The Days of Unleavened Bread Are Over But Our Battle with Sin is Not

As the weekly Sabbath begins, the annual Sabbath, the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, has come to a close.

In hearkening back to two significant historical events that occurred on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, we are reminded of a most important realization.

The first event that occurred on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread is Israel passing through the Red Sea. God opened the way for Israel to pass through an impassible physical barrier. They were under great pressure as the army of Pharaoh chomped at the bit to recapture the slave nation and return them to slavery. They had no time to come up with their own solution. They had to trust God to make a way for them to escape.

God did make a way for Israel to pass through the Red Sea, but was their journey complete? No, Israel had to continue to follow God on to the Promised Land.

We have renewed our covenant with God and have completed the Days of Unleavened Bread. But we like Israel have not reached the Promised Land. We must continue to follow Jesus Christ.

A second historical event occurring at the close of Unleavened Bread was the fall of Jericho. Israel had entered the land as God miraculously parted the waters of the Jordan. Israel encamped at Gilgal and it was there that all the males were circumcised as part of the covenant with God. They kept the Passover and then began the conquest of Jericho throughout the Days of Unleavened Bread. It was on the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread that the walls collapsed and Israel conquered the city.

One city in the land of Canaan had fallen, but the conquest was far from complete. There were many more cities to conquer. We must realize that the conquest of sin is not complete in our lives either. As human beings, we are going to continually be battling sin. As Israel submitted to and followed God’s instructions in marching around Jericho, so we must continue to follow Christ until the conquest of sin is complete.

Our need to continue to follow Christ to the land of promise and to conquer sin is summarized beautifully by Paul in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

As the Sabbath begins, it is good for us to reflect on the fact that we have not yet attained and our need to continue to reach “forward to those things which are ahead.” We press on toward the conquest of sin and maturity of Jesus Christ. As God completes His work in us through Jesus Christ, we will receive the eternal inheritance.

Enjoy the Sabbath,

Gary Smith