Song (Click to listen): My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

Jesus, the voice of the Lord, the word of God, makes a way when there is no other way. Every defeated and forgotten place, his word has the power to elevate and every authority the power to bring down. Every person, nation, and oppressive force even in places of great authority. Jesus, as the faithfulness of God is not a secret; and Isaiah 40:3-5 says that everyone who does not know will know of the strength, power, and glory of God, “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” because God is faithful to keep his word and what he has spoken he will do.

People on the other hand are unfaithful. You can rely on people to be unfaithful as much as you can rely on grass to grow and fade away. But the faithfulness of God and his word, Jesus, is unending. Through times of hopelessness, distress, and darkness and in times of joy, God’s words and promises are real; and his faithfulness will endure forever. (Isaiah 40:6-8)

The symbolism of not adding yeast to the dough during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

[12] On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

[13] The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

[14] This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord, a lasting ordinance.

[15] For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day until the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

[16] On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

[17] Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

[18] In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.

[19] For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.

[20] Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.

[21] Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.’

[22] ‘Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.’

[23] ‘When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.’

[24] ‘Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.’

[25] ‘When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.’

[26] And when your children ask you, “what does this ceremony meant to you?”

[27] then tell them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.” Then the people bowed down and worshipped.

[28] The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

[29] At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

[30] Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

[31] During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Up! Leave my people, you, and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested.’

[32] ‘Take you flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also, bless me.’

[33] The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. ‘For otherwise,’ they said, ‘we will all die!’

[34] So the people took their dough before the yeast was added and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.

[35] The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.

[36] The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so, they plundered the Egyptians.

Jesus is God’s bread that gives life, specifically, eternal life. Jesus is God’s means of salvation from all captivity and oppression, spiritual death and separation from God. The deaths that occurred in Exodus 12:29 did not free the Israelites from Egypt, Jesus, God’s word and God’s promise did.

The symbolism of the unleavened bread in Exodus 12:14-20 is the death sacrifice that Jesus would make that would provide a way of escape from all oppression and captivity including eternal separation from God; that would give salvation and life to all who believe.

Those who ate bread with yeast are symbolically those who do not believe and are ‘cut-off’ from access to protection from God’s judgement. Belief in Jesus’ sacrifice is the unleavened bread, the only way of salvation and eternal life.

Exodus 12:15 and in Exodus 12:19 says anyone who eats anything with yeast in it, during the festival (Celebration of Unleavened Bread) must be cut-off from the community of Israel. Those who do not believe in Jesus are eternally separated from God, his life-giving power, his promises, his protection, and his blessings.

The symbolism of the celebration of the Festival of Unleavened Bread is a foretelling of the sacrifice that Jesus would make. God says to Moses, Aaron and all the Israelites that the festival is a time of celebration.

The focus of the celebration is not the death of the firstborn in Egypt, the people, and the animals, but the foretelling of the obedience of another sacrifice that would be made in place of the lamb that the people sacrificed whose blood would spare the lives of all the houses of the families who believed.

The symbolic death of the firstborn is Jesus, God’s firstborn and his righteousness who is sacrificed to bring God’s people both out of the darkness of oppression in Egypt but also the darkness of separation from the knowledge of who God is and his promises to deliver, save and to bless people who put their faith in Jesus.

The symbolism of obedience to God’s word and belief in him and the blessings of the Exodus.

In Exodus 12:29-36 God provides a way for those who put their faith in him, obey his word and believe. Matthew 6:33 says seek to know who God is, his kingdom and what he requires and all the things you have need of will be given to you as well.

The Israelites obeyed the word of God spoken to Moses to follow the ceremonial customs of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, making bread with no yeast, holding sacred meetings, not working during the seven days, applying the blood to the doorframes of their homes, and sacrificing an animal and eating it. They observed these practices because they believed that this was the work required to receive the promise of God and the deliverance of God.

In the new covenant the work God requires to receive the promises of God and deliverance of God is belief in Jesus (John 6:29). Exodus 12:29 says, when the people believed and obeyed, at midnight, when God’s judgement came to Egypt, the houses of the people of Israel were passed over and their lives were spared; and during that dark night their oppressors, in Egypt released them from bondage and gave them everything they asked for, for their journey, “so they plundered the Egyptians” (Exodus 12:36).

However, the deaths that came to the firstborn of the Egyptians, Pharaoh and all of the livestock was not what freed the people of Israel. Their faith in God set them free. Their belief in God as the one who shepherds so that I lack nothing (Psalms 23:1) provided them with gold and silver for their journey.

Their faith in God and obedience to the work that he required set them free from their darkest valley (Psalms 23:4). Their faith in God and obedience to the work that he required allowed for a celebration to occur for the people of God, while they were in Egypt, in the presence of their enemies, and during their night it was their faith and obedience to God that brought them out of Egypt.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

Prayer: God your word says in Isaiah 40:9 that you are the comforter and helper to all who believe in Jesus; that you are our hope when we feel hopeless. Heavenly father, build our faith in you. Help me and all who believe in you not let unbelievers or ignorant people take your word, Jesus from us or steal our voice and words of praise. Help us to speak the truth about who you are in Jesus; and the good news that Christ brings to all who believe. Help us to speak boldly about who we know God in Jesus to be and to not be afraid. Help us to wait on you, on your promises and look to you as our deliverer. Help us to say like Isaiah, “Here is our God. The sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.” Help us to look to you as our reward and not to people, because we know that your word says in Isaiah 40:9-10, God you are good, that you carry your people close to your heart, you are a loving God, and your loving kindness will never end. (Isaiah 40:9-10)