Biblical History of the Lamb, Bread of Life

Well, on this first day of Unleavened Bread in the year 2022, I'd like to begin with a few scriptures we read during the Passover service, so this should seem kind of familiar. If you'll turn with me to John 6, verse 32, these are verses that will look very familiar to you. And that's where we're going to begin today, and then we're going to go with these scriptures beyond.

John 6, verse 32, Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say unto you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven. What Jesus was implying here, of course, is that he gave the ancient Israelites the bread from heaven, not Moses. Moses shouldn't get credit for it. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

So the Father sent Jesus Christ to earth to fulfill his mission. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So Jesus drew an analogy from the manna that was given to the ancient Israelites in Moses' day. It came down from heaven. They ate it. It provided physical nourishment for them and extended their physical lives.

And the analogy that Jesus wants these Jews to understand who were in his presence wants us to understand is that Jesus is the true bread who came down from heaven. Far better than that physical manna. So during this festival, we want to remember the importance of eating unleavened bread, which pictures our desire to digest from Jesus Christ his words, modeling his example, seeking his righteousness in us. All of those things give us spiritual nourishment and ultimately eternal life, and that's all reflected by the very powerful metaphor of us taking a little bit of unleavened bread every day and consuming it.

Verse 34 here in John, Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. One of the seven I am statements in John. Of course, Jesus again helping them to understand that he was the God of the Old Testament who spoke to Moses. One of the seven I am statements. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

So today we continue an annual celebration that's been uninterrupted for 3,500 years. Somewhere on earth, in Israel or in pockets of where the Jews were scattered over time, someone has been celebrating these days continuously every year for 3,500 years, including the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, and those who have kept it since that time. Winston Churchill once said that the farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see. And today I'd like to give all of us a history of a spiritual portrait of the unleavened bread and the days of unleavened bread from the perspective of Jesus Christ himself.

Perhaps it will give us a deeper appreciation for these days and will help us to understand the importance of why we continue to observe them. So let's go as far back as we can tell. We'll find a statement in Revelation 13, beginning in verse 7. Let's go as far back as Churchill said, the farther backward you look, the farther forward you can see.

So let's go as far back as we can know and understand from Scripture to see the role of the Lamb of God, the bread of life, Jesus Christ himself. Revelation 13, verse 7. And the first few verses here are referring to the upcoming beast power who will arise and will dominate much in this world for 42 months. And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and overcome them.

And authority was given him over every tongue, our tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell in the earth will worship him whose names have not been written. Here's the point we want to focus on here. Not written in the book of the life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. Here we see, brethren, that it was understood at the foundation, the creation of the Lord, of the world, that sin would enter God's creation on earth. The fact that Jesus Christ needed to come to earth and sacrifice himself for the sins of humankind was not plan B for God.

God went at him and he'd sinned. God didn't say, oh, I hadn't thought of that. Well what are we going to do now? It wasn't an alternative plan. God understood from the very beginning what his creation would do and had decided to create a provision for that.

After all, God allowed the serpent free access to the garden and to Adam and Eve. He knew what the serpent thought. He knew what the serpent would say. He knew what the serpent would do. He knew how manipulative the serpent was. So none of that came as a shock to God at all. And from the beginning, the foundation of the world, we can see here that Christ is already referred to as the Lamb. Again, book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This implies that there would need to be an atoning blood to be shed someday for the remission of sin. Being slain requires a Lamb's body to be slashed, broken, and pierced in order for it to be sacrificed. In order for blood to come out, those things have to happen to a Lamb. So the world was created with this provision, and during the creation process, God understood that there would come a time when the very God himself, whom we refer to as the God of the Old Testament, because Jesus came to reveal a Father that was unknown until Jesus came, that the very being who was the God of the Old Testament would be the very One, the Creator, who would come to earth because he was the Creator, that his one life was of greater worth and value than all the creation, and therefore shedding his blood and giving up his life would forgive all of the sins of humanity, all those who were ever born, all those who are alive today, and all those who could ever live because the worth of the Creator is greater than the creation itself.

So that's as far back as we can see, that that provision was made, that Jesus Christ would be a lamb, that that lamb had to be slain, and to slay a lamb requires the physical body of that lamb to be broken, violated in some way, pierced, because that's the only way you can slay a lamb and draw its blood out of the lamb itself. So let's take a look at the next step in history, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 14. God wanted his creation to know that there are certain ways that God wants to be worshiped, and he would instill a way for people to be able to calculate the desired times that the Creator wants to be worshiped. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 14. Let's take a look at the actual creation process here.

Genesis chapter 1 and verse 14.

Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons. This is the New King James. It's actually a very poor translation. The word seasons here is the Hebrew word moed, which in other places in the Old Testament is translated festivals, not seasons. And when we get to Leviticus 23 and a little bit, we will see that the word feast there are this word moed.

So let them be for signs and seasons or festivals, for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens, to give light to the earth. I'm going to read this from another translation, God's word for today. Verse 14. Then God said, Let there be lights in the sky, to separate the day from the night. There will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days and years. That's the best translation of that verse. Obviously, God wanted there to be a way that when He instructed His people on how He desires to be worshipped, that they would be able to look up and calculate the days that are very special to God.

God is not interested in creating heavenly bodies so that people can create their own pagan religious festivals. He doesn't do this so that the United States can declare Pride Month. He doesn't do this so that, Oh, let's celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Oh, I know! So we know when April Fool's Day is.

God doesn't do any of this for human calculated agendas or human days. He creates these lights so that people could delineate festivals to worship the true Creator God. Their purpose is for a future people to determine very special festival days to honor God in the way that He chooses. And we happen to be here on one of those days. But before He reveals these days, going forward a little bit to Leviticus 23, before He reveals these days to the people who are ultimately destined to receive them, He teaches some lessons along the way regarding the need for a future Lamb of God to have His body broken and so the faithful can understand the power of the bread of life and what that means and why we celebrate this festival.

So now let's go to Genesis chapter 14 and verse 6. We're continuing this march through a historical understanding of the bread of life and all of it represents and why we continue to observe this holy day today. Genesis chapter 16, I'm sorry, chapter 14 and verse 16. You may recall the story that some kings got together as a group and they captured Lot and all the women that were part of Lot's family and all of Lot's goods.

Abraham rallied together some of his own warriors within his own tribe and they went and they released redeemed Lot and the women and all of the goods. So we're going to pick up the story here in verse 16. So he brought back all the goods and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods as well as the women and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Sheva, that is the king's valley after his return from the defeat of Cleo-Re-Amor and the kings who were with him. Then this is verse 18 when we want to focus on then Melchizedek.

That's a Hebrew name that means, my king is righteousness. That's what the name Melchizedek means. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, now the word Salem means peace, brought out bread and wine. Well, what does that symbolize? Why of all things he could have brought out crackers and cheese. He brings out bread and wine. Well, it's because in the future the redeemed of God, the spiritual children of God, would be redeemed through the broken body of the Lamb of God and his shed blood pictured by wine. And the metaphor here is that Lot and his family had just been redeemed.

They had been kidnapped. They were about to be slaves for the rest of their lives, ultimately dying dead, and they had just been redeemed from evil. So this Melchizedek brings out bread and wine, continuing, he was the priest of God Most High. And for years we've thought that this individual may have been also the very one who later would come to earth as Jesus Christ. He may have been of divine origin. But again, there's no coincidence here that of all the things that Melchizedek could bring out to represent the redemption of Lot and his family and the redemption of their lives from evil, from perpetual slavery leading to death and evil, contrasting to God's spiritual children who would be called because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself and who would be redeemed through his broken body and his shed blood pictured by the bread and wine that we all celebrate together on the Passover.

Verse 19, and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abraham of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand, and he gave him a tithe of all. So again, I just want to emphasize Melchizedek himself brought out bread and wine, the symbols that would become part of the New Testament Passover and the redemption from slavery and freedom. Let's continue our historical walk. Go to Genesis chapter 18 and verse 1.

See another example here, Genesis chapter 18 verse 1. One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament. Then the Lord, the great I Am himself, again, the one who would in the future come to earth and live and be known as Jesus Christ, Savior. The Lord appeared to him by the tinnabith trees of Mamre as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men standing by him.

And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them. Now we have to read between the lines, understand why he's startled and why he runs to meet them. He's sitting in his tent door and he's looking out. He doesn't see anything. It just looks like kind of like wavy desert sand.

Then poof! Here come three individuals who suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere. We would kind of know this is special, too. We would also run out to greet them. Either that, or we'd be terrified and we'd run back into the tent. We'd respond in probably one or two different ways. But he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.

We don't do that just every day. He recognizes immediately there's something special about these guests and said, My Lord, if I've not found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet. Wow, you mean kind of like the foot washing at the Passover service? And wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring you a morsel of bread that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, and as much as you have come to your servant. They said, Do as you have said. So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal needed, and make cakes.

Brethren, it does not call these cakes unleavened bread. But what do you call it when you quickly gather some grain meal together, put a little water and oil in it, and cook it quickly? You see, this is intended to be an appetizer.

It's going to take a little while for the calf to be cut open, and for the meat to be cut out of the calf, and for it to be cooked. So this is kind of to engage discussion what we would call an appetizer today. He says quickly, again implying certainly, that this could very well have been unleavened bread that was being served to these guests. And Abraham ran to the herd and took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it.

Verse 8, So he took the butter and the milk and the calf, which he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree as they ate. So the Lord here, at all capitals, you'll notice that in verse 1, the Lord hears the very being, who himself would come to earth later as Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus told the Jews in John chapter 8 and verse 58, he said most assuredly, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.

And this is the great I AM who is involved in this story. These cakes are obviously homemade. They're thrown together in a rush and cooked quickly to offer to these three heavenly guests. Verse 20, So we've seen a symbol of the foot washing. We've seen the symbol of what most likely is unleavened bread. Verse 20, And the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah are great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me.

And if not, I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. That's all we need to glean out of this for our topic today. There's a connection in this story between the Lord, the one who will be and is the bread of life, the future Lamb of God, because he will come to earth and sacrifice himself for the sins of all humanity, the future Lamb of God, the consuming of unleavened bread during this visit, and the Lord's rejection of sin. Do you see the connection? Unleavened bread, rejection of sin.

What's the next thing after this meal that represents God's righteousness? I have to go and deal with sin somewhere, someplace, and that place happened to be Sodom. Later, the Lord, the great I AM, would call the descendants of Abraham out of bondage in Egypt, where they would eventually end up.

So let's explore another historical teaching of the meaning of bread. So let's tiptoe a little further as we look at this history. The metaphors that the teaching we're receiving from none other than the bread of life himself and his personal involvement in all of these episodes will now go to Exodus 16, verse 11.

Israel is doing what Israel did best, and that's wine. They've just whined about a lack of meat and a lack of bread. So God is going to answer their prayer because of his grace and mercy, even though their attitudes aren't right. God, being a gracious and loving and merciful, God is going to answer their prayer. So we're going to pick it up here in verse 11 in Exodus 16. And the Lord, again, all capital letters, the great I Am, spoke to Moses, saying, I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel speak to them, saying at twilight, you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.

So it was, so it was, that quails came up during the evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp, and when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? You know, when I was first married, my beloved wife sometimes brought out meals for dinnertime, and I said to myself, oh, she's back, I'm sorry.

Busted, and I would say to myself, what is it? Because it takes time to develop the skills of the culinary arts and the fine skills of cooking. And that's what they said. When they saw these little wafers laying on the ground, kind of like a frost, they said, what is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. From the bread of life himself, this is from God, the future Jesus Christ.

Verse 16, this is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons, and let every man take for those who are in his tent. The children of Israel did so according some more, some less, and when they had measured it by omers, who gathered much, had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack, every man had gathered according to each one's need.

And it doesn't matter how bad of a sinner we are, we have been in our past lives, whether we grew up in phenomenally dysfunctional families and lived like animals before we were called, or whether we were fortunate enough to grow up in parents in the church. Jesus Christ provides forgiveness according to each one of our needs, whatever that need may be. For each person, according to the number of persons, let each man take for those who are in his tent.

Verse 17, then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less, so when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Each man gathered according to each one's need, and Moses said, let no one leave any of it till morning, not withstanding.

They did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until morning, and had bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, and every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. Now, again, I don't know the exact science of leavening, but I'm going to say that if something falls from the sky, and when the sun becomes hot, it's already melted, it's probably unleavened.

It hasn't been on earth long enough to be leavened. It's obviously an indication that whatever this manna was that was able to be gathered, and ground, and cooked, and made into all kinds of different foods, the indication is that it was unleavened. God provided a physical bread that saved their physical lives. It would sustain them for 40 years in the wilderness. Again, this is what Jesus Christ referred to, the true bread of life. And what he spoke about, he said in John 6, verse 48, we turn to this, I'll just read it again.

He will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. Now, how important was this manna? Was it just kind of a loose event? I mean, it represents the bread of life himself. He gave it to them. Well, no, it was so important that Moses is given a special instruction in Exodus, chapter 16. Let's turn there to see how important the significance of this manna bread was. So important because of who it represented. He who gave it to them, the bread of life, that a special sample of it was to be stored. Exodus 16, verse 32. Beginning in verse 32, And Moses said there, and take a pot, and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations, as the Lord commanded Moses. So Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept, before the Ark of the Covenant. The thing that represented the very presence of God himself, sometimes referred to as God's footstool on earth. Why? Because it was a gift to the people that saved their physical lives from the bread of life himself. They needed to be reminded of that. And it says here, So to recap this event, the manna is considered to be food from heaven, which sustained the Israelites in the wilderness and foreshadowed the true bread of life, Jesus Christ himself, and what he would do for you and I, as pictured by the Passover and pictured by these days of unleavened bread. God commanded a sample to be preserved as a constant reminder of who he is, the miracle of the manna to save physical Israel in the wilderness.

Well, now let's go to Leviticus chapter 23. The scripture we're very familiar with, Leviticus chapter 23.

We read this during all of the holy days, because this was the instruction to the literal nation of Israel on these designated days that God had planned from the creation of the world. This is going to be that Hebrew word, Moed, that we talked about earlier in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 14. So the festival days could be designated through calculation. Leviticus chapter 1 and verse 8, which you shall proclaim to be holy complications, or holy feasts.

These are my feasts. Six days shall work be done. The seventh is the Sabbath of solemn rest. So the first one is a weekly festival.

You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. And again, all the times you see the word feast is that Hebrew word, Moed, that was in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 14.

Verse 4, these are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations or conventions, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

On the 14th day of this first month, the twilight, as the Lord's Passover, we observe that together.

And on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord, to the great I Am.

Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation.

You shall do no customary work on it. And you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days.

And we'll see how in the New Covenant observance of this day, a little bit later on, through Paul's instruction, that we no longer need to make an offering by fire to the Lord.

We'll get to that in just a bit.

The seventh day shall be a holy convocation regarding this feast, and you shall do no customary work on it.

So Israel was to observe this spiritual theme, this spiritual theme, that goes all the way back to the foundation of the world.

Remember Revelation 13, verse 8? The Lamb is slain, its blood is shed, and His sinless body is broken for our sins as the bread of life.

So let's continue to look at this theme a little bit.

As we finish up in the Old Testament, we'll take a look now at a scripture in the New Testament, John chapter 19 and verse 30.

John chapter 19 and verse 30.

This is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, chapter 19 verse 30. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said it is finished, and bowing His head, He gave up His Spirit.

Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day.

So this is not a weekly Sabbath day like we usually observe and enjoy here.

This was a high Sabbath. This happened to be the first day of unleavened bread that year. And the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away.

The Jews wanted to observe the first day of unleavened bread, unencumbered, and not worrying about Jews hanging and being tortured in the community and being seen by everybody.

They wanted all this mess cleaned up before the Holy Day started. So that's why they made that request. So again, the Sabbath referred to here is not the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath, but a high-day festival Sabbath.

This was the very day we're celebrating today, the Feast, the first day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Following the same outline in Leviticus 23, the Passover Lamb of God was slain before the days of unleavened bread.

Jesus wanted to die at the time the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the temple.

Well, for what I've covered so far today, most religious people would say, well, I kind of agree with that.

That's been a great little historical treasure, talking about the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But you know what, Mr. Thomas? That's where it ends.

They would say Jesus is the complete fulfillment of the Passover and all of the Hebrew festivals.

So yeah, that was really enjoyable, but it's all done away, and it now no longer has any meaning.

They would proclaim that He, Jesus Christ, was the complete fulfillment and that they're all ended.

Okay, so my question is, is that true? Does Jesus continue to be the Lamb of God or not?

Did something happen that He stopped being the Lamb of God? Does Christ continue to be the bread of life or not?

When did He stop being the bread of life?

One man in the Scriptures has a problem with the idea and concept that it's all fulfilled and done away, and there's no reason to focus on the days of Unleavened Bread or the Passover or any of those things anymore.

We would be told by them because they're all done away and fulfilled in Christ.

There's one man in Scripture who really has a problem with that.

That man is none other than the Apostle Paul.

He's got a problem with that because that does not fit what he taught or his own theology.

Let's begin by going to Acts chapter 20 and verse 1.

Acts chapter 20 and verse 1.

Read an event that occurs about 56 AD. This is seven years after the Jerusalem Conference of 49 AD, decades after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Luke, who is a Gentile, is recording this. He is the author of the book of Acts.

He has a Gentile lineage background, convert of Paul. He's writing this event.

So let's see what happens here.

After the uproar had ceased, Paul seemed to cause a lot of uproar wherever he went, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia.

Not when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece, stayed there three months. When the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

And so so so Patterson-Beria accompanied him to Asia and Aerostarchus and Succundus of the Thessalonians and Gaius of the Darby and Timothy, See Antidochus, Antrophomous of Asia, verse 5.

Atroas, where we stayed seven days. Now, on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. So let me begin just by answering verse 7 here. Break bread just simply means they share to meal together. We had a lot of wonderful people here last night, and we broke bread during the night to be much observed. We didn't have a worship service. We didn't decide that that could replace the first day of unleavened bread, or that it could replace keeping the Sabbath. It was a group of God's people getting together to share their lives, to have some laughs, to talk about how they were called into the faith, and to have a wonderful meal together. That's what it means to break bread. This does not mean they had a religious service. What it does mean is that Paul's leaving the depart the very next day, and they want one final opportunity to fellowship with him and hear from him before he goes. All right, now that we've answered that, I want you to think about this statement here from Luke, where it says, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread. Again, this is about seven years after the Jerusalem Conference in 49 A.D.

Now, I'm assured by very smart people that in 49 A.D., it was agreed that the law was done away, the Ten Commandments were no longer in effect, that you no longer had to be circumcised, that you could now eat pork chops and jellyfish, that you could now worship on Sunday, that all those old covenant things were done, all that stuff is in the past, it's been fulfilled in Jesus and it's done away. That's what I am assured of by many very smart people.

But I have some questions here, and that is, why did they wait until after the days of unleavened bread to travel? Because they were observing the Holy Days in Philippi until they were completed.

You know, they even knew people in Troas were waiting for them, but it's too bad. We're going to celebrate the seven days here first, and when these days of unleavened bread are over, then we'll go to Troas to meet the people who were waiting for us. Now, why and how would a Gentile like Luke even know about these Holy Days? If he was raised a Gentile and all these days are done away, then why doesn't he use Greek time demarcations? After the Ides of March, we traveled and we did such and such. How would he even know that these are called the days of unleavened bread or that they have any value? So it shouldn't shock anyone what Luke records here because now we're going to go and see what Paul wrote to the Corinthian congregation about one year earlier.

So again, we're continuing our history. This is an event that occurred in 56 AD. Now we're going to take a look at something that Paul wrote in 55 AD. We're going to begin by going to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. You'll turn there with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Question number one. Who is 1 Corinthians written to?

Let's allow Paul to answer. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. So I don't normally ask for audience feedback during my sermons, but I am getting a little old and hard of hearing, so I'm told. So I'd like to ask all of you to tell me who Paul says the audience is in this letter. It is the Gentiles. All right, thank you. It is the Gentiles. What was that? In Corinth, thank you. No shock there because Corinth is a Greek city. It's a Gentile city. It's not in Israel. It's a Greek pagan city, and obviously the audience are Gentiles. All right, so now let's go back to chapter 5. This was touched upon earlier in the sermon at Fine Sermonant. We had today 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 6, and let's see what Paul says to Gentiles. He says, your glorying is not good. And of course, earlier he writes about how so many of them are puffed up and they've all... the congregation's very divided. They have different, charismatic people in the congregation that they gather around. Some previous pastors who came through, some people like them better than Paul. So there's a lot of issues going on here in Corinth. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened, for indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. He refers to Christ as the Passover, the Passover of the Jews, and obviously the Passover to the Gentiles who dwell in Corinth.

Therefore, verse 8, let us keep the feast. Paul does not say, therefore, those of you who are Jewish in the congregation, go ahead and keep the feast. No, he says, let us, you Gentiles who are reading this letter, me, Paul, who grew up in the Jewish faith, let us keep the feast, not in the way that it used to be kept, not with old leaven, not focusing on the physical, but focusing on the spiritual intent of God's law, focusing on our attitudes, what's going on up here, not with just the letter of the law. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I'm going to read this, I think, Mr. House and me have also read from the New Century Version. I regret the day I ever told him that existed. No, I'm just kidding. Verse 8, New Century Version. So let us celebrate this feast, not with the bread that has the old yeast, the yeast of sin and wickedness. Let us celebrate this feast with the bread that has no yeast, the bread of goodness and truth.

So I've been talking about history. Let's get to the historical context. This is written about 55 AD, and you'll find, Protestant scholars, Catholic scholars, you'll all find there within a few years of that. There's no great debate that this was written around 55 AD. That's 24 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's six years after the Jerusalem Conference of 49 AD. Anything and everything that's ever going to be nailed to a cross and done away, or fulfilled in Jesus, has already happened at this point in history. Yet Paul tells Gentiles, let us keep this feast. Acts chapter 19 in verse 1 mentions Paul writing in Ephesus, actually being in Ephesus, when this letter was written. So again, Paul is speaking to a Greek church that is Gentile in background. So let me ask these questions. How would they know what leaven even represents?

Because they were previously taught. Paul doesn't need to explain these terms in his letter, because the whole metaphor and the purpose of unleavened bread in this festival and Jesus Christ is the bread of life was already taught to this Gentile congregation. They already knew. What Paul is teaching this Gentile congregation in Corinth is important for us to understand, because it reveals why we continue to keep this feast in God's church today. Why we continue to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We don't do it simply because it's mentioned in Leviticus 23.

Don't tell anybody, but there's a lot of things in Leviticus we don't do.

We observe these holy days because long after, decades after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul is teaching Gentiles the value of this day because it represents the bread of life. And sin continues to be represented by leaven, and eating that unleavened bread continues to represent the bread of life himself, Jesus Christ, living his life in us.

What Paul instructs his Gentile believers to observe are the New Covenant days of unleavened bread. Let me share with you some conversations that I've had with people. Okay, Greg, you can't do that because according to Leviticus 23, you have to have a tabernacle or temple.

You have to have a priesthood. You have to take that animal offering because that's what Leviticus 23 says. You have to take that animal in there to sacrifice that animal. And if you don't have a temple or tabernacle, you don't have an authorized priesthood, and you don't have an animal to sacrifice than you in an unauthorized way are keeping these Jewish holy days.

Does that make sense to you? It doesn't make sense to the apostle Paul because, first of all, Paul realizes and understands that there's no temple in Corinth. He doesn't care. He realizes there are no Levites in Corinth. He doesn't care. He realizes that there's no longer animals offered by fire to drag into some place in Corinth. He doesn't care because what he's teaching them is the New Covenant understanding and celebration of the days of unleavened bread. It doesn't matter that there's no longer a temple or a priesthood or animals to sacrifice. All of that is in the past.

All of that was the Old Covenant understanding, which was wonderful for what God revealed to his people at the time. But Paul is helping Gentile believers to understand the New Covenant context of observing these holy days. So he says we should continue the celebration and recognition of the entire feast. He refers to it as the feast. He doesn't say the first day. He doesn't say the seventh day. He refers to it collectively as the feast. He continues to emphasize the removal of leaven as a metaphor of wickedness and other sin. He continues to acknowledge Christ as our savior, referring to him as the Passover. Jesus himself referred to what he did with his disciples as a Passover, and Paul refers to it as a Passover. The New Covenant festival has a focus on ongoing removal of spiritual sin and its replacement with living a life of sincerity and truthfulness.

Not the letter of the law, not how we just look in the outside. Does he appear to be a good person? Paul says we need to change what's going on upstairs. We need to change our hearts.

We need to understand this is a spiritual principle in the New Covenant.

This is another way of contrasting the works of the flesh, what we would call the old leaven, with the fruit of the Spirit, what Paul would call the new lump that he writes about in the book of Galatians. So this is what Paul is teaching 24 years after the resurrection of Jesus.

You know what I determined many years ago? That if it's good enough for the Apostle Paul and the Gentiles and Corinth to observe the festival with a New Covenant focus, it's good enough for me.

How about you? Hopefully you feel the same way.

So what about the future? We've looked at the history going back from the foundation of the world where there's a lamb and that lamb obviously is going to have a broken body, going to have to be wounded, bloodshed, which is represented by wine. The broken body represents the body of Christ, which we share at the Passover. The unleavened bread that we continue to eat during this festival, seeking the righteousness of Christ within ourselves.

Let's go and take a look at Revelation chapter 5 and verse 6. Two more scriptures in the sermon today, both in Revelation. We begin in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 6. What about the future? Here's what John was inspired to write.

John says, And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as though it had been slain, as a lamb had been sacrificed.

Representing the bread of life by his broken body, and forgiveness through the lamb shed blood, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. The seven horns means the slam is all-powerful. The seven eyes means the slam is all-seeing and all-knowing. So again, being slain requires the slam's body to have been slashed and broken and pierced in order to be sacrificed. The representation of his broken body that we shared at the Passover, and that we continue throughout this feast to eat unleavened bread to celebrate the righteousness of the bread of life that we desire to be within each and every one of us, and our desire for his righteousness to dwell in us. All right, our final scripture, Revelation chapter 22 and verse 1. Looking into the future as far as in the future as God's Word reveals to us, Revelation chapter 22 and verse 1. A very beautiful picture, something we all long for. It says, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits, and each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.

That's you, his servants. That every day that we are digesting of that unleavened bread and seeking the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we are preparing as his servants to serve him for all of eternity.

So from the very beginning to the very end, we see a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world before sin was ever committed by Adam and Eve. And we see weaving throughout history from various episodes and metaphors and teachings from scripture that Jesus Christ is the bread of life.

Represented because as a slain Lamb, his body must be broken or pierced in some way, and his blood must flow, the blood being represented by wine, his body being represented by unleavened bread. So let us continue throughout this festival, realizing our great destiny and our great calling. Again, as those final words in Revelation 22 that we read today, and his servants shall serve him. And we're getting closer to that each and every day.

Let's continue throughout this festival every time that we eat a piece of unleavened bread to remember that this is a gift. Our lives are a gift. Our future is a gift from none other than Jesus Christ, himself, the bread of life. Have a wonderful Holy Day season.