L.I.F.E.  LESSONS

Volume 3

"Celebrate L.I.F.E."

Unit I

"Feasts"

Unit  Introduction

As I begin to write this volume of L.I.F.E. Lessons, I am recovering from the activities of the Christmas holiday season.  So the subject of "feasts" is fresh on my mind.  With the delicious goodies prepared by church members, the unbelievable meals and desserts spread before both our families, and the gifts of hams and turkeys we received, there has been no way I could avoid a vivid picture of the subject of this unit!

Enjoying the bounty of the earth and livestock was also a part of Biblical celebrations.  However, according to Jewish tradition, each part of the feasts of the Israelites had specific meanings.  God gave detailed instructions to Moses concerning His designated feasts.  Those instructions are recorded in Leviticus 23.

"1.  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2.  "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ?The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts." Leviticus 23:1-2 (NKJV)

Even after the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the first converts to Christianity continued the rich tradition of symbolically remembering important events in Jewish history by observing special feasts.  But the early church didn't observe the feasts out of an obligation to the law.  They did so because of the sheer joy they experienced in remembering God's faithfulness!  Every feast pointed out the goodness of God and reminded them of the ultimate fulfillment of what had been God's purpose since the formation of the Israelite nation.  God's plan was always about redemption through His Messiah, Jesus, and the feasts reminded them of that awesome purpose.

As we study the Biblical feasts and holidays together, remember that the years that have passed since the institution of these traditions have taken their toll on the specific details of the feasts.  Mankind's attempts to date certain Christian holidays according to our conveniences have watered down the significance of the times and seasons of the observances.  But as you will see, we have great reason to celebrate, because God's original directions for these feasts prove that our deliverance, forgiveness, and abundant life through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has always been God's heart's desire.  From the beginning of our spiritual heritage in the birth of the nation of Israel, God has always wanted us to celebrate LIFE!

Unit I - Lesson Three

"Covered By Christ"

The Feast

Pesach and Hag HaMatzah

 The Jewish celebrations of Pesach and Hag HaMatzah are better known to us as Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

"5.  On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.  6.  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread."  Leviticus 23:5-6 (NKJV)

Of all the traditional Jewish observances, Passover and the seven days that follow it are by far the most elaborate.  And for New Covenant believers, these two observances have incredible significance that give us reason to celebrate.

The Destruction

In order to fully understand the reason for the Passover traditions, we must look back into the history of the nation of Israel.  In fact, we must go all the way back to Abraham who was enjoying a life of comfort in the land of Ur when God called him to leave it all and travel to a land He promised to provide.  They arrived in Canaan with the promise of future blessings, but when they first settled there, life was hard.  They had great faith that God would give them all that He had promised, but the time had not yet come for those promises to be fulfilled.

In God's divine providence, a famine drove Abraham's grandson, Jacob, from Canaan so that his family could have food in Egypt.  Because of the trust the Pharaoh placed in Jacob's son, Joseph, they were given the land of Goshen as their home.  God blessed them there with quiet, calm, and fruitful lives and the Hebrew nation that descended from Abraham through Jacob, grew miraculously.  They were accepted as full citizens for centuries.

But suddenly, tragedy struck. 

"8.  Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  9.  And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;  10.  come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land."  Exodus 1:8-10 (NKJV)

When a new king came into power, he did not remember the Hebrew's ancestor, Joseph, that the previous rulers had treated with respect and honor.  Instead he feared the strength of the rapidly multiplying race of Hebrews and plotted a way to thwart their growth.  He appointed taskmasters over them and subjected them to backbreaking duties with no compensation.  They became slaves, owned by their ruler.  They no longer had the rights and privileges of citizenship.  They had no value to the government and if they broke down from the demands of their labors, they were simply left to die.  There were many more Hebrews available to take their place. 

But the methods of the new Pharaoh were not successful.  The Hebrews continued to grow in number, which infuriated the ruler even more.  He took a drastic step that brought the Hebrew nation to their knees.  The Pharaoh issued an order for all Hebrew male babies to be murdered so that the nation would eventually become extinct.  Finally, Israel realized that they needed to be delivered.  When life was comfortable they had no desire to return to God's plan for them as a nation.  But now they were ready for His intervention and they remembered the covenant He had made with their forefathers.

In order for God to redeem them from their bondage, they had to reach a point where they realized that they were in bondage.  When their bondage in Egypt didn't cost them anything, they were satisfied to continue living in it.   But when it began to cost the things that were most precious to them, they understood that God's freedom was their only hope.

Already, before we are even very deep into our study of the Passover, we can already see the parallel that this celebration has for us.  In order for us to call out to God for deliverance, we must first realize that we need to be delivered.  We must admit that we are in bondage to a life of sin and bound for complete destruction.  We must reach a point where we can clearly see the futility and pain of our future without God's freedom in Christ.

The Deliverance

God chose a man to act as His deliverer on earth.  By another act of the divine providence of God, Moses had been born a Hebrew, but raised in the Pharaoh's palace as an Egyptian.  He was the perfect leader to take the Israelites out of bondage.  Moses confronted Pharaoh, but the ruler's heart grew harder and harder toward the Israelites.  God then performed incredible miracles in the form of plagues through Moses.  Still the Pharaoh refused to soften.

The final plague God promised would be horrible for the Egyptians.  The last plague would involve the death of the first born in every home in Egypt.  The Israelites were not automatically exempt from this plague.   God included everyone in His death sentence.  But as God always does when He promised His judgment, He provided a way of escape.  He will always be just, but He will always be merciful.

"3.  Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ?On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household?..5.  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year?.6.  Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.  Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.  7.  And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it.  8.  Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.  ?12.  For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment:  I am the Lord.  13.  Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.  And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."  Exodus 12:3, 5a, 6-8, 12-13 (NKJV)

In the first lesson of this volume, we studied Yom Kippur and learned that the word "kippur? is rooted in other words that convey God's atonement for and His covering of our sin with the blood of the substitutionary sacrifice.  In this event in the early history of the nation of Israel, God began painting that picture before they even reached their dwelling place in the Promised Land.  He has always provided a way of escape when He declared His coming judgment.

I once attended a college football game in a large stadium.  My uncle had purchased season passes for this stadium and they were in the "Gold Seat? section which was covered by a large upper deck.  During the game, a thunderstorm blew through town and I could see spectators below me and above me getting drenched from the torrential downpours that occurred.  But that didn't happen in my section.  The rain was falling above the Gold Seat section just as hard as it was over the rest of the stadium, but the people in my section didn't get wet because we were protected by a cover.

That's the picture the Passover paints.  God's judgment swept through the land, but if the people spread the blood of the sacrificed lamb over the doorposts of their homes, it served as a protective covering for them.  In fact, the Hebrew word "pesah," which is translated "Passover,? actually means "immunity from penalty" or "a protective exemption."  There was an Egyptian word used in that day that may have been very familiar to the Israelites who had lived in Egypt for most of their lives.  That Egyptian word is "pesh? and it means "to spread wings over something in order to protect it.?  God could not paint a clearer picture for us of what He was going to do with the blood of the ultimate sacrificial lamb. 

The Details

The details of the annual observances of the Passover were based on the steps of the actual events that took place on the night the Israelites were literally driven out of Egypt by their oppressors, carrying with them most of the wealth of Egypt.  The Pharaoh and the Egyptians were so devastated by the tragedy of death that struck every home, that they couldn't get the Hebrew nation out of their midst fast enough.

The Israelites followed the specific instructions God gave them for the night of the original Passover. 

1.  The lamb was to be chosen out of the flock.  It was to be a one year old male with no spot or blemish.  This was to be the best of the best and he would be sacrificed in the prime of his life.  The family observed the lamb for four days.  They would have fed it, played with it, and watched it come to feel at home with them.  On the night of the Passover, they would have to kill it and watch its life-blood drain from its body.  They would live with it and then be forced to watch it die.  They were then to roast the lamb and eat it.  God has always provided for the continuance of life through the consumption of something that though dead, had once been alive. 

2.  They were to eat bitter herbs along with the sacrificed lamb.  Bitterness is symbolic of mourning in the Bible.  Although their deliverance was wonderful, there was a terrible sacrifice that had to take place to accomplish it.  The precious animal was the bitter price and the screams of the Egyptian parents who lost their children were bitter reminders of the terrors of God's judgment that redeems some, but penalizes others who do not trust Him.

3.  The Passover meal also included unleavened bread.  With the instructions recorded in Leviticus 23, the celebration observed in remembrance of the original Passover event, would be followed by seven more days called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, during which time no leaven can be eaten.  The obvious point of the unleavened bread was that there was no use in adding leavening since the Hebrews would have to leave in such a hurry that they wouldn't be able to wait for the bread to rise anyway.  But an even more symbolic lesson is that in the Bible, leavening is always related to sin.  The Hebrew word "matzo? means "sweet, without sourness.?  Eating unleavened bread symbolized that with the eating of the sacrificed lamb, sin was put away.  It portrayed the sweetness of a life without sin.   It was a foreshadowing picture of what Jesus, the true Lamb of God, would do. 

4.  The blood of the sacrificial lamb was then spread over the doorpost of the homes in such a way that it made the sign of a cross, touching the top and both sides of the door.  This was a visible display that the inhabitants of that home believed in Jehovah God and it set those homes apart from other homes in Egypt.  In so doing, the blood on the doorposts provided the "covering protection? that kept their homes from the tragedy that would befall homes that did not carry the sign of the bloody cross.

The Fulfillment

The symbolism of the Passover celebration is the most obvious of all the Hebrew feasts and festivals.  Each part of the Passover celebration contains rich significance for New Covenant believers.

1.  Jesus met all of the requirements for the Passover lamb.  He was a male.  He was without spot or blemish.  He had never sinned and in fact had no sin nature since he had no earthly father.  And he was sacrificed in the prime of his life. 

"18.  ?you were not redeemed with corruptible things?19.  but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."  I Peter 1:18b, 19 (NKJV)

2.  He walked among the inhabitants of earth and they grew accustomed to His presence.  Then the very people that had lived with Him and enjoyed Him had to watch Him die.  But because of His death, we can partake of His life. 

"53.  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  54.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  55.  For my flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  56.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  57.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  John 6:53-57 (NKJV)

"26.  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Matthew 26:26 (NKJV)

Jesus taught illustrative lessons about the way His disciples are to live.  We are to "eat of Him? and enter His eternal life.   The account of The Lord's Supper in Matthew 26 is the recording of the night Jesus led His disciples in a Passover celebration just before His own death.  During it, He invited them to partake of His life.  What does that mean to us?  He is still inviting us to partake of His life.  He dispenses His life to us.  These seem to be hard word pictures to accept.  It seems strange to think about eating flesh and drinking blood.  But when Jesus says it, He paints a beautiful picture.  We can "eat of Him?, take Him into our lives, and His life then becomes the sustenance by which we can live.

3.  The bitter herbs of the Passover meal represent the fact that we can only have life because Christ suffered death on our behalf. 

"24.  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."  John 12:24 (NKJV)

A kernel of wheat sown into the ground produces a rich harvest.  But if it had never died, it would have remained a single grain without producing anything.  In the same way, the death of Jesus has resulted in a rich harvest of children of God.  We can only have life because He chose to willingly die in our place.  The substitutionary death of the Passover lamb made it possible for the children of Israel to live freely.  The substiutionary death of Jesus makes is possible for us to live freely for eternity.

4.  The symbolism of the unleavened bread is perhaps the most exciting significance for New Covenant believers.  In the days in which the original Passover occurred, housewives always pulled a chunk of dough from a loaf of bread before baking it.  Those chunks were set aside, left raw, and then later mixed into the next batch of flour and water to create a new loaf.  These aged leftover chunks were the leavening that caused the newly mixed dough to rise.  Brides were given "starters? from the loaves of other housewives so that they could bake bread for their household.  By this practice, each loaf of bread was theoretically organically linked to one original loaf of bread from which all others were derived.

When God gave the instruction to bake bread without leaven, He was doing more than just instructing them to make bread that wouldn't rise.  He was instructing them in how to "break the cycle? of the leavening.  Since leaven is a symbol of sin in the Bible, unleavened bread is a symbol of a life without indwelling sin (a sin nature).  The world's first loaf of bread did not contain leaven and the world's first man was created without a sin nature.  But since his original sin, every descendant that followed Adam inherited his sin nature, just as new loaves of bread inherited the leaven of the original loaf.  With the symbolism of the unleavened bread, God was foreshadowing a day when it would be possible to begin again without the "leaven? (the sin nature) of the past.  His goal is to transform us back to the condition of Adam before his sin.  The newly created loaf, without the leaven that connected it to previous leavened loaves, was a beautiful picture of how God would accomplish that transformation.  It would be a part of partaking of Jesus, the ultimate sacrificial Lamb.

"6.  Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?  7.  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."  I Corinthians 5:6b-7 (NKJV)

This should cause you to shout!!!  God's ultimate plan for us was not just to give us a new nature to exist along with our old sinful nature.  It was not enough to just give us a new nature if the old nature (leavening) was left in us, because just a little sin infiltrates the entire life as a small amount of leavening effects the entire loaf of bread.  The sin nature had to be eliminated and removed so that we could be completely new creations, free of sin's power.  He paints that picture in the symbolism of the unleavened bread.  The Passover meal (The Lord's Supper) recorded in Matthew 26 took place on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:17).  By declaring Himself as "The Bread of Life" (John 6:35) and then inviting the disciples to partake of His body, He was symbolizing the way in which they could become a new "lump" without leaven.  He was showing them the path to becoming a new creation. 

In the lesson of the Lord's Supper, God also showed us the way to become a new creation.  If we have received Christ as our Savior, then He has already accomplished that transformation.  He has purged out the sin nature that once held us in bondage and transformed us into a "new lump? that does not contain the old sin nature.  We are new creatures without a hint of the old leavening.  That transformation occurs at the moment we receive Christ.  That was symbolized in the eating of the unleavened bread at the same time the sacrificial lamb was eaten. 

"6.  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."  Romans 6:6 (NKJV)

5.  And if you weren't ready to celebrate before now, you won't be able to stop yourself after this point.  The blood of Christ, spread over the doorposts of our lives, covers us and protects us from the penalty of death that we should receive.  We also carry the sign of the cross on our lives.  Jesus has become the "Peseh?, the Passover, the immunity from penalty for us.  His blood has become our "kapporet", our protective covering of atonement.

"7.  Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."  Romans 4:7 (NKJV)

"27.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."  Galatians 3:27 (NKJV)

In Christ, we are safe.  In Christ, we are forgiven forever.  In Christ, we are free.  In Christ, we are eternally and abundantly alive!  Let's close this lesson with the words of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus.

"29. John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  John 1:29 (NKJV)

Deeper Truths Contained  In This  L.I.F.E. Lesson

1.  In order for us to call out to God for deliverance, we must first realize that we are need of it.

2.  When God declares His coming judgment, He always provides a way of escape.

3.  Jesus fulfilled all the requirements for the perfect sacrificial Lamb, and through His death we can have abundant, eternal life.

4.  When we partake of Jesus as we receive Him for salvation, we are made into new creations, without the sin nature that condemned us and bound us to a life of sin.

5.  The blood of Christ covers us and protects us from any penalty for our sins.  Christ has become the Passover for New Covenant believers.