands you and I and His Church to do this. And Paul was setting the Church straight as
to the proper observance. Any baptized
member of the Church is to observe the Lord’s supper
each year on the anniversary.
Going on with verse
27.... Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup
of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord. But let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily,
eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among
you, and many sleep. For if we would
judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we
should not be condemned with the world.
Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for
another. And if any man hunger, let him
eat at home; that you come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I
come."
Now brethren,
this is very serious. When we partake of
the Lord's Supper, realize that it is a physical command representing a
spiritual issue. We are doing something
in the physical that is symbolic of something we are doing in the spiritual.
Just like baptism, it is a physical command representing something that is
spiritual as to the washing away of our sins.
We cannot get
around the fact that the Lord commanded you and I to
do this and when we do, we are memorializing and bringing to our remembrance the
death of our Lord. But
if we are living in sin. If we
are unrepentant and not sincere and our lives are full of leaven, we can bring
a curse upon ourselves if we partake in the Lord's Supper without the proper
motives behind it.
Now just because
someone gets sick or is weak or dies, does not mean that they have taken of the
Lord's Supper unworthily, but it could mean so, but we also know that are many
other reasons why such things come upon a person. Nevertheless though these
things can come upon an individual if they have not taken the time to make
things right with their God. That
is why we are admonished to examine ourselves.
We are to seriously judge ourselves and make sure we have the proper
relationship with our God. Just like the
Israelites came out of Egypt in haste, you and I are to come out of sin quickly
when we realize our need to do so.
So brethren, throughout the year, but especially the week of Passover
and the days of unleavened bread is a time to reflect upon your
life. Judge yourself. Ask the Lord, by His Spirit to reveal unto
you where repentance is needed, areas of your life wherein you have fallen away
from the ways of God.
Whatever it is,
bring it before the Lord. So that year
to year we can partake of the bread and the wine worthily. If you have met the qualifications of
repentance and have been baptized then you have every right to come and take
part in this wonderful, yet solemn assembly each year.
In this text of
scripture that we are about to read, a couple of Christ's followers spent some
time with the risen savior, but they were blinded to His identity.
Luke 24:30-35 "And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them,
he took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew
Him; and He vanished out of their sight.
And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us
the scriptures? And they rose up the
same hour, and returned to Jersusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and
them that were with them. Saying, The
Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the
way, and how He was known of them in breaking of bread."
I find it awesome
to realize that the Lord revealed Himself to them through the breaking of the
bread.
Now they were
sitting down and having a meal with Him.
They were eating a real physical meal with bread. But through the breaking of the bread, their
eyes were opened and they knew the Lord.
Brethren,
spiritually, the Lord does the same thing with you and I. Not when we sit down and begin to eat
supper. No, when we come to the
table. The Lord's table. When we open the scriptures and begin to read
or hear the scriptures spoken to us. By
His Spirit, the Word, the Bread of Life is being broken for us, that we might
consume it spiritually.
Jesus is the Word
of God according to the 1st Chapter of the book of John. And we know that He is the Bread of
Life. When we read and study and hear
the Word of God, we are spiritually eating the flesh of Christ. We are eating Christ, the Bread, the true Bread that came down from heaven. If we don't eat of the Word, we will starve
ourselves and the little seed that had begun within us, will be aborted. We can die spiritually by becoming
undernourished in the Word.
You and I must
feed upon the Word, the Bread, that we might
live. For we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Those words that proceed out of the mouth of
God, those words are the true Bread of life.
When we read and study and hear the Word spoken, Christ is made know to
us through the breaking of the bread.
John 21:12 "Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who
are you? Knowing that
it was the Lord."
Christ speaks
these same words to you and I today. He says to come and dine. Come to the table and eat of the Bread of
Life. Not just the unleavened bread and wine
that we'll partake of on Passover. Such
is a mere representation of the true Bread of Christ and His shed blood, and
yet we are commanded to take part in that.
But He says to
come to the table spiritually. Come
before Him with a sincere heart, and as we meet each Sabbath or during your
personal study time, He will break the Bread of Life that you can have the Word
revealed unto you. And we won't even
dare ask who this is, because through the breaking of the Bread, we know that
this is the Lord, our Messiah, the living Christ, the Savior of the World. His Spirit like living waters or the wine, is the agent necessary for transporting the Bread of
Life into our minds. The wine is like the sap in the vine. We must be connected to the root in order for
the sap to enter into the branches.
Brethren, I hope
that you have been fed through this teaching from the Word of God. I hope that as the Word, the Bread was broken, Christ has revealed a little more of Himself to you
and that His Spirit like wine has washed the Bread down deep into your
beings. Bless the Name of the Lord at
all times. And may He bless you with a
greater understanding of His ways. That
you can have the full assurance that in your day of judgment, He will pass over
you!
The Old Paths Restoration
Ministry
PO Box 247
Marengo, IN 47140