Exodus 12:1-28
For starters, let me do some background and set up for this text in Exodus 12. Israel had been trapped in slavery for many years and God has heard the cries of His people. God has heard the Israelites and He has answered their prayers by sending Moses to drop a rhyme on Pharaoh: "Let my people go..."
Of course, ole Pharaoh wasn't feeling that and chose not to listen. So, God sent 10 terrible plagues on Egypt to help persuade Pharaoh of what might be in his best interest...
This text in Exodus 12 breaks down the beginning of the first and most important festival in the history of the Jewish people. It was called: Passover.
From back in the day all the way forward to today, every year, Jewish God-fearing families have participated in the ritual of the Passover meal as closely as possible.
The passover meal celebrates the love of their God who freed their ancestors from slavery AND who passed over their homes because they obeyed Him by putting the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the door frames of their homes.
However, Passover was only the feast in a week-long festival called: "The Feast of Unleavened Bread."
There are certain things which do not belong in our bodies. There are certain things which do not belong in our minds. And, there are certain things which do not belong in our homes. I've been addressing, over the last few weeks of this sermon series, about having God-centered homes. We've been specifically looking at how to protect our homes from the influence of the lost world around us....things which do not have a place in a God-centered home.
By the way, THAT is precisely what the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" was designed to teach. The Passover symbolized the freedom God wanted for His people. That 1-day feast was followed by 6 more days which focused on the fact that God's kind of freedom required His people to remove things from their lives and homes.
During the "Feast of Unleavened Bread", the Israelites, God's people, were instructed not only NOT to each unleavened bread that week, BUT they were NOT to allow ANYTHING which had ANY yeast in it in their mouth OR homes. Anyone who did so, was to be shunned or ostracized. Yeast was used by God to represent sin.
When Israel offered bread to God along with burnt offerings, that bread was to have NO yeast in it.
This set-up is important to understand God's lesson behind it. Tune in Wednesday as I continue this message about being the Gatekeepers of our homes.
This entry is taken from my notes for the sermon: "Gatekeepers". Click the link to listen to the entire sermon. This is the fourth sermon in a series. The entire sermon series audio is available here:
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