TODAY’S PROPHETIC THOUGHT
From the beginning, I Am. I will be until the end of your time and I will continue to be in eternity where I always have been. I know the end from the beginning. Trust My prophesies. I speak to My people and I reveal My ways. Are you listening?
LEAVEN OR BREAD?
Most babies do not have any control over the circumstances of their birth – when they’re born, who they’re born to, the real estate they’re born on. They don’t know the condition of the world they’re born into. But Jesus was no normal baby. He was God Almighty in flesh form.
Today, I want to talk about the prophecy of where the Messiah would be born. The book of Micah makes some things pretty clear.
“But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” – Micah 5:2
This prophecy, written about 700 years before Jesus’ birth, eliminates all other cities and towns where the Messiah would be born. That means if anyone rose up and said they were the Messiah but weren’t born in Bethlehem, they were disqualified.
My friends, Bethlehem literally means “House of Bread.” Jesus calls Himself the “Bread of Life” in John 6:35 and promises all who believe in Him shall never hunger or thirst. In contrast to that, we are to beware the “bread” the enemy offers.
Then Jesus said unto them, “Take heed and beware the leaven of the Pharisees.” – Matthew 16:6
He’s saying that the bread the High Priests and religious leaders of the day offer – manmade rules – leads to death. That’s still true today!
Remember in the Exodus story how the children of Israel were told to eat unleavened bread during the first Passover? Still to this day, the Jews rid their house of any leaven during the Feast of passover because it is synonymous with the sin of lying.
See the connection? Even during the time of Moses, God was prophesying about the place Jesus would be born and the times He would live in. My friends, Jesus is the “Bread of Life” born in the “House of Bread.”
This speaks of our day as well. Beware the leaven of religion that wants to replace life with death and freedom with manmade rules. Feast on the Word of Jesus – your daily bread – and have abundant life.
FROM MY SERMON SERIES THE INDESCRIBABLE GIFT