Hag HaMatzah

[sandy]

oops I just noticed that M45510G1C already posted the meaning for the word shmurah.

By the way who is WSB ?

[Gerioke]

Leaven represents sin and this Festival is about the purging of sin from our lives.

I thought our sin was purged on the cross

It is finished. Doesn't that mean our debt has been paid?

Why would you try and accomplish something that Jesus already did?

[Guest shiloh357]

Shiloh,

If I understand it corectly shmurah matzah means 'guarded matzah' as in it is guarded from touching anything that it should not. I wonder if the word shmurah comes from the same root word for shomer (watchman) ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes. At the time I wrote this (a year ago) I had just learned that, but then neglected to follow up and post the meaning. It is the matzah that the most observant Jewish people who follow the most stringent customs use at Passover. Thanks to you and M45510G1C for adding that.

[M45510G1C]

Leaven represents sin and this Festival is about the purging of sin from our lives.

I thought our sin was purged on the cross

It is finished. Doesn't that mean our debt has been paid?

Why would you try and accomplish something that Jesus already did?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Its more about self-examination. We often do things without even considering that we may be sinning, being the imperfect and all that. It's about improving your walk with God, just as a little yeast leavens the whole batch a little sin can affect your whole life.

James 2:14-26

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead by itself. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe--and they shudder. 20 Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? 21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected. 23 So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God's friend. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

[Guest shiloh357]

Leaven represents sin and this Festival is about the purging of sin from our lives.

I thought our sin was purged on the cross

It is finished. Doesn't that mean our debt has been paid?

Why would you try and accomplish something that Jesus already did?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are getting things confused. Our sins were payed for on the cross. The work of the cross is deliverance from the bondage of sin, which is the message of Passover.

We are commanded to purge the leaven from our lives.

1 Cor. 5:6-8

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? [7] Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: [8] Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

We are commanded to avoid sin, and to live pure lives before God. As believers, we are in a process of sanctfication. Each day is a day in which we strive to flee from sinful lusts, and live closer to the Lord. We submit our selves as living sacrifices, and as such we seek a deeper death to self on a daily basis. That is the message of Hag Hamatzah; to live holy and sanctified lives for the Lord.