Breadcrumbs

I titled this article “Breadcrumbs,” mainly because of the phrase usage in the fairytale Hansel and Gretel. In the fairytale, two little children dropped breadcrumbs along the way in order to find their way back home. Following breadcrumbs is also used in today’s computers.  An Internet-surfing individual can return to the homepage by following so-called “breadcrumbs.”

 

My question to the modern-day church is: “Would you agree that the greatest use of following events back to their starting points can be seen through reading the Bible?” I believe that specific incidents, scattered throughout the history of the Bible may have been meticulously left behind by the divine wisdom of God. Prophets, led by the divine hand of God, prophesied future events that could barely be understood by those who lived in the days.  However, today we see those prophecies came to fulfillment.

 

One possible instance of the divine hand of God being involved in human lives can be found in the story of Jacob and Leah’s relationship. Jacob loved Rachel רָחֵל Rachel {raw-khale’}; because of her beauty. On the other hand, Leah loved Jacob so much and she desired better treatment from her husband, Jacob. Leah’s heart was broken because Jacob’s attitude toward her was too much to bear. As a result, Leah named her third son Levi; לֵוִי Leviy {lay-vee’} which in Hebrew means Levi = “joined to.”

Leah’s emotional needs caused her to give her son a name which meant “come closer” or “joined to” because she wanted her husband to join to her. Therefore, every time Leah called her son Levi, she prophetically spoke to his character.  It was so prophetic that when God demanded of the children of Israel to make a decision “this day, who among you is on the Lord’s side?” the only tribe that stepped forth was Leah’s descendants, the Levites. Amazingly, of the twelve tribes of Israel, the Levites were the only ones who could come into God’s presence and live.

My thought is that when God created specific incidents in the lives of His children, He left indelible “Breadcrumbs”, or links back to a time that connects important truths.  These connections give the New Testament readers a better foundation of the teachings of Christ.

Breadcrumbs

Another example of breadcrumbs is the story of the manna from heaven which was God’s provision in the wilderness for the children of Israel. God’s covenant included blissful sustenance called bread or manna. Interestingly the word “manna” translates into a question “what is it,” as though a question is on the table.

מָן manna {mawn} Meaning:  1) manna 1a) the bread from heaven that fed the Israelites for 40 years of wilderness wanderings 1b) means ‘What is it?’

  

The “Lord’s Passover,” speaks directly into the subject of the main event, the sacrificial Lamb. Every item of the Passover meal relates to the Lamb of God and the events surrounding the death.

^NLT  Exodus 12:11 “These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the LORD’s Passover.

 (Exo 12:11 NLT)

 

^NLT  Exodus 12:27 And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.'” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped. (Exo 12:27 NLT)

 

^NLT  Leviticus 23:5 “The LORD’s Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month. (Lev 23:5 NLT)

 

The Israelites were instructed by God to eat the lamb, leaving absolutely nothing on their plates or nothing to be left overnight. And, if there were not enough people to finish the meal all of the remaining parts of the lamb had to be burned, even the bones. Absolutely no trace of the lamb was to be found in their homes, symbolizing the resurrection of Christ. As we all know, Jesus would not be left on the cross nor in the grave.  The Lord has now transformed from a Lamb to the Lord of Heaven.

 

The Lord’s architect of this Passover feast can now be understood by the New Testament reader. The bread which came down from heaven was a foreshadowing of “the bread of life.” The Lord told Moses to tell the children of Israel to spread blood on the door post and on the mantel of the entrances of their homes. It was this act of obeying Moses’ exact instructions for eating the Passover meal and more importantly, the blood applied to the entrances of their homes that caused the invoking of God’s grace and mercy.

Now, we can clearly understand the strange and unusual commandment that Jesus instructed the crowd to eat His flesh and drink His blood. The crowd misunderstood Jesus’ statement and thought he was suggesting some form of cannibalism.  It never occurred to them that He was speaking symbolically.  Jesus was not telling them to put food into their mouths.  He was telling them to put the Savior or “Bread of Life” into their hearts. If they had only been well versed in the book of Exodus, perhaps they may have gotten the point.

 

The disciple, John would not have had any problems with Jesus’ sayings.  In John 1:36-37, John was trying to tell the people that standing before them was God’s Lamb.

³⁶ As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!”

 ³⁷ When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

 (Joh 1:36-37 NLT)

This Passover will be different from all the rest, there wouldn’t be any symbolism on the table, and all of the elements of the Passover was standing before them as large as life itself.

 

⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

 ⁵² Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

 ⁵³ So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.

 ⁵⁴ But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.

 ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

 (Joh 6:51-55 NLT)

 

God’s Bread of life has left breadcrumbs for us to follow.  Passover was a foreshadowing of the day that God would “Passover” and forgive our debts. Jesus made full payment for our ransom.  Therefore, now after tracing the breadcrumbs, we can receive, partake, and put in our hearts the true and living Bread.