The Day of New Beginnings

An Unleavened Work

 

Ex. 12:
15  ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16  ‘On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.
17  ‘You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent 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  ‘Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.
20  ‘You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’"
 
Much has been written concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Usually it is connected in some way to purity. Leaven signifies the flesh nature, thus unleavened would signify that which is devoid of human input. While the application of purity is certainly valid, I would like to take the interpretation of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in a different direction. Verse 17 holds the key: 
 
“You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.”
 
Throughout the Scriptures the Passover is associated with God’s exaltation and glorification among the nations. 
 
Ex 7:17  ‘Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.
 
Ex 8:10  Then he said, "Tomorrow." So he said, "May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.
 
Ex 14:4  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
 
The Lord was glorified through the judgments He executed on Egypt. His mighty works were accomplished without any help from the children of Israel. Thus, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was established. The Feast was to signify a work of God devoid of any human input.
 
Ex. 13:
3  Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the LORD brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
4  "On this day in the month of Abib, you are about to go forth.
5  "It shall be when the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall observe this rite in this month.
6  "For 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 throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.
8  "You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
9  "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
10  "Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.
 
Notice especially verse eight. Moses explains to Israel why they are to eat unleavened bread for seven days and to keep it as an ordinance forever. “You shall tell your son on that day, saying, “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.” The feast was instituted to remind the sons of Israel of God’s compassion and how He delivered them with a powerful hand without any input on their part. 
 
Verse three says, “"Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery…” There is deliverance out of the Egypt of our flesh nature we have yet to experience. Egypt was called a house of slavery and that’s just what our old nature is. That which Christ provided for us in provision must be experienced. The release not just from sin, but the sin nature, is an unleavened work that will be accomplished in us through His commitment to His Word. 
 
Rom. 8:
19  For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
20  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
21  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22  For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
23  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
24  For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
25  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
 
There is an anticipation of hope God creates in us, and that hope will not disappoint (Rom.5:3-5). It’s the groaning within ourselves, just as it was the groaning of the sons of Israel in Egypt, that motivates God to fulfill His Word. 


Ex. 6:
5  "And furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.
6  "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
7  ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8  ‘And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.’"
 
There is an amazing parallel between these passages in Exodus and the ones in Romans 8. Each speaks of a groaning because of bondage and each speaks of a fulfillment of God’s provision. One provision was fulfilled in the natural realm, the other is fulfilled spiritually in us. 
 
 The New Testament equivalent of this revelation can be found in Eph. 2:
 
8  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
 
Is there a groaning in your heart? Is there a hungering and thirsting after righteousness because of the Holy Spirit’s exposure of the corruption of your flesh nature? If so, encouragement can be taken from Mat. 5:4: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” There is nothing we can do to produce the fulfillment of Romans 8 in our lives. But we can look to God, the author and finisher of our faith, with an expectation of the Feast of Unleavened Bread being fulfilled in us. We are to be works of His grace, and because of that, we can anticipate a revelation of His grace beyond what we have known.
 
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil.1:6).”