UNLEAVEN BREAD
EXODUS 12:14-15
EXODUS 12:14-15
Introduction:
The Lord took the elements used in the Lord’s Supper from the Feast of the Passover. Jesus had just celebrated the Passover with His disciples and then instituted the Lord’s Supper using the wine and the unleavened bread of the Passover.
1) The Passover bread was without yeast or leaven, v. 15, “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”
2) Leaven is a type of sin in the Scriptures,
a. The leaven of the Pharisees, Matthew 16:11-12, “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Leaven was never used in offerings or observances relating redemption.
b. Paul warned about leaven as a type of sin, 1 Corinthians 5:6, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”
3) Leavened bread is the subject of many Scriptures relating to suffering or sin.
I. THE SHEW-BREAD (UNLEAVENED)
A. The shew-bread consisted of twelve loaves of unleavened bread prepared and presented hot on the golden table every Sabbath. They were square or oblong, and represented the twelve tribes of Israel.
B. The old loaves were removed every Sabbath, and were to be eaten only by the priests in the court of the sanctuary, Exodus 25:30, “And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.”
C. David was allowed to eat the shewbread when he was fleeing from King Saul, 1 Samuel 21:1–6.
II. OTHER BREADS MENTIONED
A. The Bread of Sorrows (grief and pain), Psalm 127:2, “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”
B. The Bread of Tears, sorrow and tears are like one’s daily bread, they form so great a part in life, Psalm 80:5, “Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.”
C. The Bread of Wickedness (violence or crime), Proverbs 4:17, “For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.”
D. The Bread of Deceit (lying or falsehood), denotes in like manner that wickedness and deceit are a part of the daily life, Proverbs 20:17, “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.”
III. “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.”
A. With this Bread you will never hunger, John 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
B. This is eternal bread, life giving Bread, John 6:48-50, “I am that bread of life. 49Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”
CONCLUSION
This bread, unleavened bread represents the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not His body, but only represents it. That body of His never knew sin. However, He bore our sin on the cross that we might be free from sin.