Purged of the Leaven

May 5

“No grain offering which you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire. As for the offering of the first fruits, you shall offer them to the LORD, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma,” Leviticus 2:11-12.

“You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the LORD. . . . The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest,” Leviticus 23:17, 20.


"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Luke 12:1.

Throughout Matthew 23, Jesus lists a multitude of Pharisaical sins that could be grouped as legalistic externalism.

In Matthew 16:6, Jesus warns of the leaven of the Sadducees. Their sins are not listed here, but elsewhere we find they at least denied the supernatural and the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8).

Jesus also warns of the leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15), who was involved in a great deal of lying in his political wheeling and dealing, abusing the power of his office, adultery, and other behaviors that clearly evidenced the fact that he cared nothing for the law of God but was immersed in the sins of the world.

“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” I Corinthians 5:7, 8.

“We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me,” Romans 7:14-20.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the prevalence of the leaven of sin can be clearly seen. We recognize its impact upon even the best of our offerings before our Holy God.

The recognition of our inability to be righteous before Him makes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ all the more precious to us. We understand that the One who is high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1), who inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15), who is of purer eyes than to behold sin (Habakkuk 1:13) cannot allow us into His presence as we are. Of ourselves, because of our sin nature, we are completely undone.

In I Corinthians 15:50-52, Paul states our quandary quite clearly but he also proclaims our hope: “:Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

It is because of Jesus, the God-Man who lived a sinless life in our behalf and who died in our place and who rose to the everlasting glory of the Majesty on High that we may proclaim that I am Christ’s and He is mine! Thank You, Jesus, for purging us of the leaven of our lives that we may stand as righteous in Your sight.