Matzah is the culinary focus of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and we eat it every day for seven days. That’s the physical reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. However, if we aren’t careful, we can miss the spiritual reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Just as matzah’s simple mixture of flour and water (with no salt, leavening or seasonings added) is a “back to basics” food, on a spiritual level, God is calling us to get back to the basics of sincerity and truth in our spiritual life, too. If we miss out on sincerity and truth, all we get out of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is constipation.
Category: Appointments With God
We know that Yeshua loves us and we love Yeshua. Sometimes God the Father is left out of the loop of affection. We forget the fact that everything Yeshua ever did was because of His Father. We don’t think about the fact that God loves us even more. Yeshua did nothing that was not approved by the Father. God has set aside this time as a time of protection and sanctification. He gives us His sincerity and His truth. We don’t become unleavened because of us but because of Him.
Richard also presents his views on the role of Yeshua in Creation and the identity of the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians think of Yeshua’s sacrifice as a personal sacrifice, a sacrifice by one Man Who died for us as individuals. His dying thoughts were about the people He was coming to die for. His dying thoughts were about what may happen to all the people at the Last Day and how many of them will not be prepared to face the wrath of God.
We are approaching a time when our minds should be centered on the words and deeds of the Messiah. We are called upon to examine our lives in preparation for the Passover. Are we living the way the Lord want us to live? In most Passover celebrations, we ignore or give brief mention to Yeshua’s betrayal at the hands of Judas Iscariot, one of His own Apostles. The bible tells us that Yeshua was glorified by this act, yet many in the Christian church heap lots of condemnation on Judas for what he did.
Those of us in the Messianic community have excitedly embraced the Passover and “gone back to our roots” as a commemoration of the Exodus. However, many Messianics forget that Yeshua did ask us to add something new to the celebration in commemoration of Him: foot washing. Richard explains why Yeshua insituted this ceremony and how it turned the disciples hearts away from themselves and closer to Him.
Many passages in the Bible were written with a chiastic structure, which is like rhyming patterns in poetry but pairing similar information or concepts instead. That’s one reason why some passages seem to be highly repetitive. The point of chiastic structures is to point the reader to a key concept. Daniel explains that the Book of Esther is one large chiastic structure, focusing on a messianic prophecy in the middle.
The 23rd chapter of Leviticus is a relatively obvious passage. The explanations are simple and self-explanatory, except for questions about the biblical timing of Firstfruits and Pentecost.
The 24th chapter is a bit unusual and not so simple to decipher. When you read the book of Leviticus and you find the phrase “the LORD spoke to…” pay attention to whom is supposed to hear the message. There were some messages for the sons of Aaron but some messages were for the people of Israel. Each group had their own duties and responsibilities, and it’s God Himself Who decides.