Addressing Celebration of Deliverance

 

Addressing Celebration of Deliverance

Exodus 23: ¹⁴ “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: ¹⁵ You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); ¹⁶ and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

 

¹⁷ “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

¹⁸ “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My ^[d]sacrifice remain until morning. ¹⁹ The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

 

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GOD continued speaking to Moses. This time HE addressed celebrations.

 

My Observations:

• GOD knew people would forget how HE delivered them out of Egypt so HE instituted celebrating unleavened bread.
• GOD foreshadowed the Pentecost, where JESUS appeared to many people after HIS resurrection, by instituting a feast to remember spring, or new life.
• GOD desired to end the year with a celebration of the best of the harvest.

 

Remembering GOD seems to be very important to HIM. HE knows our sin nature will make us forget what HE does and our relationship with HIM will be viewed as secondary. Unleavened bread is symbolic for no sin. A sinless human could open the scroll. No sin, or no yeast was to be celebrated.

 

The next celebration was symbolic of the resurrection of JESUS. Spring shows new life and GOD made it easy for us to remember HIS SON’s resurrection and appearance to people afterwards.

 

The final celebration was a harvest feast that required the best of the harvest to be brought into the places of worship and sacrificed to GOD and given to people. These harvests were all about food and togetherness while remembering GOD.

 

Stopping work to intentionally remember GOD is a sign of surrender that the people needed to learn. Pharaoh had the people working seven days a week and had created a mindset that rest would cause problems with productivity. This mindset still lingers today as people try to overwork and under trust GOD. Food is needed to sustain life. GOD wanted to show HE is in control of sustaining life.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the celebrations HE instituted?
• How do you intentionally remember GOD?
• Is there an annual celebration that you can follow or institute to remember GOD’s greatness in your life?

A Feast to Remember (Feast of Unleavened Bread)

A Feast to Remember (Feast of Unleavened Bread)

Exodus 13: ³ And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. ⁵ And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. ⁶ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. ⁸ And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ ⁹ It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.

 

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After speaking to GOD, Moses spoke to the people. “Remember this day” was his statement as they were preparing to exit Egypt. Moses reiterated GOD’s promise and provided instructions to stay away from leaven for a week annually. On the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.

 

My Observations:

• Humans forget GOD easily.
• GOD’s deliverance requires remembrance.
• GOD keeps HIS promises, no matter how different our expectations of HIM really are.

 

Imagine listening to Moses speak as everyone was packed up and chased out of Egypt. This speech would fill up even the most discouraged person. Moses had no idea how long it would take to get in the promised land. He was simply being obedient.

 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was supposed to happen annually. I am sure the first year was exciting. But what about the second? How about the nineteenth? What about the thirty ninth celebration without being in the promised land? GOD kept HIS promise while dealing with mindsets.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about what Moses said to the people about the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
• Has GOD promised you something that has not come to fruition?
• Does your expectation of GOD need to be reset because HIS promise for you has not happened yet?

Tenth Plague: Death of Firstborn – Warning Part 3 (Feast of Unleavened Bread)

 

Tenth Plague: Death of Firstborn – Warning Part 3 (Feast of Unleavened Bread)

Exodus 12: ¹⁴ ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁸ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

 

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GOD continues with HIS instructions to Moses to give to the children of Israel. HE gives precise instructions regarding the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread.

 

My Observations:

• GOD instituted the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the Israelites to follow until sin is abolished.
• GOD wanted the people to celebrate the start and finish of this week.
• GOD seems to equate leaven or yeast with false doctrine and the poisonous mindset of religious leaders who wanted followers versus making followers of GOD.

 

Ever since the garden of Edan, GOD was fighting a mindset that there is no need for HIM or no need to place faith in HIM. Even before religious leaders were established, GOD put together an annual feast that would help the leaders recognize that GOD needs to be followed, not man. Unfortunately, religious leaders focused people on activity versus heartfelt belief, causing people to think they could earn GOD.

 

JESUS would later say, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Their doctrine did not point to JESUS as the Messiah; rather, they were focused on building selfish kingdoms, misusing HIS name. For seven days, GOD wanted purity and to focus on HIM with no manipulation from human mindsets.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS institution of the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
• Have you wanted something so badly, that you believed you could manipulate GOD by following a religious leader?
• Can you focus your mindset on GOD as your leader versus your favorite religious or political leader?