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Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1Corinthians 5:7–8 NASB
The original Passover commemorated how HaShem (The Name) judged the false gods of Egypt, including Pharaoh himself, liberating Israel from subjection to slavery and genocide. There is a profound connection here between the Messiah and the Passover offer (lamb/goat), not just in blocking the Heaven-sent destroyer that brought final judgment on the gods of Egypt by wiping out the first-born of the land.
Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) is also closely connected to the liberation of ancient Israel and the “mixed multitude” who had grafted themselves to Israel and left Egypt with them out of the house of bondage into freedom.
Please show me your glory!
The punchline of the Torah reading for Shabbat Pesach (Sabbath during the seven days off Passover; Exodus 33:12–34:26) is not the beautiful Tabernacle or the fancy garments designed for the priests and the High Priest. Rather, it’s that Moses asked to see God’s glory, God’s “heaviness,” what makes Him more real and more substantial than anything on earth.
Moses knew that if God wasn’t with them, they had nowhere to go. He also understood that what united the children of Israel was not the fancy tent, or the fancy uniforms those who worked within the tabernacle wore, but that fact that God traveled with them and lived among them, leading their journey from one place to another.
How to get out of the house of bondage
The Torah reading for Shabbat Pesach is covered in the reading Ki Tisa. The LORD had redeemed Israel from the House of Bondage in stages. He guided them towards the sea and then through the sea, by which he cut off their pursuers. Then He lead them towards the mountain of Sinai to receive His testimony.
For us, this is a pattern or type for our own departure from our house of bondage. We are called to get out of our bondage quickly and to not carry whatever hold us down with us. We are warned that our old life will pursue us, but we need to allow that old life to die and drown in the sea so our old life doesn’t follow us. Once the old man has drowned in the waters of baptism, we are ready to meet our Deliverer and receive His testimony.
During Moshe’s 40 days on Sinai with the LORD, he was receiving God’s words and receiving a glimpse of God’s glory, but the people down below presumed he was gone and not coming back so they sough to relate to the LORD on their own terms, reflecting how the Egyptians culture, they were supposed to leave behind once and for all, interacted with the spirit realm when they built themselves a Golden Calf, and placed at the base of the very mountain where God had appeared to all of them before with fire, thunder and lightning. The children of Israel had a stark choice before them, either enter a relationship with the real deal on top of the Mountain, or settle for the cheap copy made of gold with their own hands at the base of the mountain.
All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.
Exodus 20:18–21 NASB
Imagine how you feel when you meet a celebrity or a beloved mentor in person for the first time? The butterflies in the stomach, the sinking feeling of inferiority, the sense of awe, etc.
We would feel those kind of things even more intensely if we had a personal encounter with the Creator. God is not a mere guru, either to ancient Israel or to us. This is a direct encounter with the Creator on earth, the One who broke the back of the largest superpower in the world, the One who opened up the sea so they could walk through it on dry land. God gave Israel water out of a rock, food that appeared six days a week and performed other such miracles for them to sustain their lives. This is who they directly encountered at the mountain.
Interceding before the judgment
God told Moses about what was happening at the base of the mountain, about how the children of Israel were going off the rails into spiritual adultery. God was ready to push the “smite” button, so to speak on them, but Moshe interceded for the people of Israel before he even came down from the mountain to see what was going on for himself.
Moshe also broke the original tablets of the Testimony, judging those who directly participated in the idolatry and debauchery with the Golden Calf and returned to the mountain to intercede for the people again. In Moshe’s intercession, we see a pattern of what was to come when the Angel of the Lord, one messenger who came down from heaven to be in their midst. Moses interceded for them as he went down the mountain and when he went back up again.
What is an intercessor?
We have Noach, the one who brought “rest”His name in Hebrew means “rest.” in the midst of the tempest. He lived among the corrupt people. God puts Noach and his family into an ark as judgment falls on the corrupt.
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
Genesis 6:11–12 NASB
We have Moses, who God told that “your people have corrupted themselves.” But Moses who was freed from evil at birth via a basket — the Hebrew word used is the same for “ark” in the Genesis flood account — on the Nile, he did not leave the LORD alone to pursue judgment on the corrupt.
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
Exodus 32:7 NASB
Then we have Yeshua, who presented a second sign of Jonah to an “evil and wicked generation.” When Jonah appeared to the people of Nineveh, he walked the entire length of the city with his message that they would be “overthrown,” literally, “turned over.” That could either mean complete destruction or turned over like one turns over dirt with a shovel.
The people of Nineveh responded with outward and inward signs of repentance. They wore sackcloth and ashes. They even put sackcloth on their animals in a sign of utter humility and debasement of themselves.
The apostle Peter made a similar call for repentance at the Shavuot (Pentecost) right after Yeshua’s death and resurrection:
“And [Peter] solemnly and earnestly witnessed (testified) and admonished (exhorted) with much more continuous speaking and warned (reproved, advised, encouraged) them, saying, Be saved from this crooked (perverse, wicked, unjust) generation.”
Acts 2:40 Amplified Bible
God showed an astounding amount of mercy on the descendants of Israel after the unbelievable affront and lack of gratitude to the One who saved them from slavery and genocide. They did not fully appreciate what God had done for them.
There’s an interesting conversation between God and Moshe when God tells refers to the descendants of Israel as “your people who you brought up from the land of Mitzrayim.” Moshe responds by reminding God that He was the One who strong-armed him into the job of leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moshe could not have done anything he had done up to that point without God’s direct work and guidance.
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:6–8 NASB
On the Son of Man’s return, trust in God to appeal continually for justice will be sparse and those who are lukewarm will be turned away.
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
Revelation 3:15–16 NASB
Interceding in the midst of the people
But Yeshua, our High Priest, intercedes when people become corrupt towards God (Heb. 4:14–16). Yeshua didn’t merely intercede for us from the lofty heights of heaven, but He came to earth, lived as a human being, like we are, and interceded for us to the point to death on the cross.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
1John 1:9–10 NASB
We see in Exodus that one of God’s key attributes is compassion, which invokes how a mother carries her child in her womb, protecting and nourishing it with her own body. God’s loyalty and honesty toward us is how we grow in righteousness.
Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Exodus 34:6–7 NASB
He is “slow to anger” and compassionate which is His loyalty, but He also embodies the truth when he punishes the guilty. Gentiles such as Rahab, Ruth and Photini (the Samaritan woman) learned about God’s judgement but they were also drawn in by His mercy. They cut ties completely with their former way of live and aligned themselves with God’s people, joining a new nation. They broke the cycle of generational sin, and refused to carry that baggage with them.
Daniel, Ezekiel and those who were sent into exile, would pray towards Jerusalem, showing their loyalty to God, even though they were living far away from the Promised Land.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
2Corinthians 7:10 NASB
The type of charity from heaven is the type of charity that does not seek its own benefit.
Don’t try to beat the world at their own game
The Book of Ezekiel was written in a time when Israel was being cut off from the land of promise, in exile own Babylon. They’d turned the words of the Lord into something hideous. The Promised land was to be a land of rest, but those who were tasked to lead and teach the people how to be closer to God, drove them away from God instead. We see this as early as the time of the High Priest Eli, when Samuel was a young man, who allowed his sons to sexually harass the women and to steal from the offerings make the tabernacle a place that no one wanted to visit, driving people away.
Later the priests would lead pagan worship, praying towards the rising sun rather than towards God. They even brought pagan deities into the confines of the Temple. Israel’s priesthood of life had become a priesthood of death both physically and spiritually.
Believers in Yeshua can’t out-relevant the world. When we look to become “relevant” by the world’s standard, we lose what makes the body of Christ truly relevant. The world eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is why our society and our culture continues to decline. Those who have power will use it to crush those who don’t have power. Those who have knowledge will use it to oppress those who are simple minded and naive. The strong dominate the weak.
But the promise that started with Abraham would not die just because some of the later generations of Israel were unfaithful, because God is faithful. When humanity were far off from God’s presence, we were called near by Messiah Yeshua, the ultimate Tabernacle qorban (that which approaches the Presence of Heaven).
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1–10 NASB
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Colossians 2:9–14 NASB
The “certificate of debt” is the weight of our sins, transgressions and iniquities that testified against us. This was nailed to the cross and drowned in the sea. Now, we are free to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Presence of Heaven.
Before and after meeting the LORD
All of us have a B.C. (Before Christ) history, and we all have an A.D. (Anno Domini) present. We become a new person in the eyes of God only because of the Messiah Yeshua. Only because Heaven has saved us from the destroyer and the principalities of the air with the Blood of the Lamb.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:7–12 NASB
Here we come full circle t0 whenn Moshe was interceding for the people who had dealt treasonously — golden calf — with the one who saved them. Moshe was willing to be blotted out of the book of life for their sake, just as Messiah was willing to be blotted out, dying a cursed death, but He conquered sin and death for our sake.
Hallelu Yah! Christ is Risen!
Summary: Tammy