It’s Passover Let’s make matzah!
MATZAH!
THE BREAD OF FREEDOM!
What is matzah?
It’s an unleavened cracker like bread. Sometimes referred to as the bread of freedom, matzah is eaten during the Passover celebration as Jews remember how God redeemed them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, (Exodus chapters 1-14).
God heard the Israelites cry and answered their prayers showing His love and compassion for them. As He did for them, He will do for us. Remembering God’s works encourages our faith in His faithfulness, compassion and power.
Just as the Lord instructed the Israelites to eat unleavened bread, He instructed future generations to do it at Passover as well, (Exodus 12:14).
WHY NO LEAVEN?
The Israelites hastily prepared their final meal as instructed by the Lord; unblemished lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. All these components had a deeper meaning; Christ the perfect Lamb of God, (John 1:29), the bitterness of slavery, (Romans 6:16). And leaven?
Leaven represents sin.
Therefore, let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,
1 Corinthians 5:8
The Israelites had to leave leaven out of their bread and also remove it from their houses, Exodus 12:15.
Removing it from their houses was symbolically cleaning their environment of sin. Not eating leaven? That was symbolically preventing sin from entering their bodies, hearts and minds. As they exited Egypt, they started fresh leaving behind the bondage of their sins of idolatry, doubt, fear and more.
Today,
removing leaven from our homes and food
is a reminder to remove sin
from our environment
& our hearts.
Therefore, purge out the old leaven,
that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.
For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us,
1 Corinthians 5:7
18 MINUTES!
NO LEAVEN!
Did you notice that matzah should be made in 18 minutes? Why? Because after 18 minutes dough begins to ferment creating leaven which grows and rises. 2
WHAT FERMENTS IN US?
Like dough sitting with limited oxygen can ferment, so too can our thoughts.
What happens when those negative thoughts like anger or unforgiveness sit in our minds? Don’t they grow and rise to the forefront of our thoughts? Then we may react sinfully without thinking! It’s like the oxygen in our brain cells disappears! That sounds like fermenting leaven, doesn’t it?
Temptation is the pull of man’s own evil thoughts and wishes.
These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards
to the death penalty from God,
James 1:14-15 TLB
GOOD NEWS!
Like leaven is left out of matzah dough,
It can be left out of our hearts!
We are only human and will always have little leaven in our lives. However, with diligence we can leave a lot of it out of our hearts.
How? By remembering the 18-minute rule for making matzah!
Now 18 minutes is no magic number for thoughts, but the idea is the same. If we don’t let negative thoughts sit in our minds, then they can’t zap our oxygen and ferment growing into leaven.
Instead, we can let our thoughts sit on Jesus and God’s Word. When we focus on Him, it will help prevent the growth of leaven.
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You,
Psalm 119:11
A MATZAH REMINDER
Did you notice that the matzah has stripes & holes? For us as believers in Jesus, this reminds us of the stripes when Jesus was beaten, (Mark 15:15) and the piercing of His crucifixion (John 19:34) for our sins.
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him, (Jesus),
the sins of us all.
Isaiah 53:5-6 NLT
Jesus paid the price for all our sins as our sacrificed Passover lamb. Then God raised Jesus from the dead completing our redemption from the bondage of sin and death! (Mark 16:1-6).
NOW, BY HAVING FAITH IN JESUS
AND ASKING FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINS,
WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE WITH HIM!
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life,
John 3:16
REFLECTION
What leaven can you lose today?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I ask forgiveness for the leaven in my life. As I write John 3:16 and say it aloud, I believe in Your Son Jesus whom you sent to die for my sins and You raised from the dead. Show me how to walk with You. In Jesus name. Amen.
BY FAITH LOSE THE LEAVEN!
Comment!
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*For information on making Jesus Christ your Savior, email me or visit, http://www.peacewithgod.net/
1 Matzah recipe; Pjlibrary.org, All recipes.com
Photo vacuum, museum of New Zealand
