We are the literal body of Christ.
By we, I mean the true, born again saints of God. I have never viewed the scriptures as presenting merely an allegory re: the Body. We have died in Him as His body, and we live in resurrection life as His Body.
Romans 7:
4Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Romans 12:
4For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
1 Cor 12:
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
1 Cor 12:
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Eph 3:
6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Eph 5:
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Colossians 1:
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
Colossians 3:
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
It is evident that we, the members, comprise the "organic" body of the one man Christ Jesus, and that just as an organic body matures and grows, so we mature and grow together as one man.
Eph 4:
11And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
The Lord has given the "five-fold" gifts of ministry in order that all who are His body will attain to the unity of faith and knowledge and to mature manhood into all that is Christ, i.e. His fullness Christ. The promise is that all who are in actuality His body, will achieve this. So as a body we must be careful of what we eat, and we must be diligent to exercise and keep ourselves cleaned and groomed, in order to stay healthy.
What does this have to do with Passover? Let's go to Exodus 34;
Exodus 34:
18 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.
I ended the second installment with this passage.
Why are the celebration of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread connected? Once again we must look beyond forgiveness of sins as it is commonly taught. Our sins are forgiven so that we might be co-workers with Christ, and with each other in the Kingdom. The forgiveness found at the cross makes us worthy and capable of doing the works. Eph 2:8-10 Our abiding in eternity in the New Jerusalem is the "serendipity" so to speak, of the forgiveness we are granted. Now I am not treating eternity with the Lord casually. We have no idea what that will be like until we are actually there. I am addressing our role with, and in, His death and resurrection, in the here and now.
I believe that the 7 days of unleavened bread speak of the creation; six days He created, and on the seventh He established the Sabbath rest. All of creation was declared to be "very good". Genesis 1:31
Leaven is viewed as as something "not good". Typically it is used as a word for sin, or sin nature,i.e. the flesh. There are other examples though; Matthew 16:12 and 1 Cor 5:6.
So the original creation in it's entirety was free of leaven. However, through Adam a "little leaven" leavened the whole lump, which is why even creation groans to be set free.
Romans 8:
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
The seven days of unleavened bread speak of the new creation, new heavens, new earth, and even the new man, which are leaven free for eternity. This is why we receive our new bodies last.
The flesh is not an issue in eternity. Our incorruptible bodies are our reward for completing the
race.
1Co 15:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Christ Jesus as the last Adam, who is raised incorruptible, is the "leaven free" i.e. new man.
Therefore all who are His body are "leaven free" and we are kept until that day John speaks of.
1John 3:
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
As His literal body, when He returns, the dead in Christ rise first, and then those who are alive will be changed.
When the Lord presided at His table and he took the bread and the cup. He and the disciples were entering into the feast of Unleavened Bread.
Luke 22:
7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
And:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
If we are His body, and we are, this was the moment He established that fact. We participate in his death symbolized in the unleavened bread. He is sinless, without leaven. Therefore all who participate in His body are without leaven. Read through 1 Cor 11:18-34. This is the true meaning of the Lord's Table. We discern Christ as present in His Body, US! When we do not discern one another (factions), we are not discerning Christ.
Roman Catholicism is so wrong. This has nothing to do with the bread being his literal body so we adore a wafer. Jesus is the Passover Lamb. We cannot ever participate in that, as He alone is the Lamb who is without blemish, the Lamb who is worthy to be slain. So, He did not offer lamb to his disciples to eat as His Body. He went to the cross and to death alone. (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me)
He offered the unleavened bread of His body to us to partake in His death in that way. The blood of the Lamb, i.e. the blood of the New Covenant, is the Life of the Body (unleavened bread). I fear that I am not doing justice to the profoundness of what the Lord has done here.
So in Exodus 34 the command is given;
18 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
19 All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
20b All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.
The first born, the firstfruits belong to Him, as they should have been sacrificed that night of Passover, but since they were covered by the blood of God's firstborn, the Lord now requires acknowledgement and acceptance of what He has done for all creation. He requires the tithe, the firsfruits. He commands that we worship Him.
The Book of Revelation speaks of the Lamb as redeemer, as husband, as light, and as Lord and King. In the eternity of the New Jerusalem, it is all about the Lamb.
Hebrews 11: (Speaking of Moses)
28By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
We also participate as the firstfruits in Christ.
James 1:
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Hebrews 12:
22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
We are the first-fruits of creation as His incorruptible Body which is the first-fruits of the dead. I have heard many say that we are dead men walking. That is not true. The saints are truly alive. We walk in the newness of eternal life right now. Those who are not born again of the Spirit are the walking dead men.
We are those foreknown (before the foundation of the world was laid), by the Lamb (who was foreknown before the foundation of the world was laid).
Rev13: 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, (the beast) everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Christ the Passover Lamb. Christ the Firstborn. Christ the Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 34:25 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.
We,the ekklesia, the called out (Exodus 6:6-8), the saints, as firstfruits:
Exodus 34: 20b All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.
Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
and as unleavened bread.
1Co 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
As I stated when I started this study; the Passover is the greatest event in the history of Israel, and foretells the greatest event in the history of the world.
Hebrews 5:
5Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;6in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.7Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"
8When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), 9then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
10And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Glory to the Lamb!
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