As we finish the study of the Passover, it’s obvious that the original Passover’s significance in foreshadowing our salvation is multidimensional. The Lamb is Jesus. The leaven is sin. The bondage is sin’s enslavement. The haste of the exodus is the urgency of escaping sin. The deliverance is redemption and all of this is remembered in our weekly memorial, the supper of the unleavened bread and fruit of the vine instituted by Christ in Matthew 26. As we eat the bread which contains no leaven, we examine our lives to be sure there is no leaven of sin present in them (I Corinthians 11:28).
First, let me share the requested list of scriptures containing the word leaven. Those with a positive connotation are only four. They are Leviticus 23:17; Amos 4:5; Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:31. The verses with a negative connotation are as follows:
Exodus 12:15,19
Exodus 13:7
Exodus34:25
Leviticus 2:11
Leviticus 6:17
Leviticus 10,12
Matthew 16:6,11,12
Mark 8:15
Luke 12:11
I Corinthians 5:6-8
Galatians 5:9
In our study, we’ve come to the realization that the absence of leaven in the bread of the Passover symbolizes both the absence of sin in the Bread of Life (John 6:33) and, also, the sin we acknowledge and cast from our spiritual houses as we examine ourselves each Lord’s Day. This is both sobering and motivating. I hope it will make the supper even more precious and useful to your spiritual well-being. After all, if we do not take this self-examination seriously, we eat and drink damnation to ourselves and we leave the feast sicker, spiritually, than we were when we arrived to eat the supper (I Corinthians 11:27-30).
As we leave November’s study and begin a new one, I hope you can take the time to listen to this lesson about the Passover lamb. It will make you thankful for the precious unspotted Lamb that rescues the souls of men. Here’s the link:
http://www.westhuntsville.org/Audio/Uploaded/Sunday_am_032110.mp3