THE PASSOVER AND THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
[p. 79] THE PASSOVER AND THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
1 Corinthians 5:8; Exodus 12:1 - 20
JT It is proposed that we should consider today the subject of the passover and the feast of unleavened bread; and tomorrow, if the Lord will, the subject of fellowship. The verse read in 1 Corinthians 5 indicates the significance of the passover in Exodus. The ordinance is there transferred to us, for it says, “our passover”, and “let us celebrate the feast”. In this particular instance, we have instruction as to Old Testament types transferred to those who form the assembly at the present time. You will observe that the passover is in relation to sin, but the Supper, whilst having in mind the Lord’s death, is not in view of teaching us how the sin question was met, but is a witness of Christ’s love for us. The passover is referred to in 1 Corinthians 5, and this chapter takes up the matter of assembly discipline.
Rem We have thought that the Lord’s supper was the feast, yet the only reference to a feast is in relation to the passover.
JT Yes, the Lord’s supper is not called a feast. The only reference that could be made is in Jude 12, “These are spots in your love-feasts, feasting together with you without fear, pasturing themselves”. The Lord’s supper could be included in these love-feasts. They are “your love-feasts”; that is, feast of christians.
Rem The Supper had degenerated to a feast at Corinth, for instance.
JT That was gross irregularity.
Rem Paul said, “In this point I do not praise”.
JT More still, he said, “When ye come therefore together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20), yet Jude would show that christians have feasts, not worldly or disorderly ones, but love- feasts. I think that the word ‘feast’ in 1 Corinthians 5: 8 alludes simply to the feast of unleavened bread, indicating that the saints should keep this feast; that we should all eat unleavened bread in our daily occupations. For us, this bread is “sincerity” and “truth”.
Rem When instituting the Supper, the Lord said that it was for all; “Drink ye all of it”, Matthew 26:27.
Rem That is, each person.
Rem In Corinth each took his own supper; some had much, others little.
JT They were eating and drinking as if they were at their own table. The feast of unleavened bread is really to keep us from sin.
Ques Is not pride, the sin that leaven represents?
JT You mean that leaven rises; but that can mark every sin. In the chapter read, it says, “Ye are puffed up”. The grossest sin had been committed there, yet the saints were puffed up. You may be sure that where such conduct marks the saints, the general state is affected. In verse 2 he says, “Ye are puffed up, and ye have not rather mourned, in order that he that has done this deed might be taken away out of the midst of you”. That shows that leaven was active. If the brethren will read Exodus 12 at their leisure, they will notice that Moses gives an account from verses 21 to 28, of what the Lord had taught him. Moses did not refer to the unleavened bread, for the immediate object was the deliverance of the people from Egypt. When they actually came out of Egypt, they were in such haste that they could not bring any leaven. God now so orders that young people who are leaving the world, give up sin by the force of circumstances. “The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men! And the people took their dough before it was leavened; their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders”. God orders our circumstances for us when we are young, to keep us out of sin. Why were they obliged to leave in [p. 81] haste; and why was leaven the only thing they could not carry away?
Ques Do we have to learn that leaven is always present?
JT “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”, (1 John 1:8) but God sometimes orders circumstances so that young people should not have an opportunity to sin; He orders their circumstances in grace with this in view. He does it to help them; so they had to leave Egypt without taking any leaven.
Ques Is this what is referred to by John, “My children, these things I write to you in order that ye may not sin”, 1 John 2:1?
JT The apostle was writing to saints, that they should not sin, but in the verse in Exodus we find God ordering circumstances to keep us from sin. Parents can count on this in regard of their children. Certainly, as we were saying, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”, and that applies to christians young and old. Being under obligation not to sin, we find this remarkable fact that God orders their circumstances in such a way that they cannot do so. “The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste. ... And the people took their dough before it was leavened; their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders”.
Ques Would you say that though it appeared hard and testing to them to leave the land in haste, yet it was God intervening in mercy for them, so that they should be compelled to take their dough before it was leavened?
JT Exodus gives an important line of instruction. Jehovah did not lead Israel by the way of the Philistines, for instance, lest they should be discouraged. Conflict might discourage the young believers. Also here we see how God allows the Egyptians to drive them out of the land, so that they should not have time to take any leaven. The young are thus protected in their parents’ [p. 82] house, if their parents are believers; this environment helps them as there is no leaven there. But it is when they go out into the world and earn their living that danger arises. God would, however, help them to avoid, in their work, associations which would lead them or encourage them to sin, and parents should be wise enough to keep their children from occupations and surroundings which would encourage sin in a special way.
Rem We can then be thankful if the world hates us; it is our safeguard.
JT It is a protection for us. We can see it in the history of the children of God; when they are persecuted, they are kept. The Lord said to the assembly at Smyrna, “Ye shall have tribulation ten days”, Revelation 2:10. He had nothing to rebuke in the saints in Smyrna. He had to reproach the saints in Ephesus, and in Pergamos, but tribulation manifestly preserved the saints in Smyrna. The tribulation that God allows in the history of young believers is a protection, to keep them from sin.
Ques In connection with being ‘kept’, is this similar to what the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17:15, “I do not demand that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them out of evil”?
JT The prayer of the Lord was that we should be kept out of evil, and God provides in grace for this, at the beginning of our history.
Ques Is it not possible to be kept out of Egypt, and yet have leaven in our homes?
JT I was about to remark about that, that in chapter 12 the commandment is in relation to households.
Rem There are “father’s houses” there.
JT Yes, but the feast of unleavened bread, whilst celebrated in houses, bears upon the assembly. It says, “Speak unto all the assembly of Israel”. Two words [p. 83] are used; in verse 3 it says, “the assembly”, and in verse 6, “congregation”. The assembly is the responsible element, whether all saints are there or not; the word congregation indicates that all are responsible, each individual in particular. The word assembly conveys the idea of a responsible body, even if all the saints are not present, but in the congregation each person is responsible.
Rem As carrying out these thoughts it says, “The plague shall not be among you for destruction”.
JT That is the plague of death. Death reigned in every house of the Egyptians, whilst the houses of the Israelites were preserved.
Ques Is this seen typically in Eli’s house? “I have declared to him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he hath known: because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not”, 1 Samuel 3:13?
JT That verse is particularly important for fathers, for in Exodus 12:3 the lamb was “for a father’s house”. Eli the priest was unfaithful in connection with his house; “his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not”. The influence of a believer’s house is striking here, as the observance of the feast was what kept away the destructive plague. Fathers and mothers are often indulgent towards their children and, when they sin, excuse and justify them. Then death enters the house; death is there.
Ques Does the teaching of this chapter apply on one hand to the households of believers, and on the other to the saints collectively?
JT That is what I think. If sin occurs in the home of one amongst us, we cannot just say, Ah well, it is his matter, for we are all responsible.
Rem In 1 Timothy 3:5 it says, “If one does not know how to conduct his own house, how shall he take care of the assembly of God?”
JT One, like Eli, who does not know how to rule [p. 84] his own house, is disqualified. A man cannot serve in the house of God unless he knows how to conduct his own house. Thus it is not suitable for a brother in whose house defilement is found, to take active part in the assembly. In a christian’s house there may be things found which are beyond his control, but if he feels them, God will come in and order things for him.
Rem Jehovah said of Abraham, “I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice”, Genesis 18:19.
Ques Was not the sin in Eli’s house the consequence of his having spared the rod on his sons?
JT It says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes”, Proverbs 13:24.
Ques There is a big difference between Abraham and Eli?
JT Abraham commanded his house after him. When God told him to circumcise his house, he did exactly as God said, and it was after that, that Jehovah came to him with two other persons, and said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall indeed become a great and mighty nation; and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice, in order that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham what he hath spoken of him”, Genesis 18:17 - 19. The import of Abraham’s faithfulness is seen in a remarkable way in these verses, the end being that Jehovah might bring upon him what He had said concerning him. This shows how our faithfulness brings about in a practical way an answer to the counsels of God’s love concerning us.
Rem Hence you would say that where these principles are not maintained in a gathering, the Lord would [p. 85] hide things, and the Spirit will not communicate divine things.
JT The work of the Spirit would be hindered.
Ques How are these principles to be maintained in a meeting?
JT The commandment in Exodus 12:15 - 19 is very clear, and bears upon not having leaven in our houses. Leaven should never be found in our houses. Allowing certain kinds of books, magazines and papers into the homes of christians will assuredly lead to sin, and if the houses of the saints are affected by leaven, we can be sure that it will slip into the assembly.
Rem So it is of vital importance not only to have light in our dwellings, as in chapter 10, but to apply practically the death of Christ there too.
JT Yes. I may have my Bible on my bookshelf and all the current ministry, and also have novels there.
Rem Leaven is not food for our souls.
JT It rises, which is a characteristic of sin, and it is infectious. It leavens the whole lump.
Rem It is when Christ is insufficient for us that we use leaven.
JT Just so. Unleavened bread tends to reduce, but leaven puffs up.
Rem Christ said, I am “altogether that which I also say to you”, John 8:25.
JT It is not only that we should not have leaven in our bread, but we should not have it in our houses. Something might be allowed into our houses, a bad book, for instance, and a child may take it and read it and be harmed by it. There is a remarkable passage in the prophet Haggai 2:12,13, “If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food — shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. And Haggai said, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, is it become unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean”.
[p. 86] This teaches us that a holy thing does not sanctify other things; then, “If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, is it become unclean?” The answer to this question shows that if I am marked by anything unclean, the uncleanness will multiply itself; that is the thought in the leaven, it is its activity.
We should be sincere and true; the unleavened bread should be of sincerity and truth.