Prepared on the inside: Why our relationship with God matters more than our supplies (Exodus 12; Luke 14)

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One of the central terms in this season is חמץ chametz, usually translated “leaven” or “leavened product.” During the Days of Unleavened Bread, Israel removes chametz from the house and eats מצה matzah, unleavened bread, for seven days (Exodus 12–13; Deuteronomy 16).

The basic instruction is clear:

“For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.”

Exodus 12:15 NASB 1995

This command implies more than simple housecleaning. To obey, a person must know what chametz is and be able to distinguish it from matzah. That physical distinction reveals a deeper spiritual one. In the same way, believers must distinguish (Deuteronomy 13; 18; 1Corinthians 5):

• Good teaching from bad teaching
• True prophets from false prophets
• The true God from impostors

Without that standard, we can drift from one “guru” to another, relying only on personal agreement — I like this one, not that one — instead of testing what they hear against the Word of God.

Thus, chametz vs. matzah becomes a living parable of discernment. The act of removing chametz before Passover trains hearts to separate pure teaching from corrupt “leaven,” echoing Yeshua’s warning about “the leaven of the Pharisees” (Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15).

Knowing the true God: Testing prophets and teachings

Scripture does not simply say, “If a prophet’s word comes true, accept him” (Deuteronomy 18). It adds a crucial second test:

• If that prophet or dreamer leads people after another god, he fails the test, regardless of signs or fulfilled predictions (Deuteronomy 13:1–5).

For that test to work, people must actually know who the true God is, the God of Israel. Otherwise, they will follow any persuasive voice that sounds spiritual or miraculous.

YouTube is full of useful and harmful teachings. On any given topic, there may be mutually contradictory explanations. Without a standard, everything dissolves into a big gray mess. Discernment, then, means:

• Comparing every word to the revealed character and instructions of God
• Testing “the spirits” (1John 4:1) rather than drifting from teacher to teacher
• Recognizing that not all spiritual-sounding messages are from the God of Israel

This is part of being spiritually “unleavened” (1Corinthians 5:6–8).

Tahor and tamei: Fit and unfit to approach the Presence

In Leviticus, טהור tahor and טמא tamei is often translated “clean” and “unclean.” But these terms could be better translated this way:

• What is fit to approach God’s presence
• What is not fit to approach His presence

These categories are not random. They train Israel to recognize the difference between common and set-apart (holy), between everyday spaces and those set apart for use.

Just as there is a distinction between chametz and matzah, there is a distinction between:

• What is suitable for being near God’s presence.
• What is not suitable.

Learning to make those distinctions is part of being prepared. It shapes how people live, where they go, and what they do, especially when they are drawing near to the Holy One.

The body’s feedback sensors as evidence of the Designer

To illustrate how preparation and discernment reflect God’s design, we can look to the human body and everyday work.

The body carries built-in sensors and feedback systems:

• Hunger signals a need for food.
• Discomfort or pain warns of overload or harm.
• The blink reflex resists a finger or object entering the eye.

These mechanisms function as internal feedback devices, much like:

• A builder’s tape measure, level, and square
• A factory’s control systems and sensors
• A craftsman’s tools for checking alignment and spacing

In a factory or workshop, nobody believes things just randomly happen into order. Tools and measurements establish whether something is straight, level, or properly spaced. The same logic applies to creation. The intricate feedback systems in the body and the ordered design in nature point toward a Creator who plans, prepares, and sets standards.

In this light, the call to distinguish between clean and unclean, chametz and matzah, holy and common, aligns with how the Creator made the world. There is a way things are meant to go — and a way they are not.

Examples of preparation in Scripture: Ants, towers and kings

Several biblical passages that highlight preparation, wisdom, and “counting the cost.”

First, the book of Proverbs points to the ant:

Go to the ant, O sluggard,
Observe her ways and be wise,
Which, having no chief, officer or ruler,
Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.

Proverbs 6:6–8 NASB 1995

The ant prepares diligently in the right season. By contrast, the “sluggard” waits, drifts, and fails to act. This image underscores the wisdom of recognizing seasons and responding appropriately, rather than living passively.

Yeshua in Luke 14:28–33 speaks of:

• A man who wants to build a tower but first must calculate if he can finish
• A king who considers whether his army of ten thousand can meet an enemy with twenty thousand, or must instead seek terms of peace

Yeshua concludes:

“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

Luke 14:33 NASB 1995

At first glance, this sounds like a non-sequitur. The examples seem to call for careful calculation and resource management, yet the conclusion is total surrender. Here’s a suggestion for resolving this tension:

• What if the real “cost” is far higher than anyone can accurately calculate?
• What if one’s own resources, strength, and foresight are simply not enough?

Recent history and personal experience show that estimates for the cost of a construction project can be upended by:

• Inflation
• Supply chain breakdowns
• Hostile public opinion and opposition
• Unexpected setbacks

Many ambitious projects — unfinished hotels, abandoned housing developments — testify to miscalculated cost and ignored realities. Similarly, in history, smaller forces sometimes defeat much larger ones because of better leadership, not numbers.

In spiritual terms, the key question becomes:

• Who is truly leading the project of a person’s life?

Discipleship in Yeshua requires acknowledging that only His leadership can carry that “project” through to completion. Giving up “all possessions” is about recognizing that personal strength, wealth, or planning cannot substitute for God’s guidance and power.

Consecration before Sinai and Jericho

Two major biblical events demonstrate preparation and consecration preceding a dramatic work of God: Sinai and Jericho.

At Sinai

In Exodus 19:10–15, Israel approaches Mount Sinai after the Exodus. God commands Moshe (Moses):

• Consecrate the people today and tomorrow
• Have them wash their garments
• Be ready on the third day, when Adonai will descend on the mountain
• Set bounds around the mountain and warn the people not to go up or touch it
• Recognize that the mountain has become holy because of God’s presence

The people must:

• Treat this time and place as different from every other day
• Restrain curiosity and impulse — no “going up to see what’s happening”
• Keep themselves and their animals under control

This scene parallels the original Passover night, when Israel had to remain inside their homes, with blood on the doorposts, while the destroyer passed over (Exodus 12). In both cases, God’s instructions mark a sharp line between:

• Life and death
• Protection and judgment
• Obedience and presumption

Being “prepared” here means being set apart (קדוש kadosh or קדש kadash) according to God’s word, not personal intuition.

At Jericho

Similarly, before Israel confronts Jericho, Joshua says:

“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

Joshua 3:5 NASB 1995

The battle plan is unlike any other siege:

• The people walk around the city once a day in silence
• On the seventh day, they circle it seven times
• Then they shout, and God brings the walls down (Joshua 6)

Their role is not to engineer the outcome, but to prepare inwardly and obey outwardly. God’s presence and power accomplish the victory. Once again, preparation is less about stockpiling resources and more about consecration and trust.

Mary and Martha: Overprepared or underfocused?

To balance the emphasis on preparation, let’s look at the familiar story of Martha (מרתה Marta) and Mary (מרים Miryam) in Luke 10:38–42.

As Yeshua visits their home:

• Martha busies herself with “many preparations” and serving
• Mary sits at Yeshua’s feet, listening to His word
• Martha appeals to Yeshua to rebuke Mary and make her help

Yeshua answers:

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:41–42 NASB 1995

Interpreters through history — from John Chrysostom to Augustine and Basil the Great — have seen in Miryam’s posture:

• Diligence and steadfastness in listening
• Humility, like low valleys receiving water
• A picture of choosing what is most important in God’s presence

Not all preparation is unwise. Rather, this account exposes the danger of becoming so absorbed in necessary tasks that one misses “the one thing necessary.” Expectations, especially on women in many cultures, could Miryam’s choice seem almost forbidden, even though Yeshua affirms it.

We see contemporary debates in Israel over those who devote themselves full-time to תורה Torah study versus those who serve in the armed forces. Both preparation for defense and devotion to God matter, yet balance and priorities must be considered. The core question remains:

• Has preparation — even religious preparation — begun to overshadow the presence of the Messiah Himself?

Fences around the Torah: Helpful or harmful?

A prominent idea in Jewish tradition is the building “fences around the Torah” (פרקי אבות 1:1 Pirkei Avot). These fences are extra safeguards, designed to keep people from getting close to violating a command.

This can be praiseworthy. For example:

• In matters of kashrut (dietary laws, Leviticus 11), traditions sometimes extend beyond the written Torah to ensure that people do not even approach a forbidden boundary.
• In some cases, this is like moving the protective boundary the LORD called for around Mount Sinai farther back, to prevent accidental trespass (Exodus 19).

However, Yeshua highlighted a danger in enforcing fences in Mark 7:

• When washing hands before eating (extrapolated from the Torah command for priests to wash their hands before entering the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle) became a widespread tradition, some treated it as if it were a divine command for everyone, not just priests.
• Yeshua’s disciples did not always follow this traditional washing, which prompted criticism.
• Yeshua replied that teaching human traditions as if they were God’s commandments violates the principle of not adding to or subtracting from God’s word (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Scripture warns against moving boundary stones (Deuteronomy 19:14), both literally and figuratively. Claiming “Thus says the LORD” where He has not spoken is a serious overreach (like moving Heavens boundary stones), even when the underlying practice seems wise or pious.

Therefore, the balance looks like this:

• Honor Torah and its מצוות mitzvot (commandments) as God’s revealed boundaries.
• Recognize and even appreciate helpful traditions as traditions, not as equal to Torah.
• Avoid judging others as disobedient to God when they may only be differing on human fences, not divine commands.

This itself is an act of discernment, another way of separating “unleavened” truth from the “leaven” of elevating human rules to divine status.

Unleavened days as a fast: Prepared on the inside

The Days of Unleavened Bread are a kind of fast:

• Not a fast from all food, but from chametz — foods that are leavened.
• This physical abstaining pictures a refusal to “take in” certain influences, teachings, or attitudes.

The narrative of the Exodus clarifies the journey:

1. God brings Israel out of Egypt, the house of bondage.
2. God leads them to the mountain, to meet the One who redeemed them.
3. From the mountain, God leads them toward the land, the place He designates as home.

So the goal is not merely self-denial or self-control. The goal is movement from bondage to true home, guided by the Lord. Egypt is no longer home. The wilderness is not the final destination. The journey aims for the land of freedom and promise.

In real life, this journey involves both expected and unexpected events. Fires, disasters, or sudden loss can destroy carefully stored supplies and plans. Some people collapse when they lose everything; others, though grieving, still stand because their inner preparation is rooted in relationship with God, not possessions.

The most important preparation is not material but relational. Whether someone has a well-stocked “go bag” or nothing left, if that person is “prepared on the inside,” walking with Yeshua, that person remains the same person before God.

Here, then, are ways to see the meaning of this season:

• Chametz vs. matzah trains discernment.
• Clean vs. unclean (tahor vs. tamei) teaches what is fit to approach God.
• Sinai and Jericho show the need for consecration and obedience.
• Towers, kings, and barns warn about miscalculated cost and misplaced security.
• Mary and Martha reveal the priority of Yeshua’s presence over even good service.
• Fences around the Torah caution against confusing human tradition with God’s voice.

Heaven calls us to truly prepared, not merely outwardly organized but inwardly aligned with the God of Israel through Messiah Yeshua. Thus we’re ready for whatever He brings and wherever He leads.