We've looked at Passover. Now we'll look at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. These two feasts are tied together. Passover is on the 14th of Nisan and this feast is on the 15th and lasts 7 days. So they're often blurred together, being called "the eight days of Passover." In Jesus' day, they called all 8 days "the Feast of Unleavened Bread" (Luke 22:1). They both remind Israel of God's deliverance. The command for both was given before leaving Egypt (Ex. 12:1-13; Ex. 12:14-20).
This feast is the first of 3 pilgrimage feasts (Unleavened Bread, Weeks or Pentecost, & Tabernacles) (Exodus 23:14-17). This was in the month of Nisan - known as "Abib" before the Babylonian captivity. Jesus would have observed these feasts. It is recorded in Luke 2:41-50 that when He was 12, He went to Jerusalem with His parents for this feast and got separated from them. When they found them, He was in the temple discussing the law with the religious scholars.
1. The practical significance of this feast for Israel.
There were three instructions given for this observance:
A. Special sacrifices were to be offered in the temple each day of the feast - v. 8a (Numbers 28:17-25).
B. The first and seventh days of this feast were sabbaths in which the people were to do no regular work - vs. 7a; 8b
C. Leaven was strictly forbidden - v. 6b There are 5 other places in the Bible where this is repeated (Exodus 12:14-20; 13:6-8; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:3, 8). Not only is eating food with leaven forbidden but so is the presence of leaven.
"Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders." - Exodus 13:7 (NIV)
Why so pervasive? Because of what this feast symbolizes for the Jews.
"Eat it with bread made without yeast. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, as when you escaped from Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread - the bread of suffering - so that as long as you live you will remember the day you departed from Egypt." - Deuteronomy 16:3 (NLT)
A. It was a reminder of their suffering in Egypt. This is why the unleavened bread is referred to as "the bread of suffering."
B. It was a reminder of the swiftness of God's deliverance. There was no time for their daily bread to rise, so it had to remain unleavened.
C. It reminded them of the completeness of their deliverance. Though slaves, they didn't leave empty handed.
"The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. For otherwise,' they said, 'we will all die!' So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold
and for clothing. The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians." - Exodus 12:33-36 (NIV)
D. It was a reminder of the need to live in purity before the Lord.
Rabbis said "leaven represents the evil impulse of the heart." Jesus used leaven to represent sin (Matt. 16:6, 11; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1). It's suited to symbolize sin because it rapidly permeates the dough. The Jews were taught through this feast that we must be vigilant to remove sin from our lives. Sin is like a pet python. It might be cute when little, but it will eventually grow to where it can squeeze the life out of me. We need to love God and hate sin!
"Let those who love the Lord hate evil." - Psalm 97:10a (NIV)
Weeks before Passover everything is cleaned and leaven is stored for removal the night of Nisan 13. Communities create bonfires to burn leavened bread removed from homes. At evening, the father does the "Search for Leaven" ceremony, purging the last bits of leaven from the home. Earlier, the mother places some bread in corners or window sills of the house so there will be some leaven to be found. After a prayer, the father begins the search. He has a wooden spoon and a feather. By candlelight, he searches each room to find any scraps. The kids follow him as he uses the feather to sweep the bread he finds onto the wooden spoon. Finally, the bits of bread, wooden spoon, and feather are placed in a bag. This is tied up and set aside to be burned the next morning.
2. The prophetic significance of this feast for Christians.
The first 3 feasts relate to Christ's crucifixion, burial & resurrection. Remember, a Jewish day starts at 6 PM and ends at 6 PM the next day.
Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, after 6 PM (the 10th of Nisan). Each day until Thursday evening, He went to Jerusalem from Bethany and responded to attacks of religious leaders. On Thursday after 6 PM (14th day of Nisan) they observed Passover ("between the two evenings" - Ex. 12:6). Then they went to Gethsemane where Jesus was betrayed and arrested. At 9 AM until 3 PM on Friday (Nisan 14), Jesus was crucified (Mark 15:25; Numbers 28:1-8) - He died on Passover. His body was removed and buried, remaining in the tomb all day, the 15th of Nisan, the 1st day of Unleavened Bread. Then on the third day, Easter Sunday (the 16th of Nisan, the Feast of First Fruits), Jesus was resurrected. So the first three feasts relate to His crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The Feast of Unleavened Bread relates to His death. Jesus paid the price for our sin, He experienced death. And this feast foreshadowed two important things about Jesus' sacrifice for us.
A. His was a sinless sacrifice. If leaven symbolizes sin, then unleavened bread symbolizes purity and sinlessness.
"Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God." - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (CEV)
B. His was a perfect sacrifice. Why is Passover on day and First Fruits one day, but Unleavened Bread seven days?
Because the number seven in Scripture represents perfection, and since this feast relates to our Lord's burial, it points to the fact that His sacrifice was a perfect one.
"With one perfect offering, Jesus has perfected forever those who are being made holy." - Hebrews 10:14 (The Voice)
3. The personal significance of this feast for me.
The significance of this feast for you and me is similar to it's significance for the Jewish people. It is at least four-fold:
A. We must never forget what it was like to be lost without Christ.
"Remember that you were . . . separated from Christ . . . having no hope and without God in the world." - Ephesians 2:12 (ESV)
Daniel Boone was once asked: "Have you ever been lost?" He answered, "No, but I have been bewildered all day." Without Christ, we were bewildered, confused, and alone!
B. We must be grateful for the swiftness of our deliverance.
We don't have to wonder if we'll be saved. When we trust Christ, we know what Adrian Rogers called "The present tense of salvation."
"I tell you for certain that everyone who hears my message and has faith in the one who sent me has eternal life and will never be condemned. They have already gone from death to life." - John 5:24 (CEV)
C. We must be thankful for the completeness of our salvation.
Hebrews 10:14 says because of Christ's sacrifice, we have a perfect standing before God. But we should also seek to make sure that what is true of us eternally, is also true of us daily.
D. We must seek to live in purity before the Lord.
Michael Gatt told at our convention about hearing Francis Chan tell of a trip to China where he worshiped with an underground church. He was invited to a new believer's training. The leaders spoke about persecution. They said Chinese soldiers usually shot over their heads, so they should run away if they can. But soldiers might club them over the head with the butt of their rifle. But if that happened, they'd put them in a hospital for recovery. Leaders recalled when they had been shot or clubbed. After the training, they asked Chan to share about the state of the American church.
He told them some believers seek a church where there are plenty of activities for children or teenagers. Others select a church based on worship style. Others go to a church based on how skilled the pastor was at speaking or how winsome his personality was. After he finished, he said he was never so embarrassed in all his life. A 19 year old Chinese believer held out his New Testament and asked, "Where do you get that out of this?"
"I wish, in America, (that) we were as concerned about separation from church and sin as we are about separation between church and state. Church and sin - it's a monstrous problem." - Leonard Ravenhill
Conclusion:
"Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." - 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NIV)
