Sabbath Thought – Having Come Out of Sin

This past week God’s people were observing the Days of Unleavened Bread. God often uses physical analogies to point us to spiritual truths. These physical types can help us to see a spiritual reality that is otherwise all too easy to miss.

Leavening, used as a symbol of sin, is a powerful reminder of how pervasive sin can be. In preparation for these Days of Unleavened Bread we look at food labels to know if there was some type of leaving in the product. Food items that would seem to be leaven-free can have leavening in it, foods that have nothing to do with “puffed up” bread can have leavening in it, and even many flat breads can have leavening in them. It can also seem that no matter how well we clean, we can often open a rarely used drawer, or reach into a pocket of an article of clothing we haven’t worn in a while, or access a spot in our car we thought for sure we had cleaned – only to find some piece of food that obviously had leavening in it!

But, the Days of Unleavened Bread are not about how well we can physically clean our property. These days are a reminder of how close we need to be with God to remove, and keep, sin out of our lives. As challenging as it can be to clean our houses, cars, kitchens, etc. from leavening it is more challenging to remove sin from our lives. This is because overcoming sin is a spiritual effort. 

We are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but powers (Ephesians 6:12). This is not just Satan, but human nature as well. Without God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we struggle against the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” (1 John 2:16). That is, we focus on physical things.

But that is the power of an object lesson like leavening. We can see its effect and we can observe how pervasive it can be. Through the perfect, sinless sacrifice of our Messiah, and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit that can subsequently dwell in us (Romans chapter 8), we can be “…strong, and the word of God [lives] in [us], and [we] have overcome the wicked one,” (1 John 2:14). With Christ living in us we are already strong enough to overcome Satan and his evil influence!

So, what have we learned this past week? Has the physical type of sin reminded us more deeply what God is working out in us? Have we recognized how weak we are to overcome sin on our own? Have we seen God’s patience and mercy as we “walk” out of sin? Equally important, have we been reminded to stay the course, to not become complacent, and to work with our Savior to grow God’s Holy Spirit within us?

The lessons of the Days of Unleavened Bread now point us to the Feast of Pentecost! God is working out a beautiful plan of salvation for all of mankind. We have been called and blessed to know this spiritual truth now.

I wish you a very meaningful High Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

19 April, 2025