The Leaven Of The Pharisees
“For seven days, no leaven
is to be found in your houses…”
Exodus 12:19
The Passover Feast was celebrated before the exodus from Egypt. It was a feast to prepare the children of God for the arduous journey to the promised land. The application of blood to their doorpost was a sign of their faith that God would pass over and spare them from judgment.
The instructions given by God then hold precious truths for us now. God’s truth is eternal. It carries glimpses of the image and fragrance of Christ within its construct.
“You search the Scriptures…
it is they that bear witness about me.”
John 5:39
The only scriptures that existed in that day were the Old Testament. That Testament is full of the face and wonder of intricate revelations of Jesus the Christ. Each feast was an unveiling of The Coming One, who would be the truth and fulfillment of every jot and tittle of His Word.
Our Passover Lamb has come to become the substance and reality of all this magnificent feast represents.
“…no leaven is to be found
In your houses…”
The New Testament contains a great variety of truths concerning the “leaven,” one of which is that of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
“…beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and Sadducees…”
Matthew 16:6
Christ cautions us to “beware” of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. These two sects were considered the notable teachers and “doctors” of the law in that day. Jesus warned His disciples of the common traits that characterized these opposing factions in their error.
Christ The Unleavened Bread
Bread is the symbol of Christ’s Body, of Him being the Word. The exhortation is given to us to eat “His flesh” in order to have His Life within.
“I am the living bread that came down out of Heaven;
if anyone may eat of this bread, he will live…”
John 6:51 (LSV)
Each of us is called to be ministrations of the Holy Bread to one another. We see the significance of Jesus warning us to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Their error was to inject and mingle their own ideas into the “unleavened” bread of truth out of a corrupt desire for recognition.
Whenever carnal, profane, and ulterior motives are mingled with the pure, unleavened truth of God, we become guilty of “the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” To teach His Word and present His person strictly within the guidelines of a particular denomination or sect is unholy leaven. When ministers are bound or “guided” by the beliefs of others in the presentation of truth rather than the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they profane His truth.
Paul instructed the saints at Philippi:
“doing nothing according to
party spirit* or self-glory”
Philippians 2:3 (LITV)
Ministry that is affected by a “party spirit” (denomination or accepted doctrine of a sect), or the pursuit of “self glory”, presents an unholy leaven in the bread being offered! The Greek word translated “party spirit” is a political term used to designate political parties fueled by self-interest and self-promotion.
- “party spirit” eritheía; gen. eritheías, fem. noun from eritheúō (n.f.), to work for hire, usually in the mid. voice, used in a bad sense of those who seek only their own. Contention, strife, rivalry. It represents a motive of self-interest, mercenary interest (Php 1:16; Php 2:3). It also meant canvassing for public office, scheming. (Rom 2:8; 2Co 12:20; Gal 5:20; Jas 3:14, Jas 3:16.)
– Spiros Zodhiates
May we begin to comprehend the depth and sobriety of Jesus’s warning. Let us see through His eyes the horror of a divided and secularized church and refuse the leaven of much of the present-day church in our land. We must see the “party spirit” as the Greeks understood it: “for hire” and self-promotion.
Unity
“For we being many are one bread, and one body:
for we are all partakers of that one bread.”
1 Corinthians 10:17
The reason for division and strife is that the One Bread (His Body – His truth) has been corrupted by the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Men have twisted, marginalized, accentuated, and insidiously injected something of themselves into His pure Word. It is imperative that we read His Word without bias and allow His Spirit to open the depths of His Word so that we may be partakers of Him and not the teaching of men.
Within this context, some individuals may value a day, and some may be free to eat meat, and others not. These are NOT the basis for division! Let us read Romans 14 so that we may grow in the graces of forbearance and love. “For we being many are one bread, one body” because we are partakers of the unleavened Bread of Christ.
It is time to extricate ourselves from the carnal wisdom of men that brings strife and division and the atrocities that accompany such “wisdom.”
“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”
James 3:14-16
The unity of which the scriptures speak is that which is born of the Light and Truth of Christ, not the efforts of men who marginalize truth in order to manufacture a false and hypocritical unity.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood* of Jesus Christ, His Son
cleanseth us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7
(*we must note here the ministration of the blood
occurs when His people meet and interact in pureness of motive)
Our fellowship is in our walking in the Light of Christ, not the doctrines of men and the inherent mixture of the leaven of men and the truth of Christ.
Related Article: What Is A Pharisee?
(continued in Part Two)
“Divisions in the church
always breed atheism in the world.”
Thomas Manton
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples
if ye have love one to another.”
John 13:35
Brian Troxel
I am posting the dream that I had back in 2010 below. I believe it goes along with what you’ve posted.
Let me share a dream I had. In the dream, I saw a wooden coffin and inside the coffin, I saw a church with 2 very large pillars outside. also saw the lid of the coffin resting on the knuckles of 2 hands and the hands in turn were resting on the coffin like one would do just
before nailing it shut. So, as you can imagine, there was very little light left in the coffin because of the lid of the coffin being almost on the coffin. Getting back to the church I saw inside the coffin, I saw thousands of people coming out of the church and jumping out of the coffin as fast as they could. However, there were 2 groups of people who refused to leave,
in fact; they had their fists held in the air. These 2 groups were standing by the 2 very large pillars I had seen earlier in my dream. These pillars had names. The name of the first pillar was religion and the name of the second pillar was politics.
The interpretation of the dream was given by Pastor Guy and is as follows:
A coffin is what you bury the dead in. The coffin in your dream is
religious tradition holding the church (the people in the church) in
captivity from following Jesus. The two large pillars outside are the
gods of the church. The hands belonging to the knuckles in which the
lid of the coffin rested on were the hands of the Lord holding the lid
from closing all the way till those who were going to leave this
traditional church made it out.
The hands which were resting on the coffin like they were about to
shut it was the hands of the spirit of anti christ who was shutting
out the light through lies and deception. This will be a time as the
parrabel in Matt 25 of the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten
virgins.
The foolish virgins will be those remaining in the coffin and refusing
to repent from their gods of religious politics and accept the life of
Christ. Those coming out of the coffin are those who recognize the end
is here and they came out from among them as God said to do in 2 Cor.
6:14-18. The door is about to shut and be sealed.
Some additional things the Lord showed me John 5:25 NIV84
25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
Those who hear are the ones coming out of the casket.
The people who standing by the pillars refusing to leave are the ones of whom Jesus says that they are trying to kill Him because there is no room in their hearts for His word. Which is why they did not leave the church in the coffin and why they will try to kill any move of God that would cause people to want to leave the coffin. They prefer the darkness of the coffin where their deeds go unexposed John 3:19-21 NKJV
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
Matthew 25
Amplified Bible
Parable of Ten Virgins
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went to [a]meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish [thoughtless, silly, and careless], and five were wise [far-sighted, practical, and sensible]. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take any [extra] oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil along with their lamps. 5 Now while the bridegroom was delayed, they all began to nod off, and they fell asleep. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! The bridegroom [is coming]! Go out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins got up and put their own lamps in order [trimmed the wicks and added oil and lit them]. 8 But the foolish virgins said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No, otherwise there will not be enough for us and for you, too; go instead to the dealers and buy oil for yourselves.’ 10 But while they were going away to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut and locked. 11 Later the others also came, and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open [the door] for us.’ 12 But He replied, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, I do not know you [we have no relationship].’ 13 Therefore, be on the alert [be prepared and ready], for you do not know the day nor the hour [when the Son of Man will come].
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Amplified Bible
14 Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said:
“I will dwell among them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
17
“So come out from among unbelievers and be separate,” says the Lord,
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will graciously receive you and welcome you [with favor],
18
And I will be a Father to you,
And you will be My sons and daughters,”
Says the Lord Almighty.
John 3:19-21
Amplified Bible
19 This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the [a]darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. 21 But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].”
https://tpuccio.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/the-end-of-church-as-we-know-it/
Excellent handling of this issue, Brian. Thank you. Your words are useful as the Spirit moves through them.
I actually felt convicted on this post as it is only a part of the whole and I broke it down into two as I often think if it is too long it won’t be read, but this post should have been posted as one – I hope it will have the same impact when read in two parts. Always good to hear from you.
Be blessed and encouraged in your pursuit of Him.
BT
The supernal simplicity of spiritual sanity, the passionate purity for precious proximity, experientially, consciously to the Son of Abba’s love, our ardent Advocate, intimate Intercessor, perfect Priest, igniting our saved and savoring spirit, delighting sanctifying sovereign Spirit is, for honest, hungry hearts and holy happening happiness, ever and always that which is wisely beneficent and wondrously best.
Of heart and soul, clutter causes confusion and collusion with masquerading entities wanting insidious intrusion for their perverse and pernicious purposes and plans of inveterate inclusion. Their addition is sedition, twistology of theology, and bastardization of Bible realization. Beware of Belial, whose name in Hebrew means worthless.
In The Satanic Bible (The Book of Belial), Belial means without a master and dastardly denotes independence, self-sufficiency, and personal accomplishment. This jealous of Jesus, camouflaging arch-deceiver, the lies uttered by his ulterior imps and his self-authored book of boast and blasphemy, to those worshipping in the Light of the Breathing Bread from heaven Who cut the ineffably merciful and munificent grand and glorious New Covenant in His holy blood, such is well nigh overly obvious Belial. Belial also referred to as Satan is an absolute imposter, indeed the Father of lies, a hater and destroyer, altogether devoid of any worth whatsoever, totally loveless, irrevocably unworthy of worship, now or ever.
Without love is zilch authority; the One Triune God Is Love. He does not simply love as an action, nor does He only inspire, instruct or issue love, but the Holy Trinity of Living Infinity is Himself, Love. (1 John 4:8,16 .et al)
Belial, the diabolical leavening, legalistic and prideful slave master, abominable hell-bent driver of dividing, death-dealing religious spirits, and sleazy, thieving antiChrist counterfeiter of complicit churchianity is in utmost contradistinction to Love Omnipotent, our forever First Love and all magnificent Obsession, the God-Man Christ Jesus, the actualizing Amen and affectionate Advocate from Abba Almighty. Jesus of Nazareth is the exact expression and infinite impression of the fondest Father, the safe Savior and sure Sanctifier of souls and spirits, the peerless Prince of Peace and preeminent Potentate of prosperity, the transcendent Treasure and superscendent Spendor, the consummate Creator and superlative Sustainer, the master Musician and Song of songs, the supreme Satisfaction and sovereign Summit, the eternal Essence and everlasting Enjoyment, the hallowed Herald of honesty and the happy Holiness of heaven, the measurably More and munificent Most.
Oh, alleluia to our Lover God omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent! At this very moment, in the Spirit, I am wont to jump up and down and do cartwheels around the throne of our Abba and His Christ in heaven, in the holiest appreciation for and most unapologetic celebration of this One Triune God’s merciful love, ceaseless compassion, tender kindness, unfailing faithfulness, infinite wisdom, jubilant justice, ageless providence, everlasting provision, transcendent treasure, and superscendent Self-Splendor, as the thoroughly inexhaustibly worshipworthy Author of Life, the Alpha and the Omega, the Bright and Morningstar and Dayspring from on high, the Eternal I Am All-Glorious.
This Self-existing, Self-sustaining, uncreated Creator from everlasting to everlasting is, in any realm or reach of reality and all the alphabet, ability and action of actuality, or any moment, movement or matter, indestructibly, illimitably more excellent and exquisite, more mighty and magnificent, more eloquent and exhilarating than the grand sum of all creation that is, was, and ever shall be!
Let everything that has breath and every breath we have from the Breath of heaven praise and thank Him, revel and rejoice in His ravishing riches of lavish love, His goodness and grace we could never deserve or merit!
Exodus 15:11
Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?
1 Chronicles 29:11
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.
Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims is handiwork.
Psalm 145:5
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
Isaiah 6:3
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.
Romans 1:19-20
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
1 Timothy 1:17
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 4:11
Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.
Revelation 21:23-26
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
59 Powerful Bible Verses about God’s Glory
https://www.biblelyfe.com/blog/bible-verses-about-gods-glory
Love the encouragement – and that which glorifies Him is ever the truth. God’s richest blessings be yours.
BT
In specific Scripture I supplied I notice typos and inconsistencies. Personally I do not like pronouns pertaining to our God used with the first letter of same not capitalized, especially in holy Bibles but anywhere appearing. The sloppy edit is mine (the text with the typos and inconsistencies which we see did not paste from the clipboard). Some may think it is not worth even mentioning, vainglorious, amusing or laughable but the lapse causes me to cringe. I surmise that for some it is appreciably important to give attention to details, especially as regards to our Creator. Thanks kindly for the vent. 🙂 And soak and steep yourselves, spirit and soul in the God glorifying Scriptures anywhere our Lord leads.
Often I actually go through the scriptures and capital anything that pertains to Him. It jut seems proper to do so but sometimes I am inconsistent in this as well. It blesses me that someone else feels the same!
BT
Amen: Highest Glory due to His name!
Grammarly has informed me that to make mistakes is human, and to edit is divine. Perhaps Grammarly has overstepped their/its bounds. I would strike my statement, ” I surmise that for some it is appreciably important to give attention to details, especially as regards to our Creator.” and replace it with, “Surely for some, it is appreciably important to give attention to details, especially as regards to our Creator.”
In paragraph five of my response, I wrote, “the measurably More and munificent Most” What I meant and meant is “the measureless More and munificent Most.”
Burning blessings of Jesus’ beauty in your being and intimate blessings of affection from His holy heart as King of heaven.
Love the comments and the heart behind them.
BT
Hello brother, I have been contemplating the same thing regarding the infusion of man’s ideas into the doctrine of the Word of God. It’s the very reason there are so many denominations.
Paul said…
“…But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh…”
Galatians 5:15-16
It seems that the reasons churches split is a difference of opinion in doctrine. Even if it is personal matters, these prove that love is excluded, and there is an impasse.
Love the lesson, It truly speaks to today.
Blessings Brian
3 “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all”
True ministry seeks to preserve and promote the unity of the Spirit and of the faith. Love does not seek its own — men by nature do.
Blessings brother.
BT