CHRIST BECOMING THE PASSOVER LAMB
AND THE UNLEAVENED BREAD OF THE FEAST
OF UNLEAVENED BREAD TO THE BELIEVERS
In 1 Corinthians 5, although Paul was dealing with the problem of an evil brother, he was exercising his spirit to point out some additional crucial things. Verses 7 and 8 say, "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and evil, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." We who have been chosen by God have passed through the Passover. In the Passover feast, Christ is the Passover lamb. He is even the whole Passover feast. Christ as the Passover lamb dispenses to the believers the life of the lamb, to be their initial (Passover) supply of life and power.
We must not only eat Christ as our Passover lamb, but must also go on to eat the unleavened bread of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a continuation of the Passover. It lasted for seven days, which signifies a complete period of time. This feast typifies the entire period of our Christian life, from the day we repented to the day we will be raptured. During the period of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we should eat the unleavened bread. To be unleavened means to be sinless. The bread signifies Christ coming down from heaven to be our nutritious food. Christ as the unleavened bread of the Feast of Unleavened Bread dispenses His sinless life to the believers that they may become a new lump to live a sinless life and to keep such a sinless feast all the days of their lives.
CHRIST ALSO BECOMING THE SPIRITUAL ROCK
SMITTEN BY GOD AND RIVEN
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul tells us that after the Israelites left Egypt, they "all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ" (vv. 3-4). After we enjoy Christ as the Passover, we enter into a race (1 Cor. 9:24). In order to run the race, we need to eat the same spiritual food and drink the same spiritual drink as our daily life supply. The spiritual food and drink that we eat and drink in our Christian race comes from the spiritual rock that was smitten by God and riven, and out of which flows the living water for the quenching of our thirst. This rock is Christ (John 19:34). The living water of life is the Holy Spirit, who flows out to be our life supply.
According to the principle of Revelation 22, the water of life is always with the tree of life. We not only have the spiritual water as our drink, but we also have the tree of life as our spiritual food. The water of life that flows out from Christ as the riven rock carries with it the tree of life, which is Christ as our life. On the one hand, as water, Christ waters us, nourishes us, and quenches our thirst. On the other hand, as the fruit of the tree of life, He feeds us, supplies us, and satisfies us. The Christ in whom we believe is God’s portion for us. He has come into us already and is dispensing the spiritual food and the spiritual drink to us all the time, thus becoming the life supply to us who follow Him in the race.
(The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
