Peter and unleavened bread…

 Peter and unleavened bread….

I was reading in acts again this morning…Luke added the simple sentence, “this was during the days of Unleavened Bread”…I wondered why he added this..why was it important for readers to know …I have “passed over” it the many times I have read through the passage…so had to look up this feast…

Many important things throughout the Scriptures happened during the days of this celebration…

 *it follows Passover

*crossing the Red Sea….freedom

*entering the Promised Land…promises kept…

*rededicating under King Hezekiah and King Josiah

*the resurrection of Jesus…our Savior…

“But at the very center of it all—at the very core of the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—is the all-encompassing truth that the resurrected Jesus Christ, the One who was raised during this spring festival, now lives His life in every individual Christian!”

https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/what-does-the-feast-of-unleavened-bread-mean-for-christians

https://bibleask.org/what-is-the-feast-of-unleavened-bread/

*and here is Peter, freed on the same festival…after being arrested and guarded by soldiers, he was freed by an angel…passing through the prison undetected…going to a prayer meeting…

Wow…from one small sentence…

God knows the details of our lives as well…they are important to Him…he knows our coming and going, the words before we speak…He has a plan…

 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up;you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying downand are acquainted with all my ways. 

Even before a word is on my tongue,behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 

You hem me in, behind and before,and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;it is high; I cannot attain it. 

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand.I awake, and I am still with you.

Ps.139.1-6,Ps.139.17-18

Thank YOU….

 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

 This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. 

Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 

When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 

They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 

But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” 

Then he departed and went to another place. 

Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 

And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Acts.12.1-19

10,000 reasons…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtwIT8JjddM