When the Passover was instituted, there were two items that were to accompany the eating of the lamb — unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Leaven, as we know, is a figure of evil, and hence the unleavened bread shows that not only had their eyes been opened to their danger, but that, in type, there was also a turning from darkness to light, a real judgment of evil — a turning from the power of Satan unto God. In a word, light had entered their souls and also divine power to bring them out of darkness into God’s marvelous light. Thus there were also the bitter herbs, for the effect of divine testimony, when it reaches the conscience in the power of the Holy Spirit, is to produce bitterness, because the discovery thereby is made of the character of sin in the presence of a holy God. It is a supreme moment to the soul when it is brought consciously into the presence of God and where the revelation is made that the God against whom we had been sinning is love and that He has proved it in the death of His beloved Son. It is there, too, that we begin to apprehend that in order to enjoy the divine love which has been set forth in the death of Christ, His death must be appropriated.
Adapted from
The Christian Friend