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Looking at the celebration of Passover today. The Lord commanded the children of Israel to celebrate the Passover as a memorial. This is such a beautiful picture of salvation: the searching and removal of leaven (sin) from every crack and crevice of the home, (pictures self examination and repentance of sin) prior to the sacrifice of the lamb whose blood would cover their sins.
In preparation, they were to remove every speck of leaven (a picture of sin) from their homes. Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. On the night of the fourteenth of Nissan, the night before the Passover seder, an intentional, ritual search of the house is performed. To do this, these items are needed: a candle, a feather (or toothbrush), a wooden spoon, and a piece of cloth (or a small paper bag). It is customary to place items of chametz (something that doesn’t make crumbs) in ten different places in the house, so that the searcher will actually find something. A child can be given the task of hiding the chametz. All the lights in the house are turned off, and the candle is lit. Since it is a mitzvah to remove the leaven, it is begun with a blessing: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the removal of leaven.” Every corner of the house is searched by candlelight. When chametz is found, it is swept onto the spoon with the feather, and then put in the cloth or bag. After all of the chametz has been found, this declaration is made: “All manner of leaven that is in my possession, that which I have not seen, and that which I have not removed, shall hereby be annulled, and accounted as the dust of the earth.” The next morning, chametz may no longer be eaten. The cloth bag of chametz, along with the feather and the spoon are burned outside. Before burning, this declaration is made: “All manner of leaven that is in my possession, that which I have seen and that which I have not seen, that which I have removed, and that which I have not removed, shall hereby be annulled and accounted as the dust of the earth.”-Passoverleavensederunleavened breadchametzkosher for Passover Now, did the removing of leaven cover their sins? No, it was the blood of the lamb that God looked at, and yet he still commanded them to remove the leaven before the blood was applied. Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. 22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two-side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. 24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. It is the same today. God still commands us to repent of our sins and rebellion toward him and to put our faith in Christ, the crucified lamb of God.
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Thinking recently about the law as a schoolmaster and these verses from Hebrews came to mind:
Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Hebrews 10:10 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Those sacrifices demanded by the law were in themselves, a continual reminder of sin. This was no accident or mistake on God’s part, but God’s way of showing us our need for a Savior. Through his law God gives us every building block we need to come to faith in Christ (like a good schoolmaster would). What is it that shows each and every one of us our need for a Savior? The knowledge that we have sinned and that even when we try our best, we cannot keep God’s law perfectly or atone for our own sin. This is exactly the lesson pictured by the continual sacrifices of the law. The law pictures sin/separation, repentance, sacrifice/covering of sin, repeat: sin/separation, repentance, sacrifice/covering of sin… It is a continual reminder of our sin and separation from God, as well as the cost of sin: a blood sacrifice-a life for a life. -The law teaches us what sin is- Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. -The law is a continual reminder of our separation from God and need for reconciliation -The repetitive nature of the sacrifices was a lesson of not only the cost of sin, but also inability to atone for our own sin. -Our repeated failure to keep the law teaches us our inability to conquer our own sin and thus our need for a Savior -The insufficiency of the animal sacrifices offered (as a temporary covering of sins) shows us our need for a perfect sinless sacrifice. What an amazing lesson to bring us to faith in Christ. God truly knows best how to teach us our need for a Savior. Sadly, many today have tossed aside the use of the law as unnecessary in Evangelism of adults and children. Often our lessons begin instead with the death burial and resurrection of Christ- the answer to sin’s problem, rather than teaching as God does, the problem of sin first. Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Only they that know their sinful condition and their need for a Savior can truly embrace the glorious gospel of Christ, how that he suffered and died, shedding his own precious blood to pay, once for all the debt of sin we owed, was buried, and how he rose again. 1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Deuteronomy 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. |
i invite your sincere questions and comments, and will do my best to answer according to God's word. While i do not claim to be without error; I will try to be as true to His word as I know.Sandra Platt
is a Fundamental, Bible Believing Christian with a passion for His word and a desire to earnestly contend for the faith. Archives
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