| 1. THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD “On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the Lord by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.” Leviticus 23:6-8. “When the Israelites left Egypt, they left in haste. The bread they took with them was unleavened bread, baked in haste for a people who were on the move and preparing their victuals to travel. The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the time when the Israelites left Egypt. Their next waypoint was the crossing at the Red Sea. The bread they took with them was not puffed up. It was baked without yeast. There simply was not time enough to allow the bread to rise.” LEAVEN AS A SYMBOL OF WICKEDNESS Leaven in the Scriptures is often, but not always, used as a symbol of sin. Before the Israelites celebrated the Passover, they were to remove all leaven from their homes, and they were to bake unleavened bread, i.e., bread baked without yeast, which was to be eaten for seven days during the festival, ending on the second Sabbath after Passover. Leaven was made by allowing grain soaked in water to ferment. It was then added to the dough to let it “rise” to make it more palatable. The process of fermentation was a process of decay symbolizing the decay that sin introduced to the human race. A small portion of the leavened dough was used to “set’ the next batch of dough, adding decay to the bread-baking process. Hence they were to remove all leaven from their homes and eat unleavened bread during the festival to symbolize the removal of sin from their lives by the sacrifice of God’s Lamb. BREAD FROM HEAVEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT The Bread from Heaven was seen in the earlier history of Israel. The God of Israel provided manna in the wilderness for forty years. And the heavenly food of provision was spoken of by the prophets. The Bread of Heaven is seen repeatedly in the poetry of the Old Covenant. “In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven…” Nehemiah 9:15. “… He rained down manna for the people to eat, He gave them of the grain of heaven.” Psalm 78:24. “…He satisfied them with the bread of heaven.” Psalm 105:40. JESUS THE FULFILMENT OF UNLEAVENED BREAD “The typology of Christ as the Bread of Heaven is in the Holy Scriptures. It is taught in the New Testament and in the very words of Jesus Himself. Jesus Himself said that He was the “Bread sent from Heaven”. “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:33. “Here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he will live forever. This bread I my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:50, 51. The Pharisees, the religious establishment of the time, knew very well what Jesus was talking about. They were well versed in the typology of the Messiah as the Bread of Heaven. They knew when He referred to Himself as the Bread of Heaven that He was claiming to be the promised Messiah, the Holy One of Israel. That is why they took up stones to stone Him. Jesus was the final and perfect sacrifice for sin. He was the Suffering Servant spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. (See Isaiah 53). His body, broken and humbled on the cross, was offered for our redemption. He was buried just as the eve of the Feast of Unleavened Bread approached. He was in the grave for the 15th of Nisan, according to the scriptures. And thus Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread.” Here are the words of the Apostle Paul on the matter. “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:7 T |