The Bread of Deliverance

… the Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take and eat. This is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He took the cup after He had supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Cor 11: 23-25

In this article I would like to focus on the Bread of Deliverance.

bread-of-deliverance

… the Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take and eat. This is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He took the cup after He had supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Cor 11: 23-25

This last supper took place during the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover, being celebrated the day before.

It commemorates that hasty exit and deliverance out of Egypt during which a lamb was sacrificed and blood was applied to the door posts of the homes.

In Deut 16: 3 the Israelites were reminded to “not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.”

So in this article I would like to focus on the Bread.
Traditionally the Jewish people celebrate their Shabbat and the various feasts with 2 loaves of bread – as a reminder of the double portion of manna the Israelites gathered before their weekly day of rest (Ex 16: 11-22 )

But during Passover, it is customary to have 3 pieces of matzos or unleavened bread stacked on the table.

3 is symbolic for so many things. E.g. the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which are a type and shadow of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So at the beginning of the meal one of these matzos is broken – and it is called the lekhem oni – the bread of affliction. The bread they break is the middle one.

Having said this as a backdrop against the story.

Just Imagine this …..
Jesus is reclining at the Passover table with his disciples.

There are 3 matzos on the table and He takes the middle one and says Take eat, this is My body, broken for you and then breaks the bread.

And then shares this bread – and invites his disciples to partake of his broken body, which was to be wounded, pierced and stripped and whipped beyond recognition.

See how the matzoh looks – they have piercings in them, they are burnt and stripes of wounding are clearly evident on this unleavened bread. A picture of Jesus’s wounding.

But why is it called the bread of affliction?
His body was delivered up, to deliver us from sin so that we can live for Him.
This scripture speaks of being set free, delivered from sin and sanctified through the offering of the BODY of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10).

So the message of the bread is one of us being set free from or delivered out of our sin through Christ’s death on the cross.

Whilst the cup speaks of forgiveness for sin and it justifies us.

So through partaking of the bread, we are eating our deliverance out of our selfishness and sin. We have to deny ourselves, die to self in order to take up his cross and follow Him. (Mark8:34)

So what is the parallel here to us?

Every time you partake of Communion, Jesus wants you to remember that He has taken you out of your Egypt and into His eternal life of promises through him.

The leaven, the sin has to be taken out of your life, so that you can have freedom from its bondage, the sin that afflicts you and keeps you bound.

bread-of-deliverance

Where is your Egypt? What is your Egypt?

Is your Egypt in your heart, your mind, your emotions, your body?

You know:

His body was broken for your healing

For your Physical brokenness

For your Mental brokenness

For your Emotional brokenness

What affliction has you bound at this time?
Is it pride, jealousy, lasciviousness, anger, frustration, impatience, drunkenness, greed, unforgiveness, gluttony, lust, laziness, envy, wrath, lying, strife and division, complaining, negative, guilt, resentment, addiction, idolatry?

What leaven do you need to die to today?

What stronghold needs to be broken in your life, so that you can be made whole again?

Jesus wants to set you free right now!

Give it to Him. Let Him break the bondage in your life. Jesus has come to heal you from that, so that you can walk in freedom.

It is your Bread of Deliverance.
bread-of-deliverance

So over this coming Easter why not pray your own prayer to Him, partake of the bread of affliction and the wine in your own time and you seek and find His redemption in the name that is above every other name Jesus. Let Jesus deliver you out of your Egypt!

© Désirée Borchert