The Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread
(Leviticus 23:4-8)
1. Since we are discussing the seven original annual Jewish Feasts, we should begin with a Jewish joke.
2. It was a sweltering August day when all three Cohen brothers entered the posh Dearborn, Michigan, offices of Henry Ford, the car maker, "Mr. Ford," announced Norman Cohen, the eldest of the three. "We have a remarkable invention that will revolutionize the automobile industry." Ford looked skeptical, but their threat to offer it to the competition kept his interest piqued. "We would like to demonstrate it to you in person."
After a little cajoling, they brought Mr. Ford outside and asked him to enter a black automobile parked in front of the building. Hyman Cohen, the middle brother, opened the door of the car. "Please step inside, Mr. Ford." "What!!!" shouted the tycoon, "Are you crazy? It must be two hundred degrees in that car!!" "It is," smiled the youngest brother, Max, "but sit down, Mr. Ford, and push the white button." Intrigued, Ford pushed the button. All of a sudden a whoosh of freezing air started blowing from vents
all around the car, and within seconds the automobile was not only comfortable, it was quite cool.
"This is amazing !" exclaimed Ford. "How much do you want for the patent?"
Norman spoke up, "The price is one million dollars." Then he paused. "And there is something else. The name 'Cohen Brothers Air-Conditioning' must be stamped right next to the Ford logo!" Ford, an infamous anti-Semite, retorted "Money is no problem, but there is no way I will have a Jewish name next to my logo on my cars!"
They haggled for a while and finally settled. Five million dollars, but the Cohens' last name would be left off However, the first names of the Cohen brothers would be forever emblazoned upon the console of every Ford air conditioning system. Even today, whenever you enter a Ford vehicle, you will see those three names clearly printed on the air conditioning control panel: NORM, HI and MAX. (source: www.haruth.com/Jhumor5).
2. The Seven Levitical Feasts set forth a template for God’s plan of redemption. By way of review, Passover sets the tone for the reality that Christ died for our sins. Unleavened Bread, to make us holy. First fruits, Christ is resurrected, the first fruits of them that sleep. Pentecost, the beginning of the main harvest season and giving of the Law, in NT the coming of the Holy Spirit. Trumpets speaks of the rapture when the trumpet will sound. Yom Kippur speaks of the repentance of end time Israel. Tabernacles speaks of the Millennial Kingdom.
3. The feasts can be divided into three: 3 early spring feasts, one late spring feast, and three fall feasts.
4. The first three feasts overlap and occur over an 8 day period. Modern Jews may refer to all three feasts together as “Passover.” Today we are going to look at the first two feasts, and it is easy to combine them together. But this is a deep subject, so I am trying to address what I believe to be the most important matters. Although pastors are often characterized by being long winded, part of the discipline of preaching to determing what to include and what to leave out, enough info without the dreaded TMI, too much information.
5. During the time of the first three feasts, the Jewish people cannot eat bread with a riser in it; instead, they eat Matzo which is like a large cracker with no yeast, baking powder, or other riser.
MAIN IDEA: Passover is about redemption and foreshadows that Christ died for our sin; Unleavened Bread foreshadows the reason Christ died for our sins is – to make us holy.
I. Passover: Christ Died for OUR Sins (Leviticus 23:4-5, I Corinthians 5: 7, 15:3).
A. The details for Passover are provided in the TORAH (Leviticus 23:4-5, Exodus 12:3-14).
1. Based on the DELIVERANCE of Israel from Egypt, out of bondage into freedom
“Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
“Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast…
“This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover….On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn-both men and animals-and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD .
“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD -a lasting ordinance.”
2. The concept: a PURE lamb is sacrificed so that God’s wrath will “pass over” us.
• There was only one Passover, when the Hebrews were delivered from Egypt; thus Passover, like the Lord’s Supper, memorializes what has already happened.
• As we shall see, that is exactly how we are saved, forgiven, and that is how we are passed over when it comes to wrath time!
• Modern Jews do not typically eat Lamb anymore for Passover to grieve that the Jerusalem Temple is gone; they typically eat chicken (lamb shank bone in their ritual to remind them).
• Non-Messianic Jews (the vast majority) view Passover merely as a celebration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Messianic Jews enter into the richness of its two fold meaning….looking back to Egypt and forward (from Moses’ time) to the Messiah and beyond to the Millennium...
B. Some Jewish Passover TRADITIONS point us to the Messiah.
They were in practice at the time of Jesus. (Let me focus on the 2 most significant)
I. The 3 MATZOS
• the matzos probably represent the 3 PERSONS of the Godhead
• They are typically placed together in a pouch
• half of the middle matzoh, the Afikomen (Greek, “He came”), was hidden and the children search for it and are given a reward if they find it.
• Communion is an edited version of the Passover meal; this is the Matzoh that Christ said, “Is my BODY.”
• Jesus, the Second Person of the Godhead, is the Messiah but hidden from the Jewish people, yet there is great reward for those who find Him.
• Leaven often represents sin or contamination in Scripture; Jesus is represented by unleavened bread because He was sinless and pure.
2. The 4 cups of wine, the THIRD being the cup of REDEMPTION.
• When Jesus drank this third cup, He said, “This is my blood.” New Covenant
• The fourth cup he will not drink until He returns (Matt. 26:27-29)
3. So the two elements of Communion were taken from the PASSOVER meal.
When Jesus said, “This is my body” or “This is my blood,” He was saying,
“You have been doing this for 1500 years, but this ritual predicts my work on the cross. You have been hiding, finding, and breaking the center Matzoh, but that Matzoh represents ME, the sinless, unleavened, 2nd Person of the Godhead whose body would be broken for you. The cup of Redemption anticipated Me shedding my blood for your sins so that you could be redeemed.”
He was also looking forward when He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” So His disciples no longer observed these elements of Passover to await the Messiah, but to commemorate His coming.
C. New Testament Imagery: CHRIST Our Passover
1. Yeshua (Jesus) was the PURE lamb that was sacrificed for us.
I Peter 1:8-9, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
Romans 5:9, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!”
2. His bones were not BROKEN (Exodus 12:46 with John 19:32-27).
3. We apply Jesus’ blood to the DOORPOSTS of our hearts by faith.
4. Paul calls Christ our PASSOVER (I Cor. 5:7).
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
II. The Feast of Matzo: Unleavened BREAD (Leviticus 23: 6-8)
A. Leaven Symbolizes SIN
According the Jewish encyclopedia, citing the Talmud, “The Rabbis, in speaking of the evil desire ("ye?er ha-ra'"), called it "the leaven that is in the dough" (Ber. 17a)...
1. Leaven was FORBIDDEN in most sacrifices
Exodus 23:18 "Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast…”
Leviticus 2:11 " 'Every grain offering you bring to the LORD must be made without yeast…”
• Yet leaven was allowed in sacrifices people would eat
• Principle: God anticipates that His people will sin in daily life
2. Leaven can refer to wrong teachings that PERMEATE our lives
Matthew 6: 6“’Be careful,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”
Matthew 6: 11 “’How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
B. In contrast, unleavened bread represents HOLINESS.
1. In the case of Jesus, His PURITY (I Peter 1:18-19, Matt. 26:26).
2. Like unleavened bread, Jesus was PIERCED.
Isaiah 53: 5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
C. The Holy Messiah DIED to make us holy!
D. The NULLIFICATION of sin
• The Jewish people go through “nullification” before the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Spring cleaning, separate dishes. Feather, wooden spoon. A special prayer if they have missed any minute bits of leaven in the house.
1. We also do a pre-Communion PURGE of the sins of which we are aware (I John 1:9).
I Corinthians 11:27-28 reads, “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
2. We recognize the BLOOD of Christ takes care of the sins of which we are not aware (I John 1:7).
E. God also wants our fellowship to be UNLEAVENED
I Corinthians 5:6-8, “Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast–as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.”
CONCLUSION
1. Jesus died as the holy Lamb of God without leaven to make us holy, without leaven.
2. He didn’t just die to keep us from hell and take us to heaven. He demands that we lived for Him now and engage in the process of become holy, constantly fighting and eliminating the leaven that creeps into our lives.
3. This is God’s plan from the beginning. Are we with the program or not?
