#340 Passover Perspectives Exodus 12: Eating on the Run
Eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs Exodus 12:8 “And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs…”
Exodus 12:39 “The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.”
Eat ready for a journey Exodus 12:11 “Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’s Passover.”
They were to eat it ready for travel at any moment.
As one Sister shared with me, “We have no time for sin.”
There is an urgency and “haste” in our lives as we absorb the offering of Christ in our hearts. We partake with loins girded, shoes on our feet, and staff in our hand ready and motivated for a journey by the memory of the bitter oppression of sin and the contrast of his amazing deliverance. We partake as pilgrims and strangers on this earth, “those who use the things of this world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31 There was urgency in the quickly consuming trials of Christ. There is urgency as we partake of the unleavened bread—the lifestyle of innocence and purity—we have no time for the leavening process of sin.
We wear the garb of travelers ready to leave because we do not identify ourselves with this world or with it’s Pharaoh. “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:11-12 We have left Egypt, and we are be ready to leave any remnants of sin habits from the old life. When the LORD reveals the next step of our journey we are to be ready to respond.
No leftovers Exodus 12:10 “Do not leave any of it until morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.” Our ingestion of the life and offering of Christ is to be complete. We are to eat fully so that all hunger of heart is satisfied. The privilege of being part of the Kingdom of heaven is limited to this Gospel Age; it is an unrepeatable privilege to be part of the Church of the Firstborn with the heavenly reward of blessing all the families in the second passing over through the Red Sea. Exodus 15:10, 16, 17; 2 Corinthians 6:2,3; 1 Corinthians 6:2
Our lives are surrounded by unrepeatable opportunities. Our opportunity to encourage a brother or sister in Christ amid the tyranny of sin and death is limited to this Permission of Evil period. Our opportunity to share the Hope for Kingdom blessing to the weary world when they see no hope, is limited to the present age, soon to be swallowed up by the reality of that Hope when all will know Him from the least to the greatest. Jeremiah 31:33-34
May we absorb this sacrifice with the urgency and mission of being pilgrims and strangers.